Eadburh was beginning to feel cold. The view of the walkway around her was
beginning to blur and another long corridor was forming in her vision.
Instead of the passage she had walked since her childhood a strange
swirling mass of light and sound seemed to surround her. There were two
distinct kinds of sound. The first was the roar of the very air being torn
apart around her and the second was more like a whisper, a whisper that she
could feel more than she could hear.
She could feel the whispers like the breath of a lover against her skin. The whispers were streams of sound rather than processions of words but she could understand them.
"Is she ready?" asked the first Whisperer.
"Yes, the new blood has fully incorporated in to her system," said the Whisperer with hand around her heart.
"Then you may begin," said the first.
Eadburh opened her eyes and looked around herself. She was lying in the mud between the great hall and her father's private rooms. While she lay there unmoving, feeling the cold wet smeared across her face she could tell she was not alone anymore. There was something else with her, in her mind and sharing her body.
"We are one now," said the other voice.
A stab of pain cut through her temple as she felt the final divisions in her mind melt away. They were indeed one now, they were Eadburh. They both were Eadburh. She was Eadburh.
"I am one now," she said.
Eadburh entered her father's room and found the old man sitting in a corner with his gaze fixed on the apparition on the other side of the room.
Eadburh turned her gaze to her father first of all.
"Father, fear no more. The shackles that bind your mind will soon be free and you will be joined"
"The process works?" asked the shadow's whisper.
"Yes. First I need to mix his blood with mine so that his cells can begin to mutate and then when you join with him the bond will be perpetual" replied Eadburh.
"Blood" stuttered the old King as he looked up at the thing that looked like his daughter.
"Yes blood" said Eadburh as the picked up a blade from a nearby table.
The Brigadier stood patiently as he watched the Doctor and Leo squabbling with each other. He had completely lost track of what it was exactly they did not agree a long time ago. The two of them were now at the point where they were gesticulating wildly at each other. This meant that it could still go on for hours if Leo really was a clone of the Doctor.
They had not seen Eadburh since she had run after her father the day before and Leo was becoming concerned. He had tried to get access to the King himself but had been repeatedly denied. That was enough of an alarm bell for him become very worried. However, both men fell silent when to door in to the Hall opened.
Eadburh walked gracefully into the hall with her arm wrapped attentively around that of her father. The two royals moved over to the Doctor and Leo without acknowledging the presence of the Brigadier.
When he saw the King approach the Doctor fumbled to get his spectacles on to the end of his nose. The Doctor looked carefully at the man but could see no sign of the strange spectral form that had been with him earlier. Putting away his spectacles, the Doctor considered the King and his daughter carefully.
"Have you reconsidered our request?" asked Leo.
"There is no need" replied Eadburh.
"No need" shouted the Doctor "Don't you have any sense of the unimaginable tragedy that could befall your people if you do not act"
"Doctor we are fully aware of what will happen when the kindred arrive" said King Offa.
There was a long silence.
"The Kindred?" asked the Doctor as alarm spread through his mind.
"The period of assessment is over. The raids have fulfilled their purpose and there will be no more" said Eadburh.
"What do you mean, fulfilled their purpose?" interjected Leo.
"The raids were a simple test of the durability and computability of the human form. In this historical period they are in the ideal state, free from pollution but their brains developed yet still playable" said the King.
"There was also the bonus of a convenient source of an appropriate genetic sample for the first stage of the conversion" said Eadburh as she looked pointedly at Leo.
"You used my blood, for what?" asked Leo.
"It was an ideal primer, to prepare the humans for union. Eadburh was the prototype and I am the proof that it works in practice" said the King.
"So whatever devils you are you just took over the bodies of these poor humans, it's outrageous," said the Doctor.
"No. Offa is still here," said the King as he placed his hand on his chest "but so is Prydonia, Chief of the Temporal Kindred. We are one. Physical lifeform and temporal spirit perpetually bound together as a single being. The power and will of Prydonia merged with the sensibility and body of Offa"
"So this whole thing, from Eadburh's injury through to the attacks was set up by you just to test these people out as possible hosts. What kind of monstors are you?" exclaimed an agitated Leo.
"We were the Kindred," said Eadburh "We were the first of the Timelords, expelled from the physical world because we were too strong to be controlled by Rassilon and his cronies".
Off continued "Now in union with these Humans we are reborn as a new species. More powerful than human or kindred. More powerful than the impure filth that replaced us on Gallifrey. We can now physically reclaim our place as the true and perpetual Lords of Time"
With that Offa and Eadburh slowly rose off the floor as their skin began to glow and slow whine began to emanate from them. Outside the Doctor, Leo and the Brigadier could see the sky darken and hear the screeches of the shadowy kindred as they again descend upon the enclosure.
