Sara was almost out of breath when they reached the town.
It felt like they had been running forever. They stopped and looked at each other at the edge of the town.
"I won't be far behind you." Sara said ducking behind a building, keeping an eye on the Doctor, who entered the town.
The Doctor walked confidently to the centre of the town where he climbed onto a table, that had been left behind during the festivities. He looked around. There weren't any people to be seen.
"Hm..." He said, and scratched his neck.
Sara, who had followed along the wall, noticed the lack of people. She drew her wand and pointing it at the sky, wanting to shoot little red lights from it. This ought to get their attention, she thought, then lowered her wand again. What was that spell called again? She couldn't remember. Why couldn't she remember?! It was such a simple spell... She had to think of a plan B.
She looked around the town-centre for something she could use to lure out the townsfolk. A horse, no. A well... no. A gas lamp, n-yes. She pointed her wand at it.
"Reducto."
The lamp blew up with a loud bang.
After a little while, people started gathering in the town square to see what had caused the loud noise in the otherwise very quiet town. The Doctor, who had almost fallen off the table because of the bang, looked around.
"Everyone!" He shouted, but people were mumbling too loud, still panicking. "Please, listen!" He tried again, but no one noticed.
This would have been so much easier if we had a microphone, Sara thought to herself, then got an idea. She could magically enhance the Doctor's voice with a spell! She made sure no-one was watching before pointing her wand at the Doctor, who was still trying to get everyone's attention.
"Forgive me, Doctor. Sonorus!" She whispered.
"LISTEN!" The Doctor's voice boomed across the entire town. Everyone stopped and looked at him. The Doctor looked very surprised. "UM...!" He said. The people closest to him covered their ears.
"Quietus." Sara whispered out of sight, returning the Doctor's voice to normal. She didn't want people to be too scared of him, she just wanted them to listen. The Doctor cleared his throat, realizing that his voice was back to normal.
"That's better." He whispered to himself. "So, Everyone!" He yelled. "I can help you get your children back, but you have to listen!"
Everyone looked at the cloaked Doctor. "I'm going to need as much gold as you've got!" He explained.
The people started stirring, then suddenly, a man yelled out:
"He has our children!"
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "It's never that easy..." He said to himself. "Your children are safe, but the only way you can get them back, is if you give up your gold!"
"Don't listen to him!" A man yelled. "You won't get our gold!" another man cried out.
"No, listen!" the Doctor tried.
"If he won't tell us where our children are, we will make him!" a woman screamed. "It's just one man!" A man said loudly. "We can take him!" Someone chimed in. "get him!"
The Doctor Started to look nervous. He started backing up, but there wasn't much table to move back on. Sara bit her lip. This was not good. Not good! What should she do? She needed something that would convince the crowd that they shouldn't mess with him. She wasn't sure the enhanced voice would be enough this time. She once again pointed her wand towards the Doctor, still unsure what to do. This wasn't like school where you could just try and try again. Oh, what to do?!
"Uhm... Uhm... Wingardium Leviosa!" She said in an almost panicked voice.
The Doctor was lifted a few feet off the ground. The crowd gasped and moved a few steps away from the flying man. The Doctor didn't understand what was going on. He looked at Sara, and saw her pointing her wand at him. Sara couldn't hear him over the worried crowd, but she was pretty she read his lips, saying "what!?" She mouthed back "Sorry!" before making him hover closer to the now completely silent crowd.
"Now, everyone! Gather your gold!" The Doctor ordered in an intimidating tone. The Townspeople started running panicked amongst each other, trying to get to their gold.
The Doctor then turned to Sara. "And you! Get me down, now!"
Sara obliged with a apoplectic smile. She tucked her wand back into her boot, hopping the Doctor wasn't too angry with her. She was just trying to help, surely he would understand.
He looked pretty angry as he walked over to her. "Well," he said to her, after a while, "that worked." He didn't seem to want to acknowledge what had just happened. Sara nodded "Y-yes... I'm sorry." She said with a low voice. "I should have asked, I know. but there wasn't time and..." she trailed off, not sure what to say to make it right.
The Doctor looked her in the eyes, his face relaxing a bit. "Hey. You did okay."
