Doctor Who PDA63 - Deadly Reunion (3rd) by Terrance Dicks; Barry Letts

Author:Terrance Dicks; Barry Letts
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-07-13T02:41:49+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

BULL FIGHT

The Doctor and Jo were almost at the hedge, the charging bull was almost upon them...

The Doctor acted with blinding, instinctive speed, making full use of the very small margins of time and space that were left to him. He grabbed Jo around the waist, spun around like an athlete throwing a discus and hurled her clean over the hedge.

Still spinning, he wriggled out of his velvet jacket, held it out in front of him and turned to face the advancing bull, now so close he could hear its angry snorts.

The bull charged and, with a cry of 'Hey, toro!' the Doctor swept the coat to one side. The bull thundered past and crashed into the hedge, smashing halfway through the tangle of thorns.

The Doctor backed away, and the bull backed out of the hedge, shaking its head and bellowing angrily. It spun around, moving astonishingly quickly for its bulk, and spotted its opponent.

For a moment the two confronted each other, motionless.

On the other side of the hedge, Jo picked herself up, shaken but not hurt, and ran over to the stile where she could see what was going on.

Horrified, she saw the Doctor and the bull facing each other. She Beard the Doctor's mocking cry of, 'Hey, toro!

Toro!', and saw him give a provocative wave of the coat.

The bull charged, the Doctor made another graceful sweep the coat, and the bull thundered past, so close that it passed under the Doctor's upraised arm.

Unable to check the momentum of its charge, the bull thundered towards the middle of the field.

'Quick, Doctor, this way!' yelled Jo and the Doctor turned and sprinted for the stile.

Behind him the bull spun round, pawed the ground and hurtled towards him.

By the time the Doctor reached the stile, the bull was on heels. Whirling round, the Doctor draped the coat across its horns, blinding it, ran for the stile and vaulted over.

The bull tossed its head and bellowed.

Landing on rough ground, the Doctor stumbled and fell to one knee. He stayed there for a moment, regaining his breath, and heard a gasp of astonishment from Jo.

'Doctor, look!'

He straightened up and turned, looking over the stile.

The bull was gone. The Doctor's abandoned coat lay crumpled on the ground.

'It just disappeared,' said Jo dazedly. 'I looked to see you were all right, looked back, and the bull was gone.'

'Scarcely surprising,' said the Doctor. 'If it can appear then it can disappear. It wasn't in that field when we went into it.'

'So what was it? An illusion?'

The Doctor shook his head. 'It was real enough while it lasted. I felt its hot breath down my neck.'

'So what was it?'

'A manifestation, Jo. I'm not sure it wasn't a kind of joke.'

'Some joke!'

The Doctor started climbing the stile.

Jo grabbed his arm. 'What are you doing?'

'Getting my coat back. I'm very fond of that jacket.'

'Are you sure it's safe?'

'Oh, I think so, Jo. The performance is over for the moment.' The Doctor retrieved his jacket and came back out of the field.

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