Doctor Who_ Lungbarrow - Marc Platt [96]
Fish flapped around their feet, drowning in the air.
146
'Dorothée? How did you get in here?'
Hailstones clattered down.
'Don't ask,' she said. 'Where is he?'
The two Drudges came from both directions.
'These are my guests,' declared Innocet. 'By the Laws...'
A Drudge pushed Innocet roughly aside. She turned and ran from the room.
'Get behind me,' said Chris, as the huge servants edged the guests into a corner.
Too late. The woman in a bikini stuck a knife into the headless Drudge, but even with three against two, there was no contest.
One Drudge picked up both women. The other put Chris under one arm and stil had a hand free to snatch up the fish and store them in wooden drawers in its bodice.
***
'It's a precarious time,' said Glospin. He was setting out the pieces on the Sepulchasm board. 'One false move and the House could destroy al of us.' He held up the counters. 'What colour?'
'Patrexes.' The Doctor tapped the faded purple discs. 'Do you plan to kill me too?'
'What?'
'The way you killed Quences. How else can you stop the House from finding out he's dead?'
Glospin selected the silver-grey Dromeian counters for himself. 'Everyone says you murdered him.'
'Boring,' the Doctor said. 'What do you think?'
'I was too ill to know about it.'
'Oh, yes. You were busy regenerating.' He studied Glospin. 'You've worn very well.'
'Yes. I put it down to the lack of sunlight.' Glospin smiled. 'Don't worry, Wormhole. Something with your provenance and questionable ancestry is far too precious to be killed.'
'Coming home is so reassuring,' said the Doctor. 'However long I've been away, I know we'l still pick up exactly where we left off. I'm your Cousin, Glospin.'
'Amongst other things.'
'Meaning?'
Glospin cupped the die in his hands and rotated it slowly. 'When we last met, all that time ago, at the Capitol, I knew you were something strange. Your genetic records bore that out. But it was more than that. Somehow you don't belong here.'
'You hoped,' said the Doctor. 'Cast the die.'
Glospin threw and got an eleven to start. 'I thought you were an infiltrator or a changeling. An un-Gal ifreyan.'
'That's a good Agency word,' said the Doctor. He threw the die and got a six. 'I know another good word. Cuckoo.
What do you think?'
147
'We haven't set a stake,' Glospin said.
'All right. I'l play you for the whereabouts of Quences's wil .'
They crooked fingers. 'And I'll play you for your TARDIS,' said Glospin with a smile.
***
Satthralope tried to watch the game, but she could neither read Glospin's words nor catch the Doctor's thoughts.
Then he was in the way, blocking her view. Quences, staring at her out of her mirror, with that thing stuck into his chest, dribbling blood down his gore-soaked robe.
'I am dead, Satthralope. Dead and bloodied for revenge.'
She would not believe the apparition. It did not exist. Quences had survived the Doctor's murderous attack. It had taken all her strength to console and convince the House.
The old man leered out of the mirror at her. No matter where in the House she directed the glass, he was always there, blocking her view, sluicing absurd quantities of blood.
'Quences, you old vampire!' she shouted. 'I wish you real y were dead!'
For some unaccountable reason, she thought she could smell fish.
***
Glospin's counters scampered round the board. He was on a winning run.
'You were the only one Quences cared about,' he said.
The Doctor remained infuriatingly smug. 'You could have joined our Sepulchasm tournaments. You only had to ask. We were often in here, playing on this very board.
'Even after he threw you out, he still cared. If only he'd known what he was playing with.'
'Fire, Glospin. The same as you.' The Doctor shook and threw again. He groaned. 'Another six. Anyone would think this board was fixed.'
Glospin rubbed his scarred hand. 'It was only when that thing attacked me that I understood what you real y are.'
'Do go on. Your fantasies are fascinating.'
'It was the Hand, wasn't it? The legendary Hand of Omega, a power out of the past. And