There had been a light rain since she had been outside and as she ran, the
soft earth oozed through her toes. With a grunt, she stopped at the last
hut before the obelisks. She leaned back, barely out of breath, thankful
and somewhat sadly comforted that her year on Sylvana had left her in great
shape. The Doctor was in great shape too, if he had ever been out of
shape. She could hear his movements next to her.
"Tegan?"
The Doctor appeared suddenly at her side. She wasn't startled; she had been alerted to his movements by his even breath and the swift, light footfalls he employed to race across the open areas.
"Two hundred meters," she breathed back over her shoulder. "This would be a hell of a lot easier with more support."
The Doctor looked confused. His eyes narrowed and he gave her a hard glance. She glanced away, but could see in her peripheral vision when his eyes fell from her face to her chest and lower. She missed the silver dress she had worn on the Eye; it at least covered her completely. The swathed material of her current clothes had been stretched to its limits, but she had covered all the 'good bits' of her body. Still, she knew, with little embarrassment that little was left up to his imagination.
"Would you rather have a gun in hand?" he asked, barely above a breath. His gaze left her body and traveled to the obelisks a short distance off.
"Yes," she replied, almost mournfully. "Rabbits, I thought that would change when I came back to this life." She nodded across the ground. "But the guards, if there are any, won't have them either. It's more a case of not being seen rather than having to fight our way out."
"Yes, well..." he agreed. Tegan started a little as she felt the Doctor's arm slip about her waist, easing her forward. "I did say a vacation, Tegan."
She smiled and gave him a sideways glance. "Quite, Doc...and I'll be waiting for it when we finish this." Cheekily, she glanced down at his loincloth. "Have you paper hidden in there?"
It was clear he was blushing a little. "Actually, Tegan, I don't."
"I was going to say there wasn't room in there for much."
Before he could respond to her joke, she shook her head. She could hear the scuffle of another's footsteps. She grabbed the Doctor's arm and she rocketed around the side of the building, still keeping their eventual destination in sight. The Doctor slid around behind her soundlessly. His hand hit the wall above her head and his arm rounded her waist to draw her back. There was little room; the wall ended abruptly in a niche.
She was drawn up hard against his chest and the presence of his arm across her made her stifle a surprised gasp.
"Quiet," he breathed in her ear.
He didn't have to tell her twice; the fighter in her cringed at the sound that had almost erupted from her throat. A single man, hurrying along, carrying what appeared to be a basket of food, passed them and the Doctor's arm loosened.
Tegan sighed lowly and then glanced about, and jogged out of the niche and across the ground, her toes digging into the mud for leverage. She didn't have to look for the Doctor; she knew he was right behind her.
She reached the first of the obelisks and was sure it was one that they hadn't scribbled from previously, but the Doctor grabbed her hand as he passed her and took her over to another obelisk.
"How did you know?" she demanded under her breath.
"We visited the eastern most obelisk near the buildings, Tegan, the first one a person comes to when exiting the field," he explained. He dropped her hand and knelt by the side of the obelisk. She watched as he ran his hands over the stone like a blind man reading Braille.
"How can you see that?" She whispered, all but collapsing to a crouch next to him.
"Oh, Tegan," he said, the sigh heavy in his voice. "My rod and cone ratio is greater than yours. And before you ask, I spent today acquainting myself with the cuneiform and the mathematical and basic Gallifreyan-"
"In other words, you've been in school all day."
"Yes, well...quiet, please?"
She reacted to his voice with a smile. With a sigh, she stared at the huts and tried to determine if someone had seen them. There was no movement from the huts and she let her muscles relax slightly. The Doctor shifted around slightly, muttering under his breath. It sounded like maths to her, like something she had heard in class or in her nightmares. After a moment the Doctor rose and she jogged with him over to the next obelisk.
"Do you know what it said?" she asked harshly.
The Doctor nodded slightly. "Of sorts, yes, Tegan." He reached down to grab her hand to hurry her across the mud as quickly as they could run. She imagined that from the huts, with their skin, not quite pale, but not quite as tan as those that lived there, they looked like flittering spirits.
