Doctor Who_ Wolfsbane - Jac Rayner [64]
„How?‟ she finally asked. „How can you help me?‟
The woman fluttered the fingers of her free hand up and down, taking in Sarah‟s body from head to toe. „I can tell you if you carry the taint.‟
„No!‟ Then Sarah changed her mind. „How?‟
„I am a creature of nature. I can feel the unnatural, taste its bitter taste.‟ The woman smiled.
Sarah frowned still.
„I am a tree spirit, child, a thousand years old. I cannot explain to such as you how I know; you must accept that I do.‟
„Well... can you tell, then? I mean, can you tell me?‟ And then, remembering her manners, „I mean, I would be very grateful if you could tell me. Please.‟ Sarah felt suddenly overawed, not doubting for a second that this woman was what she said she was. She felt instead that she should have known instantly.
The woman - the tree spirit - laughed, a sound like wind through the leaves. „This is not me, not the real me.‟ She lay a hand on the ash trunk. „This is my home, and myself. Only within can I tell what you truly are.‟ She held out her other hand to Sarah. „Come with me.‟
Warning signs began, finally, to flash. Sarah looked at the tree spirit, then the tree, then the tree spirit again. „How am I supposed to do that?‟
A green-white hand stroked the bark gently. „You do not have to do anything. I will do it all.‟
Sarah began to back away.
The woman laughed again. „You fear I would trap you within? You have no need to fear. I prefer men for my company.‟ The hand beckoned again. And Sarah suddenly realised what a good idea this was. She wanted to go with this woman more than she had ever wanted anything before in her life.
She stepped forward, and took the woman‟s hand. She felt detached from her body, somehow, far apart, looking down on herself and her feet moved one in front of the other and suddenly she wasn‟t in the wood any more, no, she was still in the wood but she wasn‟t there...
Silence and stillness and blessed peace.
A voice may have spoken somewhere inside her head. „You are safe. You have no taint.‟ Sarah smiled, as her mind floated away. „And now you can stay with me.‟
The Doctor was striding through the woods, retracing his steps. He hadn‟t found Emmeline, and now he seemed to have lost Sarah too.
„Sarah! Sarah!‟
No one answered.
He suddenly flung himself to the ground. There, caught on a thorn bush by an ancient ash, was a torn scrap of material.
It was from the Doctor‟s coat. But of course, the Doctor wasn‟t wearing his coat. „Sarah! Sarah!‟
But there was still no answer.
At the Leffy house, the sun had come up and a council of war was taking place. Harry, Godric and the Doctor sat at one end of the dining table. Emmeline Neuberger sat at the other.
Knowing - or at least suspecting - what he carried in his backpack, Godric refused to let the leather bag out of his sight.
They had once more gone over all the information they had, including the scraps Harry had gleaned from the self-styled King Mordred.
Lady Hester Stanton believed herself to be the reincarnation of the sorceress Morgan le Fay, and she did indeed possess some degree of magical powers. Her plan seemed to be to put her son George on the throne. „Was that always part of the plan?‟ Harry wondered. „Or did that just come about because of Edward being about to abdicate? Or so I imagine,‟ he added, as the Doctor and Emmeline shot him, „How do you know that?‟ looks.
„I suspect that the plan is for her to be the power behind the throne,‟ the Doctor said. „Aided by her magicks.‟
„And something big is due to happen tonight,‟ said Harry.
„But we don‟t know what.‟
„The full moon,‟ said Emmeline.
The Doctor considered. „Coincidence? Or not?‟
„Not,‟ said Harry decidedly. „She‟s been using Miss Neuberger as a scapegoat up till now, probably hopes to do so again.‟
„Call me Emmeline,‟ purred Miss Neuberger.
„Godric,‟ said the Doctor, „tell me about Morgan le Fay‟s powers‟
Godric