Dr. Who - Telos Novellas 03 by Nightdreamers # Tom Arden

Author:Nightdreamers # Tom Arden [Arden, Nightdreamers # Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Act Three

Electro-tapers flickered against the walls as the guards marched the Doctor away from the presence chamber. Holding his hands above his head, he gazed curiously about the metallic corridors. If only he could find out what was happening here! Grim possibilities crowded his mind, but attempts to quiz his captors met with no success.

He jerked his head towards the ceiling. ‘Galaxis Bright? That’s the big silvery planet in the sky?’

No answer.

The Doctor sighed, and tried again.

‘This Tonio fellow – what’s he done to upset the old chap, then?’

The guards remained implacable.

‘The secrets of Verd?’ said the Doctor. ‘I’d guess there’d be quite a few of those, wouldn’t you?’

No response. Of course.

‘Talkative fellows, aren’t you? Are you always like this, or is it just me?’

The Doctor hunched his shoulders, resigned.

Then, all at once, he lashed out. ‘ Hai! ’

The guards collapsed, phasers clattering to the ground, as the Doctor skidded away, rushing down the dimly lit corridors. Curses and scramblings echoed behind him. Phasers blasted, searing against the walls.

The Doctor ducked. Darted.

Another corridor. And another.

Down a staircase. More stairs, more.

On and on the Doctor crashed and clattered, desperate to make his escape, but the guards were coming fast, their heavy boots echoing against the cold floors.

The Doctor glanced back. They were closing in on him.

He skidded round a corner.

And that was when, all at once, the Doctor felt an urgent hand clutch at his sleeve, and turned to see a bespectacled, wild-haired old man, gazing at him with eager eyes.

The old man’s words came quickly.

‘This way! This way!’

A door whirled shut behind them.

§

‘Excellent!’

Clapping his hands, laughing merrily, Sly pirouetted between the sleepers in the clearing. The players had vanished, and now there were only Jo, Ria and Tonio, slumbering like infants in the leaves and long grass.

The little man peered into each face in turn. ‘Such a prize! And such a one – and such! You’ll be pleased with these, won’t you, Majesty? Oh, you must – but first, some sport with them ... after all, I’m sure their minds are stronger than the minds of mere players. Won’t they need to be addled just a little, if they are to dream with the Nightdreamer King?’

Skipping to the edge of the clearing, Sly plucked a certain little flower.

‘The Atinati weed,’ he murmured. ‘The sweet, blessed Atinati weed!’

Holding it up in the planetlight, he turned it admiringly, and sang this ditty:

Mortal fools ignore such flowers, Little dreaming of their powers!

Dreaming? Ah, but that’s to come

When this flower strikes reason dumb!

Reason? No, there’s none in love – When planetlight shines bright above!

Pleased with his rhyme, Sly applauded himself, did a little dance, and fluttered back to the sleepers, squeezing the sticky juice from the centre of the flower first over Tonio’s eyelids, then Ria’s.

Deliberating, he crouched beside Jo. Should he squeeze the flower again?

He spoke aloud once more. ‘No need – no, this Tonio, I predict, will be first to awake. And when he awakes, he’ll love the first living thing he sees .

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