Doctor Who_ Left-Handed Hummingbird - Kate Orman [17]
This, thought the Doctor, is the way to make an entrance.
He smiled, took out a trio of red globes, and started to juggle.
* * *
Crack.
Iccauhtli was trying to see what the crowd were looking at. He started at the sound next to his ear.
It took him a moment to realize what was strange about the girl. Her chocolatl eyes might have suited an Indian, but her skin was as pale as a cloud. And she was knocking the rocks off his cage.
There was a massive stone at each corner – three now. She glanced around at the mesmerized crowd, and with a casual motion, she shoved a second stone off the top of the cage. Crack.
‘What are you doing?’ whispered Iccauhtli, barely able to believe his eyes.
‘You’re coming out of there.’
‘I can’t! I’m a slave!’ protested the Aztec. ‘I’m supposed to be in here.’
‘You want to be dead?’ she hissed, peering at the crowd from inside her hood. Crack.
Iccauhtli gave this a few seconds’ thought. ‘No.’ He was a little bit surprised to hear himself say it.
‘Then help me get the lid off this thing.’
Iccauhtli uncurled himself and stood up, stretching muscled legs. The fourth stone hit the ground, and the lid followed it. Crack. CRASH.
He stepped out of the wooden cage. Ace grabbed his arm and started running.
* * *
‘Well,’ said the Doctor, tucking the red spheres into his sleeve. ‘Thank you very much for your attention, ladies and gentlemen. Must be going.’
He moved forward a little, curious to see if the crowd would part around him. It didn’t.
‘Who are you?’ boomed the jaguar knight. The crowd did move aside for him; the cat‐face towered above them as it stalked towards him.
The Time Lord knew exactly why he had their attention. He was not going to do anything as tedious as pretending to be a deity. ‘I’m not atlaca, if that’s what you’re thinking,’ he said. ‘I’m just a traveller. Here for the festival. The dedication of the temple.’ He smiled broadly. ‘I hope I didn’t frighten anyone.’
The knight turned on his heel, angrily, the Mexica getting out of his path as he walked disdainfully away. The crowd took their cue from him, moving away from the Doctor, their faces turned towards the musicians, the macaws, anywhere but the scary stranger. They were not cowards. Fear was for barbarians and foreigners.
There was a shout, and the Doctor saw that the empty cage had been discovered. ‘Stage one,’ he muttered under his breath. He hoped that his directions had been clear enough.
* * *
Ace was lost.
Iccauhtli was precisely no help. She had never seen anyone look so guilty as when she’d got the collar off him; it was as though he expected lightning to strike him, or something. She looked at him, trying to see Cristián’s genes in his face. ‘Okay, I give up,’ she said, leaning against the wall of a house to get her breath back. ‘Which way to the palace?’
‘The palace?’ said Iccauhtli. He looked around. ‘This way.’
He pointed, but he didn’t move. ‘Come on,’ said Ace, taking his arm again.
‘Wait,’ he said. ‘Are you – why are you doing this?’
‘You didn’t want to get carved up, did you?’ she said testily.
‘It’s the will of the gods,’ said the slave. ‘Of the Lord of the Close and Near.’
‘Yeah, well, it’s not your will, and it’s not mine either.’ She peered at his puzzled face. ‘Waitaminute. You don’t think I’m a god?’
Iccauhtli sort of smiled. Ace rolled her eyes. ‘You didn’t mention this, Doctor,’ she said aloud. ‘Look, sunshine, I’m just a human being, all right? I just want to get you to the palace, because the Doctor said that slaves get sacrificed, but slaves who make it to the palace go free, and what this has to do with what happened to us in 1994 I have no idea, but until we sort you out I guess I won’t know, so get it into gear!’
She gave him a shove to get him moving again, and this time he followed her, shaking his head as though there were an insect in it. Authority figures, right? All she had to do was shout loudly enough, and he’d do whatever she wanted.
* * *
The Doctor had replaced his hood and was strolling the streets, anxiously looking