A/N: I'm really
happy with this chapter. I think it turned out much better than some
of the previous installments.
Ilium Neocort is the name of my
dog's ear drops. But it's sounds good, so I used it for the
mountain. Let me know what you think!
xxx xxx
Lengths of tanned skins stretched between tall bone columns to make walls. The room was large, nine by fifteen feet. The bone struts climbed higher and higher, eventually lost to the inky blackness of the cave ceiling, though the skins finished ten feet above the ground.
"Damp in here, isn't it?" the Doctor remarked.
A thin veneer of water coated the stone ground. In the centre of the room, steam billowed from a deep, circular pit. Wisps of vapour rose from the water on the floor, and the air was thick and wet. It felt to Rose as though she were trying to breath underwater.
"I'm sweating like a space pig." She replied.
The Doctor gave her a sympathetic smile, "Still," he said, "It's better than being out in the snow."
For once, they were being treated like guests, rather than prisoners. Once they'd reached the Rax camp, a cleverly hidden cave on the south east side of the lake, Kermk had given them bowls of steaming grey gruel and a plate of short, spiky sticks, before hurrying off to inquire about the TARDIS.
Rose shrugged. She picked out a stick from the wooden plate, and held it up to inspect. It was tacky, like it was coated in honey, and didn't smell at all bad.
"What's this, then?" she wondered, stomach growling.
"Try it. You'll probably like it." The Doctor said. He was using his fingers to scrape grey mush from one of the bowls.
"It's got to be better than that." Rose said, wrinkling her nose when he licked his fingers.
"Oh, but this is good." The Doctor grinned.
They were sitting on what Rose supposed was a bed, in front of the steaming water pit. The bed was made in the same style as the walls; a rectangle of animal hide stretched taut between solid bone supports. It sat about three foot above the floor. Above it, resting at the Rax's head-height, there was another bed. The skin of this one was bowed in the middle, as though it was being used as a shelf.
"Well it looks disgusting." Rose told him, half laughing, "You're braver than I am for eating it."
She took a bite of the stick. It was sweet, and crunchy, with a subtle flavour of chicken. Rose's mouth watered at the taste.
"You like it, then?" the Doctor wondered. His expression was eager.
"Mm," Rose nodded, cramming more into her already full mouth, "'S goo'."
The Rax cave was large, and resembled a stock market as much as home. According to Kermk, who lived there with his four brothers, the Rax colony in the mountains was made up of twenty adult animals, and three infants. In the centre of the cave, the Rax chief sat, on top of a pile of his possessions.
The other Rax, divided into family groups, made and gathered items to trade with Big Barter. Every so often, traders would come from the main Rax colony to swap items. The chief, Big Barter, was essential at times like these, because it was believed that he, out of all the Rax, would attain the best bargains for his colony.
"You want to know what it is?" the Doctor asked, leaning closer to Rose.
"Wha' ?" she answered, still chewing industriously.
The Doctor grinned. "Moths legs."
Rose forced herself to swallow. She didn't want to spit food all over Kermk's floor, after all.
"Moths legs." She repeated slowly.
"Yeah. Tasty, aren't they?"
Carefully, Rose lowered the plate. She'd only eaten two or three. Four at the most. Maybe five. She stared at the Doctor, who was still sucking grey mush off his fingers.
Ignoring the toxic glare she was giving him, he said, "You'll probably find that moths are all there is to eat here. Unless you want roast Sycorax. You shouldn't be put off by the thought of eating insects, though. Moths are high in protein and energy. Even in some earth cultures, they're treated as a delicacy."
"That's a lie." Rose said firmly, "And you knew that I would never have eaten that if I'd known it was moths."
"You did ask me what it was."
"But why'd you have to tell me?" Rose cried. As hungry as she was, moths legs were not going to be on the menu, ever. Not once she knew what they were. She eyed the bowls filled with gruel.
"I can't be certain," the Doctor said, catching her eye, "But I think this is ground up moth abdomens. You might want to stick with the legs."
Rose made a strangled sound, and flopped back on the bed. There had been a point on the walk to the cave, just after the Doctor announced his looming regeneration, where Kermk had told them not to speak. The ravine had merged with a much wider gorge, which eventually fed out onto the lake.
"This is a game trail." The Doctor had whispered to Rose, "He doesn't want us stirring up the game."
So the rest of the walk had been in silence. For the first ten minutes, Rose hadn't been able to get the thought of the Doctor regenerating again out of her mind. Again, already. She hadn't even been able to find out why; he looked healthy enough.
Then, when Kermk had shown them how to navigate the narrow, rocky path that made up the lake's east shore, Rose had been forced to divert her attention from the Doctor.
At last when they reached the cave, its entrance shadowed by a jutting lip of rock, and further concealed by a long wall of the mottled dark skins, there had been other things to discuss. The food, the culture, what they would do when all this was over.
