Doctor Who_ Combat Rock - Mick Lewis [104]
‘The gods spoke to me, Wemus. They told me how to fight back. I communed with them for three years here on the island I made my home. And after that... I emerged from hiding with a new identity – a perfect one, don’t you think? How else could I rig the Mumis, or encourage the people of Agat to buy the Godgrowth, other than by being a humble guide, seemingly under the yoke of the Indoni tourist harness? Very easy to tamper with revered trophy skulls then, believe me... I would never have been allowed to wander so freely otherwise.’
He was standing very still, only the candlelight moving in his eyes. ‘Of course my loyal OPG warriors never saw the real me. A full head balaclava was essential for when I needed to come here in person. Easy to convince them of the necessity for secrecy concerning my identity. Better for them, better for me. Better for you too, Wemus.’
Wemus opened his mouth to speak, but couldn’t. He turned away from his friend, then pulled himself together enough to be able to whirl round to confront him again, and this time he had found his voice.
‘You don’t even sound like Kepennis!’ It was an absurd accusation, but it was only Wemus’s way of coming to terms with the shock of discovering his beloved partner in mischief was somebody else entirely. This man who had shared his jokes, his drunkenness, his extortion of the tourists – was actually the dreaded Krallik, the feared head of the OPG used to scare Papul children to their beds, and powerful enough to shake Sabit in his palace of comfort. Then again, it explained all the little things that had perplexed Wemus too. The sudden fits of anger over Wemus’s affection for Wina, his disdain towards the Indoni girl herself...
‘Yes, your English does seem to have improved somewhat, Kepennis..’ The Doctor had a protective arm around Victoria now, and was once again making slow and careful backward steps towards the antechamber.
Kepennis detected the movement. As the Doctor watched in horror, the composite corpse of ‘The Krallik’ rose stiffly from the wooden chair, still holding the candle. It shuffled with a grotesque, wooden gait towards the time traveller, the flame bleeding backwards from the outstretched candle. It was a macabre and grisly sight, made infinitely worse when the missionary head, dislodged by the movement, tipped forward and bounced on the floor. The dead white eyes held Victoria petrified from below. One of the whore hands twitched towards the belt fastening the khaki trousers, and when it lifted again it was clutching a gnarled and dirty Kassowark bone knife. ,
The Krallik was three yards from the Doctor and Victoria.
Her involuntary scream shattered the spell both were under.
‘Move again, and I will saw your companion’s head from her shoulders, Doctor!’ Kepennis ordered, his face frowning with the mental energy he was using to manipulate the Krallik.
Without taking his eyes off the composite corpse, Kepennis spoke to Wemus.
‘My friend: you must let her go.’
Wemus, understanding Kepennis’s meaning, merely clasped hold of Wina’s hand even harder.
‘She is Indoni. A blight, a pollution. A working girl selling her filthy wares in our pure land. Without her you can stand at my side as we free Papul forever. But you must prove your loyalty by killing the hostages. The Indoni whore must die first.’
Wina shrieked in indignation, twisting like a snake in Wemus’s grasp. ‘I no working girl!!’ she bellowed, her hands claws raking the air in her desperation to get at Kepennis. She pulled Wemus forward towards the ‘guide’, so determined was she to vent her anger.
The Doctor tried to intervene, dodging around the now motionless figure of the Krallik.
‘Peaceful solutions are always the better option, Kepennis.’
‘We have discussed this already, Doctor. Extreme solutions are the only ones that count.’
Kepennis took his eyes away from the Krallik for a moment, raising an eyebrow at Wemus.
‘No? This is your answer? You choose a whore over your own people’s freedom? Then you are cockroach too..’ He stepped back and passed a hand in front of the nearest