Echoes - Iain McLaughlin by Doctor Who

Author:Doctor Who [Who, Doctor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: time, adventure, action, hunter, bomb, war, Sci-fi, Doctor Who, SCIENCE FICTION, telos
ISBN: 9781845838058
Publisher: Telos
Published: 2011-04-28T04:00:00+00:00

[2] See Time Hunter: The Severed Man

Chapter Seven

It hardly came as a surprise to Honoré that when he and Tess stepped through the door that appeared to lead to Joan Barton’s hall, they in fact found themselves in a very different place altogether. At a guess, they were still in the same building as the hall they had just left, only now they were in a large bed-chamber, dominated by an enormous four-poster bed. The only light in the room came from a few candles in holders scattered around the walls and from the fire that roared heartily in the fireplace. A gust of wind rattled the window, and Tess almost leaped when she heard a tapping at the window.

‘Branches hitting the glass,’ Lechasseur explained.

‘I knew that,’ Tess answered defensively. All the same, she kept close to Lechasseur, keeping him as a shield between her and the window.

‘Looks to be the same house,’ Lechasseur mused. ‘Same period, too, I’d guess.’

‘For sure–’ Tess agreed, before cutting off short.

Honoré followed Tess’s gaze and saw Patience – the pale-skinned young woman from the banqueting hall – seated at a small table in front of a mirror, combing out her hair. She had changed clothes and now wore a long dressing-gown of a deep red silk over a gleaming white ankle-length nightdress, which was buttoned up to her neck. She looked every bit as desolate as she had in the hall. ‘Patience?’

Tess bobbed her head in agreement. ‘That’s her. Poor cow looks bloody miserable, don’t she?’

‘If I was married to that chap in the hall, I’d be miserable too,’ Lechasseur answered.

Tess snorted. ‘If you was married to him, I reckon he’d be a bit put out an’ all.’

‘No denying that,’ Lechasseur agreed. ‘Come on.’ He led Tess closer to the desk where Patience had just put down her hairbrush and was staring at her pallid reflection in the mirror.

‘She can’t see us here either, can she?’ Tess asked nervously.

Lechasseur pointed a finger at the mirror. They were standing apparently only a few feet away from Patience, but they had no reflection in the mirror. ‘I guess not.’

‘We got no shadows neither.’ Tess was looking at the floor behind them, where her shadow should have been. She moved to the nearest candle and held her hand between the flame and the wall. The light still shone as brightly, and no shadow appeared on the wall.

‘So we’re not really here,’ Lechasseur sighed. ‘Or maybe they’re not really here. I don’t suppose it matters which.’

A knock at the door. Quick and agitated.

Patience looked away from the mirror, stirred from her misery. ‘Come in.’

The door opened and Mary, the maid, hurried in. She moved with a shuffling, downtrodden gait and kept her eyes to the floor, unwilling to meet Patience’s gaze straight on. ‘Excuse me, but …’

‘Get out!’ Patience cut across Mary sharply, her voice brittle and shrill.

‘I’m sorry, miss,’ Mary whined pathetically. ‘I can’t. The master told me to come here.’ The girl looked as miserable as Patience, and clearly wanted to be anywhere but in this room.

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