Doctor Who_ The Visitation - Eric Saward [32]
The miller belched as he refilled his tankard. Then the energy barrier suddenly disappeared. Startled, he slowly got to his feet and, with one eye on the opening the barrier had been concealing, pressed the energising switch. Nothing happened. He repeated his action, but still the opening remained.
Cautiously, he picked up his pistol, cocked it and moved towards the doorway. On seeing the boxes stacked either side of the opening, he paused.
'Who's there?' he called.
There was no reply.
He moved warily into the cel ar, forced to pass between the piles of boxes.
Suddenly Tegan bobbed up from behind the bench at the end of the cellar.
'Good day!' she said cheekily.
The miller levelled his pistol, but just before he fired, the boxes came cascading down on top of him. Stunned by the weight of them, he fell to the ground, his pistol discharging harmlessly as it hit the floor.
Instantly, the Doctor was amongst the boxes searching for the miller.
'Is he al right?' said Tegan, emerging from behind her bench.
The Doctor disconnected the powerpack and felt the miller's pulse. 'Just stunned,' he said.
Mace raised his arms in triumph. 'You were magnificent,' he said effusively to Tegan.
'You didn't do too badly yourself.'
Having checked the miller could breathe freely, the Doctor stood up. 'We should save the self-congratulations until later.'
'The house is ours! We are victorious!' chanted Mace.
The Doctor crossed to the opening and entered the laboratory. 'We haven't won anything yet.'
'What do you mean, Doctor?'
'The Terileptil and the android have gone. They're still free to carry out their plan!' The Doctor looked around the laboratory. 'And we don't have any idea where they are!'
Chapter Ten
With the light almost gone, the warm breeze had turned to a chilly wind.
Adric, who was feeling cold and dejected, slowly pushed his way through the thick foliage, unable to understand why the villagers had chosen such a tortuous route to wherever they were now taking him. As he paused to untwine himself from a particularly thorny bush, the villager ahead of him stumbled and fell.
'This is ridiculous,' shouted Adric. 'Why don't you use the path?'
'The path is dangerous,' grunted one of the masked men, 'especially at night.'
Adric watched as the man who had tripped over got to his feet and inspected his bruised knee. 'Can't you at least light a torch?' he protested. 'The next person who falls over may not be so lucky.'
'Walk on, lad!' snapped an impatient voice.
Adric obeyed, forcing his way through the undergrowth. 'I don't understand.
Why is the path so dangerous?'
'Things...' muttered one of the villagers cryptically.
'What sort of things?'
'Things that come out at night.'
Adric looked at the masked man. 'Creatures?'
'No, boy. Evil things.'
Adric was still puzzled. From listening to Tegan talk about Earth, he had gained the impression that the planet was relatively free of danger. And that even the larger, potentially more hostile animals, if left alone, were happy to go about their own business.
Although Adric continued to ask questions, the villagers were not very forthcoming about the nature of the 'things'.
Eventually the party emerged in a clearing where several paths met. Adric recognised the place, having passed it earlier that day - they were in fact but a few minutes' walk from the TARDIS, exactly where he had been caught al those hours ago. He looked at the tired villagers and considered, with it being so dark, whether he could make a break for it, and if he did, how much effort they would put into catching him.
As Adric pondered, he noticed, at the same moment one of the villagers did, what appeared to be an enormous firefly drifting along the path ahead of them.
'Run, lads!' a villager shouted. 'Run for your lives!'
Screaming, the villagers fled into the forest in a state of self-induced panic.