Doctor Who_ Bunker Soldiers Part 18

'I know also that chroniclers state that we have the faces of dogs, and that we tear off the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of white women to eat as fine delicacies. I am even told that our grotesque faces adorn the outside of churches like little stone monsters.' Mongke's handsome face broke into another bitter smile. 'If you wish to crush an enemy, it is often useful to find out first what he thinks you are,' he said, by way of explanation.

'You are greatly feared,' stated the Doctor.

'If you can exceed those fears, then so much the better.'

Mongke's chest puffed proudly. 'We are are greatly feared, but in the flesh the armies of the Great Khan are still worse! Even when we are outnumbered, we outthink our opponents. Even when a battle seems lost, we outfight our enemies. The so-called great knights of Christendom it would take a hundred of those lumbering fools to defeat even a handful of my fine warriors!' greatly feared, but in the flesh the armies of the Great Khan are still worse! Even when we are outnumbered, we outthink our opponents. Even when a battle seems lost, we outfight our enemies. The so-called great knights of Christendom it would take a hundred of those lumbering fools to defeat even a handful of my fine warriors!'

'News of your victories has reached Kiev,' observed the Doctor.

'A city to which you have no allegiance, and no ties, I am told,' said Mongke. 'Tell me about your land, your people.'

'My people are beyond even the influence of the Great Khan,' said the Doctor. 'My land could not be reached if you rode for a thousand years.'

'You speak in riddles.'

The Doctor's eyes glinted. 'I am old, sir. I know much, but it tends to come by riddle and by rhyme.'

'But the people of Kiev respect you...'

The Doctor nodded. 'They have asked me to beg for mercy.'

'And now you speak nonsense!' said Mongke. 'We are deaf to all pleas and begging words.' He paused. 'However, sometimes we tire of bloodshed. Perhaps I shall hear your entreaties, when I need entertainment.'

The Doctor nodded. 'I hope I will entertain, on behalf of those I am pledged to protect.'

'More nonsense! How can one man protect a city?'

'An intention, an idea, a spark of genius,' the Doctor replied slowly, 'can be worth more than all the armies under the sun.'

Mongke laughed at this. 'Well said, old man!' he exclaimed. 'I will talk with you further.'

'Very good, my lord,' said the Doctor, bowing. Abd N-Nun Ayyub appeared at his side to escort him away. 'And Mykola?'

'The soldier will stay here. I need to learn of the defence of Kiev: the number of soldiers, the likely strength of opposition, the weak points in any fortifications.'

'I shall tell you nothing!' exclaimed Mykola.

'Within minutes I shall know everything I need,' countered Mongke, gripping his sword tightly. He turned to the Doctor and Abd N-Nun Ayyub, his eyes dark and unfathomable. 'You may leave us now.'

'You are no fool,' said Abd N-Nun Ayyub later. 'But there were moments during our audience with Mongke Khan when you played played at foolishness.' at foolishness.'

The Doctor said nothing, not sure that he could trust the Arab interpreter.

Abd N-Nun Ayyub stared back at the Doctor from the other side of the crackling fire, and seemed to sense his indecision. He raised his palms to the flames to warm them, but it seemed, equally, a symbolic gesture. 'I am employed by the khans, but am not blind to their acts of evil,' he said, by way of rea.s.surance.

'You have my word that I am not here to spy on you.'

The Doctor sighed. 'There are things I must achieve,' he said, 'but I cannot allow Mongke to become too interested in me.' 'Are you truly from the heavens, as you implied?'

'I am but a traveller,' said the Doctor simply. 'I would be a stranger in all the lands of this world.'

'You are from paradise, then. You are an angel, and you cannot allow Mongke to see that.'

The Doctor shook his head. 'No, but I have something about me of value. Knowledge.'

'Knowledge of what?'

'Of the future. I know that a future khan Kbubilai will rule over an empire yet more vast than that of Genghis, the first Great Khan.'

'I could predict such a turn of events.'

'But I know how it will be achieved. I have met him!'