He skidded to a stop at the base of another obelisk. Tegan crouched behind it, continuing to stare at the huts. There was little movement; another man was moving about the shadows.
"Doc? Hurry, would you?"
"It's a completely different language, Tegan. It does take time," he sighed as he looked at her in the night. "Just continue to watch our backs, if you don't mind."
He ran his hands over this stone obelisk as he had the first one. This time, however, he apparently found something very interesting. "Incredible, Tegan," he breathed, leaning closer to the obelisk. She knew he was excited by the lilt, the quiet tone he used. He stayed crouched, staring at the obelisk for several moments. As a man exited the hut nearest them, she grabbed the Doctor about his waist. Before the man crossed the main path by the square of obelisks, she and he had pressed themselves hard against the obelisk.
In a practiced and familiar move, Tegan observed the man. She held her breath and tightened her muscles; she stayed perfectly still as he moved on. The Doctor remained motionless next to her. Until, when the man was almost gone, he whispered. "The Gatherer, Tegan: these two obelisks tell of its voyage here."
She placed her cheek against the cool of the stone and continued to stare at the huts. "So you know where it's from?"
"Not quite," he said with a hitch in his quiet voice. "But with the proper star charts, I could hazard a guess. It speaks of places that the device traveled past...Tegan, from my estimates, the device, has traveled an extremely long distance..."
"What is it?" she pressed, taking her gaze from the huts for a moment. "What is this Gatherer?"
"Yes, well," he muttered. She could feel his cool breath across her cheek. "I haven't quite found that information yet. Chin up, though, it's here somewhere." With that, he nudged her with his arm. "We need the next two obelisks and the final one, if my guess is right, and your allusion is correct, is how to use the Gatherer."
"So you don't know anything yet," she said.
"Well, it is small enough for one man to hold-"
"Great, so it's smaller than a breadbox," she joked.
His frown was clear to see even in the dark. "Yes, Tegan, apparently so. And it is buried here to, as they put it, to hide it from the evil it draws."
Tegan led him across the clearing to the next obelisk and then, to the next one. He seemed to be getting quicker with his interpretation with each line. His fingers flew over the stone, feeling the crevices and peering closely at the engravings.
"Pity they have my glasses..."
"Quite," she sighed. "Hurry up, Doc. They just might check to see if we're gone..."
He was quiet for several minutes and then rose. "It's here. The fools buried it here." His voice was so quietly angry that Tegan shivered. She recognized that voice; that layered hoarse voice that was timeless, ageless...
"The fools?" Tegan asked as she turned to stare at him. "Doc, what are you on about?"
His face showed mild shock. Added to the tone of his voice, it made her shiver. "And the last obelisk?" She glanced in annoyance over at the last stone. She wanted to know right then what was going on. "It'll tell you how to work it?"
"I hope not," he whispered. "I don't want to know. Let's get moving."
They didn't make it more than two strides.
**
Screams stopped them dead in their tracks. The sound tore at her eardrums like an owl screech. The Doctor muttered under his breath and Tegan swore. Together they sprinted for the last obelisk, not for the etchings it held, but for its safety.
"What the hell is going on?" Tegan asked. Her voice sounded as tight as her muscles. She felt like they were in a fish bowl, open for view, and her palm ached for a gun. She didn't know which was worse, the metallic taste of bile in her throat from the want for the symbol she wanted to deny, or the feeling defenseless without it.
The Doctor's hand grabbed the edge of the obelisk and edged her closer to the obelisk at the same time. She knew it was protective and to gain him a better vantage by which to see the events. His silence told her volumes and she glanced up to see his eyes searching for the origin of the screams.
Tegan glanced around the rough rock as well, sickened by the scream but was guiltily thankful that it wasn't her.
But then she realised. Tren.
"Tren," she whispered. "Rabbits, we shouldn't have left him alone."
"I had despaired of that," the Doctor grumbled. "We should have been quicker."
"They'll know we're gone."
