Doctor Who_ Cats Cradle_ Witch Mark - Andrew Hunt [63]
Ace lit a fire between them and she and Bathsheba crouched by it, sucking the heat into their bodies.
‘What happened to you, Bathsheba?' Ace asked.
A blank look crossed Bathsheba's face. 'What do you mean?'
‘Your arm,' Ace explained.
‘Oh, I was born this way . . . and then I had an accident that made it worse.'
‘An accident?'
‘My brother was killed,' was all that Bathsheba would say.
‘I’m sorry.'
‘So am I. I miss him. And ever since he died my life has been different. My father used to care for me, but he blamed me for David dying, I think. It wasn't my fault.'
‘People always find a scapegoat. When things go wrong with their lives they try to blame someone else. I used to live in a place called Perivale. There were these people who couldn't get jobs, whose lives were totally screwed up because they were too dumb to do anything about it. And there were other people who were different, in looks anyway. And the dumb ones blamed the others - they said that they were stealing all the jobs. Because of that they did awful things, bad things, sick things. Just because they were different.'
‘That's like here.'
‘What do you mean?' Ace asked.
'They told me that Druffud was to blame for Dagda's Wheel leaving the sky.'
‘Druffud?'
‘One of the Fomoir who used to work on the farm. They said that was why he had to be burnt.'
Ace's throat constricted and she barely choked out, 'Burnt?'
'Yes, it was horrible.'
'My God, what sort of people are you?' But what had they done to Manisha when they had fire-bombed her flat? Were those yobs any more civilized than the people of Tír na n-Óg? Did the Earth people have any right to inhabit a moral high ground?
'Let's talk about something else,' Ace suggested.
Once again the Doctor was first to awake the next morning. He woke his two companions and urged them to their feet. As they prepared to set off a light snow started to fall.
‘This could be tricky,' the Doctor told them. 'With the sun to guide us we may have to rely on my impeccable sense of direction.’
'So we'll end up wandering in circles,’ Ace said.
'It could happen,' the Doctor grinned.
‘I suppose,' said Ace 'that this might come in handy.’ She produced a heavy rubber-sealed torch from her rucksack.
‘Have you had this all the time?' the Doctor asked. ‘Sorry, stupid question.'
'I didn't want the batteries to run out. And we've had some light most of the time.’
Bathsheba was puzzled 'What is it?’
Ace flicked the switch to the 'on' position. Bathsheba gasped in surprise.
'How does it work?'
'Well, have you got a few days or me to explain some fundamental physical principals to you?’ the Doctor asked her.
Bathsheba nodded vigorously.
‘Yes, I suppose you have, haven't you? Um, let's make a start, shall we?’
They tramped across the plain of frost-encrusted grass. The Doctor gave his jacket to Bathsheba when she began shivering in the cold and Ace pulled on a pair of luminous thermal leggings. They stopped in unison when, in the distance, they hear a baying howl.
‘Wolves?' asked Ace.
‘No, no.' The Doctor shook his head. The resonant quality isn't right. That's larger than a wolf, or at least its lungs are. Keep moving.’
They pushed on, but the noise came again and it was closer.
‘It’s on our scent,’ the Doctor said grimly.
‘A demon!’ Bathsheba whimpered. It s come for me again.’
Maybe we should split up,’ Ace suggested It can only follow one of us.'
'But it would just catch us one at a time,’ the Doctor disagreed. 'And besides, I couldn’t do that.’ His eyes scanned the dark anxiously.
Bathsheba had fallen to the ground now, clutching her head in her hands. 'It's come for me,' she told the unyielding earth.
'Fire!' Ace said.
'Maybe, but there's nothing to burn.' A shadow, almost one with the dark, passed by them