Doctor Who_ Delta and the Bannermen - Malcolm Kohll [31]
‘Did they get you, Doctor?’ gasped Mel.
‘No. I don’t think they were trying to kill us,’ said the Doctor, glancing in the mirror in time to see Arrex and Callon trying to free themselves from the snagging gorse bushes.
‘Well, that certainly makes a change,’ said Mel, not convinced.
Burton, his face frozen in a grimace, clung on for dear life.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Goronwy was showing Billy and Delta around his hives.
He and Billy were both wearing veils but Delta seemed at home with the insects and walked bare-headed among them, holding her daughter’s hand. The child was now about the size of a six-year-old, and already her skin tone and hair colour were starting to resemble her mother’s.
Goronwy led them to a large white hive right in the middle of the others.
‘This is the queen’s hive,’ he said grandly.
‘What’s that white stuff?’ asked Billy, peering at some gooey white fluid in the waxy cells.
‘Royal jelly – it’s super-food made by the bees. It has the ability to change an ordinary worker bee larva into a queen,’ said Goronwy.
Billy was suddenly more interested. ‘That’s all there is to it? A better diet?’ he said.
‘Never underestimate the power of nature, Billy. Come, I want to show you something.’
Goronwy lifted his veil and walked to the tall barn behind his house. Billy and Delta followed, with her young daughter trailing behind, chewing on a piece of honeycomb.
Goronwy unlocked the door and threw it open. Billy and Delta could just see the glint of something inside.
Goronwy led them in. There, on a trestle table, stood hundreds of jars of honey.
The barn was stacked from floor to ceiling with boxes.
On the side of each carton was a fat bee. The rest of the barn was filled with all the normal paraphernalia of farming – coils of rope, wire, ladders, spades and forks.
Hanging from the ceiling was a feed chute which could be raised and lowered by rope.
‘Look at this – Wales’ finest! And all created by those wonderful tiny insects,’ said Goronwy, proudly gesturing to the mountain of honey.
‘How long did it take for them to make all this?’ asked Billy, slightly overcome by the scale of the production.
Goronwy scratched his chin. ‘I don’t really know –
we’ve been working together for so long that I’ve completely lost track of time. But I remember this one especially well,’ he said, blowing the dust off a jar and holding it up to the light. ‘It’s 1932, a hot summer with abundant cherry blossom – a classic honey!’ he said with pride.
‘Incredible!’ said Billy in awe.
‘Take it boyo,’ said Goronwy, offering him the jar.
‘Accept it with our compliments.’
‘Thanks. It will be just the thing for my toast,’ said Billy. Mundane activities such as breakfast seemed a distant memory.
Delta’s child, sitting on a box, suddenly started making an extraordinary grizzling sound. ‘She’s due to change –
the singing time is near,’ said Delta. She took a tube of greenish liquid from her knapsack and gave it to the child who sucked greedily at it.
Billy watching in fascination. ‘What’s the singing time?’
he asked.
Delta looked up as she helped the child to squeeze the final drops from the tuble. ‘It’s the next stage in her growth. This food will boost her energy for the metamorphosis.’
‘Will she grow up into a princess?’ asked Billy, still barely believing his eyes.
Delta nodded. ‘Yes. Her hair and eyes are already changing to my colouring. She’s been fed on this substance since birth.’
Billy’s eyes narrowed in concentration as a thought flashed through his mind. Surely it was too fanciful, too strange, too implausible... but just maybe...
A strange vibrant sound cut the air like a knife, causing Billy to wince and involuntarily put his hands up to his ears. ‘Sometimes it sounds really pretty, other times it’s just horrible,’ he said, glaring at the small green creature.
‘The sound oscillates – one frequency is an attack warning,