"Doctor!"
The cry roused me from my slumber as certainly as a cold bucket of water would have. Peri was trying to wake me out of a rather pleasant dream about Granakan butterflies (with a wingspan of five feet!), shocking me into realizing what was happening. I was a bit jumbled, and as I pulled myself together from my dreams, random phrases flew through my head ("Sic semper tyrannis!")
"Wha?"
"Doctor, they're coming!"
Something about Julius Caesar worked its way to the surface of my mind before I shook the confusion off.
"Oh! No need to get all in a huff!" I jumped straightway off the makeshift bed made of straw and through the door. We ran for miles, the angry torch-wielding mob behind us, fading into the distance as we ran from that dreaded barn.
I'd suddenly realized that Peri was quite far behind.
"Aren't you going to keep up?"
"I'm trying," she protested between gasps. "I don't have your lungs, you know."
"Oh, of course not…come on."
I took off again, Peri managing to keep up (though I did rather slow my pace). When we did finally stop for rest, we sat down on the grass in a forest. I kept my keen ears open for any sound that might indicate a further presence.
"Ohh, every time we land, something goes wrong."
"You're the one who insisted upon seeing your ancestors!"
"I also mentioned seeing the First Continental Congress, but we're nowhere near that!"
"You mean nowhen near. I, for one, didn't expect to end up in the middle of 17th century Massachusetts."
"What are we going to do? You saw what they did to the TARDIS!"
"That, my dear Peri, is an excellent question, the solution to which I have been working on exhaustively."
"You were sleep—"
"Shh, Peri!" I'd heard a sound in the bushes, as if someone were walking around us, watching us. I also thought I could have sworn I saw a light in the woods, like a torch. I strained my eyes against the darkness (even for a Time Lord it was too dark to make anything out clearly), but could see nothing. Suddenly Peri gave a yelp of surprise, and I wheeled around to see a man, not yet forty, with his finger to his lips and a look of desperation in his eyes. He motioned for us to come, so we followed him.
He led us to a quaint little cottage which I suspected hadn't been used for anything but a hideout in at least five years. The man turned up his lamp so we could only just see each other, shut the curtains, and spoke in a whisper:
"They tried to bring me in for burning, but I'd have none of it. From the looks of you, they tried to get you too, though in your case I can see why." He glanced at Peri's exposed stomach and low-cut top, along with her shorts. He then turned to me and looked me up and down.
"Do you mind," asked Peri. "I don't like being stared at."
"Indeed, m'lady, but you are dressed most…revealingly for a young lady of good repute."
"Peri is not from this society. She comes from the mountains in Asia, and has grown up in a culture quite different from our own." Peri opened her mouth to protest, but I cut her short with a look.
"Aye, that may be, but still a young lady surely must have some modesty."
"In her customs, a woman who does not show her belly is considered obscene."
"Ah, right then, I suppose, but there's the matter of you, sir. You're not customary, 'tis to be sure."
"I am a man of brilliant mind and scientific standing. I may dress however I please." A small snort of laughter came from Peri. I looked at her, failing to see humor in the situation. "Peri is a young lady who I have taken upon myself to educate. A story not unlike that of Pygmalion, if you catch my drift."
"Your words, too, are strange. I can see why they scoff at you and call you witch."
Peri's stomach loudly rumbled. "Sorry, I haven't eaten all day."
"That situation we shall remedy." He returned with some soft bread and some cheese. "'Tisn't much, but it should be enough. And for you, sir?"
"Oh, no thank you, I'm not hungry."
"If that is your way."
"It is."
I watched Peri eat (rather self-consciously, I thought, being the only one eating), while I thought of many things. The witch-hunt had forced us to abandon the TARDIS not long after landing, our ship having been captured as evidence of black magic, so we had no way to get back. I fiddled in my pockets for anything that might help—string, wire, a banana (which was no good at all for dire situations), and a copy of The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Strange coincidence, that last one. I should have to have a talk with the author one day.
"Oh, I have forgotten my manners," the man said quite suddenly. "My name is James Townsend. I have heard Peri's name, but who are you, sir?"
"The Doctor."
"Do you have a—"
"Name? No, my good sir, I'm simply the Doctor." I broke off, sitting straight up as a cat, for I'd heard something. "Shh! What's that?"
"I don't hear anything," whispered Peri.
"Nor I."
"Shh! There's movement. Which way is the quickest out?"
"The back from here, but—"
"Lead on, man!"
He led us to the door, which he promptly exited. As soon as he did so, a ring of fire blocked our escape.
"Get out of here, James! Run!" And the man did just that.
The flames grew stronger, and I knew the house would not keep its integrity for long. "Peri, you've got to go!"
"What about you, Doctor?"
"I'll be fine, just go!"
"But the flames—they'll catch me!"
On the spur of the moment, I grabbed the water barrel and threw the contents all over Peri, who yelped. For once I didn't have to explain that the sopping wetness would prevent her from getting burned if she made her way out now. She got out. A flaming beam collapsed, blocking the door.
"Go, Peri!"
