All the light had been sucked away and only the sounds told them what was
happening around them. Firstly there were the screams, two types of
screams. The first type was human; they were screams of fear and pain,
often ending abruptly. The second type was clearly inhuman and sounded like
the screeching of a nail down a blackboard. This scream was constant but
becoming close or distant as the creatures moved about in the darkness.
As they ran about the humans held on to each other and stretched out their arms as they tried to find their way to safety by touch. The screech would come close and would be followed by the screams of a human that would end with a coppery smelling splatter across their faces. Then the human screaming would stop. This went on for what seemed like hours until a silence fell around them. Slowly the light began to return followed by the song of the morning's birds.
As the scene around him began to reveal itself the Brigadier first checked the location of the people he knew. The Doctor was huddled beside him near the boundary wall. Leo and Eadburh were standing, clinging to each other in the middle of the clearing in front of the hall.
Slowly the Brigadier was beginning to notice the colours. The rich green of the trees and grass that was everywhere here. The rich earthy colours painted on the exteriors of the hall and some of the other exteriors.
Then there was the red. Splashes and puddles of red where everywhere. It was a dark, almost black red and it seemed to coat everything in the enclosure. The Brigadier looked down at himself and there was some splattered across the front of his shirt. It had the unmistakable texture of blood.
The Brigadier checked himself over and was certain it was not his own blood. He looked at the Doctor and was relieved it was not the Timelord's blood either. So the grim realisation followed that it was all that was left of whoever else had been standing beside him. He could not remember whether it had been a man, woman or child but they were gone.
The Brigadier began to look more closely at the sight before him, half expecting to see shattered limbs and gore. However all there was blood and dazed people calling and searching, trying to find those that were now missing.
******************************** Eadburh was asleep in the other part of Leo's house while the Doctor, Leo and the Brigadier sat around the table as they had the previous day. Ruff the dog lay by the doorway as though on guard.
"So this is not the first time that this has happened?" asked the Doctor.
"No" said Leo "The accident that originally injured Eadburh happened during an attack by Welsh raiders. We all fought them off, men and women. During a scuffle Eadburh was pushed on to my sword. That evening I treated her and the night time attacks began shortly after that"
"That would explain the sense of responsibility to her," said the Doctor to himself.
"What were those things?" asked the Brigadier.
The Doctor and Leo looked at each other with a shared expression of uncertainty. Uncertainty about the impact of what they had to say.
"Many generations ago on my home world my people were much like humans" said the Doctor "But when we first began to explore time the effects started to wear out our bodies at an accelerated rate. Eventually we developed regeneration as a way to extend out lives"
"But other avenues were first explored and discarded along the way to the discovery of regeneration" interrupted Leo.
"One of these avenues was an early form of Vampirism, which would explain how Leo's blood has mutated Eadburh. She must be particularly suggestive to external genetic influence" continued the Doctor.
"This is all very interesting but how does this relate to the things we saw last night?" asked the Brigadier.
"Another of the avenues that was explored was to abandon humanoid form altogether" said the Doctor "Several hundred Gallifreyans subjected themselves to the process. At first it seemed to work wonderfully. They were impervious to harm and decay. Soon they began to develop the power to navigate the temporal vortex independently. However their lack of physicality began to frustrate them. They could not fully interact with the worlds they visited. Slowly they went ferociously mad. Their sheer fury began tearing at the fabric of space wherever they arrived."
"Fuelled by a sense of revenge against their former kin they began to hunt us down. Hundreds of our people were pursued and killed by them. However, eventually we learnt to mask our minds from their telepathic searching" Said Leo.
"But when Eadburh mutated she began to send out Galifreyan telepathic signals into the vortex as our people once did. As she is not able to mask herself she is acting like a beacon to them."
"So let me get this straight" said the Brigadier "These are lunatic ghosts of former Timelords hunting any lifeform with Galifreyan blood in a frenzy of revenge"
"Yes," said Leo " Eventually I was able to set up a few things around the encampment to block Eadburh's thoughts from them. Grendel was just part of that system. But the devices need a regular reset and last night as we talked I forgot to do it. From across the vortex they smelt her out and came for her and everyone she knew "
"So if you reset them now then we should be OK"
"No" said the Doctor "They have found their way to her here twice, now at close quarters they will have been unable to overlook Leo and I"
"And what does that mean?"
