Menagerie - Martin Day [73]
Soon they stood blinking on a chalky hillside where long-tailed sheep nibbled at grey grass. There was a strong breeze on the Doctor's face, and the closest part of the city to them, at the base of the hill, contained the Furnace. Its unfiltered fumes would have explained the dusty state of the grass.
However, it was clear even from this distance that the Furnace had been so badly damaged as to be beyond repair.
An entire brick chimney had crumbled along the full length of the building. Another had split and twisted. The majority of the walls of the building itself had been destroyed but inside was a tangle of metal and brick.
Although the sun was still hidden by one side of the valley, the early morning light softened some of the city's ugliness. The grey rain-bearing clouds had receded, at least for the moment.
'Meteorologically speaking,' announced the Doctor, 'it could be a nice day.'
The android's keen senses picked something up, and it slowly scanned the sky. 'Look there,' it said, pointing.
The Doctor squinted and saw dark figures climbing into the sky. Soon there was a hazy strip of them, extending from the opposite hillside and towards the castle.
'Taculbain?' he asked.
The Dugraq nodded. 'I've never heard of them coming out into the light before. I suppose it is possible for them to function but it must require great concentration.'
'Then whatever they're doing is very important,' said the Doctor. 'We haven't got much time. Let's find Defrabax and go to the castle. I don't like the look of this at all.'
Defrabax could feel the city's panic. The mental openness that genuinely elevated him above most men allowed him to experience the emotions and images remotely. Mothers pulled children indoors from yards and bolted doors behind them. Working men dropped their tools and cowered under roofs in fear. The sky was black with the humming wings of the moth-creatures. The cry quickly went round: 'More creatures from the menagerie! We are doomed!'
Where normally his mind was full of human strivings and plans now Defrabax saw with sudden crystal clarity the first of the Taculbain alighting at the base of the castle. The moth-creatures landed and gently folded back their great wings. They filed slowly into a cave at the castle's base.
They chirruped loudly to one another when the excitement became too great. Defrabax did not understand their clicking language, but he felt the meaning in the depth of the great cry: 'Soon our Queen shall be restored to us!'
The images faded.
Defrabax stood watching the approaching figures as resolute as a statue despite the wind that tugged at his hair and the fog that danced around his feet. He leant against a large staff, as colourful a figure as the city could tolerate.
The man he had seen on the communications device came and stood next to him. They both silently observed the city from the lower hillside.
'I want you to know that my intentions were honourable,'
said Defrabax.
'I know,' said the man who called himself the Doctor.
'We've both managed to distract the other from the true business at hand.'
'And that is?'
'The Taculbain,' said the Doctor. 'Or, rather, the things they've done to have their Queen returned to them.'
'Only one man knows what they have been ordered to do,'
said the magician, 'and that is the knight who used Kuabris robes much as you did to penetrate the menagerie. And yet I sense that the Taculbain have completed their mission.' He lifted a finger and traced it along the line of the moth-men as they flew towards the castle. 'I think that they are about to receive back their Queen.'
'We must go to the castle,' said the Doctor.
Defrabax nodded, deep in thought. 'At this moment all paths lead to the castle.'
Jamie and Kaquaan had investigated the long tapestry-covered corridor, searching for the secret door that led down to the Rexulon chamber. Jamie was disgusted when he found that he had been so simply tricked: two of the great tapestries had been swapped. The door, closed this time but not locked, now lay behind a bizarre