Lying on the bed, Rose suddenly realised she had yet to find out how the Doctor could possibly need to regenerate.
"Five broken ribs, fractured breast bone, perforation of right myocardial muscle, low grade damage to several internal organs. Pending necrodermic infection on shoulder." The Doctor said, before Rose could ask. He coughed wetly. "Primary symptoms of pneumonia."
Rose sat up. "What? How? Sh- show me."
"It's too damn hot for snow gear, anyway." The Doctor muttered. He shrugged out of his thick snow coat, and unbuttoned his suit jacket.
Cautiously, he lifted his shirt. The bruise on his chest was dark purple, and shaped like a butterfly. An blackish elliptical smudge across his breast bone formed the butterfly's body, with its wings blossoming out in mottled, gangrenous colours over his ribs. The flesh below his left shoulder was swollen, and dotted with oozing bite marks.
It looked bad, but somehow it didn't fit Rose's impression of the Doctor's injuries. You didn't die from bruises.
"But what… what's the big deal? You can…surely you don't really need to…" she left the rest unsaid. The Doctor was already such a different man from the one who had charmed her in London a year ago. She didn't want… she didn't know…
Heck, she didn't know what to make of it. Rose needed answers.
The Doctor tugged his shirt down before replying, "You know when you thought I left you, yesterday, when the Sycorax were after us?"
"Yes?"
"I fell. Off the cliff. If the TARDIS had been close by, I would have regenerated then. Luckily for both of us, I didn't. Rose," the Doctor said, pressing a hand to her cheek, "I can heal this, if I rest. I don't have to regenerate. Which is good, because I don't want to."
He stopped, embarrassed. Here he was, talking to a twenty year old earthling about his feelings on regeneration. The other time lords would laugh at him.
"I don't want you to, either." Rose blurted. She looked mortified at her own words. "I mean, I mean, uh, it just seems like such a lot to go through for really, uh, minor injuries. Like being reborn over a paper cut, in't it?"
"Something like that, I suppose." The Doctor said.
In the silence that followed, Rose found herself staring at the floor. At the ceiling. At the bed. Anywhere but the Doctor.
"You know what's funny?" she said, after what felt like an eternity.
"What?" the Doctor replied, quicker than he should have.
"This bed," Rose said, still staring at the taut skin, "If it had a mouth and eyes, it'd look just like Cassandra."
The Doctor snorted with laughter, "Cassandra?"
"The last pure human." Rose said, imitating Cassandra's sultry voice.
She giggled. The Doctor stared at her for a moment, an uncertain grin pulling at the corners of his mouth, before bursting into laughter. Rose laughed with him, tears rolling down her cheeks. The Doctor's ribs throbbed, and still he couldn't stop laughing. Finally, giggling inanely, they both collapsed back on the bed.
"You humans are mad." The Doctor gasped.
"Thanks."
Rose wasn't sure whether she was happy or upset. She blinked to clear the tears from her eyes. With his head pressed to hers, the Doctor reached down, and took Rose's hand.
"Let's not argue anymore, hey?" he said, clasping her hand tightly.
"I wouldn't have to argue with you if you weren't wrong all the time." Rose told him, smiling.
He grinned back at her.
There was a groan of folding leather, and Kermk lumbered into the room. He was blinking rapidly, an action which Rose had quickly learnt meant he was perplexed.
"There is a problem," Kermk said, addressing the Doctor, "You need to talk with Big Barter, I think. He is waiting."
"What'd he say?" Rose wondered, her voice raised.
The Doctor translated for her. To Kermk, he said, "What's the problem?"
Kermk blinked. His huge eyes rolled in their sockets, exposing the whites. "It's just a little problem. Big Barter will explain."
"What do you think?" the Doctor shouted to Rose, "Should we talk to the chief?"
Rose made a face. "Do we 'ave a choice?"
"Don't think so."
"Alright then. Off to see the wizard." Rose sat up, and slid off the bed.
The Doctor followed her. Kermk was waiting for them by the entrance. Apart from his continuous blinking, and a twitching pulse in his throat, he was perfectly motionless. Very, very anxious.
When they reached him, Kermk ushered them out of the room. The cave was planned so that all rooms led out into the main hall, which stretched from the front entrance, to Big Barter's trade centre, to the storage area in the cave's rear.
Running down the middle of the main hall was a deep, narrow trench, cut into the solid rock. Like the steam pits in each room, this trench was filled with geothermal water. Vapour plumed out of the trench, obscuring anything more than a few yards away.
"Keep your wits up." Kermk warned, as he lead Rose and the Doctor along the hall.
The centre of the cave was bustling with activity. It was a world apart from the frozen desert outside. Big Barter looked almost regal, perched on his sloping tower of junk. Rax scurried around the pile, armed with various articles, their eyes rolling madly.
