Chapter CXV
Mira
The Banquette was great- just as she had always imagined it. The large hall was lit by oil lamps and candles, making jewellery on the guest's clothes sparkle. It seemed as if they were wearing all their wealth and possessions sown onto their doublets and gowns. The king and Anne were sitting on the head of the table, watching the dancing in front of them rather than each other. A shame, she thought. Anne looked magnificent with her dark green dress, the dark hair covered by a French hood embellished with pearls and emeralds. Though she wasn't actually beautiful as her nose was a bit too prominent for that, her face a tad too long – she still looked stunning. It was her posture, the sparkle in her dark eyes, and her charm and her wit, that made her stand out. Not that she was ugly either, as some would described her later – but she definitely was rather quite pretty than beautiful. And she also didn't have six fingers on her hands. She had had to strain her eyes quite a bit to get a glimpse at Anne's hands, but there were only five fingers. So whoever had come up with that rumour certainly had wanted to put Anne in a bad light, portraying her as the nasty woman that had bewitched the king with evil forces.
For now she did her best to stay out of the king's – and Anne's – way. She looked rather nice herself, the dress definitely standing out amongst the mostly dark clothes, emphasising her pale skin and grey eyes. She was used to standing out on occasions like this, for example at the countless diplomatic receptions she had attained, especially the ones on Arkon, and yet it now made her feel slightly uncomfortable. She didn't want to get between Anne and the king, and if it was only for a night or whatever the king seemed to think of.
After she had found Anne's disdainful look on her more than just once, she had wondered if Anne knew to whom the dress had actually belonged. She didn't think it was Anne's, as she was about four inches shorter than herself, and it would be too long for her. And not even the king would go that far to lend his wife's clothe to another woman.
She wanted to talk to Anne. She had always wanted to talk to her, but now she didn't dare. Apart from the fact that Anne most likely had nothing to say to her, she wasn't sure she could keep herself from giving her a warning. From trying to let on a hint on what was about to happen to her. Anne undoubtedly was aware that she was falling out of favour with the king as she seemed stressed and worried, even though she tried to remain calm and dignified on the outside.
"Don't," the Doctor whispered in her ear as if knowing what she was thinking.
Then she realised she had been staring at Anne the whole time.
"What?" she asked anyway.
"Whatever you're thinking about telling her, don't. You can't change history like that."
"I know," she said quietly, well aware that no-one should overhear them now. "Don't worry, I won't, trust me, I know how dangerous it meddling with time is. I doubt it would even work. It..." she closed her eyes for a moment. It was true what the Doctor had said a while back when they had encountered the HECATE, and she was noticing it more and more – this universe and its time-dimension didn't feel as foreign to her anymore. "It probably is... fixed anyway." She sighed. "It's just..."
"Are you not enjoying yourself?" A female voice, pleasant and yet with a slight arrogant tone to it, sounded behind her. A voice that was certainly used to being listened to and giving commands to others.
She jerked around, completely taken by surprise, and saw Anne standing a few steps away, clearly addressing her.
"I have noticed, that, despite all the noble men here asking you, you haven't danced once yet."
Well, that was true. Not that she hadn't wanted, but she simply didn't know any of the dances. In fact, quite a few people had asked her, and one, a lord Raleigh, had been particularly persistent in his attempts. Not that she minded him, he was rather handsome and quite charming, but in a polite way and he kept the appropriate distance.
"I do enjoy myself." She desperately thought about the right way to address Anne, but her head went blank. "Your majesty," she finally added. She was the queen, after all, so that shouldn't be too wrong. "And I'm sorry if I don't give that impression, but I'm hardly familiar with the protocol at your court and even less with the dances. So I'm afraid I have to pass, even though I would love to. But I do enjoy the company here very much, as well as the music and the food. Being here is an honour." And now she was babbling. Like some fangirl, she thought, amused about herself.
"But you must dance where you come from. How is it called? Freedonia?"
Slowly but surely the attention of the room was drawing to Anne and her. And she now fully understood why the king was so into her. She had an incredible presence, and certainly not only because she was queen now. The way she spoke, emphasising her words with gestures of her fine, slender hands, all that made people want to watch and listen to her. Right now though she wouldn't have minded if Anne's attention was on someone else. She was staring at the Doctor, trying to signal him to help her out, but he was intently studying some sweets a servant was carrying on a silver plate, seemingly unaware of the whole conversation.
