Doctor Who_ Silver Nemesis - Kevin Clarke [22]
Lady Peinforte turned to him with a peculiar intense relish. ‘This piece of ground on which you stand? Why I will tell you. It is thy grave, Richard.’
Richard was petrified with shock and disbelief. His entire body felt cold all over. He could manage only a terrified whisper.
‘What?’
‘Yes,’ said Lady Peinforte sweetly, enjoying her moment. ‘I ordered that you should be buried here when I planned my tomb. See,’ she pointed to a small and withered piece of rock planted in the ground at their feet,
‘there was your stone. If the dogs would not eat thee, I ordered you put out here, to attend me in the next world as in this.’ She made a large sweeping gesture with the arrow and pointed grandly out of the trees. For the first time, Richard saw the dark tower on the edge of the clearing.
‘Because here, you see, is mine.’ Lady Peinforte was possessed with an excitement Richard had never seen in her before. His senses reeled. Lady Peinforte’s voice continued inexorably. ‘And aptly, the silver creatures there do hold the Nemesis. We shall attack.’
She loaded her bow with a gold-tipped arrow, motioning to Richard to do the same. In a dream, he did so. Lady Peinforte strode forward. Too terrified to remain alone on the awful spot where he stood, Richard reluctantly followed her once again. Leaving the cover of the woods they passed a sign which neither of them could read.
Printed on it in large white letters was the message: ‘Stay in your car while in the safari park.’
In the bushes, the Doctor and Ace lay still and watched them pass. ‘Good,’ said the Doctor quietly. ‘Very good.’
Quietly and with extreme care, Lady Peinforte and Richard approached the tower, their bows at the ready.
There was no movement from within. They reached the doorway; all was silent. They burst inside.
The crypt was deserted.
The arrow, however, was shining so brightly that it illuminated the inside of the tower with the power of several arc lights.
Richard lowered his bow in relief. ‘There is nothing here,’ he said unnecessarily.
‘See the arrow,’ hissed Lady Peinforte. ‘The statue is here, depend on it. Quietly, Richard.’
They began to search, Richard warily avoiding the tomb. Lady Peinforte noticed, and sneered. ‘Rather fine, is it not?’ she said proudly. Immediately she was possessed by a sudden fit of rage. ‘But where is the statue of Nemesis?’
she screamed. ‘Where is it? Where?’
Her voice carried without difficulty to the nearby thicket in the forest where the Cybermen were hiding. The Lieutenant turned to his Leader as the cries reached them.
‘Is this the human condition of madness, Leader?’ he asked.
‘It is,’ came the reply. ‘Kill them.’
The Cybermen moved stealthily forward into the open towards the tower. As they did so, Lady Peinforte’s screeches continued to travel towards them.
In the tower the arrow was flashing uncontrollably.
Lady Peinforte was beside herself with fury and frustration. ‘It must be here,’ she was yelling. ‘It must be.’
Judiciously keeping a watch at the door, Richard saw the Cybermen leaving the cover of the forest and making their way towards them.
‘My lady,’ he said urgently, reaching for an arrow and loading his bow.
Lady Peinforte, however, was unhearing, running her fingers up and down the walls. ‘It is here,’ she muttered. ‘It is. The arrow tells me.’
Taking careful aim at the Cyberman in the centre of the group, Richard fired.
The arrow embedded itself in the ground.
Automatically the nearest Cyberman reached out and tested its composition. The others paused momentarily and turned.
‘Gold,’ reported the Cyberman. They immediately turned back towards the forest. As they did so, Richard fired again. This time the arrow lodged in a Cyberman’s chest panel. He turned to inform Lady Peinforte that he had almost no arrows remaining, but he could see at a glance she was incapable of hearing. She had been seized with inspiration. ‘Of course,’ she breathed, transfigured.
‘Help me, Richard. Help me. It’s in my tomb.’
Richard was