Chapter Eight

The Odd, Yet Amiable King

The King closed and bolted the heavy main door, going on to do the same with the French doors, finishing up by drawing the thick drapes. Then, heaving what sounded very much like a sigh of relief, he turned his attention to the Doctor, who was leaning wearily back in his chair, his eyes closed.

"Are you as exhausted as you look?" the old man asked mildly as he crossed the room.

The gentleness of the inquiry was as unexpected as the harshness of the command, and caused the Doctor to suspect the King was a great deal more than the harmless lunatic Farrell had made him out to be. This became even more apparent now that they were alone, the monarch's manner changing dramatically. He took the unresisting Time Lord by the arm and guided him to the book corner where he removed the handcuffs and carefully examined his burned hands and face. Then, just as carefully, he applied Peri's ointment to his blistering hands.

"Your friend Miss Brown, tells me Owen Newgate gave this salve to her," the King informed quietly. "And a good thing, too, or you'd be losing a lot more than a layer of skin now."

More interested in his companion's welfare than his own, the Doctor started. "Peri? Is she alright? She's not—?"

"She's alright, Doctor, don't worry," came the gentle reply. "My people have her safely under lock and key where Farrell and his lot can't get at her."

The Doctor was not sure if this news should please him or not. "She's not involved in any of this," he said quickly.

"Oh? And you are, I take it?" the monarch cut in amusedly.

The Doctor chose not to respond, hearing the King chuckle softly. He then expected to hear the usual proclamation that this was as good as an admission of guilt. Instead, he heard, "Never mind. One thing at a time. Let me finish with this first."

The Doctor found his host's quiet benevolence as soothing as the ointment and allowed himself to relax slightly, leaning back in the chair as the medication was applied to his face.

"Is that any better?" the King asked once he finished.

"Yes. Thank-you."

"Do you think you could handle some food? You're probably not very hungry because of the pain, but you really should try to eat something."

The Doctor scowled, unable to fathom this extraordinary individual. As an interrogation technique, this was a first for him, and that was saying a lot. "Aren't you going to question me first?" he asked suspiciously.

"Must I?" came the amused response. "I was hoping you'd just tell me how you got into this appalling condition."

After eating only a small amount, the Doctor was almost his old self again and felt strong enough to relate his side of the story yet again. As he spoke he became aware of the King moving around in one corner of the room, but whenever he stopped talking his host assured him that he was listening and bade him continue. When he finished, the Doctor expected to hear the same angry scoffs of disbelief as before. Instead he heard only a resigned sigh.

"So…now they're resorting to cold-blooded murder," the monarch said at last, an angry and bitter edge to his voice.

"Your Majesty, I did not kill Bailey Anderson," the Doctor stated categorically.

"Good heavens, Doctor, I never said that you did!"

The Time Lord merely snorted in reply. A small cup was unexpectedly pressed into his hands and he stiffened visibly. "What's this?"

"A noxious tasting concoction that—believe it or not—will help restore your sight," came the succinct reply.

"Will it, indeed?" the Doctor said, his tone doing nothing to hide his disbelief.

"Would you rather I told you it was a dose of poison?"

The Doctor grunted noncommittally before cautiously tasting the contents of the cup, wincing as he did so. Even if it wasn't toxic, it certainly tasted it.

"Come on, Doctor," the gentle voice encouraged. "You can trust me."

This was not the first time the King's words and tone had puzzled the Doctor, and he wondered what he had done to make this strange monarch treat him in so familiar a manner. Deciding he had nothing to lose, he took a deep breath and drank the contents of the cup, having to force down the last portion. A glass of water was then pressed into his hand and he drained its contents gratefully.

"That was terrible," the Doctor said at last, causing his host to laugh.

"I did warn you."

"That doesn't help," the Time Lord responded darkly.

The King moved away, only to stop and turn back. He tried several times to say something, stopping himself each time.

Sensing the sudden change in mood, the Doctor was immediately apprehensive and stiffened visibly, wondering if someone had entered the room without his realizing. "Is something wrong?" he asked in as even a tone as possible.

The old man looked up sharply, a ghost of a smile passing across his face. Clearing his throat, he admitted, "No. It's just…well, I should've warned you. That drink. It'll make you feel pretty groggy."

Already feeling the effects, the Doctor sighed heavily. "It's a bit late for that now, isn't it?" he said muzzily.

"Ye-es," came the guilty reply. "Sorry about that. It'll pass, Doctor, don't worry. Just…try to relax."

