Doctor Who_ Wolfsbane - Jac Rayner [27]
A hand touched his shoulder, and he started again. But again, there was no one there. There was no one anywhere.
No Doctor, no Godric. He hadn‟t wanted to call out before.
Embarrassing, really, admitting he was lost. But he couldn‟t deny it any longer. He cleared his throat. „Doctor?‟ It wasn‟t as loud as it could be, and there was no answer. He tried again, managed to make it louder. „Doctor? Godric?‟ Nothing.
A hand touched his shoulder, and he jumped, landing on his back for the umpteenth time. And looked up into the wistful face of a beautiful woman.
This was the most beautiful woman Harry had ever seen.
The most beautiful woman on this world or any other. But when he came to try to describe her later, all he could say was that she wore green. And then, later than that, he couldn‟t remember her at all.
She held out a hand, and a cool wave of calm washed through him. He wanted to be with her more than he‟d wanted anything in the world before. Just be at her side for ever. He couldn‟t go back to a universe of uncertainty and evil, a universe where there were murders and werewolves and metal monsters and torture and insect creatures and giant robots and just ail the mean, petty unpleasantnesses of everyday life. He would stay by her side and let serenity take him for ever.
„Harry!‟
Harry woke up. „Doctor?‟ he said, talking to a man who wasn‟t there. But the soft bur of the man who went by the same name answered him.
„Harry, stay with us, Harry.‟
Stay where? Harry tried to turn to see the Doctor. He couldn‟t do it. He didn‟t know what had happened to him; didn‟t understand. The Doctor and Godric were holding his left arm. His right arm - his right leg - half his torso - weren‟t there any more. He couldn‟t feel them. They seemed be -
inside a tree? That couldn‟t be right. Here he was. But if you followed his body to see where the rest of it should be, you came to a tree trunk.
I can‟t move,‟ he said, puzzled, twisting round as far as he could.
Knife,‟ the Doctor said to Godric. Harry saw a blade appear in the Doctor‟s hand.
„Am I trapped?‟ Harry asked. „Are you going to cut me out?‟
„I don‟t think that would work,‟ said the Doctor. He rested the knife against the tree trunk. „Let him out!‟
Nothing happened. Hairy tried to pull away, but the tree held him firm. Held him? Or was he part of the tree now?
The knife whistled past his ear and he yelped. A female gasp mixed in with his cry as a branch tumbled to the floor.
„Let him out!‟ the Doctor shouted. The blade slashed again, and another branch fell - and Harry fell with it, stumbling backwards, free and whole again.
A woman in green was standing above him. No, the woman in green. Or was she herself green? Blood - was it green blood? - was running down her arms. And then there was a thump beside him and out of the corner of his eye Harry saw Godric sit down heavily, mouth open wide in shock.
„Cheater!‟ the woman screeched. „He‟s mine!‟
„Sorry, no,‟ said the Doctor. „You can‟t have him.‟
She smiled. „Then I‟ll have you instead.‟
The Doctor calmly removed her hand from his arm. „Sorry again, that won‟t work on me.‟ He moved the knife in his hand, just very slightly, very subtly.
The green woman looked around. „You won‟t let me have him...‟ Then her gaze moved from Harry to Godric. „You! I thought I had seen the last of you!‟
The Doctor said to Godric, „Well, that explains a lot. How long were you asleep in her tree?‟
„A day,‟ whispered Godric, staring up at the woman.
She screeched with laughter. „Over a thousand years! Over a thousand years I‟ve had to wait to be rid of him. So wistful.
So noble. So pure‟.
„Why wait so long?‟ the Doctor asked.
She scowled, and said, „I don‟t have to tell you anything.‟
The Doctor raised the knife. „Doctor!‟ gurgled Harry from the floor, aghast, finding it