[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
against the altar, with the colours of the stained glass
window lying across them like a rainbow.
Will drew in his breath and shivered. ‘I’s gonna die,’ he
moaned.
The Doctor gripped his shoulder encouragingly. ‘Be
quiet, Will,’ he whispered.
‘He’s right, Doctor.’ Jane was shaking too; she could feel
the edges of those swords already.
‘Not yet he isn’t,’ the Doctor said. He was sure there
must be something he could do, but for the life of him he
couldn’t think what it was.
The trooper, who had remembered at last that he was
supposed to be searching for the Doctor and the lost Queen
of the May, came lurching and staggering up the steps
from the crypt. He clattered across the side chapel, swung
out through the archway – and found himself surrounded
by three grey phantoms.
As he fell into their midst, three glinting swords
swished through the air and joined each other around his
throat.
Pinned by the swords, he stood rooted to the spot for a
moment, wide eyed and bewildered. His head was still
dizzy, and he tried desperately to make sense of what was
happening to him. He glanced fearfully from one to
another of the ghastly, grey-white faces, and his mouth
opened wide with surprise.
The church, which had fallen silent with the trooper’s
arrival, now erupted with noise. The Malus trumpeted a
triumphant roar and Tegan and Jane screamed and turned
away their faces as the phantom soldiers raised their arms
and swung their swords for the kill. The blades flashed and
the brief, bloody, one-sided fight came to its inevitable
close: the trooper shrieked in his death agony, then sank to
the floor and lay face down among the debris and dust.
‘Oh, no.’ Tegan was shaking.
‘Brave heart, Tegan.’ The Doctor held her arm for
comfort.
Jane was staring down the church in astonishment.
Apart from the trooper lying on the ground, it was empty
now. ‘How could that happen?’ she gasped.
‘They’ve gone!’ Turlough’s voice mingled relief and
amazement in equal amounts.
The Doctor nodded. ‘That fight cost a lot of psychic
energy,’ he explained. ‘The Malus needs to rest. Let’s go
before it recovers.’
Anxiously he herded them towards the door. They were
all looking warily at the Malus: it was quiet for the
moment, and seemed to he brooding, deciding on its next
move. They proceeded carefully and silently, working their
way down the aisle. But before they reached the door it
burst open and Sir George Hutchinson came crashing
through, brandishing a pistol in each hand.
His arms were outstretched and his face was twisted into
a snarl. He swayed on his feet, and looked straight at the
Doctor and the others.
‘It is time at last!’ he shouted. ‘I am here, Master!’
He had not even seen them. With glazed eyes he stared
up at the Malus now, a look that was almost adoration.
This was the moment the Malus had been waiting for. It
throbbed. With a vast, bellowing roar of triumph it
shuddered and thrust forward, pushing out of the wall to
greet its servant, who now stood inside the door looking
bemused and dazed as if he was uncertain what to do next.
Ben Wolsey looked at the man who had used and
betrayed his village, and frowned. Then, making up his
mind, he said in a quiet, unwavering voice, ‘Let me deal
with him.’
‘He’ll kill you,’ Tegan said. She was looking up the dark
barrels of the pistols in Sir George’s hands.
But Wolsey was a man who, once he had come to a
decision, was not to be put off easily. He pushed through
the group and advanced slowly towards Sir George. ‘Sir
George used to be a man of honour,’ he said, ‘He played the
war games in the way they were intended.’
‘Forget any codes of honour Sir George might have once
held,’ the Doctor, at his shoulder, advised him. ‘He’s now
completely under the influence of the Malus.’
‘He’s still mortal,’ Wolsey said stubbornly. He fingered
the hilt of his dagger.
Jane pushed through to be at his side. ‘Don’t be a fool,
Ben.’
Wolsey turned towards her. His eyes were sad,
but determined. ‘I have to try,’ he explained. ‘I feel partly
responsible for what has happened here.’ He turned and
stepped forward again to meet Sir George.
‘Ben!’ Jane cried out, but her voice was drowned by the
bellowing of the Malus.
Now, man to man, Ben Wolsey faced Sir George
Hutchinson. An area of quiet seemed to settle around them
and keep all the disturbance at bay, as though they were
standing in the eye of a hurricane.
‘Sir George?’ Ben Wolsey said gently.
The Squire swayed uncertainly. He heard Wolsey’s
voice, but was unable to focus on it and decipher the
jumbled sounds. He could not even find their source,
because something terrible was in the way. Yet a voice had
addressed him, and he had to answer. He tried, but the
words would not come; his eyes bulged and he swayed on
his feet.
But the pistols still pointed at Wolsey.
Will Chandler had not taken his eyes off them since the
moment Sir George had entered the church. He felt
nothing but hatred for this man, and now that the
phantoms had gone and his old truculence had returned,
the hatred was making him aggressive -- even courageous.
He tugged at the Doctor’s sleeve. ‘Be it better Sir George
be dead?’ he asked.
‘Not if there’s another way,’ the Doctor replied.
Will was not convinced. He watched Ben Wolsey trying
to talk sense to a madman, and shook his head. That,
surely, wasn’t the way.
‘Sir
George?’
Wolsey
was
trying
again,
and
endeavouring to ignore the pistols waving in front of his
face. ‘Do you understand me?’
The voice came to Sir George as through a dense fog. He
tried again to focus on the speaker. ‘Who are you?’ he
asked in a confused voice.
For a moment Ben Wolsey felt almost sorry for him.
‘Colonel Wolsey,’ he said gently. ‘Ben Wolsey. Your
friend.’
Finding a flaw in the determination of its servant, the
Malus roared and jerked Sir George back to full attendon.
He pointed the guns firmly at Wolsey’s head. ‘Get back!’
he warned. Now, impelled by the Malus, he moved steadily
forward.
Wolsey was forced to retreat. Yet despite this setback he
was determined to take care of Sir George himself. ‘We’ve
something to settle,’ he insisted.
Sir George did not even hear him this time, because the
Malus was inside his head again.
‘Sir George,’ the Doctor said urgently. He came forward
to stand at Wolsey’s shoulder. ‘It’s vital that you should
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]