Doctor Who_ Wolfsbane - Jac Rayner [67]
Sarah folded her arms. Or at least she intended to, she wasn‟t quite sure if her body was there with her, or how exactly this whole thing was working. „Well, who‟s to say I am? Look, I‟m sure you‟re a very nice person -‟ Actually, Sarah wasn‟t sure at all, being naturally indisposed to people who tricked her and shut her up in a tree - „but I have a life of my own out there, especially now I know I‟m not a werewolf. Speaking of which, thank you very much for that, I do appreciate it, but my friend will be looking for me. And,‟
she added, suddenly thinking of something, „if you keep me in here I can‟t rescue Harry Sullivan two weeks ago, and then things will go seriously wrong with the web of time.‟
„But that has already happened,‟ the dryad said.
„Aha!‟ said Sarah. „No it hasn‟t. Not for me. And what‟s with this dependency thing anyway? Why do you need another person? I tell you, I live alone - when I‟m not here there and everywhere, that is - and I love it. You can watch what you want on telly - eat whatever you feel like, when you feel like it and however smelly it is - get up in the middle of the night and read a book, or sleep till one in the afternoon - walk around in your old knickers and leave the washing up till the next day - honestly, I wouldn‟t swap it. And, anyway, you‟re always tripping over each other - and that‟s bad enough in a house, I can‟t imagine what it would be like in a tree - and I bet they don‟t take turns in cleaning the bath either. No, why anyone would want to be permanently stuck with someone else when they could be independent beats meeeeee -‟
And suddenly Sarah found herself on the wooded floor again, staring up at the Doctor.
Hello Sarah,‟ he said. „Thanks for dropping by.‟
A whisper in the wind seemed to say: „I put up with a thousand years of chastity and purity, but there‟s no way I‟m putting up with another minute of that...‟
Sarah tried to explain to the Doctor what had happened, leaving out the bit about being tricked. „I‟m not a werewolf,‟
she said, „the dryad told me.‟ She realised something else.
„And look! Most of my cuts and bruises are gone!‟
„The healing power of nature,‟ said the Doctor. „Now, I‟d rather like to have a word with this dryad of yours.‟
„She‟s not my dryad,‟ Sarah said, folding her arms for real this time.
The Doctor went over to the tree, and rapped his knuckles on it. „Hello? Anyone there?‟
„I am not at home,‟ came a voice.
„I think you are,‟ said the Doctor.
„Believe me, I am not,‟ said the dryad. And in the end, they had to accept her word for it.
But then the Doctor decided the time had come to share with Sarah what Emmeline had told him of the events of a fortnight ago. Well. Most of it, anyway.
The Doctor had insisted on them all grabbing a few hours of sleep. Harry, initially protesting - surely every minute counted if they had to save the world? - had eventually acquiesced as his eyelids overruled his brain. They went to the Doctor‟s cottage, not relishing the idea of Hester or George returning while they caught a bit of shut-eye.
Emmeline took the bed upstairs, Harry, after some argument, the sofa, the Doctor a chair, and Godric had a blanket on the floor. Godric slept with his head on his leather bag. Harry glanced down at the lad, wondering if it could really be true that the most famous holy relic of all time was there in front of him, being used as a pillow. The thought was so much harder to believe than robots and aliens.
Were the Doctor and Sarah trying to find their way back to him? Or had they got caught up in some other desperate struggle at the end of time? Because he couldn‟t help but think that, seeing as they were in a time machine, if they were trying to find their way back to him, they‟d have made it by now. And that they hadn‟t done so was a very depressing thing indeed.
Harry finally slept, but his dreams were not restful.
After their sleep, the four readied themselves for the night ahead. Godric was clearly nervous. He voiced some of his fears to Harry.
„I have revered always those who