Relax! the Doctor thought, he must be joking? How can I possibly relax with...with...? Why do I feel so strange? He tried to ask but found he was too weak to even move. To his dismay, he realized his seemingly benevolent host had just drugged him very heavily.

"Doctor…Doctor, wake up. Please, wake up."

The pleading voice echoed tantalizingly in the distance as the Time Lord moved through the haze in his mind. He followed the sound in a detached sort of way before realizing it was not a dream. He eventually broke the surface of consciousness and slowly opened his eyes.

The voice turning out to be Peri who had been trying to wake him for more than an hour. "Oh, thank goodness," she sighed gratefully, "I didn't think you were ever going to wake up."

The Doctor smiled weakly and sat up, discovering with a jolt that his sight had returned, the sunlight stabbing into his eyes like a hot knife. A cry of pain escaped him and he covered his eyes with his hands, leaning forward in his seat until the pain subsided. Then slowly, very slowly, he took his hands away, looking over to his dismayed and then delighted companion.

"Doctor, you can see!" she gasped.

"So it would appear," he replied with a relieved smile.

Rising somewhat shakily to his feet, the Time Lord took in the curious room carefully, turning his gaze to the portion of the room where his host had been moving around while he was relating his story. He went over to the mismatched collection of jars containing what he assumed had been used to drug him. Since he was still alive and obviously unharmed, he wondered as to the reasons behind it. Turning back to his companion, he inquired after their odd, yet amiable, host.

"Odd, yet amiable," the King repeated amusedly as he came in from the next room. "I don't think I've ever been described quite like that before." With a broad smile, he added, "Welcome back to the land of the living, Doctor. We thought you were going to sleep this beautiful day away."

Finally able to scrutinize the man who had acted so inexplicably the night before, the Doctor said nothing, responding only with a dark look. Catching the inquisitive nature of the look, the white-haired gentleman held out his arms. "Well? Do I meet with your approval?"

"Your dose of poison does—to a limited degree."

"Good. Just don't ask me what was in it. I can assure you, you don't want to know."

The Doctor and Peri exchanged glances as the King crossed to the conference table, his expression now serious. He switched on the computer and entered several commands into the keyboard. A holographic image of Solar Generator 4 suddenly appeared above the table's shiny surface.

"Now, from what I understand, Doctor," the old monarch began thoughtfully, "you said Bailey Anderson told you the generator program had been tampered with, changing the access codes and throwing off the alarm timers."

Intrigued, the Doctor moved closer to the floating image.

"And Owen Newgate informs me," the King went on, "that the preliminary findings of the generator's technical staff concluded that a power surge was responsible for the erasure of all the security codes. They could not, however, explain why the manual control switches had seized up at this point here." He pointed to the position at the top of the catwalk.

"Interesting, don't you think?" the Doctor remarked. "Since that's exactly were Bailey was when he died."

The King nodded but made no reply, his face darkening further. Absently stroking the beard on his chin, he stood studying the image, apparently lost in thought.

The Doctor blinked, suddenly realizing something extraordinary. "You believe me, don't you?"

The old man looked up in bewilderment. "What?"

"You believe I had nothing to do with this, don't you?"

"Well, of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"

"Because, your Majesty, you're the first person I've met who hasn't accused me of lying out right. Please allow me to congratulate you on your open mindedness."

"At last! Praise from his master's lips!" the monarch exclaimed with a squeak of delight. "And you don't have to keep calling me your Majesty all the time, Doctor. I can assure you, we're quite alone here."

The Doctor gave him a baffled look, turning to his equally baffled companion. "You'll forgive my ignorance…"

"Good Lord! You mean…you don't know? You actually don't know?" The monarch laughed out loud at what seemed to be a very funny private joke. "And here I thought that's why you came to me last night!" Unable to contain himself, he burst into laughter again.

"You'll forgive the pun, but I'm still in the dark."

"Would it help if I told you I sent for you?"

"You! You had the TARDIS pulled of course?" The Doctor was not quite sure if he should be angry or not.

"You'll forgive me, I hope, because I really need your help. I'm into something here that's way over my head."

"I'm already out of my depth," Peri injected, now thoroughly confused. "Just who are you, anyway."

Unable to keep a straight face, the amused monarch said, "Officially, I'm His Most Royal Majesty King Jason of Tel-Shye, but usually the Doctor just calls me Jason." The look on the Time Lord's face caused his one time traveling companion to stiffen visibly. "Usually. After this, I may not want to hear what he has to call me."