"My sight is not as good as it once was, these days I can barely make your face out. No, no don't be sad it's just the way of things. When you get to my age it's only natural that things start to seize up a bit." Marcus looked at his too tiny grandchildren through cataract-clouded eyes. "Did I ever tell you about the time I met the Doctor and his two friends? Now there's a story I know you'll want to hear. I wasn't much older than you two are now."
"Tell us Grandpa Marcus," Lita and Jeff chorused.
"The first time I saw them was just before I was due to have my hand chopped off for thieving. Times were hard back then, the few rich people kept all the food for themselves back then and the rest of us could go and starve for what passing interest they took..."
***
Grant looked around the measly, run down village. It was either seriously in need of repair or it was deliberate for the tourists to have that real ye olde dark ages experience. "Okay, so why did we come to this place again? It makes dilapidated look brand new."
The Doctor looked at Grant. "This is the only place where we can find a wire stretching machine. Rebuilding a new dematerialisation circuit is child's play but without wire to connect it to the console we're not going anywhere." The Doctor turned to his newest companion Yydell. "You said you've been to this area before, didn't you?"
"Not really. I passed through about six or seven years ago but I skirted around the village. I was in a hurry at the time. This place is reputed to be a thriving market town. I had looked forward to visiting here finally. Now I can see my earlier decision was right."
The sound of voices wafted slowly over on the breeze and the three travellers headed over in the direction of the sounds. They saw a small crowd of anguished villagers. Towards the centre were three guards holding crossbows on the crowd. Another guard held a small boy's wrist in one of his hands and a large axe in the other.
"They're going to cut his hand off," Yydell said casually. "The boy's been caught stealing. This is to remind the locals the penalties for breaking the law."
The Doctor made his way forward through the gathered villagers. He sidestepped past the bewildered guards with the crossbows before wiggling his fingers in the face of the fourth guard who then released the child. The guard tried to strike the Doctor with his axe but the Doctor struck the guard under his armpit, hitting a nerve cluster and disabling the guard for a few minutes.
Grant cheered as the Doctor rushed towards them, the small boy in tow. "One for morality eh Doctor?" he exclaimed as the Doctor ran straight past him and Yydell.
"I think we should follow him," Yydell said after seeing the angry looks on the guards' faces.
"Thanks Mister," Marcus said in a whispered voice as he paused for breath.
"I simply won't tolerate that sort of thing," the Doctor said to Grant and Yydell. "What sort of person allows this behaviour?"
"It's the new Duke." Marcus replied. "Ever since he took over from his brother we've had less and less to eat. Every farmer must give half his harvest or half his herd to him as tribute. We're all starving Mister. I only wanted a crust of bread for me and me old Ma to eat see. However the Duke says that it's stealing from his very mouth and orders his thugs to hack me hand off as an example for everyone else."
"The more I hear of this Duke the less I like him," Yydell said to the Doctor and Grant.
"Me too," Grant agreed.
"I think I'll be staying here a while longer," the Doctor said after a few moments consideration. "You two continue northwards, try to find some of the diamonds we need to focus the temporal energies that the Time Rotor must contain."
"I know just the place to start looking," Yydell said with a smile. "Looks like you may get that balloon ride after all."
"Really?" Grant asked as they left their hiding place.
The Doctor was very concerned for their safety but he felt that giving the Duke a piece of his mind was his first concern. The Doctor gave Marcus his small cat shaped badge, for good luck.
***
The Doctor and his new, young, friend headed north out of the village towards the Duke's chateau. The hard scrubland was not easy on the feet or the shoes; in places the road was little more than a trail of rocks that were a little blunter than the others. Although this was not a desertified region, water was still hard to find and could only be accessed by digging many wells. They passed by fourteen of such wells, all in various and different states of disrepair.
Marcus pulled up when a stone cut through the thin wooden sole of his shoe and made a cut in his foot. The Doctor dressed the foot with his cravat after first disinfecting it with a small bottle of iodine found inside one of his inside coat pockets. He watched the injured child playing with his cat badge distracting himself from the pain of his wounded foot.