Her warning was tense and the Doctor glanced over his shoulder with some annoyance.
"But what about the other obelisk? What about this...Gatherer," she breathlessly hitched. The screams seemed to be growing weaker. She couldn't tell if they were simply decreasing in volume or if the screamer was increasing the distance between them. Hurriedly, she added: "What are they doing to him?"
The Doctor shook his head firmly as he reached out to grab her arm. "I don't have a clue," he muttered. "And no, no, there's no time to get the Gatherer. We need to get back to Tren."
Another scream filled the air. Tegan leapt forward, dragging the Doctor toward the tall grasses separating them from the rest of the huts. Tegan's thoughts were for the man that she was sure was being tortured.
They sprinted for the edge of the square and the tall river grass that lined it. The blades slashed at her skin, flaying her skin minutely, but the sting was the same as if it had cut her to the bone. It didn't slow her, however. Adrenaline pounded through her veins, making her thoughts clear, but the flash of moonlight on the leaves as she ripped through them made the area surreal. Beside her, the Doctor sped, his feet slapping into the wet mud.
At the edge of the field, they stumbled out and into the middle of a moonlit open area adjacent to the rest of the huts. The Doctor grabbed her about the waist as they exited the reeds and pulled her bodily towards the nearest hut. No sooner had they ducked into the doorway then several men ran by.
"What do you think-"she breathed.
He shook his head firmly. "Come on...I think hysteria has settled in..."
Tegan looked over her shoulder at him. "Come on...where, exactly?"
The Doctor didn't answer as he grabbed her hand. Quietly, using skills they had both honed over the past several months, they silently ran through the collection of huts. Tegan barely thought it could be called a village. The tiered pyramid loomed over the entire vignette, large and imposing. She glanced up at it as a shiver worked through her body.
"Rassilon," he breathed and whipped her about him, bringing her into the relative safety of a house's shadow.
She glanced up, her breath now starting to race. The moon sat atop the temple there, held aloft, like a jewel in a crown. But all she could picture was the dark red brick...ominous in the absence of the screams. "What is it?"
The grass next to them rustled as though it was being ripped from its roots by a divine yet infinitely angry hand. Tegan couldn't see anything; the only thing clear to her sight was the shivering, shaking grass. But her ears could hear the slash of the blades against skin and her body could almost feel the vibration of running feet against the ground. There wasn't enough noise, enough glittering of moonlight on naked skin for there to be more than one person.
"Oh rabbits!" she spit. "Tren."
**
As others ran passed them as they hid in the shadows of the hut, Tegan shook her head. "But where is he going-"
"Back to the landing spot, I expect," the Doctor answered, the growl clear in his words. "At least he maintained that much knowledge despite the hysteria." He twisted about to look at what Tegan had thought was their intended destination. "As should you...if we can catch him, Tegan, you can travel back to the Eye..."
"What?" she gasped. Of all the things she had been expecting, that utterance by him was not it. "Doc?"
"One less bracelet and Tren has essentially alerted them to our absence, Tegan. You'll need to go back to the Eye and I shall remain here and find what I need."
"Doc-no."
He appeared not to hear her. "You have to travel with either Tren or I and at the moment, he's the safer of the two. And if you miss traveling with him, Tegan, you shall have to stay until I go. There is no other way at that point, and I prefer choices." He twisted to run them toward the field and the hidden middle of it where they had landed originally. "I'll follow when..."
"No!" Tegan nearly shouted and then winced at the sound. Her eyes darted about the place as she continued. "I'm not leaving you here." She twisted her wrist in his grip.
"I have to stay here," he responded, heatedly.
Tegan dug her feet in to stop them from rocketing back into the field. "If you think it's that important..."
"It could be the lives of everyone on the Eye and here," he warned his voice gruff.
"Then I'm staying..."
"Our hosts won't welcome this deviation from what was expected of us," the Doctor responded with a low growl.
"So they'll..."
"Have you forgotten what they have dictated as your fate?"
"No."
"Yes, well, Tegan...it wasn't an empty threat."
