Doctor Who_ Combat Rock - Mick Lewis [75]
Wemus locked eyes with him for a moment, then shrugged and turned to face forwards again, reaching for his oar.
‘You’re a stupid man, Wemus,’ Kepennis said with a wry grin. ‘But not too stupid, I hope. Forget the Indoni whore and concentrate on staying alive.’
Wemus glared at him without smiling and Kepennis frowned at the unaccustomed anger he could see in his friend’s face.
‘Because you’re my friend, Kepennis, I will let that go.
But Wina is not a whore, and the next time you call her one, I will no longer be your friend.’
The Doctor, picking up his own oar again, cleared his throat demonstratively. ‘Let’s concentrate on staying alive, and not fighting amongst ourselves, shall we?’
‘He speak good words, you listen to him,’ Tigus said, rolling a cigarette and scanning the river ahead worriedly.
Snatchers always made him nervous.
The Doctor detected his anxiety. ‘Tell me about these Snatchers. Do they only live in the rivers?’
‘Snatchers more happy in water. But they move in jungle too. Never know where you see one. Cannot fight. If they want you, they get.’
‘I see. Then life on Papul must be very difficult.’
‘They only come out one month in dry season, like now.
Rest of time mating. This not good time to journey.’
‘Then I admire your determination and fortitude,’ the Doctor said rather icily. Tigus ignored him and continued scanning both the water and the river banks to either side. The Doctor followed his gaze. There was no telling where trouble might burst from next on this godforsaken island.
For Jamie and Santi, trouble came in the form of a Kassowark.
They had made the river bank in one piece, miraculously.
The pursuing fingers had dipped patiently beneath the surface again as if the monster could bide its time. Jamie had helped the spluttering Indoni girl ashore, only to see the Doctor’s canoe vanishing rapidly downstream. They’d been abandoned, then.
The Scot felt completely helpless for a minute. It was the feeling he hated most in the world. He was always a man of resources, of instant action. He left all the thinking to the Doctor while he himself took care of the practicalities. But right now, there didn’t seem to be an awful lot he could do. He plucked a transparent leech-thing from Santi’s muddy arm –
he could see her blood filling the thin tube that was its body –
and gave her what he hoped was an encouraging smile.
Her gasping became a series of exasperated oaths. He held out his hand to pull her to her feet but she slapped it away, standing up without assistance. Her legs were sleeved in the mud from the river bank, right up to her shapely calves. It looked like she was wearing thick, brown stockings. Jamie refrained from pointing this out to her, however, and concentrated on wringing out his shirt and kilt.
Santi merely stood there dripping, and watching him with complete misery etched on her face. ‘Now what we do?’ she spat finally, as if it was all Jamie’s fault. She hadn’t been able to bring herself to thank him for saving her life. And Jamie guessed her stubborn Indoni pride would not allow it. Despite their eternal quarrelling, Santi and Wina were very much alike, he decided.
‘We follow the river, I suppose.’
‘Which way?’
‘Why, that way of course,’ he indicated downstream. The second canoe was just a black dot on the point of disappearing around a bend in the mighty river.
‘You crazy. That way more danger. We must go back way we come.’
‘No. We have to find the Doctor. He’s the only one who can get us away from this mad planet.’ She looked at him strangely. He wasn’t about to explain to her all about the TARDIS now; he was hardly in the mood. ‘I mean, he knows the way home.’ And that was a lie for a start.
He reached out for her hand again, and reluctantly, this time she gave it. Her high-heeled shoes had been lost in the river, but to her credit she didn’t moan about squelching through the mud of the river bank in her bare feet. Much.
They came to a section of the river bank where the jungle extended right down to the water’s edge, thick trees and spiny bushes blocking