The King's Dragon (20 page)

'I have another request to make,' Anwa said. 'I will understand if you refuse. It would help if one of your people could summon the Herald again, rather than one of the regulatory team. We've learned from experience that Heralds are able to detect if one of our species is summoning them.'

'That seems acceptable to me,' said Hilthe.

'Doctor, you do still have that ring?'

The Doctor put down his pen. 'I do - but you should think twice before putting it on again, Mother.' He glanced at Anwa. 'This encounter will be for real this time, won't it?'

Anwa nodded.

'For real?' said Hilthe. 'Was it not real before?

Explain, please, Doctor - for one who may lack the detailed knowledge to understand how such tricks occur, but who does not lack wits.'

'Each time the Herald has appeared before,' the Doctor explained, 'she's been a projection. She used you - and Amy - as a means of communication.'

'We were her mouthpieces,' Hilthe said, nodding.

'That's right. But this time she'll take full shape.

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And whoever is holding that ring will become the channel through which the Herald will pass on her way to taking that shape.'

'I'll do it, Doctor,' Amy said.

'No you will not do it,' Hilthe and the Doctor said simultaneously.

'No, my dear,' Hilthe continued. 'It is Geath that has made this alliance. Geath requires this protection, and therefore Geath will provide this service. And since I am the one that the Herald chose as most likely to share her mind and be persuaded by her appeal, I shall be the one through whom she will pass.' She reached for Amy's hand. 'But I would hear your counsel, for you have defeated her once already.' She drew Amy aside.

The Doctor turned to Anwa. 'Protocol Nine Six One,' he said. 'Rules dictating appropriate forms of interaction with species designated as falling below standards set for extraterrestrial contact. Rubbish protocol. Don't care what you do - reform it, redraft it, dump it - but next time you find a spot of Enamour on a pre-industrial world,
talk
to them! If they're not ready to accept you as aliens, they'll assume you're fairies or enchanters or something.

Might try and burn you, but your armour should get you out of that. Anyway, drop Protocol Nine Six One. If you need to talk to them, they should know who you really are.' He wrinkled his nose.

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'Non-interference? Prime Directives? So twenty-third century. All a bit retro. And not in a good way.'

'You know it's a poor protocol, Doctor,' Anwa replied, 'and I know it's a poor protocol, and Camba certainly knows it - but try telling my boss.'

The Doctor ripped some pages from his spiral notepad. They were full of closely written notes.

'My independent advice. Been to a lot of places, made a lot of first contacts. Try that on your boss.'

Softly, he said, 'Your case stands or falls on its own merits, Anwa. No need to go around terrifying people.'

Anwa took the sheets of paper with a grateful smile.

'I do have one request to make in return,' the Doctor said. 'But first of all - tell me what plans you have for the Herald once you've taken her.'

'We have a procedure for that, Doctor—'

'Yes, I'm sure you do, but you have to admit that not all your procedures have been terribly well thought-through.'

'Fair comment.' Anwa gave a dry smile. 'We'll take her home. She'll be imprisoned, but only for as long as her dependence on Enamour lasts. We have people who will work with her to help her, a whole Rehabilitation Board —'

'So you won't execute her.'

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Anwa recoiled. 'We're not murderers, Doctor!'

'But you will use force to capture her?'

'We'll have to. As soon as she knows we're here, she'll come out fighting.'

'Then I must have the chance to speak to her.' The Doctor's voice was low and earnest. 'To reason with her. Make her understand. Because there's a city full of people down there that she can turn on. I don't want them hurt. But most of all, I want to talk to her because I think she doesn't know.'

Amy, overhearing, gave him a puzzled look.

'Doesn't know what?'

'That the Bright Nobles are dead,' the Doctor said. 'That none of them survived.'

Startled, Amy said, 'But she said they were coming!'

'Either she lied,' Anwa said, 'or she's fantasising.

Her masters are dead. The Doctor's right. They all died at the end of the war.'

'All of them?' said Amy. 'Are you sure?'

'Oh yes,' Anwa said softly. 'We're sure.'

