"Concentrate, Dave." Balthazar said in a bored tone flipping the page in his book, not even looking up at his apprentice. "Try again." Dave glared at the old sorcerer.
"You say that all the time." He complained. "'Concentrate, Dave, try again'" He imitated Balthazar's intonation which was enough to make Balthazar look up with a raised eyebrow.
"I do not sound like that." He stood and snapped his book shut. "And maybe, if you actually concentrated, I wouldn't always have to remind you."
"I do concentrate." Balthazar gave Dave a long look before setting his book down and crossing his arms.
"Apparently, not enough, now try again."
"But-" Dave's complaint was cut off by an odd whooshing sound and the slow materialization of a large blue box in the center of the Merlin Circle carved on the floor. "Um, what is that?" Dave asked when the whooshing stopped. "Is this some sorcery thing that you are showing off?" Balthazar threw Dave a sideways look, raising his eyebrow.
"No Dave, this is not coming from me." The master began to advance on the box when the door popped open and a man in a tweed coat and bow tie stepped out. He stopped short when he noticed the two men staring at him.
"Oh hello!" He said brightly with a British accent then after glancing at the look on their faces he frowned and looked behind himself.
"Oh." He said a more distraught this time. "You didn't happen to see that did you?" He wrung his hands together.
"Uh, yeah, what the hell just happened?" Dave's face plainly showed his confusion while Balthazar looked more curious.
"Um, well, you see." The British man scratched his head and ruffled his hair. "It was a mirage," He clapped his hands together and grinning. "That's it, it was a mirage. You know, like when you are looking at a road a little ways away and it looks all squiggly and stuff." His speech slowed and his smile faltered when he noticed that Dave and Balthazar were not buying his story.
"Doctor, where have we landed now?" A new British voice came from the box and two new heads popped out, one a red-haired woman and the other a gawky man. "Oh." The woman said noticing the awkward silence.
"Oh, I should probably introduce us! I am the Doctor, and this is Amy Pond, and Rory Pond."
"Williams, our name is Williams, not Pond." The Doctor ignored Rory's comment as he was more concerned about Balthazar walking around his blue box.
"What magic is this?" Balthazar muttered trailing his fingertips lightly on the wood.
"Magic?" The Doctor scoffed. "The TARDIS is not magic, there is no such thing as magic." Balthazar stopped and gave the Doctor the same look he liked to give Dave when he said something silly. Without saying a word, Balthazar put his hands together and calmly summoned a plasma bolt in his palm before letting it fizzle out.
"You were saying?" The Doctor was speechless for a second before he hurriedly took out a small device and pointed it at Balthazar. Balthazar's quick reflexes meant that as soon as the end lit up with a green light, the Doctor was flying across the room.
"Dave!" Balthazar's apprentice was quickly at his side with a plasma bolt ready to fire. Amy and Rory went to the Doctor's aid and they all held their hands up.
"Wait, wait, don't shoot!" The Doctor cried, "I wasn't doing anything." He held up the device. "It's a sonic screwdriver, it's not a weapon." The two sorcerers calmed but remained alert. "I was just trying to find out what you are, and how you are doing that. Did you have weapons implanted into your hands, or maybe," The Doctor grinned at Amy and Rory who just smiled back like he was insane.
"Did you evolve to have weapons in your hand. Are you cyborgs?" He turned to his companions. "Oh, I think I got my calculations a little off."
"What on earth are you talking about?" Balthazar interrupted the Doctor's gleeful rant.
"How are you doing that with the energy balls, or whatever they are."
"They are plasma bolts, and we are sorcerers." Balthazar looked at the Doctor through narrowed eyes. "Who are you and how did you get that box in here?" The Doctor laughed.
"I'll bet you really think you are sorcerers." He grinned. "And I told you I am the Doctor and that box, is my TARDIS."
"What's a TARDIS?" Dave spoke up. The Doctor let out a little giggle.
"It's a time machine." He grinned. Balthazar raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.
"I think you should go." He said sternly.
"But I want to find out more about you. This sorcerer thing is new." Balthazar just glared.
"Um, Doctor, I think it would be best if we just left them be." Amy tapped the Doctor on the shoulder.
"But," Amy gave the Doctor a pointed look.
"There are no crying children, no apocalyptic disasters, we should just go." The Doctor sighed.
"Fine." He let Amy and Rory lead him to the door of the box. "I might be back though, this is really interesting." She said with another grin before the couple pulled him into the box and shut the door. Soon the whooshing noise stared again and the box slowly disappeared. Dave and Balthazar stood in silence for a little while after the box had gone.
"Alrightly then." Dave said breathing out a long sigh.
"Back to work." Balthazar announced.
"But, Balthazar! A blue box just showed up and disappeared along with three people, shouldn't we talk about this or something?" Balthazar's look told Dave that there was nothing that Balthazar wanted to do less, than to talk about what had just happened.
"Concentrate, Dave." Dave sighed.
Author's Note: Brownie points to anyone who knows where the inspiration for the title came from :-)