The Empire of Glass - Andy Lane [48]
His right hand suddenly met with less resistance as it thrashed.
Blindly he pushed himself in that direction. Moments or eternities later, his head broke water. Desperately he whooped in great gulps of air, and it was the sweetest, most precious thing he had ever tasted. He would have swapped all the wine in his cellars for it, and never regretted the transaction.
As his senses calmed, Galileo became aware of his surroundings.
The mist had closed in, and he could only see for a few feet, but there was no sign of either the Doctor or the boat. Over the rushing of blood in his ears he could make out a commotion in the water nearby. Weakly, he swam towards the sound, and within moments he could see, through the mist, two figures. One - an unnaturally etiolated figure with a prominent horn - was holding the other's head under the surface of the lagoon. Around the head of the submerged figure, a halo of white hair floated on the water.
Beyond them, scarcely more than a dark blot against the mist, was the overturned shape of the Doctor's boat.
For a moment, but only for a moment, Galileo considered swimming around the struggling figures. The Doctor was old and feeble, and the other creature was like nothing Galileo had ever seen or heard about before. He never really knew why he didn't leave them, but suddenly he found himself drawing on his last reserves of energy to swim into the fray. The creature that was holding the Doctor's head beneath the surface glanced up as he splashed towards them, glaring at Galileo out of two small, red eyes that held a glint of madness within them. As Galileo moved to grab its arm it lowered its head toward him. The horn that extended amazingly from its head waved before Galileo's eyes like a fencing foil. He swam sideways for a few feet, but the creature followed him with its horn. It obviously wasn't going to let itself be interrupted.
The Doctor's struggles were growing weaker now, and his hands were fluttering against the surface of the water like drowning sparrows.
Something bumped against Galileo's arm. He jerked back, expecting another of the Doctor's Godless attackers to come lunging from the water at him, but it was only a hollow metal tube.
It took Galileo a few seconds to recognize it as the Doctor's spyglass, and a few seconds longer to realize how useful it could be. Before the creature could register what he was doing he scooped it from the water and swung it like a club. The tube caught the creature just below its mighty horn, bending the metal and sending a jarring shock all the way up Galileo's arm. The creature bellowed in pain, and glared at Galileo with surprise and fury in its tiny mad eyes. Galileo swung the spyglass again, aiming at one of the eyes. The creature tried to duck but the Doctor's body bucked violently, jerking both of them out of the water a little further. The spyglass caught it at the almost imperceptible junction between its knob-like head and its skeletal body. The tube twisted even further, and green fluid sprayed from a gash in the creature's skin.
Screaming shrilly, it let go of the Doctor. He bobbed to the surface, coughing and spluttering, as the creature fell back into the water.
It resurfaced briefly, its head at an angle, and scowled at Galileo.
"Later..." it hissed, then submerged again. Galileo waited, spyglass poised, for it to bob to the surface again, or grab at his legs and pull him under, but nothing happened."Thank you, my boy," the Doctor said from behind him.
Galileo manoeuvred himself around in the water until he was facing the elderly man. "What was that thing?" he asked. "A demon from the nether regions of hell?"
"A creature from another globe, circling another sun," the Doctor said, treading water. "Perhaps you'll believe me now." He paused, and closed his eyes for a moment.
"Are you alright?" Galileo asked.
"Perfectly fine, thank you very much," the Doctor replied, opening his