Their exchange was so quick and heated that she felt lightheaded. All she knew, hearing Tren's manic laughter fill the air from far off in the field, was that she had to stay with the Doctor no matter what he said. If this was important, she would help him.
"I'm not a child," she warned. "I can survive it." She glanced over his shoulder to the field. "Look, get it now ... Let's go...they might not look for us...they might overlook us while dealing the Tren..."
His face was a mask. "It's doubtful, Tegan, and it'll take a bit of time to find it...at the very least time to discern its resting place. And Peri..."
"She's as big of a grown-up as I am, but yes, I'm worried about her too. She's safer than us," Tegan returned. She pulled on his hand hard. "I'm not leaving you, you daft Time Lord. If it takes time, it does. We'll survive, but Hell's teeth, don't take longer than necessary."
There was profound, aching worry in his eyes that made their blue like sharp icicles in the moonlight. He opened his mouth and she laid her hand across his lips. "Doc, you've done your duty and told me to leave...but it's like me staying in the TARDIS when you told me too. I never stay where you want me or where you put me."
The manic laughing from the field cut off as if someone had sliced through the sound with a knife. The sheer suddenness of the silence made Tegan shiver and gape in that direction. There was no method of death that quick in that period, like a laser or a sharp metal knife, she knew. So he had to have left. She glanced at the Doctor. He shook his head and bit his lip, his gaze trained on the gently moving grass in the field.
Then his head tilted to the side a little and he turned back towards the huts. She followed along, knowing he could hear better than she could.
"The bastards didn't kill him, did they?"
"I heard nothing to indicate that was case."
When he was content with their hiding place in the shadows, he shook his head again. "It would have made me happier if you had left, Tegan," he whispered.
Tegan rested her back against the rough brick and stared at the field. There was more movement there than previously; the men were returning. There was a flash of blue and red loincloths and she backed quickly towards the hut. The Doctor did the same, his body tense.
She inched back towards the far edge of the building. The Doctor followed soundlessly. At the edge of the building, she assessed the distance to the next hut and the situation in the square. Then, silently, she darted across the open area to the next building. The Doctor slid to a stop next to her, barely out of breath and quiet.
"And I'll be damned," she breathed, "if you haven't kept something from me in an effort to get me to leave. You wouldn't be so keen on it, if there wasn't something almost obscenely dangerous about this all. That's your way, if you ask me: all danger and bodily harm. Besides, Supremo is still too new to you; he'd try to minimize his losses while maximizing his gains."
"Tegan," he growled.
"What is that thing, Doc?" she asked, allowing her gaze to find his in the dark.
His sigh was almost comically heavy in the stillness around them.
"Rabbits," she commented. "You thought I was stubborn before we were separated, Doc?"
They had edged to the end of the next building. Their final destination was simply a jog across the open area, but there were others milling around. The men were running. By the light of the almost full moon, she could see their red and blue loincloths. With a hissed breath at the threat, she pulled them both back into the safety of the shadows. She wanted to wait to get across to the open area when there were less people around the place. A year in the jungles had spoiled her, she decided. At least among by the trees, there was always some place to hide.
"Yes, well...I see our separation only made you more headstrong," he replied jauntily. "I didn't think it was possible."
She twisted from the edge of the building to give him a strong stare. "It kept Peri and me alive," she hissed.
"You'll be the death of me, Tegan," he said, but she could hear a measure of pride in his voice. She felt his gaze burning into hers as he reached for her. "I'll tell you what the Gatherer is when we're back safe in that house. I'll need sunlight to find its hiding place. Come on..."
If she had any misgivings about his intensity due to his voice, his hold, his grip alleviated the rest of them. She loved the feel of his cool skin against hers and the touch made her feel that together they could manage anything.
Tegan twisted and went to jog across the area; the Doctor was close behind her, his larger hand holding her wrist tightly. She stopped at the edge of the building; there had been no new movement in a few minutes. All was quiet. There were a couple of men at the far edge of the clearing; they stared off at the field and yelled loudly. Her intuition told her that they had time to make it to safety. She nodded and the Doctor agreed with a tight grin.
