Doctor Who_ Full Circle - Andrew Smith [8]
Adric seemed amused. 'Of course I'm better than you. I'm an Elite.' He smirked. 'You can't even organise a raid on the riverfruits properly.' He had heard about the morning's fiasco.
Tylos scowled. 'Could you do better?'
Adric smiled his reply. 'It would be an effort to do as badly.'
Varsh was worried. He saw what was coming. 'Adric, go back to the starliner. You don't belong -'
'No,' Tylos cut in, removing a belt fashioned from marsh reeds from around his waist. All the Outlers wore them. He held it up before Adric's face. 'Know what this is?' he said. 'It's our badge... and it has to be earned. Know what I mean?'
Adric stared at the belt, then at Varsh. His brother was concerned for him. But he couldn't back down now.
He said, 'It'll be easy,' with a brash confidence which he did not really possess.
The appearance of Dexeter and Decider Draith at one of the riverfruit harvests prompted subdued murmurs among the harvesters. Whatever it was that was happening, it was serious for the First Decider to be involved so directly. The harvesters noticed that the two men took a keen interest in the pile of riverfruits stacked on the bank, selecting a couple and hacking them open, then looking very worried and speaking quickly and very quietly to one another, apparently cautious of any of the harvesters who came too near.
No one noticed the Outlers taking up position by some nearby trees.
Varsh gestured everyone to silence. As they waited, watching, he secretly crossed his fingers for Adric. There he was.
He could just be discerned slinking tentatively through a clump of bushes further along the bank, making his way towards the stack of riverfruits.
Varsh was the first to recognise the two figures by the riverfruits. 'Decider Draith's over there!' he said. 'And Dexeter, too!'
'Your brother can't see them,' said Keara. 'They're blocked from his view by the riverfruits.'
With an almost silent snigger, Tylos observed, 'Life's nothing without the occasional surprise or two.'
He laughed, unaware of the mists that were gradually penetrating the trees and bushes behind them, moving closer to them all the time.
Amid the foliage on the far side of the riverfruit store, Adric stopped in a position where he could see the riverfruits without being seen himself by the harvesters. The palpitations in his chest told him he wasn't as sure of himself as he would like to think. Every muscle in his body tensed. He would have to be quick. He would have to be silent. With a bit of luck -
He was about to go when he heard the screams.
They came from the direction of the river, and Adric realised there was terror in them. Just as he was about to crawl out a little further to see, Draith and Dexeter stepped out from behind the pile of riverfruits. He made a desperate sideways lunge for cover, lying with his face in the dirt and praying he hadn't been seen.
He needn't have worried. Draith and Dexeter were running towards the water, out of which the hysterical citizens were running in one screaming mass, kicking up a wall of spray. They gathered on the bank, staring at the river with horror.
It was bubbling furiously, the bubbles bursting to emit plumes of a thick grey gas which floated clumsily on the air.
Draith and Dexeter made their way to the front of the crowd. Looking on the eerie, terrifying sight, they knew their fears were soon to be realised.
Mistfall was beginning.
Draith turned to the citizens, raising his staff, and with Dexeter's help gestured them to silence. 'Calm down!' he called out. 'Calm down, all of you!'
It was not long before everyone was silent. Respect and obedience towards a Decider were cultivated in citizens from birth.
As Draith began his announcement and his warning, Adric and the Outlers listened intently from their hiding places.
'Citizens,' Draith began, his eyes scanning the frightened faces grouped around him, 'as First Decider