Doctor Who_ Wolfsbane - Jac Rayner [71]
There remained a set of teaspoons and a candlestick. The Doctor scattered the teaspoons - there were six of them - in front of the door to the hallway. „Although this door locks,‟ he said, taking Harry and Godric out into the hall. „We‟ll lock the back door, shut the door to the kitchen, and then -‟ he demonstrated, turning the key - „lock this door. The front door will be locked too, of course.‟ He frowned. „I hope it will be enough. There‟s nothing more we can do, not in the time we have left.‟ Then he handed the candlestick to Harry. „Stick that in your belt. Just in case you need some protection.‟
Harry didn‟t understand. „But we won‟t be anywhere near when she changes, will we?‟ he said.
The Doctor shook his head. „Someone has to stay here,‟ he said. „I think Emmeline may be more important to this than we‟ve worked out. And she won‟t be able to protect herself tonight.‟
Harry started to say that he jolly well thought she could protect herself tonight, being in possession of fangs and claws as she would be by then, but the Doctor shook his head.
„But she will have the mind of a wolf too: instinct, not wisdom. Godric can‟t stay, because he is the Grail-bearer.
And out of you and I, Harry - we know I can resist Hester‟s magic. How much - well, that we don‟t know. But we don‟t know if you can.‟
Harry hadn‟t actually considered that he might be left behind. To a certain extent he rather enjoyed adventure -
although if the TARDIS had got him back to his own time and place, he couldn‟t see him stepping back inside it voluntarily; not like Sarah, who had known exactly what she was getting into but had still chosen to take a trip round the universe -
apparently more than once, too! But knowing in a vague sort of way that out there, somewhere, people were involved in life or death struggles, while he was sorting out paperwork or taking blood pressure readings - that was one thing. Sitting out when the adventure was on his very doorstep, when he was already involved, that was a different thing altogether.
He didn‟t know if he could bear the waiting, the suspense, the lack of action; he wanted to be doing things.
But Harry Sullivan was a sensible and selfless man, and if it was best for everyone that he be left behind, then left behind he would be, and with a smile. „You‟re right,‟ he told the Doctor. „You‟re the best man for the job.‟
The Doctor clapped him on the shoulder. „Good man!‟
„But have you worked out a way of getting through the wood to Hester‟s lair yet, though?‟
The Doctor‟s face fell. „No,‟ he said, mouth set hard. „I‟ll find an axe and try to chop my way through. There‟s nothing else for it.‟
Godric held up his holly-scratched arms. „I fear the trees will not let you,‟ he said. And Harry reminded him of the tree that had attacked George Stanton.
That should have lowered the Doctor‟s mood still further.
But, apparently, it did not. In fact, it seemed to cheer him up immensely.
„Of course!‟ cried the Doctor, jumping to his feet and beaming from ear to ear. „If the trees can stop us - they can help us too! That‟s it! We‟ll ask the dryad for help! We can call her from the edge of the wood and she can intervene with whatever other spirits there are in there, get them to clear us a path!‟
„Dryad?‟ said Harry, frowning. Perhaps the pressure had got a bit too much for the poor old Doctor. „Isn‟t that a sort of tree nymph thing? What makes you think that there‟s such a thing around here? If they exist at all, that is.‟
The Doctor rolled his eyes. „They exist. You got stuck in this particular dryad‟s tree yesterday.‟
„I think you must be thinking of someone else,‟ Harry said, slightly concerned they were trusting the welfare of the world to a man who couldn‟t even properly remember what happened yesterday.
„Godric was in her tree for a thousand years,‟ the Doctor continued. „How did you think a young man from