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Chapter 6

'Have you ever broken the rules before?'

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The moons' orbits were erratic at best, thought the Doctor, lying on his back and gazing out of the window. For one thing, two went left to the right while the other went the opposite way. And he was pretty sure the tip of another one had appeared, as though it was circling above the temple. Despite his best efforts, the cell was, as they boasted, secure. No panels, no lift-up ceiling squares, no bookcases.

His train of thought braked suddenly as the force field at the door rippled. He sat up instantly and succeeded in making the small red-coated girl from earlier jump like a rabbit. He treated her to a grin and swung his legs over the pallet. 'Sorry. Thought you were someone else.'

She pressed her six-fingered hands to the barrier, her hair rising as the static flowed up her body. 'Did you get to the cellar?' she whispered.

The Doctor slid off the pallet and crossed the cell to her. The nervousness so apparent in her tense little body made him inclined to think she had not been sent to cadge information from him. He knelt. 'Yep. We found the harp too; tell me, who does that belong to?'

'My friend Arolan. He was banished for trying to stop the Lords and Ladies-'

He stopped her with a raised hand. He knew as much, and there was no need to go over that already tedious ground again. If there was one thing that never failed to irritate him, it was single mindedness.

'Yes, I'd gathered that, what are they doing now?'

'Repairing the harps?' she guessed, twisting her mouth. 'I don't know; we're not allowed past the third level.'

'What's your name?'

Her hazel-green eyes locked onto his for a moment, assessing the level of trust she would disclose. 'Bridey.'

'Bridey, have you ever broken the rules before?'

She seemed to sense the pragmatics of his question, and grinned, her anxiety tensing her face. 'Not yet.'

The Doctor grinned back. 'Right. Here's what I want you to do.'

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Arolan sighed for the sixth time in as many minutes. 'Do you really know how to operate this thing?'

'Of course!' replied Rose hotly, tapping the keypad again. She was sweating under the Harper's intense gaze. 'I just don't cope well when people watch me do stuff.'

He snorted derisively. 'Some companion.'

'Well I don't see you offering to help!'

'You never asked!'

Proud bastard, she thought fiercely. I bet no one ever snogged you at your Harper parties.

The tracking console lit up suddenly. 'Ah!' She tucked her hair behind her ears and, feeling a little stupid, bent to the receiver. 'Doctor,' she said clearly. She could feel Arolan's smirk boring into her skull, and joy of joys, she was rewarded with a happy bleeping and a flashing diagram. 'There!' She whipped one of the Doctor's yellow Post-It notes from where it had obscured the screen with a flourish, replacing it on the console.

He inserted his head into her line of vision and studied the schematic. 'Second floor, cell nine… Right. Stay here, I'll get him.'

'Oh no, I'm not leaving you to do all the glory work. I'm coming.'

'You are not.'

'Am too.' She strode back to the main control room and retrieved her red coat, slinging it on. 'Come on, and bring that harp with you. This may be your planet, but he's my friend we're rescuing.'

Arolan uttered the lowest of growls and picked up his instrument.

This time they reached the temple in just under fifteen minutes, following Arolan's route. Rose made an effort to pick out the landmarks, but in the fading light it was proving difficult. Out of the three moons that had lit her way back, only one was left, sinking down to the horizon on her right. The starlight was weak and barely lit the path. She flicked on the Doctor's glow stick, but this only attracted the biggest moth she'd ever seen, so it went off.

'Can you not just harp us some more light?' she hissed, as Arolan paused at an intersection.

'Do we have a spare half-hour?' he returned, giving her a look before striking out again. 'Harping is incredibly hard,' he lectured, picking his way through an adventurous mess of rhododendron-like bushes. 'It requires immense concentration. If I'm shape shifting something, and I get distracted… well. It's been done before, and the recipient now wears feathers permanently and eats nothing but seeds. Beautiful singing voice though.'

Rose exhaled angrily. 'Great. You're really not that good at all, are you?'

He rounded on her. 'Your primitive mind just can't imagine the possibilities.'

'Oh yeah? Prove it.'

'Now is not the time.'

'Chickening out?'

'What?'

'Never mind; it was a primitive Earth expression. Come on, we're nearly there.'

Side by side, they pushed through the ferns and emerged onto the path beside the arch. The two guards looked up and locked onto Arolan, raising their lances. 'You are banished from here,' intoned one.

Arolan raised his hands hurriedly. 'I know, I know.'

The second guard turned to Rose. 'You are not known to us: what is your name?'

Rose swallowed. 'Rose.'

'Where is your harp? Why are you not inside with the others, and what are you doing in the company of this banished one?'

'Um...'

They stepped together, blocking the arch. 'You are no Harper.' One of them noticed the strap across Arolan's chest. 'Your harp...' He turned his dark eyes onto Rose again. 'The thief from the cellars.' She took a step backwards. The Harpers levelled their lances again.

Rose turned and ran for it, sprinting as fast as she could back up the path. Behind her she heard scrunching as Arolan tackled one Harper and managed to trip the other up in the process. She carried on running, diving right and cutting through the ferns and spindly trees around the courtyard.

Why had she left him? She slowed to a jog, then a walk, and then stopped all together, listening. If he got himself captured again, she'd have made the Doctor's escapade a wasted effort: meaning she'd have to free them both. Cursing under her breath, she doubled back, and nearly ran into the Harper tearing at full speed through the trees.

He collapsed in a bluish heap at the foot of a wide trunk and panted, his hair wild and tangled. 'I think I lost them...'

'I hope so; you're in no state to run any further.' Rose cocked her head, but heard only the insects. 'They might come after us again, with more Harpers,' she mused aloud.

Arolan caught his breath and stood up, leaning against the tree. He looked very pale. 'They're not taking my harp off me again.' He seemed to register what he was leaning against and squinted up the trunk. 'Come on: up we go.'

'Up?'

'Yes – the last place anyone ever looks for anything. C'mere...'

With his boost, she clawed her way up into the lower branches, reaching down to carefully take the harp from him whilst he hauled himself after her. Together they climbed a little higher, where the tree branched out into two main sections. Rose perched in a comfortable fork and peered at the temple a short distance away. 'D'you think we could make it through the trees to the temple?'

'We might get close, but there's a force field and a courtyard in between us.'

'Let's do that. They won't expect us to go back, will they?'

Gingerly, they climbed from branch to branch and in this way from tree to tree. Luckily, the particular species was of the study type, and it was relatively easy to move in the thick branches. Rose found it a strangely familiar procedure. Probably something to do with my primitive brain, she thought wryly.

The last moon had totally sunk in the sky by the time they reached the edge of the forest. Leaning out in the blue light of the force field, Rose made out the shape of the arch, and the two white guards heading a larger group of green Harpers. 'There's the search party.'

Arolan moved so he could see. 'Drat,' he swore quietly. 'To reach the green level, Harpers have to be able to shift themselves into birds.'

'So it is a grading system...'

'Yes. Red, green, white, blue, yellow.'

Rose glanced at her dull sleeves and laughed. 'I picked the right one, for once.'

Arolan made a half-smile, which dropped from his face as he looked past her at the archway again. 'Oh no...'

Rose followed his gaze, and nearly fell off the branch.

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