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By Root 337 0

with a filthy square of material. The thought of transport had cheered him considerably. 'The miller has one,' he continued. 'You could steal it.'

The Doctor's face suddenly lit up. 'Of course! The miller! Why didn't I think of him?'

'Doctor!' Nyssa glowered. 'You can't steal the poor man's horse.'

'Of course not! It's the man not the horse I'm interested in.'

Mace suddenly sat upright, a mean look on his face.

'The miller comes and goes at the house when he likes. Maybe he will help us - at least tell us what's going on up there,' the Doctor continued.

Nyssa frowned. 'Is that really such a good idea?'

'It's better we do.'

'It's better we leave the area, sir!' Mace chipped in.

The Doctor ignored the remark. 'Look, Nyssa, go back to the TARDIS and start work on the booster.'

'Alone?'

'You're more than capable.'

She was doubtful.

'I may not be able to find the miller. And we can't afford to waste time,'

the Doctor insisted.

Reluctantly she agreed, but she wasn't very happy about it.

'I'll be back as soon as I can.'

'Even sooner if at all possible,' said Nyssa embracing the Doctor. 'Good luck.'

Mace and the Doctor watched in silence as Nyssa followed the pathway back to the TARDIS. Once she was out of sight, the Doctor turned to the actor and said with great urgency in his voice, 'Which way to the mill?'

But Mace was sulking. 'I cannot move, sir. My body has ceased to function

'Just direct me then. You can wait here for the poacher and his friends.'

Richard Mace looked down at the pistols he was carrying, then at the forest all around.

'You can't fight all of them,' said the Doctor. 'Kill the three who are following us and others will come to avenge their deaths.'

Uneasy, Mace rose from the stump. 'I'll show you.' He said, straightening his stiff back.

'But you have a mean way of exposing a man's cowardice.'

With as much dignity as he could muster, Mace strode off into the undergrowth. The Doctor smiled, pleased the actor had decided to help.

Watching from high up in a nearby oak tree was a villager. Like those who had attacked them in the smoke, he was not wearing a control bracelet but a rough sacking mask over the lower part of his face.

As soon as the Doctor and friends were out of sight, he shinned down the tree and trotted back to his village to report their movements.

Tegan and Adric had inspected every inch of the room that was their prison cell.

'It's no use,' said Adric. 'We'll never get out of here.'

Tegan sat on the stool, fearing that he was right. The old house was too well built, its doors too solid. She allowed her eyes to wander around the room once again. Only this time they settled on the lintel of the door frame.

'Wait a minute,' she said, jumping up and dragging the stool across to the door. 'Look up here.'

Adric looked, but couldn't see anything to get excited about.

'There a fanlight above the door.' Tegan climbed on to the stool and examined the boards that were covering it.

'What's a fanlight?'

'A sort of window. If I can shift these boards, we might be able to get out.'

Tegan inserted her finger between the ill-fitting slats and started to pull. The nail securing the bottom of the board creaked and groaned as she lifted it. Tegan peered through the gap into the passageway outside. It was empty. She could also see that the glass in the fanlight was broken.

Tegan pulled again and felt the board give a bit more. 'Quickly,' she said,

'hold onto me.'

Adric wrapped his arms around Tegan's legs and braced himself against her with his shoulder. Given the extra support she was able to apply more leverage, but the board she wanted to move continued to resist.

'So near and yet so far,' she said, straining with all her might.

'Let me try. I'm stronger.'

'But not as determined.' Suddenly the bottom of the slat came away.

'Wel done!'

With the top end of the board still attached to the fanlight frame, Tegan raised the plank back against its fixing, and cautiously peered out.

Advancing