Doctor Who_ Warlock - Andrew Cartmel [106]
Creed sat in silence. The old man reached out and rested a big hand on his shoulder. ‘I’m counting on you, son. Take the girl to London and find Mrs Woodcott.’ He stood up and discarded the stub of his cigar. It bounced off the dark runway, shedding sparks. He turned to go, then looked back. ‘And Creed.’
‘Yeah?’
‘Make sure you come back in one piece. I’m not going to live all that much longer and I need someone to pass everything on to. And you’re the man.’
* * *
Chapter 25
Ace’s stomach rumbled. She was very hungry. Soon she’d have to stir and find something to eat. But first she wanted to think things through.
Ace remembered that it had begun with the bird. Watching the small bird fluttering around in the barn where she had been trapped. Trapped? It was only a matter of hours since she had been held prisoner, but already the idea seemed unreal. Ridiculous. How could anyone ever trap her? She was strong and free and she felt she had the power to run forever.
She could remember being strapped into the chair. At the mercy of Dieter and the others. She could remember it; but she couldn’t believe it.
The world was a place of strange new emotions. When Ace thought about the bird her heart raced with excitement and her mouth filled with hot jets of saliva. On one level her mind fought to hold a dispassionate abstract memory of the bird. On a deeper, stronger level it responded to the image of the bird with a savage excitement. Why remember a bird if not to be excited by it? Memories of the bird sparked the hunting instinct and focused the attention until her awareness was a fine cutting edge. Thinking of the bird sharpened her mind the way scratching at a rough piece of wood sharpened her claws.
Ace stretched and yawned. She lay on soft, sweet, scented earth under a gentle canopy of leaves. The leaves shielded her from sight and gave her warmth. She felt a great fondness for the leaves. It was as if they were deliberately protecting her. The thought of leaves and shelter began to relax her. Her racing heartbeat slowed and the hot longing to fight and hunt began to wane.
She shook her head to clear it, causing the delicate fringe of leaves above her head to shake in sympathy. The leaves seemed to share her feelings. Ace tilted her head up and let the leaves rub playfully across her face. A caress. This big green plant had extended its protection to her and now it was stroking her. Ace experienced a powerful sudden unadorned love for this sprawling fragrant plant with its soft leafy hands that touched her. Her joy surged and she opened her mouth and nipped at the dangling leaves. She bit them affectionately with her sharp teeth; gently, though, so as not to rupture their delicate green skin.
The bitter medicinal fragrance of the leaf invaded Ace’s nose and mouth. She couldn’t resist it. She bit deeper, making the plant juices squirt in her mouth. She tore into the leaf and chewed it. A few moments after swallowing it her stomach decided the leaf was of no value, so she casually regurgitated it on the grass nearby.
Ace stretched and heard birds calling in the distance.
Birds. She had been trying to think about a bird. Trying to remember. It wasn’t always easy thinking in this new mind of hers. She would begin to think, setting off with a certain destination in mind, a certain goal, but her thoughts would veer off in another direction, leading her somewhere else entirely. Like the thought of the bird leading irresistibly to the thoughts of hunting. She hadn’t yet learned how to navigate through the powerful new emotions and behaviour patterns she kept encountering.
Now she tried to think about the bird again. She’d already forgotten why it was necessary, but she knew it was. Ace crawled back into her bower of leaves and lay down on the shady grass, making herself relax and think about the small bird in the barn,