Whoo! Thanks for the reviews people, you make me happy! Anyway, sorry it's taken so long to update- this has been my first chance all week! ...three days to Halloween...

28/10/05

Chapter Three: Into the Dragon's Cave

"Damn! Where is it?" Rose muttered. She'd been so preoccupied, so focused that she hadn't realised what a stupid idea this was until it was too late. Of course the people had warned them- the Dragon Patrol had confirmed an active beast, hadn't they?

And now that it was dark…she was beginning to take the warnings more seriously now. Every flutter she heard could be a swooping of wings. Every hiss…She'd made it to the edge of the woods so far though. The jewel she dropped had to be here somewhere. What was it again? The jewel of the Third Reigning Power of the Aquarians or something?

Catchy title, Rose snorted. Luckily for her, she saw a faint blue glowing up ahead. Unluckily for her, she hadn't anticipated the tree root. Her hand managed to close around the jewel as she fell though, and she managed to muffle her cry. Even more unlucky for her though, the dragon had chosen this moment to look down and spot the jewel.

"Arghhhh!"

xXx

"Arghhhh!" The dashing Captain Jack slammed his head onto the control panel of his spaceship. One simple treasure hunt had turned out to be one hell of a nightmare. Who would've thought chasing after a power accelerator would be so hard? Of course, taking into account that they were extremely rare, dangerous, and worth one hell of a lot.

Jack flopped his head up and smiled at his reflection.

"Who else?"

His eyes sparkled as he winked at himself, and tossed his perfect brown hair back in the style of a perfect L'oreal advert. His charismatic smile only faltered slightly as he registered the asteroid approaching him.

"Incoming!" He yelled as he swerved the ship sharply. He missed the asteroid by inches, and turned the ship around, giving it a good blast with his laser.

"Tsch tsch boom!" The asteroid exploded into a thousand fragments, tiny shards of cosmic dust probably even more lethal than the asteroid had been.

"Just making sure that no one else will crash into it," he murmured sheepishly at his reflection. "Now it will be a danger no more."

Leaning back in his seat, his fingers wrapped around the cocktail the ship had so aptly provided and took a sip. Ahh, this was the life.

Without warning the ship beeped.

SIGNAL LOST

"Damn!" With his free hand, he thumped the dashboard again.

That damn cruiser he was chasing couldn't suddenly have entered hyperspace, could it? You had to be at least a hundred million miles away from the nearest giant stellar body to warp, otherwise you could end up Jupiter knows where!

Suddenly he was taken back to the questioning, when he'd finally rounded up the 'suspects', as he'd liked to call them. Of course, he was still disguised as a police officer and in con mode, so he would've been able to get away with a hell of a lot.

He drained his cocktail. "Then why haven't I gotten that damned accelerator yet?"

He remembered suspect A. An Insectoid; it's cold faceted eyes had blinked bemusedly as he'd interviewed the suspect, legs clicking on the tiled floor. Definitely had something to hide.

"Nope, never seen one o' them in me life, never mind even 'eard of it!"

"Are you sure…"

"Well, now that I think 'bout it, I av saw one what looked like it. About a few clicks ago it woz. But you ain't avin' mine, I paid for mine I did."

Whatever. Jack made sure his translator was working correctly. As a bonus, it even managed to catch the regional dialects, how charming!

Suspect B. Young male humanoid, cold narrow eyes too. Haughty, his silver jump-suit looked rich, definitely attitude problems.

"How would I know? Anyway, you must have got it wrong. I haven't seen anything like that. It doesn't even look like a proper accelerator for Heaven's sake, and where's the LED screen? Shouldn't there be a panel here with red buttons, hmmm? You soo cannot draw!"

He'd been so offended that he'd moved onto the next suspect.

Suspect C. Octopus like. Looked like a complete whacko, but in a suspicious way.

"Mmmmm, food. That looks tasty to me, kinda like snazberry." It waved a tentacle, squinting hungrily at the picture.

After three more interviews like this, he'd given up. Oh well, back to square one. Back to the planet where he'd first picked up the signal.

xXx

The Doctor opened his eyes. He must've dozed off, because it was now morning. Muscles stiff from sitting on the cold stone window ledge all night, he rose and stretched. A thought that had been nagging him all night now surfaced from the depths of his mind. There was something wrong with this place.

It was way too perfect. The forest, the castle. Even his room. The ornate four-poster had been just as he'd expected it to be as well as the wash basin in the corner and the tapestries depicting countryside scenes.

Last night…he thought he'd seen bright flares of light in the night sky…and, he swore he'd heard the unmistakable sound of a roar. His ears never deceived him. There had been some sort of monster out and about. The dragon?

He'd wanted to go and find Rose, he really had. But until he knew what was going on, he didn't want to risk it. Nagging feeling aside, he washed and went to find Malcolm.

In the courtyard, the soft rays of sunshine warmed the cold cobbles. No one was about. The Doctor looked everywhere- what he assumed to be the stables, the banquet hall, the milking parlour. He was about to head back when he bumped into a young woman.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Her eyes widened as she knocked the bucket off the stool. It fell to the floor with a metallic clatter. "Oh I'm so clumsy!"

