• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Bathsheba was the first to see the small shed crouching in a hollow in the ground. She called out to the Doctor, not expecting her voice to carry over the noise of the wind, but he turned at her cry and stopped his horse. She waved her arm in the direction of the shed until he saw it. He gave her a nod and they headed off towards the shelter that it might offer.

The shed's door was jammed with snow. The body of a ram lay frozen to the wall. Its eyes were staring and its mouth open in a silent bleat. The Doctor cleared the snow from the door and pulled it open. A fresh animal smell drifted out on a wave of warm air and there was a shuffling sound in the darkness.

Away from the wind, the Doctor was able to light the lantern from his pack. Bathsheba gazed around the interior. Five sheep huddled in one comer as far away from the two intruders as possible; the walls were battered but enough to keep out the worst of the weather; stray scraps of straw littered the floor.

'It may not be much, but it'll do for the night, said the Doctor. 'I've slept in worse places.' He hung the lantern from one of the overhead beams and led the horses into the shed. Pulling the door shut behind them, he said to Bathsheba, ‘Catabolic processes - they'll keep us warm here. It should at least be bearable.'

They unpacked their blankets and laid them out on the floor. Bathsheba was so weary from the day's travel that she slept immediately. The Doctor checked the animals for any signs of ill health. The horses were fine, Chulainn's people knew how to look after them, but the sheep were undernourished and in poor condition. There was nothing he could do for them except hope that the snows melted in time for them to be able to reach food. He sat with his back against the mare's flank and closed his eyes on the world for a time.

Disturbance in sense organs.

Accommodate for reduced ambient temperature. Fault corrected.

Awaiting instructions.

Active #76/1, #76/2.

Correct muscular spasming.

Activate motive units.

Awaiting instructions.

Appropriate velocity achieved.

Extend #76/1, #76/2.

Scan.

Awaiting instructions.

Every crystal of snow was different, designed by nature from random aggregations of water molecules.

A draughtsman could work for years to produce a single object with as much beauty.

Outside the shed, millions upon millions of intricately constructed snowflakes drifted into wind formed sculptures. They pressed in on the walls of the shed, piling up so that, when the small patrol arrived they had to work to clear away the snow so that they could open the door. Their efforts at digging awoke the Doctor Bathsheba long before they got inside and the sheep began to bleat pathetically.

'Hello in there" a cheerful voice called from the other side of the door. ‘We came across your trail in the snow and thought we had better locate any travellers who might be lost. Hello, can you hear me?’

'Yes,' the Doctor shouted 'We are travelling to Goibhnie’s island. I am the Doctor and I have a young girl here called Bathsheba..'

'Well, then greetings, Doctor and Bathsheba. I am Ferllu of Daffyr. We have rather a lot of snow to clear away from this door. We shan't be long. From your smell you are humans. Are you not taking great risk journeying to Goibhnie? I believed that there was a state of war between yourselves and we other races.’

'I am not a native of Tír na n-Óg. I try not to involve myself with your politics but I have been told that I may not return to Dinorben unless I go to treaty with Goibhnie.'

‘The fool Nuada seeks others to do his work, does he?’

'Something like that. Pardon me for asking, but which of the races are you?’

'I am Firbolg,' Ferllu said proudly. ‘My companions are Allan and Chrawd of Daffyr There now, the door is clear. May we enter?’

‘You may indeed,' answered the Doctor. Bathsheba cowered behind him. She had been told that the Fomoir, the Firbolg and the Sidhe were to blame for the loss of Dagda's Wheel from the sky and, despite their pleasant manner, she didn't entirely trust these visitors.