Read Online Doctor Who: Timelash by Glen McCoy - Free Book Online Page A

and stretched out to relax for the night as Sezon checked the guard detachment. Peri looked into the bouncing flames. She wondered about the Doctor, but had little chance to expand her thoughts.
    There was a scuffle at the main entrance to the cave.
    Instantly Sezon rolled over to load his blaster only to find the cavern overrun with Citadel guardoliers. Katz looked up from her place on the ground. She could see Sezon’s expression of horror and despair as all the rebels were herded together in a corner of the encampment. Their future looked bleak, as Katz above all realised, only being able to offer a smile of apology to. Peri who appreciated the friendly gesture.
    Herbert, nodding off, slipped his elbow on the mahogany table and jolted sharply. He checked the lady who had presumably been summoned and who was now sleeping soundly on the couch. He reached forward to touch her, afraid she would evaporate as quickly as she had materialised. Herbert stroked her fine brown hair, and retracted his hand as soon as the woman stirred. Vena opened her pretty eyes and sat bolt upright with a start.
    She snaked her head around to evaluate her location eventually allowing her gaze to rest on the fine handsome features of her host.
    ‘Where am I?’ she queried. ‘And where’s my -’
    Herbert pre-empted her. ‘The talisman’s under your pillow.’
    Vena rummaged around the bedclothes for the amulet, clutching it like a lifeline. ‘They must not get it,’ she said.
    Fear was written indelibly over her face.
     
    Herbert noticed her to be a typical lady in distress. He dwelled on the idea and pandered to the notion.
    ‘I’m Vena. Thank you for looking after me,’ she said.
    ‘The pleasure’s all mine, dear lady.’ Herbert, typical of his generation, underlined his politeness and common decency. ‘Though I assume you’re from up there’ - he pointed heavenwards - ‘rather than down there.’
    Vena grinned. She liked his simple direct manner. ‘You could say, I’m from beyond the stars.’
    The young Victorian man performed a mental somersault. ‘Fantastical!’ he declared, edging forward to learn more from his mysterious visitor from the stars.
    ‘But what about you? Tell me, please?’ Vena’s soft gentle approach ignited a spark within Herbert’s inner being. It was not long before an explanation about his holidays in Scotland was forthcoming, and that he was a teacher about to start school next term.
    The conversational patter was eventually dissected by the drone of the TARDIS’s engines. The couple, assuming the worst, scurried around the room. Vena hid the amulet as her host flicked through his manual of magic to the page that read ‘Ridding Unwanted Spirits’.
    The Doctor opened the TARDIS doors to greet the splendid sight of the Scottish highlands. ‘Not quite the Eye of Orion,’ he mused, making his way to the only house for miles - a small neatly constructed stone cottage with a smoking chimney. Despite the time of year on Earth, there was a distinct nip in the clear Inverness air. ‘Last time I was here,’ recollected the Doctor, ‘I met young Jamie - or was it the time before that?’
    Inside the cottage Herbert took his position, armed with a copy of the New Testament in one hand and a large crucifix in the other, whisked from the wall in a frenzy.
    The Doctor knocked, pushing open the door cautiously, to find Herbert threatening him in a totally bizarre manner.
    The Time Lord bypassed Herbert with a curt gesture of disinterest, finding Vena cowering behind the door.
     
    ‘Hello, I’m the Doctor. You must be Vena.’
    It did not take long for the ex-Maylin’s daughter to realise who this was, leaving Herbert continuing his attempts to exorcise an unwanted ‘spirit’.
    The Doctor sidestepped Herbert’s plans to remove his presence by force, and discussed more serious issues with the lady he had come for. Vena was eager for the Doctor’s help. She reminded herself how he had saved Karfel