'Then I must have the chance to speak to her,'

the Doctor said again, and urgently. 'Before you try to take her by force. Perhaps if I talk to her, she won't come out fighting.' Seeing that Anwa was shaking her head, the Doctor carried on quickly, 'She's afraid of you, Anwa. She's been alone for a very a long time, without friends, without comfort
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of any kind. You know that you mean her no harm, and I know it - but she doesn't. She's terrified, but worse than that, she's
powerful.
She could do a lot of damage before you're able to stop her. I bet that's happened again and again in the past.'

Anwa gave a grudging nod.

'See? Those procedures! Sometimes it's worth trying something new. So if I can talk to her, make her come with you willingly, we might prevent more damage, more death. And it might be better for the Herald too. Because if she does stand down, then the battle to free her from Enamour will be half-won. You'll be saved a lot of hard work.'

Anwa sighed. 'After so long, I doubt the Herald knows where Enamour stops and her own self starts. But there's no reason why you shouldn't try, Doctor.'

The Doctor beamed at her. 'That's all I want to do.

Try.'

'Still,' said Anwa, 'Camba will be guarding your back.'

'I've no objection to that.' The Doctor looked around the room. 'All done? Meeting adjourned?'

'Meeting adjourned,' said Anwa.

Amy pointed at the pile of pens on the table.

'Anyone mind if I take one of those?'

226

Camba transported them back
to the main plaza in Geath. When the crowd saw Hilthe, a great cheer went up. She waved grandly in response. Beol came to greet her and bent to kiss her hand. When he gave her his matchless smile, she smiled back, patted his hand, and tucked it under her arm.

Rory nudged Amy. 'Start of a beautiful friendship.'

'Her and her toy boys,' Amy said. 'Never mind, you've still got me.'

'Is the city safe now?' asked Beol.

'We have one last task to perform,' Hilthe told him and held out her hand. 'The ring, please, Doctor.'

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DOCTOR WHO

The Doctor rummaged in his pocket. 'Still think that I should do this.'

Hilthe waggled her fingers at him.
Hand it over.

The Doctor sighed and pulled out the ring. It lay small and innocuous in his palm.

Beol frowned down at it. 'What is the meaning of this?'

Hilthe, retrieving the ring, told him, 'We have secured our alliance. Now we must honour its terms and work with our allies to defeat our common enemy. Stand back, all of you.'

They all moved back. Camba put her helmet on and faded into the darkness behind the dragon.

For the third time, Hilthe cupped the ring in her hands.

'Come!' she called up to the sky. 'Come back! I wish to speak to you!'

A soft whisper sweetened the night air.

'Come back!' Hilthe called. 'I am here! I am waiting for you!'

The whisper took shape and became a single note. Light formed in Hilthe's hands.

Beol, understanding suddenly what was happening, strode forwards. 'No! I forbid it!'

He reached to take the ring from Hilthe's hands but waves of golden light burst outwards in all directions, preventing his advance and enveloping Hilthe entirely.

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'Dear foolish boy,' Hilthe said. 'I am not yours to command.' Holding up her hands, she summoned the Herald. 'I am here! I am waiting to receive you! I have gathered your possessions! Now bring me my reward! Restore my city to me!'

The single note grew in volume. It stretched into a full chord, sweet and melodic, but Amy could hear the terrible hollow echo at its heart.

'Oh, be careful!' she cried to Hilthe. 'Please, be careful! Don't let her trick you! We're all here! I'm here! Remember! Don't forget!'

As Amy watched, the old woman's body went rigid and her flesh became translucent. She saw at once the difference between her own experience as the Herald's mouthpiece and this new manifestation. Instead of golden waves, a thick bright channel of light shot down from the sky and poured through Hilthe, emptying out of her chest and into the plaza. Hilthe was the prism through which the Herald's force and power and hungers passed and then took shape again. Slowly, the Herald materialised.

She crouched on the ground, a half-formed figure of lights and limbs. As her strength grew, she clambered to her feet. She resembled Hilthe, as if in passing through she had taken an imprint of the old woman's body, but she was longer and thinner and crueller. Her eyes were bright as diamonds
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and her lips were black. She was a creature of light and shadow, without nuance, and a star shone on her finger.

