Doctor Who_ The Room With No Doors - Kate Orman [66]
‘Where’d those samurai come from!’ Chris shouted, over the noise.
‘They probably came to fight the fire,’ said the Doctor. He didn’t have to shout; his voice overrode the background noise.
‘Where’s Penelope?’ shouted Chris.
133
‘She left in a huff.’ He looked up at the Adjudicator. ‘Or possibly in her time machine?’
Chris shook his head. ‘It’s still safe in the blacksmith’s store.’ Well, as safe as it could be in a town that was burning like a bonfire.
The braver samurai were riding in circles, charging the Caxtarid and weaving away as she let loose her energy bolts. ‘Get the pod to the monastery.’
‘What?’ Chris actually reached out to grab the Doctor’s collar again, but the Time Lord had run right into the middle of the conflict.
‘Go!’ shouted the Doctor, as he bolted past the Caxtarid. She swore and swung to cover him.
Chris was amazed to find himself running down the street, away from them, towards the blacksmith’s store.
He looked back, once, but he couldn’t see the Doctor in the middle of the fight. The thatched roof of a house exploded into flames, showering the street with tiny bits of burning straw. Chris covered his face and turned and ran.
Aoi couldn’t decide whether to be excited or disgusted. Was it an honour, being assigned to guard the foreign woman, or was it an insult? His father hadn’t said anything about it, except to wish him good luck.
Aoi glanced over at the woman. She was riding with a frown on her face, as though deep in thought. Gufuu-sama had said to keep her safe – she had promised to show them a working version of the other gaijin’s machine, though Aoi wasn’t too sure what all of that was about – and more importantly, not to let her run off. They weren’t sure of her loyalty. If she tried to escape, they would have a very clear picture of it!
But she hadn’t tried to slip away: she’d just ridden along, in silence. Thinking. Aoi wondered what it must be like to live in a country where the women built machines. Though it was some kind of weaving machine. How that was going to help Gufuu-sama, Aoi had no idea.
He wouldn’t have minded the job so much if she’d taken the trouble to paint her teeth black, like any normal woman. Did all barbarian women have teeth like naked bones? Aoi shuddered. At least she didn’t smell. None of the foreigners did, unlike the unwashed barbarians his father had talked about.
So much was going on, and they’d told him so little about it. He felt as though he had been plunged into deep water without first being taught to swim.
‘Tell me something about these people we’re going to meet,’ he said.
Startled out of her reverie, she looked over at him. He wondered how old she was. She didn’t look too old, maybe the age of his oldest sister.
‘Well,’ she said, ‘they’re a little hard to explain. They’re birds.’
‘Birds,’ repeated Aoi.
134
‘Large, black birds. But they’re not just birds, they’re people. They have hands, and they talk.’
‘ Tengu! ’ said Aoi. ‘I heard a rumour that some tengu had come out of the forest. Have you seen them?’
The foreigner nodded. ‘It’s my theory,’ she said, ‘that they somehow affected my time conveyance, bringing it here.’ Aoi had no idea what she was babbling about. ‘If the Doctor’s map is accurate, and we can find them, they may be able to make it operate again. Besides, I wish to discover what their purpose was in bringing me here. Or more accurately, in bringing the machine here. . . ’
She trailed off, her brow furrowing. Thinking again.
Aoi took out the map and checked it once more. By now they must actually be somewhere under the large foreign writing. Not more than a ri from the tengu’s camp.
When he looked up again, they were surrounded.
The samurai captain paused halfway up the hill, turning back to look at Toshi town.
It was ablaze. The fire had jumped easily from wooden building to