Doctor Who_ Lungbarrow - Marc Platt [99]
Dorothée was struck by how pale and haggard the woman was. Spindly against the extraordinary burden of hair on her back.
'Innocet, it wasn't me,' the Doctor called, but she had gone.
Somewhere a gong sounded.
152
The Doctor fetched his umbrella out of a corner. He unfurled it using all the conjuror's gestures that Dorothée had seen at the Follies. With a flick, he turned the brol y the wrong way up and its inside had become a large mirrored bowl. He angled it under the big mirror on the wall. 'Before supper, I should show you round my House,' he said.
He levelled and angled the umbrella, mirror catching mirror catching mirror, until its reflections showed other views: the House's interior, room after room displayed complete inside an impossible camera obscura.
***
The gong sounded a second time.
The Cousins were assembling in the garlanded cavern of the Hall. Innocet and Glospin and Jobiska and Rynde and Owis.
No one spoke. No one dared.
They wandered around the huge tables, anxiously eyeing the Family silver (fish knives were laid) and a most unfortunate centrepiece, unsure where to sit.
They knew Satthralope's position at head of the table only too well; but for themselves, there were only five of them left and forty-four set places to choose from.
***
Dorothée tried to take it all in as Leela, at the Doctor's suggestion, related what she knew of the origins of Gallifreyan Families: the Great Schism and the Pythia's Curse which rendered the planet barren; Rassilon's creation of the genetic Looms and living Houses to stabilize the threatened population.
'Rassilon was a great delegator,' added the Doctor. 'Most of the innovations attributed to him were commissioned from others.'
Dorothée thought he sounded touchy on the subject.
He told them about his differences with his Family over their plans for his desk-bound political career.
He's being cagey, she thought. A 'bit of a disagreement' doesn't warrant burying the House alive.
'The House of Lungbarrow used to stand on the slopes of Mount Lung in the Southern Ranges about two days from Rassilon's Rampart, which was built to keep out the marauding Shobogans in the third century after Rassilon's death. The House overlooked the river Cadonflood which flows...'
It was too much to take in. The mirrors were displaying the dilapidated sights of the House. The whole North annexe was under flood, but Dorothée thought she saw something swirl through the black water.
In a hall, the Doctor's Cousins sat silently around a dinner table with something she could not make out at its centre.
'It's a forest beast!' declared Leela as they viewed the next sight.
'It's Badger,' said the Doctor.
A massive bearlike creature was apparently working on the controls of the transmat booth with its ghostly figure.
For a moment, a malevolent face blotted out the scene. 'Satthralope,' said the Doctor and shut the umbrella up quickly.
The door admitted Innocet again. 'You must come down,' she said.
The Doctor turned away and sulked.
153
'What is Otherstide?' asked Dorothée.
'Just some silly pagan festival,' he mumbled. 'Like Yule or August Bank Holiday.'
Innocet viewed them severely. 'The Other was one of the Triumvirate who ruled the old world with Rassilon and Omega.'
'Oh, yeah,' said Dorothée. 'As in the Hand of -,'
'Ace!'
'But the Other turned against Rassilon and was banished,' ventured Leela. 'He stole away the Hand of Omega.'
Dorothée grinned. 'Real y?'
'Depending on which version you read,' said the Doctor.
Innocet stared directly at him. 'Otherstide celebrates his casting out. Now please come down to supper.'
The Doctor poked at the robes she had brought. 'Satthralope's only resurrecting it to give the House something to concentrate on.'
The gong sounded for the third time.
He peered straight into the depths of the mirror. 'No. I think I'll sit this one out.'
The library started to tremble.
Innocet stepped back as two chairs moved in