Turning the corner, she suddenly found herself up against the chest of a man she had never met before.
**
"Tegan?"
The Doctor appeared suddenly at her side. She wasn't startled; she had been alerted to his movements by his even breath and the swift, light footfalls he employed to race across the open areas.
"Two hundred meters," she breathed back over her shoulder. "This would be a hell of a lot easier with more support."
The Doctor looked confused. His eyes narrowed and he gave her a hard glance. She glanced away, but could see in her peripheral vision when his eyes fell from her face to her chest and lower. She missed the silver dress she had worn on the Eye; it at least covered her completely. The swathed material of her current clothes had been stretched to its limits, but she had covered all the 'good bits' of her body. Still, she knew, with little embarrassment that little was left up to his imagination.
"Would you rather have a gun in hand?" he asked, barely above a breath. His gaze left her body and traveled to the obelisks a short distance off.
"Yes," she replied, almost mournfully. "Rabbits, I thought that would change when I came back to this life." She nodded across the ground. "But the guards, if there are any, won't have them either. It's more a case of not being seen rather than having to fight our way out."
"Yes, well..." he agreed. Tegan started a little as she felt the Doctor's arm slip about her waist, easing her forward. "I did say a vacation, Tegan."
She smiled and gave him a sideways glance. "Quite, Doc...and I'll be waiting for it when we finish this." Cheekily, she glanced down at his loincloth. "Have you paper hidden in there?"
It was clear he was blushing a little. "Actually, Tegan, I don't."
"I was going to say there wasn't room in there for much."
Before he could respond to her joke, she shook her head. She could hear the scuffle of another's footsteps. She grabbed the Doctor's arm and she rocketed around the side of the building, still keeping their eventual destination in sight. The Doctor slid around behind her soundlessly. His hand hit the wall above her head and his arm rounded her waist to draw her back. There was little room; the wall ended abruptly in a niche.
She was drawn up hard against his chest and the presence of his arm across her made her stifle a surprised gasp.
"Quiet," he breathed in her ear.
He didn't have to tell her twice; the fighter in her cringed at the sound that had almost erupted from her throat. A single man, hurrying along, carrying what appeared to be a basket of food, passed them and the Doctor's arm loosened.
Tegan sighed lowly and then glanced about, and jogged out of the niche and across the ground, her toes digging into the mud for leverage. She didn't have to look for the Doctor; she knew he was right behind her.
She reached the first of the obelisks and was sure it was one that they hadn't scribbled from previously, but the Doctor grabbed her hand as he passed her and took her over to another obelisk.
"How did you know?" she demanded under her breath.
"We visited the eastern most obelisk near the buildings, Tegan, the first one a person comes to when exiting the field," he explained. He dropped her hand and knelt by the side of the obelisk. She watched as he ran his hands over the stone like a blind man reading Braille.
"How can you see that?" She whispered, all but collapsing to a crouch next to him.
"Oh, Tegan," he said, the sigh heavy in his voice. "My rod and cone ratio is greater than yours. And before you ask, I spent today acquainting myself with the cuneiform and the mathematical and basic Gallifreyan-"
"In other words, you've been in school all day."
"Yes, well...quiet, please?"
She reacted to his voice with a smile. With a sigh, she stared at the huts and tried to determine if someone had seen them. There was no movement from the huts and she let her muscles relax slightly. The Doctor shifted around slightly, muttering under his breath. It sounded like maths to her, like something she had heard in class or in her nightmares. After a moment the Doctor rose and she jogged with him over to the next obelisk.
"Do you know what it said?" she asked harshly.
The Doctor nodded slightly. "Of sorts, yes, Tegan." He reached down to grab her hand to hurry her across the mud as quickly as they could run. She imagined that from the huts, with their skin, not quite pale, but not quite as tan as those that lived there, they looked like flittering spirits.
He skidded to a stop at the base of another obelisk. Tegan crouched behind it, continuing to stare at the huts. There was little movement; another man was moving about the shadows.