Big Barter looked almost like one of those multi-armed Hindu gods as he plucked this and that item from the frantic Rax, and picked out seemingly random objects from his pile to replace them. He seemed utterly calm, almost lost through the haze of steam.
"They're space pigs, alright." The Doctor laughed.
Rose didn't share his enthusiasm. She squinted up at Big Barter. He was the only Rax to wear clothes, a magnificent yet peculiar cloak that billowed around him. It looked to be made of tiny scales, all pinned onto a thin, translucent skin.
"Big Barter Ilium Neocort," Kermk croaked, standing close to the chief in order to be heard, "I show to you the noisy ones."
"He's still calling us noisy." The Doctor said to Rose, with a sigh.
Big Barter gestured for Kermk to move. He peered down at the time travellers.
"Kermk has told me you speak both the language of the Rax, and that of the Sycorax. Is this true?" Big Barter leaned closer towards them.
Rose was suddenly aware that all other noise in the hall had ceased. All eyes were on them.
"Well, no. I speak a language which is close to yours, though." the Doctor said, mixing what little he'd learnt of Rax in with the ancient Raxin. He hoped it was enough to be understood clearly.
"I would like to know more about you, noisy one. But first, we have a problem. Kermk tells me that the sky rock is yours." Big Barter said, nostrils flared.
"It's called the TARDIS. And yes, its ours." The Doctor frowned. He didn't like where this was going, "What's the problem?"
Big Barter leant back on his tower. His shining eyes flicked between Rose and the Doctor, settling on the latter. "As you may know, Ilium Neocort is far, far away from the major trade colonies. Traders come here from Gymnophiona only every three moons."
"What's he saying?" Rose wondered. She was frustrated. The watery eyes that followed her every movement did nothing to abate her temper.
"He's just talking about trade." The Doctor told her quickly. To Big Barter, he said, "I didn't know that. What's it got to do with the TARDIS?"
"Well. We are prosperous. We have much food, and a healthy population. In wet season, many females make their pilgrimage here. But," Big Barter leant forwards again, "Being so isolated, we have little opportunity to trade with other colonies. We lack supplies of skins and timbre, which are both necessary for our survival."
"Let me guess." The Doctor said blandly, "When you trade, you depend on getting a top-notch bargain. And to get that bargain, you need to trade something really good."
"You are not so stupid, after all." Big Barter said, his mouth down-turned in a classic Raxacoricotallapatorius smile.
"And so you traded the TARDIS for provisions." The Doctor sighed.
"Not yet. But it is no longer here, I fear. The traders left this morning, while Kermk and his brothers were hunting. My son is accompanying the traders back to Gymnophiona, to see what items he might obtain in exchange for your sky rock." Big Barter told him.
"Rose," The Doctor turned to his companion, "The TARDIS is gone. The chief's son is carting it off to the markets right as we speak. He's going to trade it for fire wood."
"What?" Rose cried, "Oh, those idiots! They may as well trade it for magic beans!"
Big Barter pointed a gnarled finger at Rose. "Is that one female?" he demanded.
"Of course she is!" the Doctor snapped.
"And you are male?"
The Doctor nodded wordlessly. Big Barter smiled at him, and ushered Kermk over. The chief Rax said something about trade potentials, and the Doctor turned back to Rose.
"I don't know what we're going to do." He said, "Do you have any ideas?"
"Why don't we just go follow his son? If we leave soon, we'd probably catch up with him. Get the TARDIS back no worries." Rose said.
"That is why I like you." The Doctor grinned, "That's a brilliant idea. You always have such dumb luck, randomly stumbling upon a good plan, don't you?"
"What do you mean, dumb luck?" Rose demanded.
Big Barter interrupted before the Doctor could reply, "I have an idea. Kermk will take you to Gymnophiona. He will show you to Domo Barter. A breeding pair like you would fetch a high price, ey? But I will not sell you: no one else has noisy creatures that speak like us."
"Breeding pair?" the Doctor repeated.
"Dumb luck?" Rose fumed.
"Instead," Big Barter continued, "Kermk will bring you back here. Your sky rock, too. My son will bargain for provisions with Domo Barter in exchange for your next season's offspring. That way, everyone wins. You can have your sky rock back, we get our provisions, and you won't have the problem of noisy offspring. What do you think?"
The Doctor wasn't sure. He an Rose certainly weren't a breeding pair. It was impossible. But agreeing with Big Barter would be a good way to get what they wanted.
"Let me discuss it with Rose." He said, smiling briefly at the chief.
Rose was furious. She glared lasers at the Doctor as he explained the situation. When he was finished, as she had to say was;
"Dumb luck?"
"Are you still thinking about that? I didn't mean you were dumb. For one of your species, you're really quite genius." The Doctor said cheerily.
