Doctor Who_ Set Piece - Kate Orman [40]
The scribe took a mouthful of beer. ‘You know that stretch of desert you used to visit? Where Sedjet found you?’ She nodded. ‘I just wanted to warn you that demons have been seen there. You should avoid the place for a while.’
‘Demons?’ Tepy let go of her hair, pushed it cut of her flushed face. ‘What the cruk kind of demons?’
‘Some soldiers saw them. Giant scarabs, or some kind of insects, shining like the sun.’
‘How many? What were they doing?’
‘I don’t know the details. The report was garbled.’
Tepy stood up, grabbing the edge of the table for support. ‘Oh cruk,’ she said. ‘Oh cruk. The Zargoids are here.’
‘Tepy,’ said Sesehaten, alarmed, ‘What’s a Zargoid?’
75
‘The people who killed the Doctor. They’ve come looking for me. Whatever they are.’ She pressed her hands to her face, trying to think. ‘They’ll scan for high-technology equipment. Oh cruk, Sedjet –’
This is the home of the Lord Sedjet.
In the courtyard, torches are burning, sending thinning curls of smoke into the sunset. A soft wind blows the smell of ash over the surrounding fields, carries it through the rooms of the mansion.
Inside the main hall, the braziers have burned low, filling the room with cool red light. In a corner, there are instruments scattered across the floor: drums, castanets, sistra with their tiny rattles silenced. A pair of flutes have rolled across a reed mat to stop at a lute with a broken string.
The stools and tables have been overturned, and the floor is covered in food and flowers.
A cat picks its way across the floor, its fur still standing out with fright. It steps delicately over a fallen necklace and picks up a grilled fish in its mouth.
There is a single bite missing from the fish.
The cat pads out of the room, silently. There is no sound but the hiss of wind through the grain.
Ace came sprinting up the narrow path that lead to Sedjet’s estate, at the very edge of the city of Akhetaten.
She was drunk and unarmed, totally unprepared for combat. But she ran like a leopard, on naked feet with soles as hard as leather, her blood thumping through her. She was sure she could see in the dark. The air was cold and dusty and it tasted like clear water. It was as though she had woken up.
The estate was dimly lit, and silent. She hoped that just meant everyone had gone to bed early.
Slowly, staying in the shadows, she circled the house. Nothing hiding behind the grain bins at the side, nothing in the garbage yard – the first flush of adrenalin was starting to wear off, the bright battle feeling becoming a distant nagging in her belly. She thought of Sedjet’s tiny daughters. What had followed her here? Whose fire had she drawn?
The entrance courtyard was on the inside, the mansion had no windows; torches at the corners of the building, created wide pools of light. She tilted her head. Listening. Gathering intelligence.
There was a cat sitting at the front door, chewing on a scrap of meat. It hissed at her and shot into the night, leaving its meal behind. Ace watched it go. Little bugger had the right idea.
She went into the house.
76
They’d been having a party when they were interrupted. The spoor of panic was all over the place, smashed dishes and trampled fruit.
She went from room to room, listening carefully. She found the armoury, wished for a phased plasma rifle in the 40W range, picked up a khopesh.
When she was in the girls’ bedroom, someone started shouting in the main hall.
She loped back out, the heavy weapon flashing in her hand. ‘Oh, god!’
Sesehaten was crying, stumbling about the room. ‘Oh, my gods! Was it the demons?’ Ace didn’t bother to shut him up. She went back to her search.
The place wasn’t damaged. It hadn’t been empty for too long, either, judg-ing by the torches and the braziers. Some of the meat was still warm. Now, if everyone just decided to leave, they’d run