The next day Enoch took the Doctor into town as he had promised. Jo decided to stay with his mother, Mrs. Silver, instead. Mrs. Silver was old and could barely speak, but she was also very sweet and started showing Jo how to knit directly after breakfast.
Enoch said he was grateful to her for staying home with his mother and he and the Doctor left. Just by the first few minutes he and the Doctor spent talking, it was obvious to Enoch that he and Jo were from very far away, possibly another world. He told the Doctor all about what things were like. The country was still rather primitive with lords who owned the land and serfs who worked the land and got to stay on as tenants. It was much like medieval England, the Doctor soon saw when people started driving by in wagons drawn by donkeys and mules. Most of them were going the same direction, toward town, but a few were leaving with empty carts. They were the early birds who had already gone into town and sold their wares.
The town was more like a village, with only a two-story house and a small stone church steeple rising above the rest of the houses. There was no wall surrounding the village either; the sides of the houses made up a barrier and a sentry stood guard at the entrance. He gave Enoch a friendly nod and let them pass without hesitation.
Once inside, a lot more things came to the Doctor's attention. There were many people gathered in the town square, setting up booths and calling out to potential customers. Chickens fluttered wildly with children in the streets and pigs rooted into sacks of grain and corn.
Enoch rolled to an empty stall, obviously his claimed territory, and opened the back of his wagon. He didn't have a booth, but used his cart as the surface for exchanges. The Doctor looked around to see what he could find out. He made friends quickly and asked all the right kinds of questions.
"What's going to happen this afternoon?" The Doctor asked when he returned to Enoch's wagon. "Everyone seems to be looking forward to it."
"That would be the burning," said a woman who was buying from Enoch. She was middle-aged and wore a low-cut brown dress with a black vest. She also had a handkerchief tied around her head to cover her stringy hair.
"What burning?" Enoch asked, taking a few coins that she passed to him.
"Haven't you heard? They've found who was responsible for the three mysterious murders." She waved her hands in mock horror at the words "mysterious" and "murder." "They say the man who did it was possessed by Draculda. They're going to burn him at the steak today."
"Oh really?" said the Doctor skeptically. "Not if I have anything to say about it."
"Well, if you're planning to rescue the man, you're a fool," the woman informed him. "The entire town will turn up to watch it and you'll never get away with it." She left, taking a couple of oddly-shaped vegetables with her.
"That's very unfortunate," Enoch sighed. "I really hope they don't have another outbreak of burnings. That epidemic like that happened nearly 30 years ago and it was terrible. So many innocent people died."
"Where do they have the hangings?" The Doctor asked. Enoch pointed across the square to a tall metal post. It was burnished and misshapen, as though it had been heated many times over.
"The people of Rebamuse become so irrational when they stop believing in the Defender. So many people have died for nothing." Enoch stared at the pole, remembering many things.
"Do you believe in the Defender, Enoch?" The Doctor asked. He didn't seem like the type that would.
"It all depends." Enoch looked at the Doctor, trying to read him. "I believe in a defender who tries to take care of this whole village to the best of his abilities, but I don't believe that he's anything more than a man."
The Doctor decided to believe Enoch's version of things. The man sounded like he knew more than he was telling. Across town, a horn sounded loudly over the whole village, interrupting their thoughts. People began to close up their booths and fold them down. The streets was cleared right away.
"It's time," said Enoch. "Let's stay and see what happens."
People gathered in the square and more people came out of their houses to watch the burning. The townsfolk were careful to keep a distance between themselves and the stake.
"Everyone, make way!" cried a lone voice above the din. People stepped aside quickly to let an entourage of guards pass. They were lightly armed with swords, but had no armor.
"They're hire-for-pay guards," Enoch whispered. "They offered me a job, but I turned it down. Most of the time they just do whatever Lord Carrion orders them to do."
The guards led their prisoner up to the pole. They took out a length of rope and tied their prisoner to the burning pole. The entire time, the man was protesting his innocence and screaming that it hurt. What hurt him, the Doctor had no idea because the guards weren't being very rough. He noticed that the man was very thin and sickly. Everywhere the ropes touched his skin, he flinched and the skin turned pale.