"Just not as smart as you, right?" Rose bristled, "I'm still just a stupid ape to you. This whole trip, you've done nothing but rub it in. You're a genius. Anything I come up with is just dumb, ape luck."
"That's not true!" the Doctor protested, "You're brilliant, really. Rose, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to say it like that."
Rose scowled. She was too angry to speak.
"She says it sounds great." The Doctor told Big Barter.
"Very well, then. Kermk will get things ready. Do you need to rest, or can you leave immediately?" the chief wondered. Even to Rose, who had no idea what was going on, he looked keen.
The Doctor licked his lips. He didn't want to ask Rose anything else, not while she was in her current mood. "I suppose-"
"Sycorax."
There was a murmur from the assembled Rax. All eyes swivelled to Rose.
"Sycorax." She repeated, and snapped her teeth.
"What is your female trying to say?" Big Barter queried. He didn't look impressed.
"Rose," the Doctor turned to her, "What in Socrates name are you doing?"
Rose didn't reply. Instead, she snatched the loose hem of the Doctor's shirt, and yanked it up. Even in the murky, wavering light of the cave, the bite marks and bruise stood out.
"Sycorax." Rose said for the third time. She patted the bite marks with the palm of her hand.
The Doctor hissed, barely refraining from yelling out. He tugged the shirt end from Rose's hands, and pulled it back down over the bruise.
"You have been bitten," Big Barter shook his head, "You are not well. Domo Barter will not like it if you are damaged."
"I'm fine." The Doctor told him, teeth clenched, "Domo Barter has nothing to worry about."
"It is not Domo Barter that will worry. It is me. The Sycorax bite can be very painful. I worry you will not make the journey to Gymnophiona." Big Barter said.
Kermk stepped up to the tower, and squealed something that the Doctor couldn't understand. Big Barter smiled grimly.
"Kermk made a suggestion." He said, when the other Rax had finished squealing, "He says that perhaps only the female should go to Gymnophiona, and you remain here. In this way, you can heal, and be ready for the breeding season."
"Oh, you have got to be joking." The Doctor groaned. He translated the conversation for Rose, who was looking smug.
"Yeah, I think I agree with him. You're injured." Rose smirked, "You need to rest, like you said. And besides, this all seems pretty simple. Even a dumb ape like me should be able to work it out, right?"
The Doctor muttered something about women under his breath. Louder, he said, "It's dangerous."
"You said Kermk is going, right? He can protect me." Rose said.
"He's a space pig, for God's sake!" the Doctor exclaimed, "You need protecting from him, not by him!"
"I'm going, and you're staying, and that's that." Rose said, "Now, if you don't mind, I have a trip to get ready for."
Even without understanding the words, Big Barter seemed to understand the outcome. He raised his brow ridges at the Doctor.
"Females," the chief grinned, exposing the top row of his tiny, serrated teeth, "But don't worry. Females do this sort of thing all the time. But no matter how far she goes, come breeding season, she'll outdo herself pilgrimaging back to you. Cycle of life, eh?"
"Cycle of life." The Doctor agreed wearily.
The hall was bustling once again. Preparations had to be made for the travellers, food, water, gifts for the Domo Barter.
"You really like this female?" Big Barter wondered. His arms were a blur of movement, once again picking, sorting, replacing.
Rose had gone off with Kermk to pack the travelling sacks. Kermk's younger brother, Pg, was also accompanying them to Gymnophiona. He and Rose seemed equally excited.
"Sometimes." The Doctor replied. Now was not one of the times that he envisioned himself and Rose together forever. It was more a time he was ready to put an add in the classifieds for a new companion.
"Gymnophiona is only three days march. Five in bad times. She will be back before you realise she's gone." Big Barter said kindly.
The Doctor nodded. He excused himself, and trudged back down the main hall to Kermk's room. Rose was there, and he ignored her, instead going straight to the bed. The preparations continued around him.
It was midafternoon before everything was ready. The traders, with the TARDIS in tow, had left six hours earlier.
"Doctor."
Rose leant over his still form. He hadn't moved since climbing onto the bed an hour earlier.
"We're going now." she said.
The Doctor's breathing was steady, and slow. His skin was cool to touch, even in the room's sticky warmth. At last, he was resting. Rose smiled.
"See you in few days, then." She said softly.
She ran her hand through his messy hair, scooped her travelling bag from the floor, and left. Kermk and Pg were already waiting for her outside. Their packs were loaded with water bladders, flint and bone knives, and food wrapped in moth wings. A sleeping skin was rolled on top of each pack.
Rose stepped out into the sunlight with a broad grin on her face. This was her first real adventure without the Doctor, and she could barely contain her excitement.
When the three of them, Kermk, Pg and Rose, strode off along the lake shore, none of them looked back.
None of them saw the solitary dark figure standing at the cave mouth.
xxx xxx
Good? No good?
Dust?
Next chapter; ALONE.