Doctor Who: Marco Polo (9 page)

After midnight Ian put his plan into
operation. He slit open the back of the tent with the edge of the
broken plate and crawled out.

Still crouching, he looked around
cautiously. The guard was facing the bamboo forest and leaning with
his back against a wagon. Ian crept towards him, knowing he would be
difficult to overpower silently as he had to attack from the side
which, unless he was very quick, would give the Mongol time to shout
an alarm. Ian reached the end of the wagon and steeled himself to
spring out. Then he stopped, looked around sharply and went back into
cover. The guard was dead with an arrow sticking out of his chest.
Ian returned to the tent, undid the flap and told them.

'Bandits, Chesterton,' the Doctor said.
'Inform Polo.' The three of them understood the Doctor's implication.

'Yes, Doctor,' Ian replied and left the
tent. Then he saw Tegana crouched over the dying fire, putting sticks
on it. Ian returned to the tent.

'Tegana's by the fire.'

'Try to by-pass him without being
seen,' the Doctor said, 'Polo's the one to be told.'

Tegana was pre-occupied with the fire
so it was not difficult for Ian to skirt around him and reach the
open flap of Marco's quarters. He went inside and shook Marco's
shoulder.

'Marco, wake up,' he whispered
urgently. Marco stirred. 'The guard's been killed. I think we're in
for an attack by bandits.' Marco scrambled to his feet, grabbed his
sword and went into the main section of the tent.

'Where's Tegana?'

'Outside, tending the fire. We thought
it wiser to inform you first.' Marco rushed out just as Tegana picked
up a burning brand.

'Tegana,' he hissed, 'bandits.' Tegana
threw the stick back onto the fire. 'Wake the
bearers. Arm yourself. Ian, ask the Doctor to escort Susan and
Barbara to my tent and put them with Ping-Cho.' When Ian returned
Marco handed him a sword. 'Do you know how to use one?'

'Not the way you mean,' Ian replied
with a smile, 'but given half a chance I'll learn.' The Doctor came
out of the main tent.

'What's the plan of battle, Polo?' he
asked.

'We defend ourselves as best we can,'
Marco said and handed the Doctor a sword.

'We are bound to be outnumbered. What's
needed here is strategy,' the Doctor retorted.

'If you are as aggressive with a sword
as you are with your tongue we cannot lose,' Marco said. The Doctor
shook his head.

'It's not enough.' The Doctor placed
the tip of the blade on the ground and rested his hands on the hilt.
'Definitely not enough. No, we must, we must. . .' - a devious smile
spread across his face - 'bamboozle them.'

'I don't understand,' Marco admitted.

'Perhaps a word unfamiliar to your
ears, which means to outwit or to deceive.' The Doctor looked at Ian.
'Chesterton, help me to hack down some of those bamboos. You as well,
Polo,' he ordered. 'And you. too,' he added, looking at Tegana.

The four of them went to the edge of
the forest and began slashing down the bamboo stalks.

'What is this about, Doctor?' Marco
asked.

'We are about to build a better
bonfire,' the Doctor replied.

From the depths of the forest Acomat
waited impatiently for Tegana's signal. He could
see the campfire burning but nothing else. He turned to the Tartar at
his side.

'What keeps him?' he growled.

'Perhaps the War Lord sleeps,' the
Tartar replied.

'True. Tegana is not as young as we
are. Alert the others. We shall wake him up.'

The Doctor was heaping bamboo stalks
onto the fire as Marco came over to him with some more.

'Is Tegana right?' he asked, 'are you a
magician?' The Doctor was amused.

'I would have thought you knew about
bamboo, Polo. It has compartments in it full of air and as they heat
up the air expands until the stalk explodes. Not unlike a Cathay
fire-cracker,' he added for good measure. Then they heard the shouts
from within the forest as Acomat and the Tartars came noisily towards
the camp.

'Defend yourselves,' Marco shouted and
they all faced the forest.

Tegana was inwardly fuming with rage.
He had told Acomat to attack with stealth and he had been disobeyed,
his plan had failed. Now Acomat must pay the price. The Tartars
swarmed from the forest with Acomat at their head.

'So the Master of the World's War Lord,
Tegana, is awake,' he cried just before Tegana cut him down. Then,
the bonfire began to explode as Marco, Ian and the Doctor, shouting
'be off with you', and the bearers counter-attacked. Acomat's
followers took to their heels and fled back into the forest.