She could feel the whispers like the breath of a lover against her skin. The whispers were streams of sound rather than processions of words but she could understand them.
"Is she ready?" asked the first Whisperer.
"Yes, the new blood has fully incorporated in to her system," said the Whisperer with hand around her heart.
"Then you may begin," said the first.
Eadburh opened her eyes and looked around herself. She was lying in the mud between the great hall and her father's private rooms. While she lay there unmoving, feeling the cold wet smeared across her face she could tell she was not alone anymore. There was something else with her, in her mind and sharing her body.
"We are one now," said the other voice.
A stab of pain cut through her temple as she felt the final divisions in her mind melt away. They were indeed one now, they were Eadburh. They both were Eadburh. She was Eadburh.
"I am one now," she said.
Eadburh entered her father's room and found the old man sitting in a corner with his gaze fixed on the apparition on the other side of the room.
Eadburh turned her gaze to her father first of all.
"Father, fear no more. The shackles that bind your mind will soon be free and you will be joined"
"The process works?" asked the shadow's whisper.
"Yes. First I need to mix his blood with mine so that his cells can begin to mutate and then when you join with him the bond will be perpetual" replied Eadburh.
"Blood" stuttered the old King as he looked up at the thing that looked like his daughter.
"Yes blood" said Eadburh as the picked up a blade from a nearby table.
The Brigadier stood patiently as he watched the Doctor and Leo squabbling with each other. He had completely lost track of what it was exactly they did not agree a long time ago. The two of them were now at the point where they were gesticulating wildly at each other. This meant that it could still go on for hours if Leo really was a clone of the Doctor.
They had not seen Eadburh since she had run after her father the day before and Leo was becoming concerned. He had tried to get access to the King himself but had been repeatedly denied. That was enough of an alarm bell for him become very worried. However, both men fell silent when to door in to the Hall opened.
Eadburh walked gracefully into the hall with her arm wrapped attentively around that of her father. The two royals moved over to the Doctor and Leo without acknowledging the presence of the Brigadier.
When he saw the King approach the Doctor fumbled to get his spectacles on to the end of his nose. The Doctor looked carefully at the man but could see no sign of the strange spectral form that had been with him earlier. Putting away his spectacles, the Doctor considered the King and his daughter carefully.
"Have you reconsidered our request?" asked Leo.
"There is no need" replied Eadburh.
"No need" shouted the Doctor "Don't you have any sense of the unimaginable tragedy that could befall your people if you do not act"
"Doctor we are fully aware of what will happen when the kindred arrive" said King Offa.
There was a long silence.
"The Kindred?" asked the Doctor as alarm spread through his mind.
"The period of assessment is over. The raids have fulfilled their purpose and there will be no more" said Eadburh.
"What do you mean, fulfilled their purpose?" interjected Leo.
"The raids were a simple test of the durability and computability of the human form. In this historical period they are in the ideal state, free from pollution but their brains developed yet still playable" said the King.
"There was also the bonus of a convenient source of an appropriate genetic sample for the first stage of the conversion" said Eadburh as she looked pointedly at Leo.
"You used my blood, for what?" asked Leo.
"It was an ideal primer, to prepare the humans for union. Eadburh was the prototype and I am the proof that it works in practice" said the King.
"So whatever devils you are you just took over the bodies of these poor humans, it's outrageous," said the Doctor.
"No. Offa is still here," said the King as he placed his hand on his chest "but so is Prydonia, Chief of the Temporal Kindred. We are one. Physical lifeform and temporal spirit perpetually bound together as a single being. The power and will of Prydonia merged with the sensibility and body of Offa"
"So this whole thing, from Eadburh's injury through to the attacks was set up by you just to test these people out as possible hosts. What kind of monstors are you?" exclaimed an agitated Leo.
"We were the Kindred," said Eadburh "We were the first of the Timelords, expelled from the physical world because we were too strong to be controlled by Rassilon and his cronies".
Off continued "Now in union with these Humans we are reborn as a new species. More powerful than human or kindred. More powerful than the impure filth that replaced us on Gallifrey. We can now physically reclaim our place as the true and perpetual Lords of Time"
With that Offa and Eadburh slowly rose off the floor as their skin began to glow and slow whine began to emanate from them. Outside the Doctor, Leo and the Brigadier could see the sky darken and hear the screeches of the shadowy kindred as they again descend upon the enclosure.