"HELLO!" the Doctor yelled, leaning on the basement door. "ANYBODY HEARS ME? THE SPECIMEN IS RIGHT HERE! Stop jerking me, Benna!"
Benna stared at him, silently pleading to stop shouting - before this she had been trying to pull him away from the doors.
"You're dumb, but not deaf, eh? So if you have ears, listen to me. The pandemonium up there is because of me. I know this way of achieving aims. All they need here is me, and if they don't find me, they will ruin this castle to the ground until the last rock. Got it? So out of the way! If you want to help me, howl and bang for someone to let us out! Acoustics is horrible here, I suppose!"
Noise? He needs noise? All right, I'll give you noise! - Benna thought and surprised herself at the next moment, having grabbed hold of both Doctor's wings and pulled the as strongly as she could.
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! YOU... CRAZY GIRL!"
Benna rolled into the corner, shrinking with realization of what she had done. Not better than those who laugh at others' pain.
"And I thought that operation was the worst!" the Doctor yelled, having forgotten about the door. "Congratulations, Benna! You found something worse!"
The chaos inside and outside was gone as soon as both realized that the basement doors were open and several pairs of eyes - some awed, some scared, some cold and determined - were watching them. A group of people with rifles surrounded the exit together with five or six maids, including Camellia.
"Nice dirty little trick, Benna", the Doctor noticed, his anger gone without a trace (though Benna couldn't decide which was creepier - his rage or that skull-like smile). "Making me scream in pain to attract everybody's attention... You don't seem to be such a brain-pudding now. Well, gentlemen?"
"You will go with us", the commander said without a shade of emotion. "And the child will".
"Yeah, it's clear about me, but what about Benna? She's a medieval misfit, and besides unable to speak. Why would you need her?" The Doctor raised his eyebrows, waiting for an answer. But he replied by himself. "Ah. I understood. Tidying up after yourselves. Weeping Angels, but vice versa. Killing everybody who looks you in the eye... By the way, about them".
"Wait until he tries to escape. I don't want it to look like an execution".
The Doctor's mouth formed a wide "closed" smile, and his wings gave a small soft rustle.
"So you get it, boys. You do get it. I'm a rather precious specimen, and you don't want trouble with your boss. No one would like to get the glory of the species destroyer. Look at me, I killed the last dodo! But dodos couldn't do things... Things like this!"
Benna forgot something. Either it was a very long blink or a head hit, but she found herself hanging horisontally, with two white hands laced on her chest holding her and something like grey and brown carpet dashing underneath. Then there were shouts. And rocks, and something else chasing them. Something that whizzed by, like big angry bees.
Then there was a harsh landing - only by some wonder they didn't smash into the wall, having landed in a barn. Right in the middle of a pile of old hay.
"They do work", the Doctor said in fascination - he recovered much faster than Benna who needed time to get rid of dizziness - and traced along the edge of his right wing with a finger. "I did not see that coming... What do you think, Benna? The one-and-only flying Timelord!.. But we're not done yet".
Benna blinked.
"No, we're not. There is a way to hide from them. Somewhere around there is a time warp, I could get there and get to the point in time that I need... and they won't be able to do so, because they are merely humans, haha!"
"Doctor", Benna said, having crawled closer to him.
"What?.. You really ought to try something new, Benna... Oh no, no, don't tell me that you want to come with me!"
"Doctor!" Benna grabbed his arm, surprised at how tight it was. "Doctor!"
"Fine, fine. You got me. But don't blame me if something goes wrong!"
Benna didn't know what was going to take place. But she knew one thing: she didn't want to be alone again.
The horrors were gone, including similar men with thundering sticks and bees which killed people with one bite. No one knew what the reason was, except those who are sure that all disasters come from people's sins. But somebody remembered that there had been a man. With wings! Naturally, not an angel - all angels were young and beautiful, and this hadn't been either. And there was a girl. Yes, yes, the dumb errand girl. But why she, then?
And there was an orange thunderbolt in the sky before it all ended. Dark times were to begin.