"Doc? Hurry, would you?"
"It's a completely different language, Tegan. It does take time," he sighed as he looked at her in the night. "Just continue to watch our backs, if you don't mind."
He ran his hands over this stone obelisk as he had the first one. This time, however, he apparently found something very interesting. "Incredible, Tegan," he breathed, leaning closer to the obelisk. She knew he was excited by the lilt, the quiet tone he used. He stayed crouched, staring at the obelisk for several moments. As a man exited the hut nearest them, she grabbed the Doctor about his waist. Before the man crossed the main path by the square of obelisks, she and he had pressed themselves hard against the obelisk.
In a practiced and familiar move, Tegan observed the man. She held her breath and tightened her muscles; she stayed perfectly still as he moved on. The Doctor remained motionless next to her. Until, when the man was almost gone, he whispered. "The Gatherer, Tegan: these two obelisks tell of its voyage here."
She placed her cheek against the cool of the stone and continued to stare at the huts. "So you know where it's from?"
"Not quite," he said with a hitch in his quiet voice. "But with the proper star charts, I could hazard a guess. It speaks of places that the device traveled past...Tegan, from my estimates, the device, has traveled an extremely long distance..."
"What is it?" she pressed, taking her gaze from the huts for a moment. "What is this Gatherer?"
"Yes, well," he muttered. She could feel his cool breath across her cheek. "I haven't quite found that information yet. Chin up, though, it's here somewhere." With that, he nudged her with his arm. "We need the next two obelisks and the final one, if my guess is right, and your allusion is correct, is how to use the Gatherer."
"So you don't know anything yet," she said.
"Well, it is small enough for one man to hold-"
"Great, so it's smaller than a breadbox," she joked.
His frown was clear to see even in the dark. "Yes, Tegan, apparently so. And it is buried here to, as they put it, to hide it from the evil it draws."
Tegan led him across the clearing to the next obelisk and then, to the next one. He seemed to be getting quicker with his interpretation with each line. His fingers flew over the stone, feeling the crevices and peering closely at the engravings.
"Pity they have my glasses..."
"Quite," she sighed. "Hurry up, Doc. They just might check to see if we're gone..."
He was quiet for several minutes and then rose. "It's here. The fools buried it here." His voice was so quietly angry that Tegan shivered. She recognized that voice; that layered hoarse voice that was timeless, ageless...
"The fools?" Tegan asked as she turned to stare at him. "Doc, what are you on about?"
His face showed mild shock. Added to the tone of his voice, it made her shiver. "And the last obelisk?" She glanced in annoyance over at the last stone. She wanted to know right then what was going on. "It'll tell you how to work it?"
"I hope not," he whispered. "I don't want to know. Let's get moving."
They didn't make it more than two strides.
**
Screams stopped them dead in their tracks. The sound tore at her eardrums like an owl screech. The Doctor muttered under his breath and Tegan swore. Together they sprinted for the last obelisk, not for the etchings it held, but for its safety.
"What the hell is going on?" Tegan asked. Her voice sounded as tight as her muscles. She felt like they were in a fish bowl, open for view, and her palm ached for a gun. She didn't know which was worse, the metallic taste of bile in her throat from the want for the symbol she wanted to deny, or the feeling defenseless without it.
The Doctor's hand grabbed the edge of the obelisk and edged her closer to the obelisk at the same time. She knew it was protective and to gain him a better vantage by which to see the events. His silence told her volumes and she glanced up to see his eyes searching for the origin of the screams.
Tegan glanced around the rough rock as well, sickened by the scream but was guiltily thankful that it wasn't her.
But then she realised. Tren.
"Tren," she whispered. "Rabbits, we shouldn't have left him alone."
"I had despaired of that," the Doctor grumbled. "We should have been quicker."
"They'll know we're gone."
Her warning was tense and the Doctor glanced over his shoulder with some annoyance.