Anne followed her eyes. "What about you? Doctor... You never said your name."
"Oh, just Doctor," he replied cheerfully, turning away from the sweets.
"So you are a physician then?"
"I am, amongst other things."
"A man of science? How interesting. Maybe you would care to demonstrate a dance from your home together with lady Mira?"
"Oh, no. No. I don't dance," he said nonchalantly, his hands in his pockets.
Take at least your hands out of your pockets, please, she thought, but Anne didn't seem to notice or being offended by it.
"Well, then I am afraid you have to teach earl Raleigh. It seems he is very eager to learn."
"Certainly, your majesty," he replied instantly and beamed at her.
Earl, she thought. Not lord. Same difference.
"This is going to embarrass us both I'm afraid," she said, franticly thinking how to get out of that mess. Sure, she new some dances from Arkon which would be fitting, if only in a very simplified form, and she would have to adapt them to the music here to make it look half decent, but then explaining it to him first? No way.
"Oh, please, embarrass me, my lady. It will be my honour."
Well, that was all Anne was after, she thought. Poor earl Raleigh had just been caught with her by accident. She spent the next minutes doing her best to explain her plans to him as well as some basic steps and where to go and how to move through the room – as it was not a close dance, but rather about moving in relation to one another, passing each other at the right distance and with the right movements, and only a few open positions where the partners actually touched each other by the hands or only the fingers. She could see he was doing his best to memorise it, but ultimately failing in doing so. No wonder, it was a lot.
"Music!" Anne finally put an end to her explanations, far from being finished.
Fine. They would make mistakes, so she would just have to own them and make as good of a show out of them as best as possible. As long as the crowd felt entertained it would work, even if it was more comedy than dance.
It already started off with Raleigh standing in the completely wrong position, and she had to gesture twice to get him where she wanted him. She did so in a hopefully appropriately but not overly flirtatious way, trying to keep things on the lighter side. Thankfully it turned out that Raleigh was rather good at improvising and having a good sense of humour. And he was indeed a great dancer. He eventually got the hang of it, and even though she would have been kicked out of the Arkon embassy in no time for presenting a dance like that - and caused a major diplomatic incident as they just didn't have any sense of humour when it came to those things, the people here seemed to enjoy it, and it looked at least remotely elegant.
After the music had stopped, there was a moment of silence, then people started to applaud – even the king got up and fell in, quite royally amused. Probably not quite what Anne had intended. Then again, she didn't feel overly guilty that Anne's plan had backfired – well, maybe a little bit.
...
They had went to their room after the banquet was over. She had wanted to change back into her own dress. As much as she loved the silver one, she was still certain it wasn't an actual gift. And what should she do with it anyway? Whilst she changed back, they discussed what to do next. The Doctor got slowly but surely bored, though she wouldn't mind to stay the night and another day at court, just to see a little bit more of it. It was like a museum with live re-enactment, just better. A sudden knock on the door ended their conversation and set the plan for at least the rest of the night. A man-servants announced the king wanted to see her. Only her.
Shit.
"That is great," she said. "But I'm afraid I have to decline."
One didn't need to be an empath to see that the servant was shocked beyond believe. Obviously one didn't decline when the king demanded one's presence. She knew that, sort of. But, maybe, for a moment she had forgotten the fact that this was not her universe. Had that been the case, she would have had no issues to decline whoever she felt like, and if it was the Emperor of Arkon himself. She had worked hard on her reputation for almost sixteen hundred years to be able to do so. And a good diplomatic incident at the right time was always amusing.
"But... My lady..." he stuttered.
It seemed that she had to deal with him after all. Well, she would manage. "I mean," she said, "It will be my honour. I just thought it is already a bit late, but what his majesty wants his majesty gets."
"I think we have to leave now anyway," the Doctor fell in.
"Now? It is the middle of the night," the servant said.
"I'm a night person," the Doctor replied dryly. "Let's go."
"It's fine," she said, not quite being sure about it. Just heading for the TARDIS would have been the easiest option. But she really wanted to have a chat with the king. Just a chat. Nothing more. She would handle herself, she had dealt with people just as important and just as spoiled before. She was an empath. If someone could wrap someone else around their finger by exactly knowing heir emotional responses and acting accordingly, it was her.
She looked him deep in the eyes and whispered, "Don't worry. I'll keep him at distance. I just want to talk to him a bit. Get a sense of who and how he really is, without so many people around him all the time." She trusted he would understand what she mean.
