Doctor Who_ The Stone Rose - Jacqueline Rayner [13]
‘Is that quick, then?’ asked Rose, whose experience in these fields extended not much further than a clay pot in Year Eight art lessons.
‘I’d say so,’ said the Doctor. ‘You wouldn’t need a model the whole time, but for the statue itself I would have thought months, years even. I’m not a master sculptor, of course…’
Rose grinned. ‘What, you mean you never had lessons with Michelangelo or anything?’
The Doctor gave her a warning look and Rose realised she’d slipped up. ‘Sorry,’ she whispered.
‘That’s all right,’ he whispered back, then looked thoughtful. ‘Perhaps I should pop back to the Renaissance some time. The Doctor’s “David” has quite a ring to it.’ He raised his voice again. ‘Other thing is, if the statue was that near completion, Ursus must’ve been working on the thing itself, rather than preliminaries. And marble might be all white and shiny but it’s not clean to work with. Dirt, dust, you name it. Yet no one ever noticed Ursus or Optatus in desperate need of a wash.’
‘So… he wasn’t doing a sculpture after all?’ said Rose.
But the Doctor pointed up at the statue. ‘Now there we do have evidence,’ he said. ‘Anyway, it’s imperative that we get inside his studio. Find out his working practices.’
‘Well, I’m all ready to be model girl,’ said Rose. The Doctor nodded. ‘Good. Tell you what, though. Let’s go and have a look now, shall we?’
Rose grinned. ‘You can’t sit still for two minutes, you can’t!’ she turned to Vanessa, who had stopped crying but still didn’t appear to be a barrel of laughs. ‘Look, d’you wanna stay here? If anyone comes, just say you’re meditating on the statue or something. Tell them we told you to.’
Vanessa nodded gratefully, so the Doctor and Rose walked off alone.
‘What’ the matter with her?’ the Doctor asked. ‘Is something bad going to happen next Wednesday?’
Rose frowned at him. ‘She can’t really see into the future, she said so. I told her we’d get her home and she said she didn’t have one. And got upset about it.’
‘Maybe her home’s just a very long way away,’ said the Doctor.
‘And in the meantime she’s stuck here as a slave.’
He nodded. ‘I don’t like it any more than you do. But some slaves do lead happy lives, you know. Or I they’re given their freedom, or buy it.’
‘Doesn’t make it right,’ Rose muttered.
‘No,’ he said. ‘It doesn’t.’ Suddenly he grabbed Rose’s arm and pulled her behind a tree.
‘What?’ she mouthed.
He waited a few moments and then let her go. ‘Ursus,’ he said. ‘Just saw him.’
‘Which means he’s not in his workshop!’ Rose realised.
‘So what better time could there be for us to visit?’
They hurried off towards the stables, keeping an ‘y out for any sign of a returning Ursus. The Doctor tried the door of the workshop, but it was locked.
‘Sonic screwdriver?’ said Rose, looking at the Doctor’s belt.
‘Back in the villa,’ the Doctor replied. ‘Do you know how frustrating it is not to have pockets? I feel like I’ve lost a part of me. I keep going to stick my hands in them and they’re not there.’
‘You need one of those little pouches to hang on your belt,’ Rose told him. She reached up to her head. A ringlet fell over her shoulder as she detached a silver hairpin and handed it to him. ‘Back to the old‐fashioned methods, I guess.’
He nodded. ‘When in Rome…’
Rose kept a lookout, but it didn’t take the Doctor long to pick the lock and Ursus didn’t appear. Finally, the door swung open. The Doctor strode in like he owned the place.
The first room was more or less empty, containing just a small table holding a jug, a cup and a hunk of bread. But as they went through it and entered the next one, they saw a very attractive young man sitting on a bench. He jumped up as they entered and bowed his head.
‘Ooh, hello,’ said Rose.
‘Hello!’ the Doctor echoed. ‘I’m the Doctor and this is Rose. Who are you?’
The boy looked nervous. ‘My name is Tiro. Forgive me,