Doctor Who_ Wooden Heart - Martin Day [32]
Safely hidden in the shadows, Jude scratched her head. She couldn’t follow half of what was said, but the tone was clear enough – both the Doctor and Martha were tense, as if finalising a secret plan. Both seemed impatient to leave, though the Doctor was better at hiding his concerns.
‘You mean they’re… archetypes?’ said Martha, moments later.
‘That’s how they seem to have started,’ said the Doctor. ‘But, you’re right, now they’ve changed, developed, evolved…’
‘With monsters pressing in on them, and legends about dead children rising from a lake,’ added Martha. ‘And it’s night-time. So in a few hours everyone in the village will be asleep, the research station will switch to its night cycle…’
‘And if we’re still here it’ll be Hello, vacuum; hello, deep space…’
There was a pause, footsteps from within the room – instinctively Jude pressed herself even further into the shadows under the window. She glanced around. The fog was thicker than ever now and the shapes within it, the patterns of movement, were getting more pronounced all the time.
‘Have you enjoyed your meal?’ Petr’s voice sounded incredibly close to Jude. He must have been standing at the window, half-turned to the Doctor and his friend.
‘It was lovely!’ exclaimed the Doctor. ‘My compliments to your dear wife.’
‘She is a woman of many talents,’ said Petr in a low voice. ‘I am lucky to have her.’
Underneath the window, Jude resisted the temptation to make gagging noises.
‘I’m afraid we must be going,’ said Martha. ‘So soon?’
‘I’m sorry, Petr. You’ve been very hospitable, but… We’re needed elsewhere.’
‘You won’t stay the night?’ persisted Petr.
‘Impossible, I’m afraid,’ said the Doctor firmly. ‘We’ll come back tomorrow, but for the moment…’
‘You have been an ambassador like no other,’ admitted Petro ‘I’m still not sure of your purpose amongst us,’ he said with a chuckle.
Before the Doctor could say anything, Jude heard the dining room door slide open with a crash. Petr’s laughter died away to nothing as someone rushed into the room, sobbing and incoherent. An awful hush fell over the room, punctuated by cries and the sound of Auntie Kristine trying to comfort the newcomer.
Another set of footsteps across the oak floorboards brought Jude’s father towards the Doctor, Martha and Petr.
‘Another disappearance,’ said Saul simply. ‘The Sabato family.’
As the wailing within Petr’s house increased in pitch, Jude turned once more to the fog that drifted and surged through the village. She imagined, just for a moment, that she could see a new figure in there – a new child now one with the fog.
The Doctor and Martha ran, at once, to the household that had been overcome by tragedy, but there was – literally – nothing to see. The child’s window was locked from the inside, and the bedroom door led straight into the family’s living quarters, where mother and father had sat all evening, staring at the dying embers of the fire in the grate. The child’s bed was still warm, and the mother found a single strand of golden hair upon the pillow. Her face crumpled and, despite her husband’s stoic presence, the wailing began once more.
The Doctor turned to Petr, his face both uncomprehending and defiant. ‘We’ll sort this out,’ he said firmly. ‘I promise. But we’ve got to go back into the forest. We must go back to the spot where Saul found us.’
‘Now?’
‘Yes, now.’
Petr had turned to his brother, who was standing at his side and trying to calm the hysterical mother of the disappeared child. ‘You will take them, of course?’ It was part question, part statement.
Saul nodded curtly. ‘I will.’ He paused for a moment, still looking