"It means that Eadburh alone was a random target but the three of us are worth special attention" replied Leo.
*******************************
As they ran about the humans held on to each other and stretched out their arms as they tried to find their way to safety by touch. The screech would come close and would be followed by the screams of a human that would end with a coppery smelling splatter across their faces. Then the human screaming would stop. This went on for what seemed like hours until a silence fell around them. Slowly the light began to return followed by the song of the morning's birds.
As the scene around him began to reveal itself the Brigadier first checked the location of the people he knew. The Doctor was huddled beside him near the boundary wall. Leo and Eadburh were standing, clinging to each other in the middle of the clearing in front of the hall.
Slowly the Brigadier was beginning to notice the colours. The rich green of the trees and grass that was everywhere here. The rich earthy colours painted on the exteriors of the hall and some of the other exteriors.
Then there was the red. Splashes and puddles of red where everywhere. It was a dark, almost black red and it seemed to coat everything in the enclosure. The Brigadier looked down at himself and there was some splattered across the front of his shirt. It had the unmistakable texture of blood.
The Brigadier checked himself over and was certain it was not his own blood. He looked at the Doctor and was relieved it was not the Timelord's blood either. So the grim realisation followed that it was all that was left of whoever else had been standing beside him. He could not remember whether it had been a man, woman or child but they were gone.
The Brigadier began to look more closely at the sight before him, half expecting to see shattered limbs and gore. However all there was blood and dazed people calling and searching, trying to find those that were now missing.
******************************** Eadburh was asleep in the other part of Leo's house while the Doctor, Leo and the Brigadier sat around the table as they had the previous day. Ruff the dog lay by the doorway as though on guard.
"So this is not the first time that this has happened?" asked the Doctor.
"No" said Leo "The accident that originally injured Eadburh happened during an attack by Welsh raiders. We all fought them off, men and women. During a scuffle Eadburh was pushed on to my sword. That evening I treated her and the night time attacks began shortly after that"
"That would explain the sense of responsibility to her," said the Doctor to himself.
"What were those things?" asked the Brigadier.
The Doctor and Leo looked at each other with a shared expression of uncertainty. Uncertainty about the impact of what they had to say.
"Many generations ago on my home world my people were much like humans" said the Doctor "But when we first began to explore time the effects started to wear out our bodies at an accelerated rate. Eventually we developed regeneration as a way to extend out lives"
"But other avenues were first explored and discarded along the way to the discovery of regeneration" interrupted Leo.
"One of these avenues was an early form of Vampirism, which would explain how Leo's blood has mutated Eadburh. She must be particularly suggestive to external genetic influence" continued the Doctor.
"This is all very interesting but how does this relate to the things we saw last night?" asked the Brigadier.
"Another of the avenues that was explored was to abandon humanoid form altogether" said the Doctor "Several hundred Gallifreyans subjected themselves to the process. At first it seemed to work wonderfully. They were impervious to harm and decay. Soon they began to develop the power to navigate the temporal vortex independently. However their lack of physicality began to frustrate them. They could not fully interact with the worlds they visited. Slowly they went ferociously mad. Their sheer fury began tearing at the fabric of space wherever they arrived."
"Fuelled by a sense of revenge against their former kin they began to hunt us down. Hundreds of our people were pursued and killed by them. However, eventually we learnt to mask our minds from their telepathic searching" Said Leo.
"But when Eadburh mutated she began to send out Galifreyan telepathic signals into the vortex as our people once did. As she is not able to mask herself she is acting like a beacon to them."
"So let me get this straight" said the Brigadier "These are lunatic ghosts of former Timelords hunting any lifeform with Galifreyan blood in a frenzy of revenge"
"Yes," said Leo " Eventually I was able to set up a few things around the encampment to block Eadburh's thoughts from them. Grendel was just part of that system. But the devices need a regular reset and last night as we talked I forgot to do it. From across the vortex they smelt her out and came for her and everyone she knew "
"So if you reset them now then we should be OK"
"No" said the Doctor "They have found their way to her here twice, now at close quarters they will have been unable to overlook Leo and I"
"And what does that mean?"
"It means that Eadburh alone was a random target but the three of us are worth special attention" replied Leo.
*******************************