***
Duke Steiner looked out of the small windows in his study before retuning his attention to his tax collectors. "We need to finance money for my daughter's wedding. I'm finally offloading her on that sappy Baron Hogan. Let him put up with her incessant muttering and her appetite for new dresses." He paused for breath. "To this end I'm levying a 100% tax on everyone who doesn't own his or her own land. If you meet any resistance then have the offending party arrested and seize what little they do own. If they still resist then get rid of them, I don't care how. Nothing will prevent this wedding from going ahead." He smiled falsely when his daughter walked into the room.
"Daddy dearest," Alannis entreated. "I want the church to be decked out from top to bottom in tulips, no bluebells, no make that roses. Red ones, no white ones, make that those nice pink ones that are growing in the west garden."
***
The Doctor and Marcus walked straight past the armed guards before they could move to block his path. They explored the chateau's many corridors and rooms until they found the kitchen. The Doctor handed Marcus a leg of a chicken-like reptile and a mug of water. "Eat and drink Marcus, there's more than enough food here to feed a nation for an entire year."
Marcus tore into the spiced meat eagerly, swallowing mouthfuls quickly and drinking the cold water.
"Eat it more slowly," the Doctor tutted. "You'll give yourself a bad stomach." A guard kicked the kitchen door in and three more guards rushed inside and put the sharp points of their halberds at the two intruder's throats.
"How do you do?" the Doctor asked.
"Better than you," one of the guards sneered. "I reckons the Duke will agree."
"Oh we get a guided tour too?" the Doctor joked, stalling for time. "My friend and I would be delighted to look around your wonderful abode."
"We can start with the dungeons, maybe a spell on the wrack with cure your flippant tongue?" The guards pushed their captives forward with the shafts of their halberds.
***
"What is it?" The Duke asked then he saw the two guards and the man and the boy. "This had better be important."
"Your Grace, we captured these two in the kitchens. The boy is the thief you ordered to have his hand cut off."
"I see he still has it," the Duke noted.
The Doctor stepped forward. "I couldn't allow that barbaric practice to occur."
"Couldn't allow?" the Duke asked in surprise. "Couldn't allow? Who are you to question my commands?"
"I am known as the Doctor." The Doctor put his hands in his trouser pockets and looked around the courtroom. "I don't think much of this place, it's so dark and gloomy."
"You're certainly arrogant but you don't look like any bone cutter I've ever seen." The Duke laughed and the guards joined in.
The Doctor shook his head. "You don't understand; I am a lord of time and space."
"Tymmonspyce?" Duke Steiner asked. "I thought you were all defeated by the Rathitooi's decades ago."
"You have enough food currently stored inside your castle to feed your citizens for a year and yet your people die of starvation. Why do you kill off your own subjects like this?"
"I need food for the wedding, don't I?" the Duke replied. "Got to feed the guests something. My only child deserves the best for her big day."
"At the expense of your Dukedom?" the Doctor gasped with astonishment.
"You are a visiting noble from another region, you don't tell me what to do in my own chateau."
"Forgive me your Grace," the Doctor said quickly. "I only wished to alert you to the situation your subjects were placed in. Without food they will die and without subjects you will have no taxes."
"Baah!" the Duke spat. "I've heard all this liberal nonsense before. Usually spoken by someone such as yourself with no feel for the local situation."
The Doctor fixed Duke Steiner with a stern look. "I will not let you oppress any of your subjects a moment longer."
The Duke sat back in his throne. "Oh, really? And what do you intend to do? Lead a revolt and have me exiled? Take this throne for yourself perhaps?"
"There's more than one way to overthrow a dictator." The Doctor turned to leave. "Come on Marcus, there's an unpleasant air in here. Lets get some fresh air, shall we?" He sidestepped the guards' long weapons with cat like ease.
"Get after them you fools!" Duke Steiner shouted. "I want to watch the life drain out of their eyes myself."
"This way I think." The Doctor led Marcus on a chase around the chateau as they fled from the Duke's men.