Barbara came to the entrance of the
main tent. 'Are you all right?' she asked anxiously.

'We set the knaves scuttering, my
dear,' the Doctor replied, waving his sword dramatically in the air.

'And the explosions?' Ian pointed to
the fire and explained the Doctor's use of the bamboo.

'The bandits thought there were devils
in the fire,' Marco added.

'No, Polo, more than that. They ran
because the War Lord slew their leader. That's what broke them.' He
glanced at the two bearers who were carrying away Acomat's body.
Tegana swaggered over to the Doctor.

'In battle all men face death,' he
proclaimed. The Doctor looked at him evenly.

'True, but few expect to meet it,' he
replied. Tegana turned away and walked past Barbara into the tent.
Marco glanced from Ian to the Doctor.

'Were you attempting to escape?' he
asked.

'No, Polo, we were escaping.' The
Doctor nonchalantly stuck his sword into the ground. Ian explained
their plan and remarked that the Doctor had insisted Marco be warned.
Marco inclined his head to the Doctor.

'I thank you for our lives, Doctor,' he
said half-smiling, 'but out of prudence for the future, it would be
preferable if the guard were on my tent rather than yours.'

'We are no longer prisoners,' Ian
stated.

'No.'

The Doctor held out his hand. 'Then
give me the key and we shall journey on.'

Marco sighed. 'I wish I could make you
realise how important your flying caravan is to me.' The Doctor
bristled.

'Better you realised how infinitely
more important it is to us,' he snapped and stomped into their tent.

At sunrise they broke camp and
travelled beyond the bamboo forests onto the plain leading to
Lan-Chow and the river. But at midday Marco halted the caravan at a
small inn near a village and announced that they would stay there
until the following morning to recover from the events of the
previous night. The inn was not as well-appointed as a way-station
but it was adequate and the food, though simple, was good. The
landlord said he was honoured to have such distinguished guests and
did his best to make them comfortable. Marco had lifted his
strictures, Ping-Cho and Susan were sharing a room again, and the
atmosphere at the table was relaxed. When they had eaten and were
sipping their tea, Marco looked at each of them in turn.

'Will you, on your honour, promise not
to attempt another escape?' he asked. The question was received with
a stubborn silence. Marco sighed and put his hands, palms down, on
the table. 'So be it,' he muttered.

'We sacrificed our bid for freedom to
save you, Polo,' the Doctor retorted.

'I know you did,' Marco said, 'and in
return I revoke, by official decree, the seizure of your flying
caravan.'

'Noble of you, I'm sure,' the Doctor
replied tartly, 'now hand over the keys.' Marco shook his head.

'No, Doctor, we've been through this
before.'

Tegana pointed a warning finger at
Marco. 'Whatever you grant them, they will use against you.'

Marco chuckled. 'I shall be guarded day
and night.'

Tegana stood up. 'Let me be your sword.
I shall protect - '

'No.' Marco cut him off sharply. 'You
are in my charge, not I in yours.' They were two remarks that
intrigued the Doctor and to which he referred later when the four of
them were alone.

'Tegana realises that the jig is up as
far as we're concerned.'

'He knows we're on to him,' Ian agreed.

'But on to what?' Barbara asked. The
Doctor leant forward in his chair.

'That, young woman, is the pertinent
question. Ian saw the War Lord tending the campfire last night. A
menial task, one he'd order the guard to do.'

'But the guard was dead, grandfather,'
Susan said.

'Precisely, dear child,' the Doctor
replied, 'and Tegana sounded no alarm. Ergo, he knew.'

'You're suggesting he was implicated in
the attack,' Ian observed.

'I'm stating a fact, Chesterton,' the
Doctor replied. 'Since we became involved with Polo's caravan, two
men have died and Tegana slew them both. He knew them both, I've no
doubt, the one in the forest called him by name, but his ultimate
mission is more important than their lives.'

'But what is it?' Barbara asked.

'Nice lady, that I do not know and,
what is more, I do not care. I want that key and us away from here.'

Suddenly, they heard the sound of
jingling bells approaching.