"But what about the other obelisk? What about this...Gatherer," she breathlessly hitched. The screams seemed to be growing weaker. She couldn't tell if they were simply decreasing in volume or if the screamer was increasing the distance between them. Hurriedly, she added: "What are they doing to him?"
The Doctor shook his head firmly as he reached out to grab her arm. "I don't have a clue," he muttered. "And no, no, there's no time to get the Gatherer. We need to get back to Tren."
Another scream filled the air. Tegan leapt forward, dragging the Doctor toward the tall grasses separating them from the rest of the huts. Tegan's thoughts were for the man that she was sure was being tortured.
They sprinted for the edge of the square and the tall river grass that lined it. The blades slashed at her skin, flaying her skin minutely, but the sting was the same as if it had cut her to the bone. It didn't slow her, however. Adrenaline pounded through her veins, making her thoughts clear, but the flash of moonlight on the leaves as she ripped through them made the area surreal. Beside her, the Doctor sped, his feet slapping into the wet mud.
At the edge of the field, they stumbled out and into the middle of a moonlit open area adjacent to the rest of the huts. The Doctor grabbed her about the waist as they exited the reeds and pulled her bodily towards the nearest hut. No sooner had they ducked into the doorway then several men ran by.
"What do you think-"she breathed.
He shook his head firmly. "Come on...I think hysteria has settled in..."
Tegan looked over her shoulder at him. "Come on...where, exactly?"
The Doctor didn't answer as he grabbed her hand. Quietly, using skills they had both honed over the past several months, they silently ran through the collection of huts. Tegan barely thought it could be called a village. The tiered pyramid loomed over the entire vignette, large and imposing. She glanced up at it as a shiver worked through her body.
"Rassilon," he breathed and whipped her about him, bringing her into the relative safety of a house's shadow.
She glanced up, her breath now starting to race. The moon sat atop the temple there, held aloft, like a jewel in a crown. But all she could picture was the dark red brick...ominous in the absence of the screams. "What is it?"
The grass next to them rustled as though it was being ripped from its roots by a divine yet infinitely angry hand. Tegan couldn't see anything; the only thing clear to her sight was the shivering, shaking grass. But her ears could hear the slash of the blades against skin and her body could almost feel the vibration of running feet against the ground. There wasn't enough noise, enough glittering of moonlight on naked skin for there to be more than one person.
"Oh rabbits!" she spit. "Tren."
**
As others ran passed them as they hid in the shadows of the hut, Tegan shook her head. "But where is he going-"
"Back to the landing spot, I expect," the Doctor answered, the growl clear in his words. "At least he maintained that much knowledge despite the hysteria." He twisted about to look at what Tegan had thought was their intended destination. "As should you...if we can catch him, Tegan, you can travel back to the Eye..."
"What?" she gasped. Of all the things she had been expecting, that utterance by him was not it. "Doc?"
"One less bracelet and Tren has essentially alerted them to our absence, Tegan. You'll need to go back to the Eye and I shall remain here and find what I need."
"Doc-no."
He appeared not to hear her. "You have to travel with either Tren or I and at the moment, he's the safer of the two. And if you miss traveling with him, Tegan, you shall have to stay until I go. There is no other way at that point, and I prefer choices." He twisted to run them toward the field and the hidden middle of it where they had landed originally. "I'll follow when..."
"No!" Tegan nearly shouted and then winced at the sound. Her eyes darted about the place as she continued. "I'm not leaving you here." She twisted her wrist in his grip.
"I have to stay here," he responded, heatedly.
Tegan dug her feet in to stop them from rocketing back into the field. "If you think it's that important..."
"It could be the lives of everyone on the Eye and here," he warned his voice gruff.
"Then I'm staying..."
"Our hosts won't welcome this deviation from what was expected of us," the Doctor responded with a low growl.
"So they'll..."
"Have you forgotten what they have dictated as your fate?"
"No."
"Yes, well, Tegan...it wasn't an empty threat."
Their exchange was so quick and heated that she felt lightheaded. All she knew, hearing Tren's manic laughter fill the air from far off in the field, was that she had to stay with the Doctor no matter what he said. If this was important, she would help him.