No, not a star, Amy realised; it was the ring. As the Herald took shape, the ring seemed to be in two places at once, in the old woman's hands and upon the long alien's finger. As soon as the Herald was wholly present, the light in Hilthe's hands flickered and went out. The ring was gone. The Herald had it now. Hilthe slumped to the ground.

'I have come,' the Herald sang across the valley. 'I have come to claim for my masters what is rightfully theirs!' Seeing the gleaming pile of treasure, the Herald stepped towards it. The excitement in her voice grew. 'We shall be reunited!

We shall be restored!'

The Doctor strolled forwards, vulnerable and completely relaxed. 'Hello!' he said. He gave the Herald a little wave. 'Remember me? We chatted earlier.'

The Herald, who had been advancing on the metal, stopped to look at him.

'Remember?' said the Doctor, shielding his eyes from her glare. 'In the hall? Under the dome? You told me about the war. You told me how terrible it was to see your world end. Remember?'

The Herald's black lips parted. 'Yes,' she whispered, the kind of whisper that makes
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foundations shudder and trees wither.

'Good! Hoped you would!' The Doctor tugged at his ears. 'Memorable face, isn't it? Bit odd, never mind, nothing's for ever. Like wandering about space on your own. How's that working out for you? Must be getting gloomy by now. Tell you what, how would you like to go home?'

The Herald, who had been turning back to the treasure, froze. 'Home,' she breathed.

'It could happen. If you want it to happen. I know how lonely you've been,' the Doctor said, with total honesty. 'I know what it's like, to see the world end, to wander the stars in search of something, anything. But you're not alone. Your species - it's not dead, not by any means! There are so many of them, and they're doing great things!

Marvellous things! They're kind people, they work hard, they have a future. You can go back to them.

You can be among your own kind again. You can share the peace they're building. You can be a part of it.'

'My home is with my masters. Where they are, I must be. I must be there to serve them.'

'I know you think that. I know you've thought it for a very long time. But it doesn't have to be that way

—'

'My masters are coming! They will take back what is theirs! The Bright Nobles will rise again!

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They will make a world of light and bliss!'

Amy, remembering that place, shuddered.

The Doctor shook his head. 'I'm sorry,' he said sadly. 'But that isn't going to happen. You have a choice now. You can go home in chains, or you can go home in peace. Either way, it's your home, and it's where you're going. There isn't anywhere else to go.'

'My masters are coming! Our world will be restored!'

'But they're not coming. They can't. They're gone. But you still have somewhere to go.

Somewhere much better than the world you lost, much better than wandering alone in the dark, where you're welcome, where you'll be at peace.

You've been lost for so long. But everything can change, if you want it to change—'

As the Doctor spoke, a new harmony arose that scorched the air with its intensity. The Herald grew in stature with it. She rose above the valley and stretched out a long and many-fingered hand across it, like an angel of death.

'Liar!' she screamed. 'Deceiver! The Bright Nobles live! They are coming! You cannot hold them back! They will eclipse the sun and boil the sky! This world will burn at their touch! They will break the moon and extinguish your star! The heavens will bear no trace of your existence!' She
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lifted her hands up towards the dark sky as if in prayer. 'They are coming! They are coming! My masters!'

She lunged at the Doctor.

'Oops,' he said, and dived for cover. As he ran, he slipped and fell to the ground. The Herald moved in, her face raw with rage, her hand raised for the kill...

And Camba came, screaming. Her howl no longer held any note of despair. It was a war cry, a drawing of a line, a challenge to her enemy and a promise of her defeat. She strode across the plaza and with each step she shot up in height. As she bore down upon her enemy, the Doctor scrambled to his feet and dived for cover.

'Don't kill her!' he yelled to Camba. 'You mustn't kill her!'

The Herald moved against her enemy. Amy and Rory took their chance and ran to reach Hilthe. The old woman lay motionless in a dark heap upon the ground. Rory turned her over and Amy cradled her in her arms. 'Please! Wake up! Say something! Be cross about something! Anything!' But Hilthe's eyes stayed shut and her face was bloodless.