"This man has been tried by the court of Carrion and found to be guilty of murder," the town crier read from a scroll ostentatiously. He listed off crimes that the man had committed, according to the court of Carrion. The entire time, the man kept protesting his innocence.
"And, lastly," read the crier, "He has been found to be poisoned with Draculda's disease which can only be purged through death." He pointed at them man, condemning him. "May your afterlife be filled with restitution for the crimes of this life."
The man screamed as an executioner bent down to the wood piled at the base of the pole. He held a torch to the wood for a few seconds, until the wood caught fire, and then backed away. The fire spread quickly and smoke filled the air surrounding the prisoner.
The Doctor was not idly watching. Since the town crier had begun reading off the list of crimes the man had committed, the Doctor had been looking for a way to rescue the wretch at the stake.
There was no chance that he could sneak up, unnoticed, and free the man from his bonds. The guards were surrounding him and vigilantly on the lookout. What the Doctor needed was a distraction. He turned to Enoch and was about to ask him to create a distraction, but there was a soprano scream from the crowd and all eyes looked that way. Except the Doctor. He took advantage of the momentary shock and dashed through the crowd towards the fire.
The guards ran down into the crowd and the people moved aside to reveal a young woman, lying on the cobblestone, as white as a sheet. Her face was pale and slightly blue, as though all of the blood had been drained from her body. Her mother held her in her arms and was patting her check, trying to revive her. With great effort, the girl raised her head and looked around. Then she sighed and her head dropped.
When her head lolled back, her hair fell aside to reveal a blood stain on her neck the size or a walnut. In that bloodstain were two small holes poked into her jugular. Another person in the crowd screamed in terror and people began to crowd in again, talking excitedly. The guards jumped in, trying to control the group.
Meanwhile, the Doctor had run around the backside of the pyre and kicked some flaming wooden planks aside so he could get to the man. The Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the ropes. They sizzled and snapped apart, freeing the man.
"Come on, this way!" The Doctor urged. He took the fugitive by the arm and helped him away from the fire.
"Doctor, over here!" Enoch waved from a far corner of the square and took off running down a small alley. The Doctor dashed after him, the fugitive following close behind.
They rounded several corners and dove down alleys and side streets that would have been impossible to find unless the seeker had known where to look. Enoch had just reached the end of a street, when he turned around suddenly, nearly running headfirst into the Doctor.
"This way, I know a shortcut," he said. "We can corner the real killer, follow me."
The Doctor spun around and ran with Enoch between two houses. They found themselves near the edge of town, close to the church. Unsure where their quarry had gone, Enoch and the Doctor stopped in the middle of the road and looked around.
"Where's the other one?" the Doctor asked, suddenly. "The one I rescued from the stake."
They both looked around for the man, but he was nowhere to be found.
"I hope he hasn't been recaptured," Enoch said. "Going to all that trouble for nothing."
"What happened in the crowd?" the Doctor asked. "I was too busy letting him free to pay any attention."
"Someone else has been killed. Well, now they know it wasn't the man they were burning who did it. And it's definitely the infection of Draculda."
"How could you tell?"
"The woman had been drained of her blood," Enoch said, shaking his head. "And there were bite marks on her neck. Only people who have been infected will do that, because they feel the powerful thirst of Draculda."
"How disgusting and sick," the Doctor commented.
"It's not their fault," Enoch told him, his voice taking on a defensive tone. "They just don't know how to deal with it."
"You seem to know a lot about what's going on here, young man," the Doctor said seriously. "What is it you're not telling me?"
"It's nothing." Enoch turned away. "I've just seen a lot of death because of Draculda."
"Alright, Enoch Silver, keep your secrets. But I think it's time to have a look at that body. Perhaps it will tell me what you are not." The Doctor turned and began to retrace their steps.
"It'll be at Dr. Eli Torneau's house by now," Enoch said. "Follow me."