"I'm not a child," she warned. "I can survive it." She glanced over his shoulder to the field. "Look, get it now ... Let's go...they might not look for us...they might overlook us while dealing the Tren..."
His face was a mask. "It's doubtful, Tegan, and it'll take a bit of time to find it...at the very least time to discern its resting place. And Peri..."
"She's as big of a grown-up as I am, but yes, I'm worried about her too. She's safer than us," Tegan returned. She pulled on his hand hard. "I'm not leaving you, you daft Time Lord. If it takes time, it does. We'll survive, but Hell's teeth, don't take longer than necessary."
There was profound, aching worry in his eyes that made their blue like sharp icicles in the moonlight. He opened his mouth and she laid her hand across his lips. "Doc, you've done your duty and told me to leave...but it's like me staying in the TARDIS when you told me too. I never stay where you want me or where you put me."
The manic laughing from the field cut off as if someone had sliced through the sound with a knife. The sheer suddenness of the silence made Tegan shiver and gape in that direction. There was no method of death that quick in that period, like a laser or a sharp metal knife, she knew. So he had to have left. She glanced at the Doctor. He shook his head and bit his lip, his gaze trained on the gently moving grass in the field.
Then his head tilted to the side a little and he turned back towards the huts. She followed along, knowing he could hear better than she could.
"The bastards didn't kill him, did they?"
"I heard nothing to indicate that was case."
When he was content with their hiding place in the shadows, he shook his head again. "It would have made me happier if you had left, Tegan," he whispered.
Tegan rested her back against the rough brick and stared at the field. There was more movement there than previously; the men were returning. There was a flash of blue and red loincloths and she backed quickly towards the hut. The Doctor did the same, his body tense.
She inched back towards the far edge of the building. The Doctor followed soundlessly. At the edge of the building, she assessed the distance to the next hut and the situation in the square. Then, silently, she darted across the open area to the next building. The Doctor slid to a stop next to her, barely out of breath and quiet.
"And I'll be damned," she breathed, "if you haven't kept something from me in an effort to get me to leave. You wouldn't be so keen on it, if there wasn't something almost obscenely dangerous about this all. That's your way, if you ask me: all danger and bodily harm. Besides, Supremo is still too new to you; he'd try to minimize his losses while maximizing his gains."
"Tegan," he growled.
"What is that thing, Doc?" she asked, allowing her gaze to find his in the dark.
His sigh was almost comically heavy in the stillness around them.
"Rabbits," she commented. "You thought I was stubborn before we were separated, Doc?"
They had edged to the end of the next building. Their final destination was simply a jog across the open area, but there were others milling around. The men were running. By the light of the almost full moon, she could see their red and blue loincloths. With a hissed breath at the threat, she pulled them both back into the safety of the shadows. She wanted to wait to get across to the open area when there were less people around the place. A year in the jungles had spoiled her, she decided. At least among by the trees, there was always some place to hide.
"Yes, well...I see our separation only made you more headstrong," he replied jauntily. "I didn't think it was possible."
She twisted from the edge of the building to give him a strong stare. "It kept Peri and me alive," she hissed.
"You'll be the death of me, Tegan," he said, but she could hear a measure of pride in his voice. She felt his gaze burning into hers as he reached for her. "I'll tell you what the Gatherer is when we're back safe in that house. I'll need sunlight to find its hiding place. Come on..."
If she had any misgivings about his intensity due to his voice, his hold, his grip alleviated the rest of them. She loved the feel of his cool skin against hers and the touch made her feel that together they could manage anything.
Tegan twisted and went to jog across the area; the Doctor was close behind her, his larger hand holding her wrist tightly. She stopped at the edge of the building; there had been no new movement in a few minutes. All was quiet. There were a couple of men at the far edge of the clearing; they stared off at the field and yelled loudly. Her intuition told her that they had time to make it to safety. She nodded and the Doctor agreed with a tight grin.
Turning the corner, she suddenly found herself up against the chest of a man she had never met before.
**