Doctor Who_ The Stone Rose - Jacqueline Rayner [16]
Vanessa smiled her thanks. ‘You’re very kind.’
Rose shrugged. ‘My pleasure. Look, why don’t you come inside?’
‘I don’t know what to do,’ said Vanessa hopelessly. ‘I’ve never been in a house like this before. I don’t know how I’m supposed to behave. They flog slaves who don’t do the right thing, I’m sure.’
‘But you’re here as an astrologer, not a normal slave,’ said Rose, trying to reassure her. ‘They won’t flog you, I won’t let ’em. Look, how about this? We tell them that you need to commune with the stars in meditation, or something, that it’s an essential part of your astrologer’s rituals. They’ll let you do anything then. They think you’re going to get their son back. No flogging.’
‘Except when they don’t get their son back and realise I’ve been deceiving them.’
Rose gave her a mock‐offended look. ‘Hey! I told you me and the Doctor were on the case. We’re gonna get him back!’ She sighed. ‘But first, I’ve gotta pose for this statue. I’m expected to get there at three hours after sunrise. When on earth’s that? Am I supposed to sit up watching for the sun to appear and then go “one hippopotamus, two hippopotamus” for three hours?’
Vanessa smiled finally. ‘I’ll wake you,’ she said. ‘I don’t sleep much – not any more.’
‘It’s a deal,’ said Rose. ‘Look, there’s something I want to get done before the light goes completely, so I’d better head back now.’
But she didn’t move. The sun was going down and she couldn’t seem to tear her eyes away from it.
All these dramas going on around her. Gracilis and Marcia, desperate for the return of their son. Ursus, with his lust for artistic fame. Vanessa’s worries and fears. The slaves – who knew what they were hoping, dreaming? And yet in 2,000 years’ time, they’d all be forgotten. Things that were life and death today would mean nothing even to the next generation, let alone those living in the twenty‐first century. By the time she was born, the people here would be dust, the villa rubble. The only thing that would survive was a statue of a goddess, and who knew what it would endure over that time?
To the setting sun, the time between where Rose was now and where she had come from was no more than a blink. But to Rose – who’d been to the dawn of humanity and the very end of the Earth – it suddenly seemed an eternity.
Vanessa finished the piece of bread. ‘Come on, then,’ Rose said, and got up.
They walked together back to the house, and didn’t look back.
* * *
FIVE
Rose was ripped from a dream about talking cats the next morning by Vanessa shaking her shoulder. ‘Time to get up,’ the girl said, as Rose yawned and tried to remember where she was. It took her a few minutes to force herself out of bed, yawning the whole time.
‘Do you think Ursus will be able to capture the bags under my eyes OK?’ she said as she stared at herself in the circle of polished bronze that served as a mirror. ‘What time is it?’
‘Two hours after sunrise,’ Vanessa told her. ‘You’ve got an hour before you have to be at the studio.’
‘You’d think it’d be more in Ursus’s interests to let me have my beauty sleep,’ grumbled Rose, but she started to get ready anyway.
Vanessa helped her to do her hair, which took up most of the time they had at their disposal. Finally Rose was ready to go.
‘Look, why don’t you come with me?’ she suggested to Vanessa. ‘I’m not saying it’ll be much fun, but I wouldn’t mind the company. Keep you out of the way of everyone else too. I mean, Ursus has got a slave in there – he can’t really object to me bringing one, whatever he says. Anyway, the way they treat slaves like furniture round here, he’ll probably not even notice you.’
Vanessa smiled. ‘Yes, I’d like to come.’
They crossed the courtyard, heading to the workshop by the stables. The Doctor was already up and about, and they waved to him in passing.
The studio door was locked, so Rose banged a fist on it. ‘Remember, eyes and ears open,’ she whispered to Vanessa while they were waiting. ‘You know,