Doctor Who_ Combat Rock - Mick Lewis [27]
He was looking at them too now, smiling slightly, carefully, as if to reassure them. He was taller than Wemus, his hair longer, and he had a small beard and moustache. His nose was flat like the guide’s, his face more obviously intelligent. His eyes were wary, and tinged with sadness.
‘This my friend Kepennis,’ Wemus said. ‘He guide too, and he see some terrible things.’
The Doctor stepped forward. ‘And what terrible things has Kepennis seen?’ His face had lost the childlike qualities, replaced now with keen intelligence and gravity.
Wemus paused before answering. He did not want to scare his tourists away, but at the same time he had a duty to warn them of what Kepennis had just told him.
‘It is beyond my understanding,’ he said at last, searching for the words in his broken English that could describe the incredible events.
Kepennis came to his aid. ‘The gods have spoken to their people.’
‘Oh?’ prompted the Doctor. ‘And what did they have to say?’ A bird whistled from the bushes behind him, making Victoria, who was standing next to him, start agitatedly. He gave her a brief and reassuring smile before returning his attention to Wemus and Kepennis.
‘The Mumi come alive, and he kill visitors to his village.’
Kepennis spoke slowly, his English halting and imperfect like Wemus, but the gravity of his voice and the look on his face left the travellers in no doubt that what he was telling them was the truth.
‘Och, you’re tellin’ us a dead thing came to life and scared ye?’ Jamie was obstinately pragmatic as usual, but the Doctor put up a hand to hush his impetuous friend.
‘Do go on,’ he said encouragingly. ‘Tell us everything that happened.’
So Kepennis told them. He told them about the troop of tourists he had led to Akima. He told them about the Mumi spitting snakes at the offworlders – at the Indoni businessman and his wife too. He told them how he had run to hide in the jungle – and here he looked a little shamefaced. Shamefaced enough for Jamie to intervene again.
‘You mean they’re all dead? Every last one? Are you sure?’
Kepennis shrugged. ‘One may have survived. But I in jungle all night and today and not see anything. Only the killers.’
‘The killers?’ The Doctor pressed. ‘And what might they be?’
Kepennis looked wary ‘They come to village today with guns and hate. Aliens like you, paid by Indoni.’
‘Paid? Paid to do what?’ the Doctor asked, frowning.
Kepennis glanced at Wemus, as if unsure how much he should trust this stranger. Wemus nodded. Kepennis hesitated for a moment longer, and then spoke.
‘It is not safe in jungle now Indoni soldiers will come. The killers come. Indoni think we Papul to blame for deaths in Akima. Now all Paputs in danger. Maybe you too.’
Victoria had been trying to concentrate on what the guide was saying, but a rustling, as of some small animal, in the branches just behind her kept pulling at her attention. She glimpsed a flash of vibrant, unearthly plumage, and gasped softly.
Feathers more luxuriantly coloured than anything she had ever seen in her life lifted as a bird the size of a cat hopped from one perch to another. She could just make out a slender, sapphire neck and then the bird had moved, further into the jungle, tantalisingly just out of sight. She turned to nudge Jamie, but he was too far away, standing next to the Doctor. In front of her, Ussman and Budi were concentrating on Kepennis, worried expressions on their faces. She considered briefly what she was about to do, knowing it was foolish: this was dangerous jungle after all. Then decided.
She pushed her way through the foliage, stepping as quietly as she could. She had to see that magnificent bird one more time. It truly was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her life. She could still hear the low murmuring of Kepennis, and as long as she