Menagerie - Martin Day [27]
'Doctor, Jamie,' she muttered to herself. 'Now would be a good time to come to the rescue. A very, very good time.'
Himesor thumped the table in exasperation. 'What do you mean, she's vanished?'
'She isn't there,' said Zaitabor flatly. 'I've double-checked all the cells myself.'
'I'd have expected more of the guards!' spat Himesor. 'A vital prisoner, one who can tell us about the old wizard's homunculus — and she just vanishes from before our eyes.'
'The little man is waiting outside,' said Zaitabor.
'Good to know we haven't lost him yet,' said Himesor.
'Well, you might have done,' announced a sing-song voice from the door. 'But my curiosity demands that I stay.' The two knights turned in surprise. 'Sorry to barge in, but I was getting a bit cold out there in the corridor. And these chains are so very tight . . .' The short man indicated the manacles that locked his wrists together.
'Release the Doctor,' said Himesor.
Zaitabor walked across the room. 'Araboam was supposed to be guarding you!' he said as he turned a small key in the lock on the Doctor's wrist.
'And so he was. But I felt a bit thirsty, and he very kindly went to get me a drink. Maybe that's what happened to that poor girl. Perhaps she just crumbled to dust in one of your cells.'
'You overheard our conversation?' asked Himesor quietly.
'As it turns out, I did,' smiled the Doctor. 'I do have rather good hearing.' The Doctor coughed into his hand as he sat at the great table, and made a show of examining the scrolls that covered its surface. Himesor glared at the man, and pulled them away from him. 'Anyway,' continued the Doctor, 'the girl's disappearance is hardly a secret. All the knights are talking about her.' He suddenly looked up, his eyes fixing on Himesor. 'Some say the Brotherhood of Rexulon took her. After all, she has been contaminated by contact with science.'
'What do you know of the Brotherhood of Rexulon?'
exploded Himesor. 'Everywhere I turn there is talk of the brotherhood. Day by day it seems that the power and influence of the knights is being sucked into the black, bottomless pit that is that cursed, unnatural fellowship! How I long for the whispers of their existence to cease.'
'Tell me about them,' said the Doctor quietly.
'Mere superstitious nonsense.'
'Even so,' said the Doctor. 'Tell me. You were most forthcoming last night. The legends of the Menagerie of Ukkazaal sound most fascinating.'
Himesor's reply seemed as much addressed to Zaitabor as the Doctor. 'The talk of a tired old man late at night.'
'Then you don't want me to help you penetrate the sewers and the menagerie beyond?'
Himesor turned to address Zaitabor. 'Go and find the girl.'
'My Lord.'
The Grand Knight watched Zaitabor as he marched through the door. Just before it slammed there was the sound of shouting. Himesor recognized Araboam's voice, made weak with apology.
'I am intrigued, Doctor,' said Himesor when the noise had subsided. 'You say that you could have escaped from our cells?'
'Oh, I expect so,' said the Doctor casually. 'I'm used to a better standard of straw-filled mattress, if you catch my drift.'
'But you didn't?'
'No. As you will have already realized, I am not a superstitious man. But there is something wrong here, isn't there?'
'Perhaps. Perhaps there is always something wrong here.'
'No, I'm talking about an unusual feeling of fear. I feel as if I'm camped out on the battlefield with an untrained army, waiting to be strafed by an attack plane.'
'Your words are meaningless to me, Doctor.'
'Perhaps. But I think you know what I mean. And that is why I have stayed.'
'Do you know where the girl is?'
'Gracious me, no. But is it possible that one of your own knights could have contrived her "disappearance"?'
'No Kuabris would ever betray the wishes of the Grand Knight.'
The Doctor stared at Himesor. 'I want to help you. I would rather help you from something approaching a position of trust.'
'You are a most unusual prisoner, Doctor.'
The Doctor smiled warmly.
Himesor relented, and spread out his hands in a sign of honesty.