...
She was hushed into the kings chambers and the door closed behind her. It was a big room, bookshelves all along the walls, with a large desk, obviously his work place. A doorway was leading to a huge bedroom with a four-poster bed. The floor was covered in thick rugs, and loads of candles lit the room.
It had been quite a walk from her rooms to here, and she had tried to come up with a plan, but with little success. Well, if all else failed she could always say that she was indisposed. Probably women in these days were still considered somehow unclean on those days of the month. But she still hoped to have at least a short, nice, civilised, conversation with him.
"Here you are," Henry, who had been standing at the window, his back to her, turned around. He walked over, grabbed two goblets of wine from a plate sitting on a side table and handed one to her. "I see you've changed. Don't you like the other dress? I think it suited you well, much better than black."
"Oh, I do like, it is beautiful," she replied, taking an inconspicuous step to the side, evading Henry who had begun to close in on her, his tall, athletic body moving slightly further into her personal space than what would be appropriate. She went over to the bookshelves instead, browsing them. "But I was afraid to damage or stain it."
He apparently had wide spread interests, judging from the books. There were scientific and religious books, books regarding laws, probably some drama – though she had to admit her knowledge about drama didn't go back further than Shakespeare. And Shakespeare was yet to come.
"But why bother and change into another dress at this time of night? Instead of just..." He trailed of.
"You majesty," she started and turned around, pretending to be embarrassed and wanting to say something about how inappropriate this sort of talk was, but he shook his head and interrupted her.
"No need for such formalities now. It's just the two of us."
Oh, he was being generous now, she thought. But the slightest slip or wrong word on her part and they would be so back to formalities. But, the more time she spend with him and the more she could get a sense of his personality, the more she had to agree with what the Doctor had said. He wasn't a bad man or a bad king. He was just spoiled due to his upbringing, desperate to produce a male hair, and used to getting what he wanted. But behind all that was a charismatic, athletic, educated man with a good sense humour.
"Fine. No formalities." She smiled lightly. "I'm a night person. I enjoy staying up late and have conversations with... the Doctor."
"Your cousin?"
"Yes, my cousin. Second degree cousin."
"So what is his name? And he is a physician I assume?"
"It's just Doctor. And yes. Amongst other things. A man of science."
"And what do you talk about? Science as well?"
Now she had sparked his interest beyond her looks.
"Yes, science. Astronomy, philosophy." She had to execute another evasive manoeuvre as Henry stood now so close behind her that he was almost touching her back.
"You're a very well educated woman then," he said, following her. "Tell me, is that so for all women from Freedonia?"
"For a lot of them," she replied. "It's our own choice."
"Your choice? How would a woman know what is good for her?" he asked in all seriousness.
"Well, we learned over time," she replied, trying not to start to laugh. He was dead serious. Well, a child of his time. And then again he was after women like Anne. Independent, thinking for themselves.
"You have to teach me that dance," he continued and followed her further through is room, slowly closing in again. "The earl gave his best, but he is no match for me. Nevertheless, it looked interesting."
"That would..." It was then when she spotted a huge, old book, sitting closed on a bookrest. She couldn't quite say why, but it looked odd, literally the odd one out, as if it wouldn't belong here. This time she didn't have to carefully evade his majesty again, as she involuntarily walked over to it. It was enormous, bound in dark, almost black leather, and the title was pressed in silver letters. She read it, and yet, even though her brain was making sense of those letters, she couldn't believe it.
"That's an impressive book," she whispered.
"It is, isn't it?" the king said, standing again so close behind her that they almost touched. But this time she didn't mind. He reached past her and opened it. "It's just a shame I can't read it. In fact, no-one can. It is not by any chance a writing from your land?"
She looked at it, but the signs and letters were blurring in front of her eyes, moving. It didn't make sense. The TARDIS should be able to translate it. There had only been two occasions where it hadn't worked so far – her own language, Intercosmo which was from another universe, and the writing on Kroptor – which had just been too old. Impossibly old, as the Doctor had put it.
"No, it isn't. I have never seen it before," she said quietly as if in trance before snapping out of it. "You're majesty, I'm so sorry. I- I can't stay. I really can't." She moved past him and towards the door, leaving the goblet on his desk.
"But why? You can't leave just now."
"Oh, I have to. I'm sorry. I'm not feeling well-" She saw how the king paled. Oh yes, his paranoia with becoming ill. "No, don't worry, not that sort of unwell. Just – indisposed. Sorry." And out she went.