'It's not Christmas, is it?' Susan
joked and then a young man with a bandeau around his head and wearing
close-fitting breeches tucked into his riding boots, and a shirt with
a wide belt ringed with bells tightened around his waist, strode in
from the courtyard.

'I seek Messer Marco Polo,' he said.
Susan stood up.

'He's in his room, I'll fetch him.' She
ran up the stairs. Ian was staring at the bells.

'Why do you wear those?' he asked
finally.

'To let people know that I approach,'
the young man replied with a smile and explained that he was a
special courier to Kublai Khan. 'I ride without respite to my
destination, apart from the moment to change my horse every league.
The bells warn the innkeeper to saddle up a fresh steed for me.'

Where have you come from?' the Doctor
asked.

'The summer palace at Shang-Tu.'

'That's a hundred leagues from here,'
Ian exclaimed. 'When did you leave?'

'Yesterday.'

'I would have thought it physically
impossible,' Barbara said.

'My clothing, as you see, is very
tight, my lady, or else we would be shaken to pieces.'

'Are there many like you who can cover
such distances without rest?' Ian asked. The young man waved a hand
in front of his face.

'We are few, my lord, but it's in our
blood. All of us come from the great steppes to the north.'

The Doctor suggested that as he had
reached his destination he should sit down. The young man smiled. 'Thank you, my lord,' he
replied, eased out his belt, sat in a chair and stretched his legs.

Susan was about to rap on Marco's door
when she thought it would be better if Ping-Cho told him of the young
man's arrival, so she went to their room and asked her to do the
errand. Ping-Cho guessed instantly where the courier had come from,
rushed over to Marco's room, knocked briefly on the door and, without
waiting for a reply, went inside. Marco was at the table putting the
two keys in a compartment at the back of his journal. He looked
angrily at Ping-Cho who apologised for bursting in and explained that
one of the Khan's special couriers was downstairs. Marco closed his
journal and looked at her.

'Do I have your word not to tell anyone
where the keys are?'

'Yes, Messer Marco, you do. No one at
all.'

Followed by Ping-Cho and Susan, Marco
went downstairs and the young manjumped to his feet, then bowed.

'Ling-Tau,' Marco said with pleasure
and asked him what was the great Khan's bidding. Ling-Tau opened the
despatch pouch that was part of his belt and handed Marco a sealed
parchment document which he opened and read. He looked around at the
others.

'Kublai Khan wishes to see me without
delay,' he said, tapping the parchment.

'Give me the keys, one will do, jump on
your horse and gallop away,' the Doctor replied. Even Marco could not
resist a grin.

'No, Doctor, Lan-Chow is a day's travel
from here. We shall go there tomorrow, take horses and ride to the summer palace at Shang-Tu. All in
all, eight days to cover the distance,' he concluded.

'What about my personal effects?' the
Doctor glowered at him.

'They will follow on with a commercial
caravan,' Marco replied. 'There is at least one every day that leaves
Lan-Chow for Shang-Tu.'

'Polo, we are talking about my ship,'
the Doctor snapped back, 'and I'm not letting it out of my sight.'
Marco held up the Khan's seal.

'This says your flying caravan will
arrive without incident at the summer palace. On Kublai Khan's oath.'
The Doctor snorted as Marco turned to Ling-Tau.

'I shall prepare a reply for the great
Khan which you will carry to him tomorrow when we leave here.'
Ling-Tau pulled off his bandeau and undid his belt.

'Thank you, Messer Marco,' he said with
a smile. Ian looked at him in astonishment.

'Do you mean you'd have ridden back to
Shang-Tu immediately?'

'If it were necessary, my lord,'
Ling-Tau replied, pushing his shoulders back and stretching. Ping-Cho
thought he was a very handsome young man.

The next morning Ling-Tau galloped away
with Marco's reply in his belt of jingling bells while the caravan
trundled sedately towards Lan-Chow. At noon they could see the spires
of the city and by mid-afternoon, the river shimmering in the
sunlight and snaking away to the horizon. Just before dusk they
arrived at the way-station where they were greeted by the rotund and
pompous manager, Wang-Lo. As usual, the Doctor had the TARDIS placed
in the central courtyard, this time

beneath a trelliswork of hanging
gardens, before going up to his room to take a bath and change. When
he came downstairs to join the others for dinner, the central
courtyard contained only the hanging gardens.