Doctor Who_ The Adventures of Henrietta Street - Lawrence Miles [139]
Whatever the truth, the ring was on Scarlette’s finger, and Scarlette was seen to smile again as it slipped over her knuckle. Fitz and Anji were seen grasping each other’s hands, while the courtesan-bridesmaids clenched their teeth. Maybe they, too, could feel the approaching threat. There wasn’t even a break in the tension when the priest said, with great ceremony: ‘I now pronounce you… man and wife.’
In the calm that followed, the Doctor and Scarlette paused to look at each other. They stared into the details of each other’s faces, their feelings unknown, their certainty clear to all. Hardly anybody even noticed the priest informing the Doctor that he could now kiss the bride. It was all just a formality. But everybody heard the Doctor, quite distinctly, as he whispered the words:
‘Are you ready?’
And everybody heard Scarlette, as she nodded and told him:
‘As always.’
The Doctor and Scarlette kissed, there before the thirteen-sided table. The passion and exact nature of the kiss aren’t known, though. When they came to write their memoirs, all the surviving witnesses would focus instead on what happened next, the very instant after that kiss sealed the pact, and the great scream swept in from the forest. By all accounts, this was the point at which the world disintegrated.
‘Look On My Works, Ye Mighty…’
It seems unfeasible, in retrospect, that nobody on the island of St Belique saw anything. In later years, when asked about the events of December 1, the locals would tell stories of the great apes which came vaulting out of the forest. They would say that the animals poured through the harbour-town in their dozens, perhaps in their hundreds. They would say that the creatures began a kind of stampede, which thankfully ignored the houses to either side of the dirt road and instead headed straight up the hill-path towards the Church. And yet if anybody asked these locals who’d seen this sight, or asked how one could be sure it wasn’t simply another legend of the obeah‐people, the locals would just shrug and claim that they’d heard it somewhere. Actual witnesses, there were none.
In fact, according to native lore, nobody on the island even ventured out on to the street until the noise of the howling, clawing cavalcade had faded completely The first few locals to come out into the light of day found that the storm had passed, that there was no sign of any apes, or of thunder, or of western sorcerers. It might have been a perfectly normal, peaceful day in the Caribbean if it hadn’t been for the women who left the Church, some minutes later.
Of all those who’d attended the wedding ceremony, only two stepped out of the Church. These ‘survivors’ were Lisa-Beth and Rebecca. The women were somewhat dazed as they left the Church and stepped out into the blazing light of day. They quietly walked down the dirt road into the heart of the town, where the natives greeted them with some caution. Sadly, nobody asked them straight out how the Church could be so quiet after so many wild animals had poured through its doors. One native man did tentatively ask what had happened to the other visitors, to which Lisa-Beth replied: ‘They won’t be back today.’
Later on a few of the natives ventured into the Church, hunting-spears at the ready. The weapons were all tied with red ribbon, naturally. They found the building empty, the wooden table in the vault overturned, the decorations slashed to pieces. There were no people to be found, alive or dead. The only thing of interest they discovered was a wreath of flowers, red blossoms from Europe, which had been trampled underfoot by persons unknown. It was taken by a local woman and for some months afterwards hung on her door, as a charm against whatever horrors the island might still present.
Apparently, nobody had caught the bouquet.
So where had those inside the Church, the guests, the priest, the bride and the groom, gone?