Sara gave him a slight smile. It's felt good to hear. The Doctor held out his arms and gave Sara a comforting hug. She rested her head against his chest and exhaled, not realising before she stopped, that she had been shaking. She could hear is heartbeat through his suit. It sounded like it was beating almost twice as fast as it should, but the Doctor didn't seem to be afraid. Or, at least he wasn't showing it.
The Doctor stood in the large cloak with his arms around Sara for a while, until she had calmed down.
After a minute or two a man came back to the town square with a cart, in it was a little bag of gold.
Sara hid herself behind a barrel as soon as she saw the man.
He drove the cart to the middle of the square, then he walked over to the Doctor.
"I am sorry, it is all I have!" He said with a trembling voice. "Let's hope it is enough." The Doctor answered.
The man looked fearful at the Doctor. "You come here and steal our children! Why?! Who are you?!"
The Doctor tugged at the hood, trying to hide his face in shame. "I'm the Doc... I am the Piper." He corrected himself. The man hurried away.
The Doctor turned his back to Sara and walked to the nearest table. Sara walked over next to him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
Suddenly he punched the table with both hands.
"Are you okay?" She asked, even though she already knew he wasn't.
The Doctor looked at her. "I wanted to tell that man that everything was going to be all right. Comfort him, just give him some kind of hope! But I couldn't. The townspeople needs to be afraid, need to fear the Piper. Otherwise, the children will suffer!"
Sara gave him a sad smile and took the Doctor's hand. She understood completely, she had heard the hurt in the man's voice as well.
"Don't worry, Doctor. The children will be returned safe and sound, because of you... That man will soon hold his child in his arms again." She finally said in soft voice. The Doctor gave Sara a sad smile, but didn't say anything.
People started coming back to the square, some with bags of gold, some with just a handful. They all placed the gold in the cart. It filled up and less and less people came.
"That should be enough." The Doctor said to Sara. She nodded and they started pulling the cart together in silence.
Sara understood why the Doctor wasn't in a chatty mood, neither would she be if she had been in his place... still. They walked without saying anything, until they were well outside the town.
"Doctor?" Sara finally asked breaking the silence. The Doctor was looking back at the town. He could see a few people peeking from behind buildings and out of windows and doors, looking anxiously after them, as the Doctor and Sara disappeared with their gold, and maybe also their last hope.
"Yes?" The Doctor said, a little more stern that he wanted to. Sara looked at the Doctor and hesitated before asking.
"W-well... I was just wondering..." She started. "I'm sorry." The Doctor sighed. "I didn't mean to snap at you like that. Go on." He added. "... Back at the T.A.R.D.I.S.. I heard the song and I was... hypnotized or something right? But it stopped, remember? Why was that?" As she spoke her voice changed from a nervous mutter to a delightful curiosity.
The Doctor gave Sara a small smile. "The hypnotic signal embedded in the music, was amplified by the T.A.R.D.I.S.. When you walked too far away from it, the effect of the signal faded." He explained.
"Ah! That makes sense." she said with a small smile. She looked at the Doctor. She wanted so much to make him smile, to make him feel better.
"We will help those people." She said firmly.
"Sara," the Doctor said, looking at her, "I'm not sure it's enough."
Sara didn't say anything, she just sort of looked into the Doctor's eyes.
"The gold." The Doctor continued. "It might not be enough emotional energy to power the wormhole."
"We'll think of something..." She said seriously, then added in a lighter tone:
"You seem pretty bright and I know for sure, that I'm just brilliant." The Doctor couldn't hide a smile. "You're right, Sara." He said in a lighter tone. Then he smiled a warm and big smile, and added:
"Brilliant."
After the mood had been lifted it didn't seem to take long before they made it back to the cave in the hills.
The children were still standing around the fire, listening to the Piper's music.
"Piper!" The Doctor yelled. The Piper looked at the entrance, then at the cart full of gold. He smiled.
"Goood..." He said and nodded. The Doctor removed the cloak and turned to Sara. "Help me place the gold around the fire!" He said, and grabbed as much gold as he could. Then he ran between the children, scattering the gold on the floor.
Sara grabbed handful after handful of gold and placed it around the fire. They both ran from the cart to the fire, until there was no gold left.
As they had scattered the gold, the fire had changed from a warm red, to a cold blue. The blue swirl inside the fire had grown darker and bigger, and now looked more like a hole inside the fire. It had also started making a strange, windy noise, that grew louder.
The Piper had also turned up the volume of his strange flute.
