Morning seemed to come all too quickly and the Doctor watched as Sloren spoke to the appointed leaders of each faction. They'd broken them up into skills and then into groups that would hopefully surround and overtake the castle – from inhabitants within and from those who patrolled the lands around. He knew there were hundreds and it broke his hearts to watch them take their orders and depart to begin organizing the men and women who had volunteered. Sloren returned to the Doctor with a frown and he nodded to Hansel and Moff, who were rounding up the children and taking them further into the forest behind the village.
"I've put them in charge of the young ones," he sighed. "Told them protecting the children was the most important duty a knight could be given and they proudly took on the honor." He chuckled and then shook his head to explain, "They're to teach them how to fish, make fires and tents, and learn from the elderly and the women who remain behind – win or lose, we'll need anyone we can to tend to the wounded once this is over." Looking out at the two boys, Sloren added, "It's a shame that those so young will have to witness sights they'll hold onto for a lifetime."
The Doctor clapped a hand to his shoulder and he nodded his appreciation for keeping the boys out of the fray before looking to Clarice, who was working with the archers to assemble as many arrows as they could. "Any chance you could argue the same for a princess? Stay behind, tend to the children, mend the wounded…"
He took a long breath and the Doctor knew before he spoke that the answer was not the one he would have wanted and he lowered his eyes to the ground as Sloren explained, "I've talked to her; the Queen has all but ordered her to remain behind, but she feels it's her duty."
Shaking his head, the Doctor replied, "She feels it is her right."
"Revenge?" Sloren asked curiously and it relieved the Doctor to know that this man – this man who knew her so well – was taken by surprise by the very notion of Clarice seeking revenge against Morda.
He eyed the man before looking around, "Is she to enter with the archers?"
Nodding, he told him, "She spent the better part of the night training."
"Is she…" he made shooting gestures before wincing and finishing, "Any good?"
Sloren gave a curt nod and told him, "She's got some experience – we've had lessons in the castle." He offered a sheepish smile as he admitted, "Morda wasn't aware, but the men found it amusing. Little girl wearing a helmet and prancing around poking… it was only a matter of time before we allowed her some fun with the weaponry." He raised his head and assured, "She's a stronger archer than many here, and she's to ride with Mallory; Annabeth insisted if Clarice was too stubborn to stay behind, she would ride with someone capable."
Frowning despite the man's words, knowing Clarice would be in danger despite repeated warnings, the Doctor glanced around and asked quietly, "Has anyone gotten a good night's worth of sleep in this camp?"
Sloren understood and he gripped the handle of his sword tightly as the Doctor left his side to approach the woman pushing an arrow into a leather quiver at her side, glancing up with a knowing look to tell him, "I'm going." Then she pointed, "I know you've told Sloren – you've told my mother – to stop me from going, but I'm going."
"You're going," the Doctor repeated.
Clarice was half upright when he spoke and as she straightened, she eyed him curiously, "You're a trickster with words; I won't fall for it."
"What have I said?" He raised his hands at either side of him slightly, a smirk on his face.
"You wish to convince me to stay behind with the children." Clarice nudged a bow with her foot and she told him adamantly, "If there's to be a war; I should be fighting for my people."
"Protecting your people," the Doctor told her.
"Protecting my people is fighting for them – what future do the children have if Morda starts her machine?" She narrowed her eyes at him and he knew instantly Sloren had told her about the fuel source. "There'll be no world left for them."
Sighing, the Doctor approached her and spoke quietly, "Tell me that you're not going to try to enter the castle, Clarice. And don't lie to me – I'll likely be cross with you if you lie to me and I find you looking to take on Morda yourself."
With a laugh, Clarice reached forward to land her palms to his shoulders and she lowered her head slightly, giving him a grin before assuring, "Doctor, I have no intentions of stepping foot in that castle until it is free of Morda."
