Doctor Who_ Curse of Peladon - Brian Hayles [41]
‘Grun,’ said Jo, gaining confidence at this admission of respect, ‘you are a brave and honourable soldier—but you are being misled, Hepesh has tricked you with false words. I am here to tell you the truth. You will listen... and you may rise,’ Jo added hastily.
Grun stood up, his mighty form rigidly at the attention. Jo tried to remember what the Brigadier, or Mike would say to a lower rank. ‘At ease,’ she said crisply, and Grun relaxed.
When Jo looked at him again, she almost burst out laughing.
His face expressed wonderment that such a slip of a girl should have the stuff of generals in her. She decided not to overdo the sergeant-major bit: friendly persuasion was what she was here for, and she had to make it good.
‘Grun,’ she said. ‘I am entrusting you with a secret that only I and your King Peladon share.’ She paused, and tried to work out what she had to say next, without actually telling an out-and-out lie. ‘Peladon has asked me to be his royal bride—’ She was about to continue, but found that Grun was once more kneeling at her feet, When she looked into his face, it was full of genuine pleasure. He took her hand and placed it on his head, a sign that he would serve her as faithfully as his present master. Jo was slightly alarmed. She hadn’t said ‘yes’ yet, but everybody seemed to take it for granted that she would! ‘Such an alliance, she said,
‘would bring the planet of Peladon and the planet Earth very close...’
Grun looked, if anything, more pleased. But his face fell at Jo’s next words.
‘Unfortunately,’ declared Jo, ‘this union is doomed before it has begun. The man that you are to fight in mortal combat—the Doctor—-,’ Jo placed her hand behind her back and crossed her fingers to cancel out the bold untruth, ‘is the only person of rank who can grant consent for it to happen! By killing him, you will destroy any chance of wedlock between me and your king. And I think you are aware that will make your royal lord... quite desperately unhappy.’ Watch it, Jo, she thought to herself.
You’re beginning to sound as grand and toffee-nosed as Queen Elizabeth the First! In spite of that, it looked as if her words had struck home. Grun’s face was genuinely sad, and the noise he made pathetic in its pleading. She followed the direction of his pointing hand, and knew the cause of his unhappiness. He was indicating the miniature shrine in one corner of his room. In that shrine was a statue—of Aggedor.
Jo took a deep breath—this was the real crunch.
‘I know you are dedicated to Aggedor,’ she said, ‘and you have seen his face—and lived. But you do not know that both I and the Doctor have looked upon Aggedor as well.’
Grun looked at her with something approaching awe—and then she caught just a shade of suspicion at the back of his eyes.
She’d have to be careful.
‘He has not slain us, as you can see,’ she said. ‘But he is angry... and disturbed. His ways are being twisted by the very man who should be his greatest servant—Hepesh!’
At this, Grun gave a great, troubled sigh, and hid his face in his hands. As protector of the throne, his life had been uncomplicated—until the arrival of these aliens. Now, he was faced with a clash of loyalties: should he serve his king, with whom he knew Hepesh disagreed, or the High Priest and the voice of Aggedor? If, by executing the Doctor, he destroyed the marriage that the king desired, he would be like dust in Peladon’s eyes. But if he broke his bond, and defied the command of Hepesh, the consequences would be terrible indeed. For Hepesh had the power to call down the very form of Aggedor and, in a moment, he, the King’s Champion, would suffer the fate of Torbis. Queen or not, this Earthling princess had no power to prevent that. He looked into her eyes, and knew what he must do. But his decision was not to be made known. Hepesh was standing in the doorway,