Abd N-Nun Ayyub was about to press the Doctor for more details when a third figure approached the fire. He bowed low to both men. 'I am Ling,' he said by way of introduction. 'You are called the Doctor, no?'

The Doctor nodded.

'Then we have much in common,' the man continued. 'I, too, am a physician something of an expert in my field. And I too am a stranger here.'

'We are a long way from Chung-tu and the former Chin Empire,' said the Doctor.

'What do you know of the city of Chung-tu?' queried Ling, excited.

'I recognised your accent,' said the Doctor. 'And I know that the Chin were attacked by Genghis some thirty years ago.'

'I told you this old man was wise,' said Abd N-Nun Ayyub with a smile.

'May I sit with you?' asked Ling.

'Actually,' said the Doctor, 'I was about to ask Abd N-Nun Ayyub if he wouldn't mind accompanying me on a short walk.

My legs are a little stiff. Will you join us?'

'I would be honoured.'

Abd N-Nun Ayyub helped the Doctor to his feet. 'Is there anything I can show you? Mongke has instructed me to allow you whatever liberty you desire within the area occupied by his army.'

'But not beyond it?' queried the Doctor with a smile.

'You would not get far!' interjected Ling brightly. 'Only a fool would try.'

'Then I shall not,' said the Doctor. 'In any case, for the moment, I belong here.' He turned to the interpreter. 'I would very much like to see the siege engines.'

'It will be a long walk,' said Abd N-Nun Ayyub.

'It would be preferable to even another moment in the saddle,' said the Doctor.

They set off across the valley floor, making their way through the numerous rows of rounded tents that housed the sleeping army. Abd N-Nun Ayyub explained that these were similar to the gers gers of the original Mongol nomads, portable yet comfortable dwellings ideally suited to a life on the steppes. They were made from woollen felt, stretched tightly across a wooden frame, and both Abd N-Nun Ayyub and Ling had become so accustomed to sleeping in them that they felt almost uncomfortable now in buildings of stone. of the original Mongol nomads, portable yet comfortable dwellings ideally suited to a life on the steppes. They were made from woollen felt, stretched tightly across a wooden frame, and both Abd N-Nun Ayyub and Ling had become so accustomed to sleeping in them that they felt almost uncomfortable now in buildings of stone.

'Your very presence here,' said the Doctor to the two men, thinking aloud, 'says so much about the Mongol mentality. They are not invaders in the usual sense. They are not interested in foisting their culture on others, but in acquiring, learning, utilising all that they find.'

Ling nodded. 'Their invasions are b.l.o.o.d.y,' he whispered, 'but once they have appointed overseers, life continues much as before.'

The Doctor thought of Kiev, of the city's pretence at normal life, and if the history books were to be believed of its sure and certain fate.

'In my homeland, the people enjoy many freedoms,'

continued Ling. 'The Mongols do not change our way of life or prohibit our religions. Only the severest of crimes evokes the penalty of death, and all civil inst.i.tutions run smoothly and without corruption.'

'But, as you say, this comes at a great price.'

Ling nodded. 'Before the Mongols came, there were some fifty million people living within the Chin Empire.' The Doctor heard his voice crackle with emotion. 'After their conquest, less than nine million were left.'

The Doctor could scarcely believe what he was hearing.

'Nine million?'

Ling nodded. Only a few scant decades separated him from the slaughter he was describing and it was clear that, in his own mind, an eternity would not lessen the pain. 'We have given the khans much,' he said. 'Not least our bodies and souls... but also our skills, our knowledge. You have noticed, perhaps, that all Mongol soldiers wear an unders.h.i.+rt of silk?'

'I can't say I have, but please, carry on.'

'Long ago in our history we realised that when a man is struck by an arrow, clumsy removal of the head can only make the wound bigger and more p.r.o.ne to infection.'

'And the silk s.h.i.+rt?'

'Even the fine arrowheads of the Mongols are unlikely to pierce silk,' explained Ling. 'Instead, the material will be pulled into the wound. From there, it can be tugged out, bringing the arrowhead with it.'