Taking her hands in his and bringing them down between them, the Doctor frowned down at them, massaging at them gently as he lifted his eyes to hers, "You're important, Clarice – to the people of this kingdom, to Annabeth, to Sloren. You bring them hope and you give them love and you do it wholeheartedly without ever asking anything in return and they'll need you when this is over. A kingdom shouldn't be built upon the death of its children and you've had to live that death already for almost twenty four years now. You deserve to be free of the role of martyr. To live…"
"Doctor, why me?" Clarice interrupted. "You've asked others to stop me and now you plead yourself – is it Clara? I saw the way you were with her; the way you looked…"
"It's not Clara," he chuckled. "Do I want to see harm come to this face? No, but it's more than just the face you wear…"
"Then what is it?" She watched him, then looked down at his hands, surrounding hers completely. "You've made no efforts to stop Annabeth, nor the archers, so I understand it's not that I'm a woman; and if it's not Clara's face, then what is it? What are you so afraid of? It can't be a lack of hope, for the villagers have more hope than you could ever know – they simply needed a guide, a guide they find more readily in my mother than in me," she trailed and then nodded, "It has to be something, something else you're not telling me – something you're not willing to tell."
He chuckled, breathing lightly, "Ah, well, you've caught me." He raised his eyebrows as he continued, "You are important to me. A reminder, a constant reminder of a sacrifice made that, while appreciated, isn't something I want to witness ever again." The Doctor sighed with a smile and he uttered, "Clarice, please. Don't try to be a hero."
"The other echoes died, didn't they," she stated quietly, nodding when he did. "I won't go past the front gates," she assured before slipping away from him to grab the full quiver she'd been filling to affix it to a horse before being pulled aside by Annabeth. The Doctor slowly made his way to his own horse, reaching up to pet the animal who neighed at him as he sighed.
"Of course I know she's lying," he said quietly.
Morda moved into the room and looked over the machine, an metal oval that stood as tall as she did, coiled over in glass tubing and odd wires that ran towards a mess of computers in a constant exchange of information with ones in her ship. A wooden table lay just before it and she knew once it was activated, the table would swing upright into it, locking into place so they could select the coordinates before beaming themselves aboard the ship that sat cloaked in the sky over the castle.
She smiled deviously before flicking a switch that lit up a panel at her side and sent a hum through the wires and lit up the glass a brilliant blue. The screen rattled off numbers and she watched them flutter up in rows of green lettering, telling her coordinates in the stars across the universe and she laughed as she understood that instead of a particular location, settled in random spots depending on the day, she had her choice of destination. And one, she already saw, was on a planet just a few days travel from her own.
"Your majesty," Gonther called quietly from the door.
"Is she ready?"
He shook his head, "We must run a trial first, you know that is what the other girl was for…"
"We'll run the machine, Gonther – I don't have time for trials."
The short man nodded slowly and approached the machine, nervously rubbing at his nose before beginning to read off the same coordinates she'd been looking at when he entered. He frowned and received a small jolt to the back of his neck before he felt his body turn against its will towards the woman standing behind him, sour look on her face as she waited for his eyes to meet hers.
"That won't be necessary," Gonther argued, knowing she was already searching his mind.
But she smiled, "Oh, won't it?" Leaning forward and raising a hand to lift him off the ground, she supplied, "Don't tell me, you think I don't know you conspired with my son against me." With a groan, she added, "What is it about this girl that makes you all so weak."
"She's innocent," he chanced to say, feeling a squeezing at his neck and a light pressure behind his eyes as she pried into his thoughts. He could sense her digging into conversations he'd had with Sloren over the years. Questions of whether the girl was truly necessary; questions of whether they should leave the planet at all. Questions of progeny between species and questions of altering Sloren's physiology to age alongside Clarice. Questions that disgusted Morda, but brought a small smile his lips because the thought of Clarice – the child who asked him why the sky was blue and how the clouds made rain and snuck him drawings he kept hidden away in a desk – free from all of this and happier because of something his science accomplished made him believe maybe he could be a better man.
One who didn't put innocent children to their death under the order of a tyrant.
Turning, she laughed, "You protect the innocent now?" Pointing, she reminded, "Remember when you burned a building to the ground, filled with innocent children, at my command with your inventions, Gonther?"
Frowning, he scowled, "Yes, Morda, I do."
She moved to stand before him again and he hissed in pain as she dove into his thoughts, pushing aside the blocks he continually tried to throw in her way and when she dropped him back to the ground, he stood, eyes blankly on the wall in front of him. "You will do as I say."
"I will do as you say," he repeated.
"And the girl is to go into the machine immediately."
Gonther nodded, turning towards the door, stating, "The girl is to go into the machine immediately."