Doctor Who_ Curse of Peladon - Brian Hayles [55]
The defenders swords had scarcely left their hands before six bodies fell lifeless to the ground, struck down without mercy.
Peladon flinched, closing his eyes to the brief slaughter. This was tradition at its most bloody. The fire in Hepesh’s eyes promised little mercy even to Peladon himself. With a bold step, the High Priest strode to the throne, and there confronted his king and one-time ward. He paused there, and their eyes met.
‘Is this the crown of Kingship, Hepesh?’ asked Peladon bravely, ‘Or do you bring me death instead?’
Hepesh stared at the tense young face before him, and a distant memory returned to his mind: a boy whom he had once dandled on his knee, as a father might play with his son. But those days were past.
‘You, Peladon, have become a stranger to the ways of Aggedor!’ declaimed the haughty priest. ‘You will be given the chance to return to our ancient ways, and in doing so you will live, a glorious and revered figurehead of state.’
‘Hepesh can never be king!’ snapped Peladon.
‘But as High Regent, I can guide this nation towards the destiny that it deserves!’ retorted Hepesh. ‘Deny that, deny Aggedor, and the royal line of Peladon is ended with the taking of your life!’
‘The aliens will destroy you, Hepesh,’ said the king calmly.
‘You and all your people will be crushed in retribution. You cannot fight them and win.’
Hepesh smiled cruelly. He knew just how helpless the aliens were without their spaceships. His stealthy agents had seen to that. And there was still one more card that he would play against them.
‘I am not a fool, Peladon,’ he said. ‘I do not intend to fight them and draw the vengeance of their fireships upon us. But they will listen to me. I have a weapon to which they have no answer.’ He gestured brusquely. ‘When I command, they will obey. And this nation will be free at last!’
The blow that had struck Grun down would have crushed the skull of a lesser man. But the same lunge that had left Grun open to the blow from Hepesh had also pulled him out of its direct line of impact. Badly dazed, he was just beginning to come round when the Doctor arrived. Kneeling by the fallen King’s Champion, and witnessing the dead bodies of the soldiers slain by Grun, the Doctor quickly put two and two together—and his face was grim.
‘Grun, what’s happened? Who do these soldiers belong to?
Tell me!’
With an effort, the King’s Champion pulled himself together, and focused on what the Doctor was asking him. His clumsy mime left the Doctor even more puzzled until Grun started scrawling an initial in the dust. As the letter ‘H’ was formed, the Doctor knew his suspicions were true. But if two soldiers were killed, how many more did Hepesh have with him?
When asked, Grun put up his fingers again and again for the Doctor to count. The High Priest was moving too fast for the delegates to obtain sufficient help from Federation sources. Only direct action against Hepesh himself would do any good now.
‘It’s not good, Grun old chap. If Hepesh gains control of the citadel, I don’t think we stand much chance.’
Grun grunted desperately and tried to make the Doctor understand that it wasn’t the citadel that Hepesh hoped to take.
He drew a circlet about his brow. Suddenly the Doctor understood. ‘The king!’ he exclaimed. ‘Of course! Take the king and he’s won everything!’
Grun lurched to his feet, grabbing up his fallen sword as he did so. He stood, swaying, a battered giant ready to take on Hepesh in a desperate attempt to save his king. The Doctor placed a hand on Grun’s right arm, and shook his head. ‘No, Grun, that isn’t the way.’
His words were interrupted by a distant, echoing roar. Grun dropped to his knees and hid his face in the crook of his arm.