Rose opened the door gingerly, half-afraid of what she might find.

'Well it's not Earth,' she thought to herself as she took in the twin suns in a violet sky. The TARDIS had placed itself (she would in no way attribute that landing to the Doctor) on a cliff. Rose could see the rocky edge, hear the crash of water some dreadful distance beyond the drop.

The suns were setting, turning the sky a deeper purple. It was kind of pretty, Rose decided. It was a little bleak though. She turned round and her mouth dropped open. Further back and sprawling magnificently, was a huge castle-like fortress.

"Whoa," Rose said.

"What?" The Doctor asked. He had emerged from the TARDIS and was currently standing scarily close to the cliff edge.

Rose watched him for a moment with a sort of horrified fascination. She shuddered as her mind gave her a vivid visual of his body on the rocks. "Come away from there," she gasped.

"Huh?" He replied, but he wandered over to her, making her queasy with relief.

"Look," she said and pointed towards the fortress.

"Modest," he said dryly.

"It looks like something out of the Dark Ages," Rose said in an awed voice. "Do you think they have knights?"

"Sure," the Doctor said as he started towards the building. "The suns are setting now…"

Rose stared at his back and for the briefest moment wished she'd shoved him off the cliff.

The outer wall of the fortress towered above them. It was built from some sort of black stone that was smooth and slightly polished. The only opening Rose could see was the huge door that was made from a dark wood and studded with vicious black metal spikes.

"I don't think the natives are friendly," she told the Doctor.

"Ah you never know. Maybe they're protecting themselves from really big monsters."

"Is that meant to be reassuring?"

"Of course. Aren't you?"

"Not really, cos if you're right then we're in danger from those really big monsters."

"Oh. Yeah. Didn't think of it like that."

"No, you never do." Rose sighed at looked at the solid door. "So what now?"

The Doctor shrugged, grinned at her and then stepped forward and knocked.

"You knocked."

"Of course I did. There isn't a doorbell."

"You're such an idiot…" Rose trailed off as a long clack sounded from the other side of the door.

The huge doors swung back, revealing a large squadron of heavily armed guards. They were dressed in black armoured uniforms and helmets that put Rose in mind of stormtroopers. She bit her lip against the hysterical laugh that threatened to escape. It didn't seem like a good time to laugh.

The guards surrounded them silently.

"Erm, we come in peace," the Doctor announced hopefully. "It would be nice if we stayed in one… piece."

Rose groaned and kicked him on the shin.

"Silence!" Bellowed one of the guards. It bore an insignia that the others didn't and Rose reckoned that this one was in charge. "You will come with us. Now!"

The Doctor took Rose's hand, squeezing it comfortingly. "I'm sure we'll be fine," he muttered to her.

She took one glance at the evil-looking guns trained on them and didn't say anything.