***
Alannis looked up from her stitching sampler when a gaudily dressed fat man and a small boy burst into her room. "What are you doing here?" she asked them. "Are you the fools for my wedding? My father is dealing with all the arrangements."
The Doctor looked at the Duke's daughter. "Have you any idea how much it's costing him? He's being forced to drain your people of all their money just to pay for it all."
"That's simply not true," Alannis replied. "My father is a very wealthy man."
The Doctor pointed at Marcus. "This young boy was made to starve until he had to steal food just to stay alive. Do you call that wealthy when he takes the food from a child's mouth?"
"No ... no." Alannis felt dizzy. "My father is a kind man, he loves me."
"His love for you will cost him his Dukedom," the Doctor replied with an ancient sadness in his eyes. "I've seen this family drama played out on a thousand different worlds and they all ended up the same way." He sighed. "You must tell your father to simplify the wedding or it will all end badly."
"I love Toran Hogan, I wouldn't care if we were married in a barn."
"So you will tell your father this?" the Doctor asked.
"Of course I will. Why don't you and erm Cat Boy here stay in my room until after I have a word with him? No one would dare search in here." She left them waiting in her room. She'd show them the price for their intrusion. How dare they tell her how to organise her own wedding? Just who did they think they were? She would take great delight in watching them screaming for mercy on the rack.
***
Duke Steiner rubbed his hands together when his dear, beloved daughter told him that she had managed to capture the madman and the brat. "Excellent!" he all but gloated before standing up. "Guards, come with me. I think it's time we found our guests a more permanent room, in the dungeons!" His sanity pushed to the edge, it teetered for a few seconds before plunging down into banana-flavoured psychosis.
Alannis looked at her father, he seemed a little on edge. Not that she cared but he better walk her through the courtyard on her wedding day or she'd make sure his reign ended a lot sooner than she intended it to.
***
The Doctor looked at the half-finished sampler. "This needs a bit of colour." He began to unpick the threads and redo the pattern in slightly more vivid colours.
"I bet all this make up cost a fair bit." Marcus picked up a glass jar of rouge. "Blimey does she put it on with a trowel or something?"
The Doctor looked at Marcus. "Leave everything as you found it, it's not polite to mess about with other peoples stuff." He continued reworking Alannis's sampler.
"Should you be meddling with that?" Marcus asked, worried that the Doctor might get into trouble.
"I do not meddle!" the Doctor exclaimed. "I'm just doing a favour for Alannis, she seemed such a nice girl too, didn't she?"
***
Alannis begged her father to let her torture the wedding wreakers with boiling oil and a few branding irons but much to her dismay her father wanted the pleasure for himself. "Can't I at least put the thumb screws on that boy?"
The Duke put a paternal arm around his teenage child. "My dear, torture is an art. We can't let amateurs at it now, can we? They might very well die before they tell us all we want to know."
"You let me kill mother," Alannis pointed out.
"That was different, I didn't need to know anything from her. You did do a good job however." He stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Tell you what, when they've finished with these two I'll let you have a few minutes practice before dispatching them."
Alannis hugged her father. "You're the best Daddy." She began choosing her favourite implements. Maybe she should keep him around a bit longer? She still had a few things to learn from him.
***
The Doctor stood up suddenly; his nose was twitching really badly. Either it was going to rain or he was about to be put in extreme danger. Sometimes he envied his granddaughter Susan's much more developed psychic gifts. That reminded him, he really must drop by and see her one of these lives. "I really think we should be going." He walked quickly over to the door only to discover that it was secured on the other side. "This is not good." He started to look around the room for something - anything - that would aide their escape from the portentous doom his nose was predicting.
Marcus looked out of the window and noticed that it had started to rain. "I hope the roof leaks and they all drown."
"That's it!" the Doctor called out. "We can fashion a rope from these sheets, climb down them and fight our way to freedom."
"Or we can use this secret passage." Marcus showed the Doctor the hidden corridor behind a tapestry.
***
They walked into the room only to find it empty. "I thought you said they were in here?" Duke Steiner yelled at his stupid daughter. "If they escape I'll make sure you pay the price."
