Doctor Who_ Last of the Gaderene - Mark Gatiss [13]
At once, the Doctor began to pound at the water with the paddle, plunging it deep below the surface again and again.
The boat began to move swiftly forward. Peering through the night, the Doctor could just make out the lamp on the top of the TARDIS glittering with reflected starlight.
On the far shore, a troop of soldiers had emerged from the jungle. One of them, the ratty, obnoxious figure the Doctor had come to know as General Gogon, stood with hands on hips, a crooked smile disfiguring a face that was, in any case, none too pleasant.
The Doctor shot a look over his shoulder. Gogon was gesturing to his troops to line up and fire. About half a dozen followed his instructions, stepping into the shallows of the lake and raising their long, deadly rifles.
Redoubling his efforts, the Doctor paddled on, the little round boat skimming through the calm water like a well-aimed stone.
A volley of shots rang out like a smattering of hesitant applause and the water just behind the boat broke up into a choppy wake. The Doctor smiled grimly. He was just out of reach.
Rujjis’s people had planted the explosives at the general’s palace. A nationwide rising against his cruelty was already under way. It was time for the Doctor to slip quietly away in the TARDIS, now only twenty feet or so away on the tiny island in the middle of the lake. Time to slip into the mists of legend. Perhaps he might pop back one day and see how his legend was getting on.
‘Doctor!’
The cry rang out through the still night air. The Doctor didn’t stop paddling, but looked back briefly towards the shore. What he saw made him stop at once and the boat coasted to a gentle halt, bumping against the sandy foreshore of the island.
Gogon was visible at the far side of the lake, still surrounded by his heavily armed troops. But now the repulsive commander held a gun to the head of Rujjis. The Doctor’s friend seemed calm, his hands held high above his head.
‘Doctor,’ called Gogon again. ‘You will come back. Or your friend will not live to see the dawn.’
The Doctor sat still in the boat as it bobbed gently on the water.
Rujjis looked at his captor. ‘Don’t worry about me, Doctor,’ he cried. ‘It is the general whose days are numbered.’
Gogon’s face twisted into a snarl and, for a moment, the Doctor thought he was going to shoot Rujjis there and then.
But the dictator kept his temper. He continued to train the gun on his captive and once again addressed the Doctor.
‘I am Gogon, Lord High General of Xanthos. Do as I command.’
The Doctor sat up in the boat and shouted back, his voice ringing with authority. ‘You, sir, are a butcher!’
Gogon chuckled to himself. ‘Whatever you think of me, Doctor. You know that I am a man of my word. I will kill this insolent savage unless you row your little boat back to me.’
Rujjis risked another outburst. ‘Please Doctor! Go! You have done enough. This is our struggle now!’
The Doctor looked at him and heaved a heavy sigh. Then, slowly and deliberately, he began to paddle his way back across the lake.
Chapter Six
Gogon of Xanthos
A few minutes later the Doctor was standing up to his ankles in the cold water of the lake, the little boat knocking against his legs as it gently rose and fell.
Gogon, still holding the gun to Rujjis’ temple, smiled his reptilian smile and nodded to himself.
‘You’re very wise, Doctor, but you should know by now.
We... dictators never keep our word.’
His finger closed on the trigger. The Doctor’s face fell. He had only seconds to act. Hurling himself out of the water he hit Gogon full in the chest with his shoulder, knocking the general backwards just as the gun went off. A bullet hissed through the air and into the dense jungle, smacking the big leaves of the nearest tree.
Rujjis flung himself to the ground, scarcely believing he was still alive. He rolled over and over, just able to see Gogon and the Doctor falling backwards into a nest of leathery foliage which snapped explosively as they grappled.