Chapter 3: The Cave

The men had stopped to shelter in cave as night fell; they brought Melanie in with them and left her, still tied up, against one of the walls. They all sat around the fire eating, drinking and making fools of themselves. Occasionally one of them would look at her and grin wickedly. Then after a few hours they started talking about all that they'd stolen and how much they'd be able to sell it for, it seemed that they thought Melanie would make them a lot of money. They all laughed wickedly when one of them mentioned this and Melanie shuddered. If they were going to sell her, who would buy her and what would they do with her? Melanie decided that she wouldn't think about it. Time passed and the men fell asleep. Melanie couldn't, she was too scared by these people. She wondered how the villagers had reacted to her capture and whether they were going to look for her.

Indeed the villagers where. They took up weapons and prepared sledges but these were being pulled by horses which had been brought from Earth. Melanie's father was rummaging in his house for a vital item that could help the search a great deal. He emerged from his house with a DNA tracker into which he'd programmed Melanie's DNA years beforehand. He was glad he'd kept it hidden, not even Melanie knew about it. The tracker scanned the entire planet until it located her, then the search party set off to find her.

Melanie had been struggling against the ropes which the men had used to tie her up for a while and had managed to free her hands and then started on the ropes round her ankles. It wasn't long before she'd managed to remove it. Then one of the men woke up, saw her and got to his feet. Then something distracted him, he looked deep into the cave, Melanie followed his gaze and saw a bright light coming from there. The other men woke and saw it, they stared at it open mouthed. Then a bolt of lighting shot out of it and struck one of them, he was vaporised. The remaining men turned and ran with lighting striking them out of existence. One of them got onto the sledge and spurred the Gaprelia into action. A bolt of lighting struck the sledge setting alight, the man leaped onto the Gaprelia and released its reins, and Melanie watched the man speeding out of sight while the others vanished in their attempts to escape until they were all gone. Melanie felt something touch her shoulder and span round to see a creature behind her. Its skin was green and rotting with patches of mould in places. The creature looked at her in the same way the men had done, a look which suggested it had something planned for Melanie.

"Welcome child," the creature said and then it raised a clawed finger to Melanie's forehead and she collapsed to the ground, "Sleep well," the creature said and disappeared into the depths of the cave.

The man that had escaped encountered the search party and was captured. He told them what had happened, he'd seen what the creature had done to Melanie, but he'd seen it in his mind even though he was quite a distance away when it happened. He couldn't remember where the cave was, and Melanie's signal had disappeared from the DNA scanner. They returned to the village, and Melanie's father returned to Earth some time afterwards.

The Doctor listened as the Bearer and Laria told the Melanie's story, when it came to an end silence fell in the room, broken by the Doctor after a few minutes.

"So what happened to her father, the Captain?" he asked.

"His wife remained here and he died a few years later," the Bearer said, "His body was brought here to be buried as that was where he wanted to be buried."

"How long does it take to get from Earth to here?" Rose asked.

"On their first visit they told us that the two worlds were so far apart that it would take several billion years to get here even in their fastest ships so instead they'd developed a system where they could travel across space with what they called a 'matter-transmitter'," Laria replied.

"So they could get here instantly," the Doctor said.

"Well at least they didn't have a dead body hanging around for millennia," Rose commented.

"I suppose," the Doctor said, "Bearer did anyone go to find Melanie after that?"

"Many tried to find the cave where she was lost," the Bearer said, "Some came back having failed, others said they'd found it, and that she was still there, still alive, but they could not remember where it was. They'd been in the cave one moment and a few miles from the village the next. Some didn't come back at all."

"They must have been killed by the Witch of the Cave then," the Doctor said, "I don't doubt that it wasn't responsible for many of them losing their memories."

"Yes that it was what we thought," the Bearer said.

"I'm going to look for her," the Doctor said standing up.

There was a stunned silence after this announcement, the Bearer looked at the Doctor and could see determination set on his face.

"I don't advise it Doctor, but if you wish to you may go," the Bearer said, "You are not a member of the village people and even if you were I couldn't stop you."

"Thank you," the Doctor said, "If I don't come back, look after Rose for me," he added and then left the house.

"We will Doctor," the Bearer said, "I promise."

The Doctor collected everything he needed from the TARDIS, a bottle of a liquid that could wake up someone who was asleep, a stun light torch and his sonic screwdriver. He decided to go on a sledge pulled by a Gaprelia since it looked like it would be better adapted for the terrain. Then he set off, the villagers and Rose watched him go, she hoped that he would succeed, telling herself that he always succeeded.