Doctor Who_ The Room With No Doors - Kate Orman [67]
The troop had seen the fire as they came over the hill on their way to Umemi-sama’s castle. Their detour had ended not in succour for the towns-people, but in disaster.
He looked around at his troops. The ones who had survived. Some had been smashed from their horses by the demon fire. One had died as a burning wall collapsed on to him.
The man sitting behind him on the horse took off his hat in what the captain assumed was a gesture of respect. The foreigner’s face was dusty and sooty, making it hard to tell what his expression was.
The captain couldn’t quite remember how the little man had ended up sharing his horse, only that he had been there ever since they had left the town.
‘Terrible,’ the little man said. ‘Try to fight the fire, and you only fan the flames.’
The foreigner noticed the captain, who had half turned in his seat, looking back at him. ‘ Sendoo-sha ni okutle kudasai, ’ the man said.
The captain blinked at him. ‘I beg your pardon?’
‘Take me to your leader,’ the man repeated patiently.
Chris felt as though he had been driving forever. His mind had gone into neutral, and only his hands and his eyes had been guiding the horses along the roads. If you could call them roads.
135
Abandoned again.
His spine felt as though all the individual vertebrae were about to fall out, and he was covered in small bruises. He hadn’t seen anything else on wheels since leaving Toshi, and after a while he’d realized why: the countryside was so rugged that it wasn’t even worth building good roads. He hoped no bits of the cart fell off. He doubted he could repair it.
What if he just stopped driving? What would happen if he didn’t take the pod to the monastery? What if it was another red herring? What would happen if he just buried it under a ton of rocks, or dropped it into a lake, where no one would ever find it again?
And what the hell was it with Kosen’s student?
He nearly drove past the villagers without really seeing them. A flurry of shouts caught his attention, and he gently tugged the reins, until the horses decelerated to a stop.
He turned in his seat as Mikeneko and Kame ran up. The others struggled up behind them. ‘Should you not be at the monastery by now, Kuriisu-san?’
Kame asked, not bothering with greetings and etiquette.
‘We stopped in Toshi,’ said Chris glumly.
‘We saw it burning,’ said Mikeneko. She shook her head mournfully. ‘We had hoped to take shelter there on our way, but now –’
‘Look,’ said Chris, ‘This thing is like a magnet for disaster.’ He jerked his thumb at the heavy shape of the pod. ‘Are you sure you want to keep heading in the same direction as me?’
Mikeneko said, ‘We have no choice. We sent whoever we could to stay with relatives in nearby villages. Without the monks’ help, we won’t survive.’
Chris nodded resignedly. ‘I’ll try to get as much distance between us as I can,’ he said.
‘Watch out for shinobi,’ said Kame. ‘Gufuu and Umemi have agents everywhere. We were attacked in the night. I was only able to save the villagers at the cost of my own life.’ He gave a lopsided, slightly insane grin.
Chris left them behind on the road, and pounded ahead. He had to get this thing to the monastery, and hope that the Doctor would catch up with him there. He had no idea what the Time Lord was planning once they’d got the thing to safety.
A lump of panic banged around in his chest as the cart negotiated the rocky road. What if the Doctor didn’t turn up? What if it was just him now – no more Benny, no more Roz, no more Doctor, just Chris?
The lump got into his throat. He blinked back the tears, and drove on.
The Kapteynians had built a camp in the forest. Penelope saw they had constructed three large nests, each one presumably shared by a few of the birds 136
for warmth. There was a carefully cleared patch of ground in the centre, a charred circle marking the spot where they lit their fire.
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