"It's working!" The Doctor yelled to Sara, who smiled brightly at him and gave him the thumps up.
The Doctor's smile started to fade. "It's not enough!" He yelled frustrated. He looked around at the children, then at Sara. Suddenly he stopped. "The signal! That's it!" He yelled with a frantic expression.
"Wait here, Sara! I have an idea!" He continued, and ran towards the entrance.
And so Sara was left in the cave and the Doctor was off. She stood there for a while looking at the entrance to the cave.
"He'll be back." she said slightly worried that she would be left here. She felt the Piper's eyes on her neck, growing more and more uncomfortable under his stare, so she decided to strike up a conversation.
"So..." she said and turned around to face the Piper. "Where are all the rats?" she asked looking around. It couldn't be just a coincidence that they had disappeared now.
The Piper walked closer to Sara, His lower mouth still playing the long flute. "It would take a week... To open the portal..." The Piper said. "The children would staaaarve...I Would nooot..." He continued, licking his lips with a long, thin tongue.
"Oh... Oh." Sara said and shuttered. Then her eyes shot to the Piper's eyes. "Wait. You knew it would take too long and the children wouldn't survive!" she exclaimed as she realised.
"I sssaid that the processs would not kill them..." The Piper responded. "I did not asssk to be heeere... All I waaant... Isss to go hooome..."
Sara could sort of relate to that. She still couldn't accept using children, but she understood that the Piper was really not intentionally a bad guy.
"H-how did you get here in the first place?"
The Piper moved closer, but not in a threatening way. He seemed curious as to why she suddenly cared. "I wasss ripped from my hooome..." He explained. "Ripped through tiiime... and space..." she swallowed. "Oh... I-I'm sorry." He was just an innocent bystander, ripped from his home.
Suddenly Sara heard a whooshing sound as wind started blowing. She turned around and saw the T.A.R.D.I.S., almost transparent at first, but becoming more and more solid.
The Piper almost looked frightened when he heard the sound. Sara laid a reassuring hand him. The T.A.R.I.D.S. door opened and the Doctor stepped out.
"Let's boost that signal!" He yelled to Sara, who ran to him. They ran to the controls.
"I'm isolating the frequency of the Pipers flute, and doubling," the Doctor ran to the other side of the controls and pulled a large handle,"Ah! Tripling the signal! I am also trying to speed up the wormhole! The faster it opens, the faster the children can go home!"
Sara grinned largely. Happiness filled her. The children would be unharmed and reunited with their parents and the Piper would return to his home. Nothing could really compare with travelling with the Doctor. Suddenly she heard a large boom. The Doctor smiled at her and grabbed her hand. They both ran outside and saw a large black hole where the fire had been.
The hole had a dark blue circle around it, that gradually became lighter. Sara could feel the pull of the hole. Sand and lighter pieces of the gold was starting to get sucked into it.
The Doctor turned to the Piper. "The hole is unstable! I'm keeping it open as long as I can, but you need to go now!" He yelled.
The Piper straightened to his full height, almost twice as tall as the Doctor, and sped towards the wormhole. On the way he picked up his green cloak and swung it over his shoulders. He stopped in front of the hole and gave the Doctor and Sara an approving nod. The Doctor smiled, but before he could say anything, one of the kids nearest to the wormhole started getting pulled in.
"NO!" The Doctor Yelled in horror.
Just before the little boy disappeared, the Piper, bending almost impossibly backwards, caught the child's leg, and pulled him away from the black abyss. He fought against the pull of the hole, taking one strained step after another, until he was close enough to the T.A.R.D.I.S. to hand the boy over to the Doctor.
The Doctor looked at the Piper with a warm smile. "Thank you." He said to the Piper. "We are eveeen..." He replied ominously.
Then he stopped struggling against the pull and flew backwards, straight into the hole, swallowed by the blackness.
The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it towards the T.A.R.D.I.S. controls. The wormhole started to shrink, until it finally closed with a "plop".
With the influence of the Piper's flute gone, the children started to regain consciousness. They all looked a little afraid, some of the smallest started crying. The little boy the Doctor had in his arms shook his head and looked around.
"Mommy?" He said confused.
Sara bent down to the crying child and comported him.
"We should get the children back to their parents." Sara said with a bright smile, holding the little child's hand in her own.
The Doctor nodded. "And the gold." He added.