Doctor Who_ Lungbarrow - Marc Platt [109]
Ahead, on the far side of the lagoon, were the coracles that Maljamin and Jobiska had used. The Drudges always brought the boats back.
The House knew.
It was all a game.
Innocet! In the turmoil of voices in her head, she heard her own name called. And again.
She looked back. The Doctor was at the water's edge. When she ignored his calls, he climbed into another boat.
Something swished past in the water.
A skinny reptilian shape was circling the coracle. Its long white head lifted above the surface and opened out like a vicious flower. Stalky eyes like stamens waved over a ruff of purple-blotched petals. It hissed. Its glistening tongue uncurled from a central ring of teeth. The monstrous progeny of both cavepool lizard and meadow orchid, hybridized in one of the Doctor's most repulsive experiments.
'You were told not to bring those things indoors,' Satthralope had complained.
Something grabbed at the pole. A second creature was writhing in the water behind the boat. Innocet tried to beat it away. The coracle lurched wildly. She struggled to stay upright.
The first creature rammed the boat.
Innocet grabbed at the pole, lost her grip and fell into the water. The weight of her hair pulled her down. She saw the huge petal mouth open to encircle her. Its tongue gleamed in a sudden flash of fire.
The Doctor, standing in a second boat, was yelling and brandishing a flaming brand into the heart of the petals.
The creature gave a bubbling hiss of rage and dived away.
Innocet reached for the Doctor's hand. He was hauling her in when his boat lurched and tipped him in beside her.
The torch spluttered out in the water.
Round the prow of his coracle came the second creature, eyes waving in its beautiful open head.
It suddenly rolled in the water, thrashing angrily as something gradually dragged it down under the surface.
The Doctor pushed Innocet into his boat and clambered in after her.
There was no sign of the creatures. He set his weight to the pole, heading the coracle towards the far side.
Satthralope sat tightly in her chair. She turned her keys, but the House was not listening. Her mirrors had gone blank.
'Not dead yet?' said Quences, his cloak of shadows billowing. She stared at the dripping dagger in his chest. He came closer, closer. 'Don't imagine your stranglehold on the House will stop me.'
'You're not dead,' she mouthed. 'You're not dead!'
172
'Does the House know that?' wheezed the old Ghost.
The House, she thought. I am the House!
And she forgot herself completely.
***
'What's happening now?' said Leela.
They were sitting on the overturned TARDIS, watching Redred and Glospin spread a document on one of the Hall tables.
'Don't know,' Dorothée said. 'Something to do with the Doctor's ancestry. They reckon he's not who he says he is.'
Leela's hand went to her knife. 'Then we must protect him.'
'Comes as no surprise to me. People are always saying that about him.'
'Which people?'
Dorothée shrugged. 'People all over. When you travel with someone, you can't help finding out a few dark secrets.
Don't tell me you've never wanted to know who he really is.'
'Sometimes,' said Leela. 'But that would be wrong.'
' Comment? I mean, why?'
Leela looked at her sternly. 'The Doctor is wise and strange, and he is powerful. But he is also a mystery that wil only reveal itself to the chosen.'
'Maybe,' said Dorothée. 'But I still want to know.'
They sat in silence. Dorothée looked across at the implacable Drudges. Behind them, the image in the glass coffin flickered fitfully.
'Leela,' she said quietly. 'I saw.'
'I think we'd better find the Doctor.'
Innocet sat dripping and shivering on the steps, listening to the plaintive voices in her head.
'You had no right to follow me,' she told the Doctor.
'Take off your wet things, Innocet,' he said. 'Then you must show me where the Cousins are.'
'I will not,' she said.
He took off his jacket and wrung out the sleeves. 'I know you've been protecting them all this time. You're the only one strong