Doctor Who_ Halflife - Mark Michalowski [51]
93
‘That’s good to hear. What would be even better is the reason why you’re so interested in us. In me.’
Sensimi glanced around and caught sight of the two old women, who were staring at them like vultures.
‘Come back to the Palace with me,’ she said eventually, ‘and I’ll show you.’
‘Promise?’
‘Promise,’ she said.
‘What about Trix?’
‘She’ll be fine,’ said Sensimi, too quickly.
‘I’m not just going to leave her.’
‘Oh all right – hang on.’ Sensimi pulled a petulant face and crossed the square to the two women – who evidently knew an Esperon princess when they saw her, for as she reached them, their eyes went wide and they began clasping their hands in front of their bosoms, dipping and bowing their heads, nodding obsequiously. Sensimi reached into her pocket and pressed something into their trembling hands, and came back to Fitz. He saw the women conferring between themselves before struggling to their feet. They waddled off the way Sensimi and Fitz had come, with a bit more bowing and scraping for good measure as they went.
Fitz caught a hint of a sneer on Sensimi’s face as she watched them go.
‘I’ve told them to go and find her and tell her to come to the Palace.’
‘And you trust them?’
‘They’re loyal subjects of the Imperator, my father. They love the Imperial Family. They’ll do anything for us.’
‘Uh huh?’ said Fitz, not at all sure that he shared Sensimi’s confidence in the faithfulness of her subjects. But maybe the great unwashed public had never actually met Sensimi, in which case, she could be right.
‘Happy now?’
‘I s’pose it’ll have to do,’ Fitz said. He waved ahead of them. ‘Lead the way, your Royal Highness.’
‘Highness will do fine,’ said Sensimi without a hint of irony.
If Reo hadn’t been a ten-year-old boy, Trix would have suspected him of leading her on. Despite the directness of her questions, he managed, somehow, to avoid telling her what this valuable toy was. He reminded her of the Doctor.
And by the time she got to the stage of demanding, straight out, ‘What is it?’, Reo had become quiet and sullen and on-the-verge-of-tears stubborn.
Trix changed tack, and tried to find out where he’d lost it – and, again, his answers were vague or indirect. By then, Trix had given up all hope of being able to find Fitz: she assumed he’d be fine with the snotty cow – but if he 94
wasn’t. . . hell, he was a grown man; he knew what he was doing. She wasn’t his mother.
‘Reo,’ she said, still squatting down beside the boy, adopting her firmest-but-still-fairly-caring voice. ‘If you won’t tell me what this toy is, or where you lost it, then how can I help you to find it? If you don’t give me a bit more to go on –’ she sighed theatrically – ‘then I’m going to have to find a policeman and let him take you home.’ She eyed him up. ‘Is that what you want?’
Reo looked back at her, his face disturbingly emotionless. If he’d been white with blond hair, it would have been Village of the Damned all over again.
‘The soldiers know where it is,’ he said at length, as if imparting a great secret. Before he could say any more, his eyes darted past her, over her shoulder, and she heard footsteps, away down the darkened sidestreet behind her; the kicking of a stone, the sound of it ricocheting off a wall. Laughter. Something in it made her edgy.
‘Maybe we should go somewhere else,’ she said. ‘I don’t think it’s safe here.
For either of us.’
She stood up and took his hand – and jumped, as suddenly, much closer than she’d have expected, she heard a voice.
‘What’ve we got here then?’
She turned in the darkness. Three figures – three stocky, belligerent-looking figures – were silhouetted in front of her, limned by the orange glow of distant streetlights, demonic halos.
‘She’s one of the aliens,’ said another – not the brightest-sounding of voices, thought Trix, which made it all the more disturbing.
‘Yeah,’ replied the first voice. ‘She brought the night beasts with her – her and that other one.’
‘Alien,’ hissed a third voice, slowly and with deliberate menace.
‘Yeah. Alien. Coming here with your animals.’
‘Causing