Doctor Who_ Lungbarrow - Marc Platt [61]
'What murder?' Innocet said sharply. 'There's been no murder. Quences is in stasis.'
No one mentioned Quences, thought Chris.
'I was thinking about Arkhew,' said the Doctor.
So was I, thought Chris. My chief witness. And now he's dead. Funny that.
'He was always an inoffensive sort of chap, as I recall. Gentle, unassuming. Unusual for this Family. Didn't he want to be a cloud-sculptor?'
'He did,' said Innocet. 'But this business put a stop to that.'
They trudged on in silence. The House seemed to go for miles.
At last Innocet said, 'Where did you get a TARDIS from?'
'Ah,' said the Doctor. 'You overheard.'
'I suppose it was the only way to get in here.'
He grunted. 'I assume the transmat booth was rendered inoperable whenever whatever happened happened.' Her only response was 'Yes', so he said, 'Anyway, now I'm here, we can wake Quences up and sort this whole business out.'
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No response. Chris, with his eyes shut, heard a door handle turn.
'And I hope I was worth waiting for,' the Doctor added. As he swung Chris round to negotiate the doorway, he muttered, 'I hope you're noting al this down.'
Inside, Chris heard another familiar voice start to say, 'I've brought Maljamin, just as you. . .' The voice faltered.
Chris half opened one eye and saw Cousin Owis, raggedly dressed, but still full-faced, almost chubby, compared with the other inmates of the place.
Owis was staring at the newcomers like an outsize schoolboy with his mouth wide open.
'Decorum,' snapped Innocet to no avail. She straightened a torn shawl that was draped over a large mirror.
Chris could feel the Doctor itching to raise his hat and introduce himself, but his hands were full. He lifted Chris gently up into a chair.
The room, like all the rooms in the House of Lungbarrow, had cavernously high ceilings and distant walls framed by whitewood branches. A sepia gloom pervaded everything as if the air was stained by centuries of nicotine.
Owis raised a finger and pointed. 'People,' he said. Beside him, seated in another big chair, was a second man.
He was covered in soot and was staring sadly at the floor.
'I told you to make sure he was secure,' Innocet told Owis. 'Go outside and watch for Drudges.'
'Why?' said Owis, without taking his eyes off the Doctor. 'Who are they? Are we going to get out? Have they come to get us out?'
'Just do as you're told!'
The Cousin grimaced his way to the door and went out backward.
The Doctor took off his hat and played awkwardly with the brim. 'That young man, I don't recognize him. I take it he's a Replacement. But if Quences is stil alive, then who has died?'
'You have,' she said bluntly.
'Ah.' The Doctor peered inside his hat as if he was looking for a name tag. 'You didn't tell me that.'
'And, now you're back, Owis has no legal right to exist.' She was rummaging through a drawer and finally produced a length of cord.
The Doctor put his hat back on. 'Wel , perhaps this would be a good time to make my farewel s… again.'
'Oh, no,' she said, testing the strength of the cord between her hands. She bent over the soot-covered man and started to tie him to the chair. He made no effort to resist. He just wrinkled his nose and made tiny rodent clicking noises with his teeth.
'Isn't that rather extreme,' said the Doctor. He crouched beside them to watch. 'It's Cousin Maljamin, isn't it? What are they doing to you?'
Again Chris heard the voices calling in his head. Maljamin, Maljamin...
Innocet bit on her tongue as she tightened a knot. 'I have to do this. I'm stopping him from going away. There are too many who have passed away.'
The Doctor put a restraining hand gently on hers. 'Innocet, you can't go round tying your Cousins up. That isn't the answer. What Maljamin needs is medical attention.'
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'Where from?' she said, pushing him away. 'I told you. I have to stop him from going. Especial y if we're al going to be out of here soon. There. That should do it.' She stood creakily, apparently satisfied with her work. 'And don't talk to me as if I'm mad.'