"They must have taken the secret passageway." Alannis moved the tapestry aside to reveal the secret stone corridor. "We have them now."
***
The kitchen was now in use, Cook was busy stuffing a large ostrich-sized fowl while the kitchen maids were busy with the other fifteen courses. The Doctor tried to pick his way through the bustle of the staff but found it nearly impossible.
Marcus found a spare freshly cut leg of some animal or other and tried to hide it about his person.
They finally made it to the other side, toes stepped on a dozen times each, ribs and backs bruised by many different trays of foods and both feeling quite hungry from the smell of the banquet being prepared.
***
The courtyard was a frenzy of activity, a troop of knights dressed in different livery to that of the Duke's own were seeing off some of the Duke's poorly trained bullies. "Doctor!" Grant called out when he spotted his friend. "We found these guys, they're here to sort the Duke out once and for all."
The Doctor frowned. "You know how much I deplore violence Grant, however it may be for the best. I don't think the Duke's all that well hinged."
Yydell found the Doctor, Grant and the young boy. "Once we've finished here there's only one thing that can take our minds off this unpleasantness."
Grant grinned. "We've got it all prepared and if the rumours are right you'll want to go there anyway."
"What is it?" the Doctor asked.
Yydell laughed, a broad grin on his face. "We're going to fly to the top of the world."
It was Grant's turn to grin. "There are lots of rumours of many precious stones there, just lying about the place."
"You know that sort of thing doesn't interest me Grant," the Doctor replied.
Grant tried explaining the reality of the situation to the Doctor. "You said the TARDIS uses pure crystals to focus the raw energy right? Well we can get more than enough for that and maybe get a few more to trade with."
The Doctor looked down at Marcus. "You should return to your mother before she gets worried about you." He waved his hands when the boy tried to return his cat badge to him. "No, no. You keep it, I've got plenty more back in the ship." He fished into his left pocket and pulled out an orange. "Eat this, the vitamin C will do you good."
"You've got a boat Doctor?" Marcus asked.
The Doctor tried to explain to the boy. "I call the TARDIS a ship because it doesn't roll along the ground on wheels. It travels in a way far different to what you can imagine, but it's broken at the moment. One day however, when I get it repaired, it may just fly."
Marcus thought about this for a second before shaking his head and running off back home to his mother. He hoped he wouldn't get into trouble.
***
"What is this?" Duke Steiner emerged from the kitchens to find himself surrounded by half a dozen of the King's elite knights.
Quick as a flash Alannis began to blame her father for everything. "Thank goodness you're here. It's been awful living with the constant threat of his madness. I would have written a letter to His Majesty long ago but I was too afraid."
"Why you little harpy!" The Duke drew his sword and ran Alannis threw with it. "All I wanted was the best for you but it was never good enough. I spoiled you; I made you into a selfish greedy bitch. She killed her mother you know. I should have done that a long time ago."
The Knights surrounded Duke Steiner, their swords drawn.
"No!" the Doctor shouted. "What good will another death do? If you kill him then it will only show that you're as bad as he was. You must show leniency, his mind is addled and he needs your understanding and help not the edge of your swords."
The Duke held the dead body of his beautiful little girl in his arms and began to weep uncontrollably. "Hush little baby don't say a word, Daddy's going to get you a Googly Bird."
***
"Well I hadn't ran home straight away, I hid near the entrance way and watched the last few moments of the Duke's reign of tyranny from there. The Doctor and his two friends made their way north and I never did see them again." Marcus unpinned the cat-shaped badge from his jerkin and handed it to his grandchildren. "They called me Cat Boy after that, cos they said I must have nine lives once I finished telling them what had gone on."
"It looks scary," Lita said, unsure of the faded badge.
"It's just an old moggy," Jeff said once he got a closer look at the badge.
"Well I think it's the best badge in the whole world," Lita retorted. "I think it looks scary to protect the wearer from harm."
Marcus chuckled to himself as they started fighting between themselves again. "Calm down you two, it's time for my nap so be as quiet as mice or the cat will get you both." That worked, they both became very quiet and he closed his eyes for his midday nap.
