Doctor Who_ Battlefield Part 24

'Mother!'

Morgaine's troops had regrouped along the ridge beside the dig. Their leader came to attention as the Battle Queen's orders issued from his helmet.

Knight Commander. Recommence your attack. Take no prisoners. prisoners.

The commander saluted. Strategy options scripted out on the inside of his visor, instantly relaying to his company of men-at-arms.

'We shall make honour our standard. Put down your guns. Draw your swords. Let good steel be our conscience.'

To a man, the soldiers raised their weapons in salute to their mistress and their enemy.

'Do them honour. Kill them all!'

With one cry, Morgaine's army descended upon the remnants of the UNIT forces.

Bambera was first to see the tide of soldiers bearing down on them. She yelled a warning to Lethbridge-Stewart.

He pushed Mordred ahead of him. 'We'll try the direct approach, Doctor.'

'Agreed, Brigadier.'

'Bambera, we may be able to put a stop to this at source.

You're in charge here.'

Freed of the gun's threat, Mordred scoffed, 'You are as weak as Merlin.'

'I take that as a compliment,' said the Brigadier, and he pushed the Prince towards Bessie.

Bambera turned to direct her men and found the Doctor beside her. He seemed unconcerned by the advancing army.

'Winifred, they mustn't take control of the missile.'

The first shots were being fired.

'Leave it to us, Doctor.'

He smiled and walked directly through the line of fire towards his car.

'My mother will destroy you,' Mordred was saying.

The Brigadier pushed him onto Bessie's back seat.

'Frankly Mordred, I'm getting a little tired of hearing about your mother.'

'Hold tight,' said the Doctor as he climbed into his seat.

The sonic burst of the car's overdrive drowned the explosions from the battlefield. To the south, the sky over Carhury was thick with darkness.

Bambera hefted her Styer AUG in her hands. As a machine gun, it had a maximum range of 2600 metres, but armour piercing rounds were useless against Morgaine's soldiers.

Even at twenty metres, the bullets just ricocheted off.

Grenades were making some inroad into the attackers, but explosives were wrong for an enemy who killed with such respect for their adversaries. It was boiling down to hand-to-hand combat again.

It was no surprise to find Ancelyn beside her.

'This is our part, to fight and die,' he said, his eagerness tainted full of grim laughter.

Amid the screams of death, she understood. Their lives were the barricade that s.h.i.+elded others. Death had to be laughed at.

She clasped his arm. 'That's what we're paid for.'

Throwing down her gun, she lifted a sword. 'So let's do it with some style.'

His eyes gloried in it. She felt sick. Together they ran into battle.

The yellow car hurtled along the country lane.

'Your friends will soon be dead,' said Morgaine.

The vision faded from the crystal globe. She pushed the sphere away. It coursed through the air and vanished into the huge horned shadow that loomed over the room.

Ace and Shou Yuing crouched together in the circle, dreading each contemptuous glance from the sorceress.

'Now,' said Morgaine, turning her full attention upon them, 'give me Excalibur.'

Clutching the sword tightly, Ace got to her feet. 'If you're so powerful, why don't you take it?'

A deep growl emanated from the shadow.

Morgaine raised her hand to strike the insolent brat.

But she was blocked. The flesh of her palms whitened and flattened against a wall of invisible force that held back her anger.

Ace did not move.

Morgaine's arms began to shake. The harder she pressed, the more her hands became like claws. Finally, she s.n.a.t.c.hed them back in disgust.

'The sword is protecting you,' she said.

Ace raised Excalibur. 'The Doctor was right. You can't touch us while we're in the circle. Not while we've got the tin-opener.'

The Battle Queen remained remarkably composed.

There was no panic, which frightened Ace.

'This is true,' said Morgaine. 'I cannot break such an enchantment.'

'But I can,' said a deep, dark voice.

Out of the great shadow stepped a figure. A man of aristocratic bearing, impeccably attired in a twentieth-century business suit. He was handsome; so handsome, he was almost ugly. Every beautiful feature on his face was slightly exaggerated, like a near-perfect mask, to conceal something very terrible beneath. His skin had a metallic blue sheen. He moved with a casual, predatory grace and was over seven feet tall. Behind him, the horned shadow traced his every movement.

'I am the Destroyer,' he said by way of introduction, but his voice rasped with a barely controlled snarl. 'I could obliterate you.'

Ace held the sword tightly to her. The Doctor had been right in every respect so far. Excalibur might still protect them. 'If you're so bad, why haven't you done anything?'

For a moment, she caught the malevolent glint of a jewelled reptilan eye. She shuddered. Shou Yuing clung to her leg in fright. 'First I must be freed. This immortal has me chained.' The Destroyer lifted his arms to show Ace the manacles that bound him. His eye pleaded, use your sword use your sword.

'You are bound with silver,' warned Morgaine.

'It burns,' intoned the humanoid monster.

'Good,' she smiled.

Ace was startled. In the hallway through the door, she saw movement. There were soldiers with guns out there.

The squaddies left behind to guard the building. They were taking up positions to attack.

The Destroyer had turned back to Ace. He nodded towards Morgaine. 'She fears me,' he confided.

'I fear nothing.' protested the Queen.

'Then free me and let me claim this world!'

'Perhaps,' she said.

The soldiers outside were getting ready to move.

'What does he want the world for?' Ace called quickly.

There was a deafening burst of gunfire as the soldiers sprang into action.

The Destroyer was distracted by a spray of bullets that tore into his chest. He looked at Morgaine.

'Kill them,' she instructed.

He threw out an elegantly manicured hand and emerald light burst from his fingers.

Ace flung herself over Shou Yuing as protection from the blast. The room outside the circle became an inferno of blazing green fire.

When it cleared, the soldiers were gone. Smoking shadows lingered, scorched on the floor and walls.

Ace looked up, terrified. Shou Yuing was shaking.

The Destroyer straightened his tie. 'What do I want with your world?' He bared his pointed teeth and drooled down his jacket. 'Why, to devour it. What else?'

He tugged at the chains on his wrists.

Morgaine paced slowly around the circle until she faced her demonic servant. She pointed to Ace and Shou Yuing.

'Get me that sword,' she commanded.

Bessie skidded to a halt in front of the hotel.

Smoke was drifting from the doorway. Windows had been shattered. Green light flickered inside.

The Doctor climbed from the car and poked at the gravel with his umbrella. A funnel mark of soot across the drive marked out the blast from inside the hotel. There was a smell the Doctor recognized only too well as that of burnt human flesh.

'My future is catching up with me,' he muttered for no one's benefit in particular. He looked up at Mordred, who was still under the Brigadier's supervision.

'This is the Destroyer's work,' said the Prince grimly.

There was a thunderous roar and a blast of green energy erupted from the porch. It hurled the Brigadier and Mordred to the ground. The Doctor stood silhouetted, his arm s.h.i.+elding his face from the fierce light.

Then it was gone.

He lowered his smoking sleeve and yelled, 'Morgaine! If they're dead...'

He ran headlong through the smoking entrance.

Before the Brigadier could catch him, Mordred was up and running away down the drive.

Decisions, decisions. For a moment, Lethbridge-Stewart was torn between who to follow. But he had to know what was happening, if only for the report he would have to write.

He found the Doctor standing amid the rubble and matchwood that had been the hotel lounge. He was holding a small earring in his hand.

'Ace. Shou Yuing,' he said quietly. His face was grey with guilt. His hat, his first hat, lay in the dust. He took off the replacement, furled it up and pocketed it. Then he scooped up the original, brushed it off and wearily placed it on his head. 'I'm sorry. Doctor,' said the Brigadier. 'We should...'