Doctor Who_ Cats Cradle_ Witch Mark - Andrew Hunt [71]
After a time a noise impinged on his meditation and he lifted one eyelid to see what he could see. A small skewbald pony was hoving into view from behind the foot of the hill. A figure was slumped across it, apparently asleep. The Doctor gave a sigh and eased himself up. He patted his mare on its near-side flank and strolled over to the now ambling pony. It stopped and gazed at him. The Doctor tapped the small figure on her shoulder.
'Bats,' he said, 'whatever are you doing? Why can't humans stay put when you want them to?’
Sleep-ruled eyes peered mistily at him.
‘I can't really take you back to Chulainn, can I? I suppose you'll have to come with me.’
Bathsheba smiled weakly and then collapsed back into her dreams.
A sudden roaring like thunder surrounded Chulainn and Ace.
'By all that's ... The horses, they're stampeding,' Chulainn identified the noise. Panic filled his voice.
'Something must have happened back at the camp.’ He gave a wide cry that the horse seemed to respond to, for it increased its pace, dodging the hurtling bodies of its companions.
A dull, orange glow hung in the air to the south. It couldn’t be produced by a single fire, Ace thought, the whole camp must be ablaze. ‘By Dagda,’ she heard Chulainn whisper behind her.
By the time they reached the encampment, it was already far late. Nothing had been left alive. Every man, woman and child had been slaughtered, their bodies mangled horribly and strewn about the wrecked tents. The melting snow was stained red by the bloodshed. Scattered fires, already dying down, crackled where tents had collapsed on to burning lanterns. The body of a demon, seemingly the only casualty on the attackers’ side, lay on the outskirts of the camp.
Chulainn picked through the wreckage, his face salty with tears. Ace followed him, her mind numb with horror. At the centre of the camp lay the bodies of the two pregnant women. Their bellies had been slit open and the babies plucked out and then strangled with their own umbilical cords. Ace left Chulainn and vomited bile on to a still clean patch of ground. Then she went and stood by the horse, looking into the dark. She began to cry.
Behind her she heard Chulainn raise a cry to the heavens. She couldn't bring herself to turn and look.
Moments later Chulainn's hand fell on her shoulder. His voice was dead.
'All have been slain. I must honour them. Will you help me?’
'What do you want me to do?' she asked.
'I must build a pyre. Burn their bodies. They cannot be left to scavengers. I realize you may be unused to such an ... an atrocity, but if you collect materials for burning, I will gather together the corpses. They are my people in death as much as they were in life. '
'All right, I'll do that.'
They set about the grisly task with heavy hearts. Was this the Doctor's idea of committing her into safe hands? When Chulainn announced that it was finished, Ace looked with some surprise at the camp.
'But there are still people left.'
'They are not people, they were witches. They were part of the demon attack. I shall not contaminate my people's purifying flames by burning those scum with them.'
He set a flaming torch against the pyre and stood back as it flared up into life. He gazed into the flames until everything was consumed and then turned.
'I have gathered together enough supplies for our journey back to Dinorben. Come, it is time we left this place of death.’
They halted for the night on the outskirts of the Forest of Coed. Chulainn had decided not to take the road through the middle of the forest and had instead tracked along the outermost western edges, hoping to avoid the obvious danger of ambushes. When they stopped they penetrated a few hundred yards into the forest to remove themselves from the dangerous open.