The Master watched as Beatrice was knocked out and dragged away.
Angry and worry, filled him as he thought about the Fear Serum being used on Beatrice. However, he forced himself to keep his emotions in check. He would be no use to her if he let himself lose control.
The guards began to drag him away however an idea came to him and he shouted at Astoria who had been pouring the serum into a syringe.
"Wait! I have a challenge for you." Astoria turned. The main weakness about Astoria's race the Thril was that they were competitive. It was almost impossible for them to refuse a challenge particularly an intellectual challenge.
"And what might that be?" The Master glanced over at an alcove in the room where there was a chess set laid.
"A challenge of intelligence, for the freedom of myself, the return my companion, the Fear Serum, and the sphere. Winner takes all." He said nodding towards the chessboard.
"And if you lose I get to turn you in and torture your little companion?" confirmed Astoria. The Master hated that he would literally be agreeing to the torture of Beatrice. Unfortunately, he had no choice. But it wouldn't matter. He WOULD win this game.
"Yes," he replied. "If you swear to it, you'll have my full cooperation should I lose." The Thril were a race bound by their words should they swear to something. She had been able to double-cross him in their deal because she had not openly sworn to go through with it. A rather foolish oversight on his part.
"Very well I swear to return your companion as well as free you and hand over the serum and sphere should I lose. But to add to the stakes I'm putting a time limit on how long you can take to move in our game. Thirty seconds each." This added a layer of complexity to the challenge but the Master would not be deterred.
"As you wish." He said as they both sat down thought one of the guards still kept his gun trained on the Master. He was briefly reminded of the chess game he had played with Beatrice when they first met. The stakes were certainly much higher now.
Astoria moved her white pawn and the game began. The Master did his best to block out the whirl of emotions inside him so he could focus on the game.
He scanned the board calculating which moves would be most beneficial to Astoria and imagining ways to counter each one. The trick with the time limit was to be multiple steps ahead of one's opponent. Something the Master was quite used to, but that was only a minor advantage.
He glanced at Astoria whose eyes were narrowed into violet slits. The Master had soon captured several of her pieces but she was still doing an admirable job of protecting her king, managing to consistently slip him out of danger.
The Master switched his focus to positioning his pieces so as to block the king from any possible escape. Astoria did not seem to realize this and appeared to take his lack of attempts to get any more of her pieces to be a sign of near defeat.
She carelessly placed her king right into the trap the Master had set up. He watched as her smug smile turned to a look of horror when he made his final move.
"Checkmate," he said evenly. Astoria seemed to recover her composure.
"Very well then. You win Master," she turned to one of the guards. "Bring back the woman." Both the Master and Astoria stood. Beatrice was brought back in. She had regained consciousness. and didn't look too much the worse for wear.
Astoria stepped next to Beatrice, taking the sphere out of her pocket she handed it to him.
"You win...almost," as she said this she suddenly stabbed the syringe of fear serum into Beatrice's arm. Beatrice cried out and stumbled over to him as the guards released her. The Master caught her. Astoria looked smug as she retreated.
"I promised I'd return her, just not in what condition!" Fury filled the Master. He wanted to slowly kill Astoria and her guards. To make them suffer for hurting Beatrice. But he didn't have time. Beatrice was beginning to shake as the serum entered her blood stream. Her safety meant more than revenge.
He grabbed the syringe from the ground and helped Beatrice into the TARDIS and hurried over to console and set them to leave. There was a light thump and he turned to see that Beatrice had fully collapsed.
He rushed over to her and picking her up heading to the medical bay. The TARDIS must have sensed his worry because the first door in the corridor leading out of the console room led to the medical wing.
Gently he laid her down on one of the beds and hurried over to a cabinet. He tried to ignore the whimperings of fear coming from Beatrice. The serum trapped the mind in a prison of it's worst fears. The longer the serum was in her the worse it would get.
The Master thanked Rassilon he had been working to find an antidote to the serum. All that was needed was a drop of the serum itself. Luckily some liquid remained in the syringe. The Master only hoped that this would work.
He moved to the side of the bed he had placed Beatrice on. There was a look of terror on her face and she was still shaking. Now more vigorously than before. The Master injected the serum into her arm hoping that it would work.
Author's note: Sorry about the delay. I had some serious writer's block. But I promise to update again soon this week. I just needed to find a way to get them out of the situation. Please like and COMMENT. I enjoy reading what you all have to say so if you can take some time to let me know your thoughts I would appreciate it. I also hope you guys like the new cover for the story. Until next time Whovians.