'Ingenious!' said the Doctor. 'Quite ingenious!'

'I have performed the procedure many times,' continued Ling. 'Even better, the soldier in the field can remove the arrow himself. I have seen men return to the heat of battle mere seconds after being struck.' He paused, then let out a high-pitched giggle. 'Of course, they often die of blood loss within the hour...'

'You have a strong sense of the absurd, sir,' said the Doctor.

Ling smiled. 'I am a physician, surrounded on all sides by the instruments of war and torture,' he said. 'I cannot help but laugh in bitter sadness every morning I awake.'

'And, of course, the Chinese have given the world gunpowder,' said the Doctor.

'Yes,' said Ling, 'and the Mongols delight in finding ever more destructive uses for it. They have rockets to startle enemy cavalry, clay grenades for close combat. .'

The Doctor stopped in his tracks. He thought of the alien creature in Kiev, and the TARDIS in the governor's residence, and could barely suppress a shudder.

'I feel weary now,' he announced. 'Perhaps, if there is time, I will inspect the siege engines tomorrow. Forgive me for my change of heart.'

Abd N-Nun Ayyub smiled indulgently. 'Then let us return to the warmth of the fire,' he said.

As they turned back a shrill noise came across the basin of the valley. At first the Doctor thought it was the cry of a wolf, but it was too piercing, too close at hand. Then he realised what it was, and his legs felt weaker than ever.

Abd N-Nun Ayyub extended a steadying arm.

'Are you well, sir?' he queried, but the Doctor was not listening. Instead, his ears were attentive to every awful nuance of the sound, the great rending cries of a man being tortured.

'Mykola,' he whispered.

XV.

In flagrante delicto The room was an inferno, a shrieking vortex of flame and collapsing, twisted wood. I could see the panic in the soldier's eyes and the tongues of fire, reflected back at me but concentrated instead on bringing Isaac through the doorway into the main room, and then into the corridor.

For all the old man's frailty, it took both me and the soldier, pulling with all our might, to haul him on to my shoulders. Just as I was tensing to receive the weight of the unconscious man, a burning chunk of masonry tumbled down towards us from the ceiling. I saw it just in time and dodged it, but almost fell over in the process.

The soldier helped to steady me, and then led me through the smoke and the devastation. In these conditions it was very much the blind leading the blind, and we both stumbled into stools and unrecognisable items of furniture that now blazed like braziers.

We staggered into the corridor, the soldier now taking even more of the old man's weight, just as something substantial gave way within the chamber. There was a rending crash as tortured woodwork finally resigned itself to the inferno and a rush of hot, sparking air nearly knocked us over. Somehow we remained on our feet, which was just as well in front of us the floor had collapsed completely, leaving only a gaping maw that led straight down into the lower corridor.

We looked around wildly, hoping that perhaps the edge of the hole would take our weight, but flames were licking through the splits between the great planks that remained. They did not inspire confidence especially with the weight of a man across my back.

'You'll have to jump down,' I said to the soldier. 'I'll try to lower Isaac to you.'

'It is too far,' he said.

'Look around,' I said. 'There's no other way out!'

With both ends of the corridor now impa.s.sable, and Isaac's chamber itself disintegrating behind us, we had little alternative.

Perhaps we should have investigated the windows though I remember that the shutters were both closed and on fire but we had been in such haste to drag Isaac away from the flames that it had not occurred to us to do this.

The soldier peered into the lower corridor, then lowered himself down with as much dignity as he could muster. I heard, rather than saw, him fall and tumble untidily. He cursed, got to his feet and reached up for Isaac.

I laid the old man on the floor, manoeuvred him into a sitting position, then pushed him into the darkness.

It was a soft landing for Isaac, if not for the soldier. When I dropped down myself my ankles crunched with the impact but otherwise complained little the man had Isaac half in his arms, half on his shoulders piggy-back style.

Isaac had revived a little and we supported him between us, his feet dragging over the stone floor as we rushed towards the storeroom and then through the door to the square outside.