Author's Note:
To Aietradaea and LiveLaughLoveListen, thank you both for your reviews. Hope I don't disappoint.
CHAPTER TWO
Before Tejana could react, someone took her arm and a rough voice muttered in her ear, "Come with us quietly or the old man dies, get it?"
"Oh, I get it," she retorted icily.
Without further ado, she and Wilf were escorted to the back of a transit van and were pushed unceremoniously inside, to be followed by the thug with the gun. The double doors slammed and the engine started, the van veering sharply away from the kerb into the London traffic.
"Where are you taking us?" Wilf demanded querulously.
Tejana felt proud of the old man. He was obviously afraid, but was determined not to show it.
"Shut up, Granddad," the thug snarled. "Or I'll put a bullet in you."
The Time Lady shook her head at Wilf, silently urging him to do what he was told until she could work out what was going on. Fortunately, he took the hint.
When the van finally stopped and the thug motioned for them to get out, they were in a large, empty, run-down old warehouse. None of it was familiar to Tejana.
They were ushered through a door into another smaller room, which appeared to have once been an office of some kind. Now it contained several rows of seats with a central aisle, running up the room to what appeared to be some sort of altar, draped in a red velvet cloth. Two plain black books rested on the altar and before it knelt a young girl, her head bowed reverently.
Tejana frowned, but before she could take in much more, she realised someone was coming forward to meet them. It was a slender black female with short hair, garbed simply in an ebony silk robe, trimmed in red around the neck and wrists.
"Your guests, High Priestess," one of the guards murmured, before falling back respectfully.
The Time Lady sighed inwardly. Just some kind of religious nut, that was all she needed. Jack was already going to be furious with her for disappearing without telling him where she was going. Ever since she had returned from Gallifrey, he had become ridiculously over-protective, hardly allowing her out of his sight, as if he was afraid she was going to vanish again without warning. Tejana put up with it patiently, knowing that it was a direct result of his grief at the deaths of his grandson, Stephen, and his lover, Ianto Jones. Jack was determined never to lose anyone he cared about again.
Every now and then though, she needed some time to herself and she slipped away for a while. On this occasion she had been gone for three days already, so she hated to think how angry he was going to be. This further delay was definitely an unwelcome development.
The woman came to a stop in front of Tejana, who eyed her curiously – somehow, this person looked familiar, if she could only remember where from...
"Welcome, Chosen One," the woman announced in ringing tones.
"Look, I think there's been some kind of mistake. My name is Anna Smith. This is my grandfather, Wilfred Mott, and we would like very much to go home now, please," Tejana said emphatically, trying to use her psychic energy to convince the woman they were harmless.
"Don't try my patience with your foolish games," the woman retorted arrogantly. "We know you are not human. We know you are of the same race as our Lord Master, and we honour you for it."
"What?" Tejana hissed, all her pretence falling away.
"The Master!" Wilfred exclaimed fearfully. "Tejana, I thought you said he was dead!"
"I did!" she snapped, glaring at the High Priestess.
"He will return. He has done so before. We are the Cult of Saxon, his true disciples," the woman intoned. "We watch and we wait. We never give up the faith."
Tejana relaxed again, her stomach inexplicably clenching in disappointment. So, just a crackpot, after all. For a moment she had thought...what? That the Master had pulled off yet another of his miraculous escapes, that he was here...?
She felt a wild urge to strike the woman standing before her. She spent so much time trying not to remember what had happened in The Matrix, it was far too painful. Instead, she had buried herself in her work for Torchwood, numbing the constant ache by keeping forever busy, avoiding the nightmares by avoiding sleep. Now this stupid, ignorant human was daring to remind her, daring to bring the memories all back...
"He's dead, he's not coming back! Your Secret Books of Saxon aren't going to change that this time!" she said harshly, gesturing towards the black volumes lying on the altar.
"Wait a minute," Wilf broke in, taking a step forward. "I know you. You're that Naismith girl, Joshua Naismith's daughter. You and your father are the ones who started all the trouble last Christmas."
"Ohhhhh!" Tejana nodded, understanding now why the woman seemed so familiar. The Doctor had shown her a psychic vision of the events in the Naismith mansion shortly before he had regenerated.
Her mouth twisted in contempt. "So you are one of the fools who thought you could control a Time Lord to gain eternal life. Haven't you learnt your lesson yet about messing with things you don't understand?"
The other woman's face suffused with anger. "We lost everything! My father is still in jail. I am only free due to our family connections. Our empire is in ruins. We under-estimated the Master. But I know he will return and so I have rebuilt the Cult of Saxon. This time I will be ready. This time I will have something he wants...you!"
"So...let me get this straight...," Tejana rolled her eyes heavenward. "You think that by handing me over to the Master, he will restore everything you have lost? Stars, you really haven't learnt anything from the last time, have you?"
Abigail Naismith smiled fiercely and turned back towards the altar, where she touched the kneeling girl on the shoulder. The girl had been so quiet, so motionless, that Tejana had almost forgotten she was there. Now she rose to her feet and turned to face them. She was young, in her early teens, with short brown curly hair and a plain, unremarkable face. But her most striking feature was her eyes – they were a peculiar milky white colour, her stare unwavering and unblinking, eerie in its intensity.
"This is Della," Abigail Naismith said, her tone almost gloating. "She is our Visionary, she sees the future. We know the Master will return, she has seen it."
Tejana felt the blood pounding in her temples. Why did she get all the nut-cases? She had totally had enough of this conversation. Besides, she had to get back to Cardiff before Jack did something drastic.
"Oh yeah?" she returned sarcastically.
The girl called Della fixed her opaque gaze directly on Tejana's face.
"You do not believe," she said in a husky monotone. "And yet you carry the Mark of the Master."
Tejana's entire body stiffened in shock, her thin face losing what little colour it possessed.
Frightened, Wilf touched her arm. "Tejana? What's she talking about? Tejana?"
"Guards!" Abigail ordered. "Expose the Mark."
Tejana began backing away. "No. Keep away from me. Don't touch me!"
"Do not force us to kill the old man!" Abigail snapped.
Tejana knew she had no choice. Eyes spitting fury, she allowed the guards to restrain her arms. Wilf watched miserably, not sure what was going on and unable to help.
One of the black-dressed guards bent to Tejana's right ankle and, in one swift movement, pulled up her trouser leg, exposing the skin beneath.
Wilf stared in horror. Marring the Time Lady's ankle was an awful, livid burn in the shape of a hand-print.
"Oh, my giddy aunt..." Wilf breathed. "Tejana, what is that?"
Abigail was exultant. "So it is true...the Mark of the Master!"
Wilf had never seen Tejana so angry, as though she had been violated in some way.
"How dare you?" she spat, her face contorted in rage. "How dare you!"
"He comes!" Della cried suddenly. "Trapped in the light that seeks only darkness, he returns. The three who remain must stand as one in the Portal of Eternity, lest the Universe and all within it fall into shadow forever more..."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Tejana bit out.
But the visionary had fallen to her knees, muttering unintelligibly, repeating the words 'shadow' and 'darkness' over and over again.
Abigail Naismith merely smiled triumphantly. "I will have back everything that was taken from me. Now, I need only to wait. Guards, take them away!"
"He's not coming back!" Tejana screamed furiously. "You stupid woman, don't you understand? HE...IS...NOT...EVER...COMING...BACK!"
But Abigail simply turned away and the guards dragged Tejana and Wilf off to a small, windowless room, where they were locked in.
