Doctor Who_ St. Anthony's Fire - Mark Gatiss [54]
De Hooch smiled slightly, horribly, his puckered features bunching together. ‘Now, then, you have learned the precepts?’
‘Yes, Parva.’
He brushed a little dust from his purple robes. ‘And what are they?’
The woman raised her head, her mind still clogged by her strange visions. She cleared her throat and began.
‘I will honour Saint Anthony, hammer of the heretics, through endless pain and suffering. I will offer not only my soul, but the sacred egg and the sacred salt as token of my faith. I swear to uphold His name, unworthy as I am…’
She stopped, her mind suddenly blank. Blinking furiously, she clenched her hands together.
‘And?’ said De Hooch in a threatening whisper.
‘I… I…’
‘Yes?’
She hung her head defeatedly. ‘I can’t remember, Parva.’
De Hooch walked up to her and rubbed the nape of his fat neck. ‘You can’t remember, child?’ His eyes blazed with sudden fury. ‘You can’t remember the most important of all edicts?’
‘I’m trying…’
De Hooch slammed his tight little fist into her stomach and the woman lurched backwards, retching, onto her bed.
‘Get up!’ spat De Hooch.
She stumbled to her feet.
De Hooch grasped her face in his tiny hand and dug his nails into the flesh until she bled. ‘I… am… pledged…’ he recited, emphasizing each word by forcing her head further and further back.
‘I am… p…pledged,’ she stammered.
‘To bring Saint Anthony’s Fire to the heathen hordes,’ concluded De Hooch.
‘T…to bring Saint Anthony’s Fire to the… the heathen hordes,’ she gasped. The dwarf flung her back onto the bed.
‘Dear me,’ said De Hooch, looking with curiosity at his bloodied finger‐nails. ‘And you were doing so well. I’m afraid you’ll have to see the Magna.’
The woman’s eyes widened in stark terror. ‘No, my Lord. Please. I meant no harm. It won’t happen again.’
De Hooch laughed and traced a sticky circle over his lips with his small pink tongue. ‘No. It won’t.’
He slammed the door behind him as he left and the woman could hear it echoing endlessly through the vaulted chambers of the seminary.
She clutched her burning stomach and rested her head against the cool wall of the room. Every instinct in her seemed to cry out for… what was the word? Revenge. Yes. That was it. She wanted to pick up that vile dwarf and throw him against the wall. But this was not the way. It was forbidden. Forbidden.
She screwed up her eyes until she felt hot tears coursing down her face.
* * *
Grek coughed, a hard, black, bitter cough until there was an iron‐like taste in his mouth. He felt his bruised ribs through his uniform and winced.
Around him in the dismal, flaring light of the conference room were the pathetic remnants of his small force of men. He had counted fourteen, most of them little more than boys. His heart sank when he realized Maconsa was not amongst them.
Three Cutch were guarding the door, their rifles cocked in constant readiness. Grek looked around sadly at his dispirited comrades and sighed. The decisive moment of his military career hadn’t gone too well.
The damaged door opened and Imalgahite marched in, an infuriating smile on his round, warty face.
‘We shan’t detain you long, Commander, I can assure you of that.’ He pulled out a chair from under the long table and sat down.
‘Please.’ He extended a claw.
Grudgingly, Grek took his place on the opposite side of the table and folded his arms defiantly.
Imalgahite seemed to think for a long moment and then looked up, his eyes bright with triumph. ‘Well, Grek, here we are. Two soldiers…’ He laughed delightedly. ‘Two soldiers quite literally on opposite sides of the table.’
‘It’s my table,’ said Grek quietly.
‘It was.’ Imalgahite rubbed his chins thoughtfully. ‘The dilemma is, Grek, what am I going to do with you?’
Grek rubbed his eyes exhaustedly. ‘Listen. The war is over. The armistice was about to be signed when…’
‘When what?’
Grek took a deep breath. He had nothing to lose by telling his enemy the whole truth. ‘We’ve lost contact with all our major cities.’
Imalgahite’s answer was not what Grek expected. ‘You too?’
‘What?’
The Cutch leader leant