"It's OK," the Doctor said and picked it up. "Hey, I didn't see you last night at the hall, did I?"

"No, I'm afraid you won't have." The young woman curtseyed. "I wasn't feeling too well, so I retired early."

This young woman was maybe slightly younger than Rose. With long wavy golden hair that cascaded down her shoulders, and her rosy blush, she looked stunning, like a young flower blooming. She had on a sky blue flowing dress, similar to that of Rose's, only with puffy sleeves and a corset too. Quite the medieval damsel in distress.

"I'm sorry, didn't catch your name?" The Doctor flashed her a smile.

"Oh, I'm…call me Ginny," the woman said, embarrassed.

The Doctor extended his hand. "You can call me the Doctor." He withdrew it after Ginny's puzzled glance. "Oh, erm, sorry, different traditions, I'm from long, long away…" He broke off. "Say, could you tell me where everyone is?"

The girl looked downcast. "If you mean everyone by King Hadrian and his courtyard, than they are all at the city walls, counting the dead."

There was a chill suddenly down the Doctor's spine.

"Thanks, I'll see you around!" Without so much as a backward glance, he was gone. It was only after he crossed the moat, that he realised he should've asked Ginny if any ape-like girls had appeared at all yesterday.

xXx

Rose woke up, and wished she hadn't. She'd had this awful nightmare, about being out far too late at night for her own good, and looking for something. Next thing she knew sharp claws were digging into her back, and had she screamed? Well, if she hadn't then she definitely did when she'd found herself gazing down at her feet and her eyes had carried on roaming down… She remembered the wind whistling past her, and an awful nauseous feeling she'd had…and…the roar…and…the fire…and…

She opened her eyes. And screamed.

A pair of giant bulbous eyes blinked back.

"Oh-my-God-oh-my-God-oh-my-God!" She gasped, scrambling as far back as she could go. Which wasn't very far. A sudden jolt up her spine made her realise she was already pressed against the wall.

The rough stone grated against her elbows, and as she shifted it seemed the ground suddenly came alive. With a roar, thousands upon thousands of hard round things began to tremble, glittering menacingly as they rumbled. A shower of the things fell, cold and round objects striking her, like… gold?

She pinched herself, unable to believe her eyes.

She was on a mountain of…gold? Greed and curiosity overcoming sense, she plucked a coin and stared at it, noting her wide-eyed look of fear reflected in the metal. How many people would die for this piece of loot?

Suddenly there was another low rumble, more sinister than before. Shaking, Rose hugged her knees as the giant luminous eyes came into view again. She smelled something that was incredibly like smoke. Inside her mind, she kept praying that this was all a dream, but no matter how hard she squeezed her eyes shut, the tears still kept coming.

xXx

The Doctor pounded down the cobbles, blood ringing in his ears. Hitching a lift on a hitch cart (wasn't that what they were for?) before he soon changed his mind and jumped off, spitting straw stalks as decided that his speed was far superior to that of the trundling monster, no offence meant of course.

The thatched buildings became a blur, the hammering of the iron forge a pounding in his two hearts as he focused on one thing- getting to the city gates. Ginny had said- the dead… he had to make sure. She wouldn't…she couldn't be that stupid could she?

"Good day, how do you do?" He called to a passer-by as he dashed past, whirlwind trailing in his wake.

The man just stared, bemused.

Past the fountain, down the hill, round the corner, opposite the butcher's- good day sir, can't talk, running, across the yard…

"Hey!" Malcolm waved.

Breaking away from the murmuring crowd, he sprinted over to the Doctor. Malcolm was in another tunic, off duty for now. Though he was greeted in every way imaginable, the Doctor still managed to catch a hint of sadness behind Malcolm's welcoming façade. Underneath his calm composure, Malcolm was trembling. And was that smudge on his face more than early morning rain?

"You alright?" The Doctor asked, concerned for once.

"Yes, yes, I am fine," Malcolm replied distractedly. "Your friend Rose is not in this morning's death toll, so I believe."

The Doctor stared at him.

Nearby, the crowd gathered fearfully around the King as he read out today's death toll from a parchment.

"M-my friends, they weren't so l-lucky." Malcolm bowed his head, clean-cut locks shading his face like a curtain. "Ever since the incident of the Black Kni-…well, it appears that I reside in the castle with the good King Hadrian and his courtyard. They were most kind to me."

"Yes?" Slightly impatient.

Malcolm cleared his throat nervously. "Where I stay, we are safer. Most of the other knights live close to the wall, so they're easy targets. Edward…and Sir Gallagher…and my friends Eleanor and…" He swallowed painfully.

The Doctor decided not to press the matter any further for now. At least Rose was alive for now. But where was she? What had been a simple visit to a foreign land had now turned into a full-blown quest.

Once again, I've tried to keep it IC for as much as I can, and if anyone has any bits to pick at feel free to do so!