The high towers of the Red Citadel glistened under the second sun as the day began to come to an end, but the sisters of the Citadel were too restless to appreciate the scenery of the nine mountains. They had seen two people running up the mountain towards the gates leading up to the main atrium; the first, a man clad in a bow-tie and dinner jacket, and the second, Sophia, who had been talking with the high priestess a short time ago before the sound of a scream from the mountains had drawn her away. During the visit she had been kind to the sisters and demonstrated the makings of a potential citizen of the Citadel, but now her fast pace and peculiar companion made the sisters worried and concerned.
The sisters wore long scarlet robes and headdresses that covered most of their skin, but the purple scaly complexion that was common in this region of Shallacatop could still be seen on their bare hands and faces; it was only the high priestess who didn't have purple skin.
"Who is that man?" Sister Draeah asked frantically.
"He is not of this world, neither is the girl Sophia, but she is easily human" came the response of Sister Braxes from the other side of the chapel, where the sisters had a clear view of the main atrium and the two figures running towards it.
"Do you imply that the man is not human? Or a citizen of Shallacatop?"
"I imply, sisters, that he is of no species yet known to me by my experience; he is something I have never encountered before".
"We should inform the high priestess of their arrival!" bellowed Sister Hephlia, a recently ascended sister who was almost in tears over the ordeal. The Sisters of the Citadel very rarely saw men, particularly men who were not from Shallacatop and who were running towards them determined and frantic.
"I will tell her at once" Sister Draeah assured, she had always been a sort of secondary leader to the sisters as she had been a member of the Citadel longer even than the priestess. She calmly picked up her scarlet robes and made her way towards the chapel stairs, which led to the living quarters of the high priestess. "Oh my!" Draeah squealed halfway up the stairs, as oddly one of the chapel's statues had been moved into the centre of a step and blocked the sister's path. "Some sort of foul joke, probably that Sophia girl, if she's capable of running over mountains with strangers she's certainly capable of this!"
"Nobody moved that statue, Sister Draeah" said a figure from the top of the stairs; a figure that even in the fading light of the sunset could be recognised by every sister of the Citadel.
"Priestess Gwyon!" the sister exclaimed, "what do you mean nobody moved the statue? It must have done, for statues cannot move themselves".
"Statues can't, Draeah, but monsters can". At the moment a cry was heard from the chapel below, and mistakenly both women turned towards the sound and by the time the high priestess realised what she had done it was too late, "do not turn around, sister!"
"Ahhh!" In the fraction of a second it had taken them both to gaze at the bottom of the stairs, imagining the chaos taking place in the chapel beneath them, Draeah was seized from around the waste and the neck, her attacker made entirely of stone. "This is witchcraft! From the barbarous planets of the third galaxy!"
"Don't be so harsh, sweetie-"
"Sweetie?"
"Sister, I said sister. It is not witchcraft, this is a monster more terrible than the punishment dreamed of by your sacred religion" the priestess said with a hint of sarcasm.
"Priestess Gwyon! This is most blasphemous and shocking of someone so faithful as yourself!"
"I'm not a priestess, sweetie, and I'm sorry but there's nothing I can do to save you now. The second I turn my back that creature will kill you, I'm so sorry". It took Draeah a few moments to realise what she had been told, and before the tears of fear and panic could flow she composed herself and remembered her vows.
"I have shown you authority, and therefore you are my priestess, and so I ask you to leave before you too are taken by this stone monster and to not mourn my death; you may laugh at my religion but I have always been faithful and so welcome death as merely the final hurdle".
"Draeah-"
"No, priestess, the movements of the beast have left a gap on the stairway for you to reach the chapel; the other sisters need you and, I fear, so do the strangers who may have already entered the Citadel".
"I should hope they have" Priestess Gwyon laughed to herself knowingly, she could only hope that The Doctor was causing a fuss with the young girls of the Red Citadel. "That man you all fear so much is someone I would gladly welcome into my Citadel even on the darkest of days, especially when he brings a third party". She continued to laugh, and Sister Draeah was far too afraid to ponder the euphemism.
"If I might ask, what is your real name?"
"Sister Braxes has been teaching you human languages, hasn't she?"
"Yes".
"So you know what the human English word is for Gwyon?"
"Of course! Gywon is Shallacatop's word for moving water, it is often used to describe the river, and the-"
"Pond, yes". The priestess glared at the sinister statue with hatred as she said the word, and looked as if she was struggled with emotions she couldn't reveal to the sister about to die. "Have faith, Sister Draeah"
"I always do, perhaps you may need it as well, Gwyon". The priestess simply smiled at her fellow citizen of the Citadel before making her way down the stone staircase; she allowed her thoughts to keep her from hearing the sound of a neck breaking a few steps above her, a body falling to the ground, and stone footsteps scraping across the paving as they chased after her.