Doctor Who_ Wooden Heart - Martin Day [33]
Petr shook his head. ‘No. My business is here, in the village – with those who suffer loss and hardship. The woods are your territory.’
‘Within your parameters,’ Saul muttered under his breath.
‘Sorry?’
‘I thought the Doctor and Martha were your guests,’ said Saul, more loudly. ‘I thought…’
‘Yes?’
Saul turned to the Doctor and Martha. ‘I thought you would help us.’
‘We will,’ said the Doctor. ‘But we need to leave the village. Once we’re away from here I’ll be in a better position to help you.’
Saul turned away without saying anything else – Martha couldn’t tell if he took the Doctor’s words at face value or if he was disappointed by what he’d heard.
Petr smiled with official finality. ‘It is arranged then,’ he said.
And so it was, with seemingly indecent haste, that Martha and the Doctor found themselves once more back in the forest. They both carried a sputtering torch, though Saul preferred to have his hands free. Martha thought at first this was to enable him to push aside the toughest branches without encumbrance, but then she noticed the swords at his belt. He carried two this time though in truth one was barely longer than a dagger. But just before they’d left she’d glanced out of the window and seen Saul polishing his blades and carefully sheathing them. Saul was, if anything, even more on edge than normal.
‘It’s not far,’ he breathed after some time, dropping to his knees to examine tracks on the ground. ‘This used to be a safe place,’ he added sadly, ‘but with the creatures gaining ground all the time…’
‘Does that belong to one of the monsters?’ asked Martha, pointing at the tracks.
Saul shook his head. ‘Bears,’ he said. ‘Though, if they’ve been disturbed by what’s been going on… You still wouldn’t want to run into one of them.’
Martha didn’t especially want to run into a bear, whatever its mood.
They trudged along for some considerable time, Martha desperate to spot something she recognised from their first appearance in the woods that morning. But it was dark now, the trees reaching around and over her like suffocating shadows, and it was all she could do to keep her feet from stumbling over hidden roots and broken branches. She’d have to trust in Saul.
‘We’re almost there,’ said Saul suddenly as they came into a clearing. The harsh lines of the trees were dappled and softened by starlight.
‘Yes!’ exclaimed Martha suddenly, pointing to a small stump a distance away. It resembled a squashed teddy bear. ‘I remember this bit…’
‘I found you just over there,’ said Saul, pointing, ‘and you were coming from this direction.’ And he set off again.
Martha turned to the Doctor. ‘Is it much further?’
‘Hard to tell in this place,’ said the Doctor. ‘We were going around in circles when we first arrived. Perhaps, with Saul’s help –’
The silence of the dark forest was suddenly split asunder. Someone was screaming at the top of their voice – a shrill, instinctive noise. A child.
‘Come on!’ said the Doctor, already at Saul’s shoulder and running at his side.
Within moments they found themselves in another small open space between the trees. The floor of the clearing was covered with moss and tiny brambles, and in the centre crouched a girl in pale blue robes.
‘Jude!’ exclaimed Saul, running forward with blind fatherly concern. ‘What are you doing out here?’
The girl struggled against Saul’s embrace, pointing in wordless terror as a vast creature pushed its way into the clearing. It moved with surprising grace for all its bulk, hugging close to the ground.
Martha gulped – it was the creature they had glimpsed when Saul had freed the Doctor from the iron trap. If you put a dragon and a spider in a blender, she decided, and then gave the result to Dracula as a pet… That would be the result. It had an emaciated, lizard-like face and body, and huge bat wings, though the skin between the bones was tattered and grey. Its legs tapped against the ground when it paused,