Doctor Who_ Earthworld - Jacqueline Rayner [21]
‘Your Highnesses – please, forgive me!’ cried the woman, holding out her hands in supplication.
‘Hmmm. . . ’
said the girl dressed in green, as if considering the plea.
‘Hmmm. . . No!’
‘You are a traitor and a danger to us,’ said blue-dress. ‘We cannot allow you to live.’
‘Proceed with the execution!’ called the orange-robed girl.
‘No!’ shrieked the woman, but the hooded man took her shoulders and pushed her towards the wooden block. Shaking, she laid her head down, facing away from the thrones. The man raised his axe –
‘Stop!’ called orange-dress.
The axe halted. The woman raised her head and turned, sudden hope in her eyes. ‘Your Highness?’ she breathed.
‘I meant, stop, I want to see your face when your head’s cut off. Turn round, please.’
40
Killing Queens
41
With a sob, the woman laid down her head once more.
‘Proceed with the execution!’ orange-dress called, again.
The man raised his axe.
The door of the throne room burst open.
The axe began to fall.
A velvet-coated man dashed through the door and ran towards the scene.
The axe fell. Blood splattered all over the floor as the woman’s head was severed, and the three girls cheered.
The running man slipped in the blood, and skidded all the way to the girls.
He managed to halt just in front of them, but paid them no immediate attention; instead he hoiked his left foot up to his nose and sniffed. The green-dressed girl giggled.
‘Artificial,’ the man said. ‘You’ve got the colour and consistency right, but not the smell. Small details are important, you know. I’m the Doctor, by the way.
You must be the three princesses.’
‘We’re not supposed to have visitors,’ said the girl dressed in orange. ‘Even doctors.’
‘We’ve seen lots of doctors,’ said blue-dress, sitting down, ‘but they didn’t help.’
‘Couldn’t help,’ added orange.
‘Didn’t want to help,’ sighed green.
‘Well, maybe I can help,’ said the Doctor. ‘Now, I’ve introduced myself – why don’t you do the same.’
‘We don’t have to tell you anything,’ said green. ‘We’re princesses and you’re not.’
‘You don’t have to but it wouldn’t do any harm now, would it? I’m being friendly. Why don’t you be friendly back?’
Blue-dress raised an eyebrow at the others. They shrugged. She turned back to the Doctor. ‘All right. I’m Asia.’
‘I’m Africa,’ said orange.
‘And I’m Antarctica,’ said green.
‘Good!’ The Doctor beamed at them. ‘What lovely names.’ He perched on the steps leading up to the thrones. ‘Now, tell me about that.’ He gestured to the beheaded figure lying on the floor, and the silent executioner standing beside it.
‘That’s Mary Antoinette, Queen of the Earth Scots,’ Asia told him. ‘She’s in a book. She had her head cut off. We wanted to see what it looked like.’
‘She begged for mercy,’ breathed Africa.
42
EarthWorld
‘If that’s Mary Stuart you’re talking about, no she didn’t,’ said the Doctor, cheerfully. ‘She met her fate with courage and resolve.’
Africa sniffed, disappointedly.
‘And,’ the Doctor continued, ‘they didn’t cut off her head in one clean stroke.
It took several before the head was severed. Little details, you see, little details.’
‘Cool!’ said Africa, cheered again. She turned to Asia. ‘I want to do it again.
Now.’
Antarctica rolled her eyes. ‘We need to repair the Queen first, silly.’ She made a tutting noise.
Asia looked at the Doctor thoughtfully. ‘Or we could just find someone else to execute,’ she said.
Surprisingly, Anji and the boys had made it out of the palace easily enough.
Anji was getting the impression that the whole planet was just basically incompetent. Guards wandered about lazily, never checking around them, never noticing feet sticking out from under alcoved curtains or heads ducking hastily back round corners. She’d often shouted at the screen at the implausibility of TV guards; now she realised that the portrayal of stupidity was fully justified. She wondered whether, if she were to creep up behind one and chop him lightly on the neck, he would be rendered