"But—"
"Just go!" Reluctantly she left.
Was this how it would end? Burned to death in the middle of the Salem Witch Trials? Not today, I thought, as I attempted to calculate the distance I had to crawl through. Breathing became difficult as I began to suffer from smoke suffocation. I saw I had only one chance, the point in time at which the beam blocking the door collapsed but before the ceiling did so. How much longer? Not much. The moment came. Beam fell, I ran, but I'd slightly miscalculated and the ceiling knocked me on the head. I staggered away, the world spinning and hot, and then suddenly there was no more light, no more touch, no more smell.
I awoke to find Peri sitting over me. It was early morning, as I could tell by the light filtering through the trees in the east. I could tell I'd had a bit of oxygen deprivation, as my mind was foggy (or smoky, as you might say).
Peri had dozed off, and had a very troubled look on her face as she slept. I've always enjoyed looking at sleeping faces; it gives you a glimpse as to who the person really is without barriers, masks, or other deceptions. Peri had had such a trying life. Poor Peri. I lay back down and stared at the sky. Whatever were we to do now? I'd gotten Peri into this mess, and it was my responsibility to get her out of it again, whatever it took. Flashbacks of my time with her ran through my head, ("He was…sweet." "Sweet?"), battles with Cybermen, witnessing her partial transformation into a bird-like creature on Varos, and our most recent tangle with my second regeneration. And of course, the whole Androzani business.
"I'm sorry your life with me has been nothing but trouble," I whispered quietly so as to keep her from hearing.
I spent the next few hours drifting in and out of sleep, and some things I couldn't tell whether they were dreams or reality. Golden Slumbers, I thought sleepily. Funny name for a song…
I woke up in the evening. Peri had tried to make things more comfortable by taking off my coat and rolling it up under my head. Comfortable was hardly the word for what it had ended up as, but I appreciated the effort.
"Doctor, you're awake!"
"I should think so."
"You—you stayed partly unconscious for three days. I was starting to get worried."
"My dear, the only time you should worry is when I've been beheaded."
"Ugh. I don't want to think about it."
"You did empty my pockets before you rolled up my coat, I hope."
"Yes, Doctor, I did."
It was then that I noticed the small pile of things to her left. Did I really have that much in my pockets? Oh-ho, what was this? I picked up a small circular device.
"I was right!"
"What?"
"It's my homing device! We can find our way back to the TARDIS!"
"That's great, Doctor, but it's probably guarded and we'll never get through."
"Hmm, probably right." Then I spied a rectangular object. I turned to Peri and smiled. She smiled weakly in return.
"What's that?"
"Remember how I commented that I needed a Stattenheim remote control?"
"Yeah."
I held the object up. Peri got it.
"The only trouble is that it has a five mile radius. We'll have to get close enough to use it. Using the two devices in conjunction with one another…ta-da!"
"Oh, that's wonderful!"
"Indeed, my dear Peri, wonderful is the word."
"Can we not run this time?"
Off we set, following the homing beacon. Several times we had to go out of our way to avoid search parties, and so the trip took a good week. We lived off berries and roots, slept for only a few hours each night (which exhausted Peri; I could go on one hour's sleep per night), spoke quietly and only when necessary. The homing device (unfortunately) had a battery which was quickly dying, so we used it sparingly, again leading to zig-zags. The most exciting part of the trip back was when Peri inadvertently stepped on a twig when a member of the local law enforcement was but feet from us. Fortunately, there was a deer who had moved at the right moment to complete the illusion, so the man thought nothing of it.
Nearing the end of our journey, the homing device had failed on us and we were semi-blindly moving through the underbrush. Peri was having trouble keeping her eyes open and her feet nimble, and I felt for her (though I was naturally too stubborn to admit it). Luckily we were in sight of the town the homing device had been leading us toward. The remote control was also weakened, having not been recharged since I'd used it in my adventure with the Androgums (my second regeneration's point of view), so the range was diminished to a quarter of a mile.
It was night and the town was mostly silent. Creeping like ghosts, we had no idea of which building the TARDIS was in. Surely it was not kept in a house as it was deemed a witch's tool. Perhaps the jail?
There it was. Unfortunately for us, there was a guard on it. We crept as best we could, though Peri's heeled shoes proved problematic. Suddenly the sleeping guard stirred. We froze. He muttered something about Abraham and Isaac, turned slightly, and drifted off again.
We got to the TARDIS. We were quietly overjoyed to see it again, but—Murphy's Law would have its way—the key got stuck in the door, and it was noisy to get out again to put it in properly. Just before we did so, the guard awoke and saw us. He ran over to us, intending to clap us in irons, but we made it in just in time.
"You witches will be condemned to the deepest, darkest, foulest reaches—"
"I think that's enough," I said, and switched off the scanner.
"I never thought I'd be this glad to see the TARDIS!"
"Yes, well, one quite gets used to relying on it."
"Can we leave this awful place now?"
I punched some buttons, flipped some levers, spun some spinners, and the column began its usual grunting roar as we set off again, for all the world not knowing where (or when) we were headed.