"Sir Doctor, it's your turn."
"Patience, Bors."
The Doctor was on his knees. He was scribbling on the floorboards, back turned from the chalk circle.
Bors sighed and shifted uncomfortably from his spot on the floor.
"I've been patient for an hour. Why must you delay?"
"Aha!" The Doctor spun around and shuffled over. "I have calculated the trajectory of my next shot." He tucked the chalk into his pocket and got into position.
"Finally," said Bors, rolling his eyes.
The Doctor took his biggest marble, the shooter, and lined it up against a smaller one that looked like a cat's eye.
He flicked his thumb. The shooter flew past Bors and into the fireplace, missing its target entirely.
The Doctor gave an embarrassed smile.
"Best of three?"
Bors rolled the marble around in his mouth.
"It doesn't taste like a pea."
The Doctor didn't look up from his chalk scribbles. He was busy plotting his next move.
"What did you say?"
"I said-" Bors inhaled. The marble lodged in his throat. He made a sudden choking sound and clawed at his neck.
The Doctor continued his scribbling.
"Speak up Bors, I can't hear you over the fire."
There was a strangled cry and The Doctor spun around to see Bors falling sideways, scattering marbles across the floor in all directions.
"Bors! Bors!"
The Doctor rushed over and quickly delivered a blow between Bors' shoulder blades with the palm of his hand.
"Come on big man! Cough it up!"
Another blow. Harder this time.
Tears were streaming down Bors' face and he felt consciousness start to slip away.
The Doctor struck him again, hard enough to break a rib if he were a more fragile man.
He tried to cough but it was not enough to dislodge the marble in his throat. Bors went limp and slipped away into darkness.
"The trouble with marbles is, they look like sweets," The Doctor said.
He hauled Bors upright and handed him a goblet.
Bors took it gratefully with shaking hands and sipped, spilling some water down his beard.
"You said it was a pea," Bors croaked. He barely got the sentence out before a coughing fit took hold, shaking him violently.
The Doctor took the goblet away and steadied him by the shoulders.
"A Black Eyed Pea," he explained. "A marble named for its colouring. Looks a bit like the real thing."
"Then I shall never eat a pea again."
"Oh, that would be a shame," he said, guiding Bors up onto a nearby chair to get a better look at him. "They're full of fibre, protein, phosphorus, magnesium-"
"Magician?"
The Doctor ceased his exhortation on the virtues of peas and looked Bors squarely in the eye.
"How did you get the glass pea out?"
"You don't want to know."