Doctor
It would be a stretch to say that he was worried. After all, if anyone could handle themselves, apart from him, it was Mira. She would keep Henry at distance. But that was what slightly concerned him. He didn't want to put the whole palace into turmoil because Mira got into a fight with the king. Henry could be very persistent. As for him, he trusted Mira. He knew what she had meant when talking about getting a sense of Henry. But she wouldn't need that much time for that, so where was she?
But then, much sooner as he had feared, the door opened and Mira slipped in, closed it intently and quietly behind her before turning around and looking at him, utter confusion all over her face.
"That was fast," he said, a hint of relieve in his voice, and walked towards her. "So, what-"
"Have you ever read Lovecraft?" she interrupted him in a low voice.
"Lovecraft? Yes, sure. Nice guy, though a bit-"
"Shh," she said and pulled him away from the door.
"The Necronomicon," she then continued, "He made it up, didn't he? I mean, it doesn't actually exist. There never was a physical issue of it. Well, people just made reproductions later, merchandise? For making money?"
"Yes. Why?" Now he was confused as well. Lovecraft was much later, and though he appreciated the books, why did she want to talk about them just now?
"Then how do you explain that there's an issue of it in the king's chambers? Long before Lovecraft was born and wrote about it?"
"What!?"
"I saw it. It's huge. Ancient looking, and-"
"What's in it? Did you read it?"
"I tried, but I couldn't, it-"
"Why not? The TARDIS should translate it."
"Well, she didn't. It's not a normal book though, it... I don't know. It's like some weird glyphs, but somehow blurred. Like they were moving, changing, right in front of my eyes."
"That's funny," he said. In Lovecraft's books the Necronomicon had always been readable. And then, why wasn't the TARDIS translating it? That must mean it was either from a different universe, or old. Really old. He asked Mira if she thought that the book was from another universe, but she just shrugged and replied how she was supposed to tell that.
"So maybe that's why we're too late. I'm sure I got the coordinates just right this time. And yet, we didn't arrive where I had planned," he said.
"You think so? The TARDIS knew of it? Anyway, we have to have another look at it. I'd say we sneak back in there and give it a scan with your screwdriver." She paused, thinking. "But that's probably the best guarded place in the whole of UK right now."
"Don't mention that."
"What?"
"UK. It's still just the Kingdom of England. No UK yet."
"Ah, well." She shrugged. "We could get my deflector shield from the TARDIS. Then we have a good chance to sneak in there. They might take us for ghost if they see us moving things or opening doors, but I don't think they would mind a good ghost story. Just don't bump into someone."
"That's cheating!" he said, raising a brow at her. She made an attempt to object, but he continued, "Or we could just ask. You saw it, told me, and it peaked my interest. I wonder what he is doing with such a book anyway. That seems a bit extreme, even for him. By the way, how did you manage to get away?"
"Wasn't too hard. I just said I'm indisposed."
"Indisposed? How so?" He didn't think the king would accept that anything was more important than to be with him whenever he demanded it.
"Indisposed," she repeated. "Human females. Once a month. No?"
"Oh! But you're not-"
"He doesn't need to know that!"
"So you lied to him? Good." he said and smiled at her, genuinely pleased. "Where did he get the book from?"
"A gift maybe?"
"Maybe," he shrugged. "You didn't ask?"
"No, I..." She shook her head. "I don't know. It was really confusing me. Weird."
"So, why is this book here? It shouldn't exist. And why don't I know that it actually exists?" That fact was actually bugging him. Together with the fact that the TARDIS couldn't translate it, it starting to worry him.
"Well, it seems you don't..." her voice trailed off and her eyes became distant.
"What? What is it?" He watched how a huge frown appeared on her forehead. He knew that look on her face, and that it was probably best to not disturb her, but he was just to curious. "Mira?"
"Witchcraft," she said, smirking. "Sorcery."
"What!? There's no such thing as-"
"Not literally," she sighed, went to the door and opened it. "Quick, before it stops." He saw her looking around, making sure no-one was near, and then left.
He followed her and as they were quietly walking through dark corridors only lightly lit by candles, she explained, always trying to keep her voice down in case someone might overhear them.
"Someone's using a massive amount of psychic energy. I just don't know what they are trying to do. I never felt that kind before. It's totally strange. And when I say massive, I mean massive."
"You think it's connected to the book?" he asked.
"I don't know. Would be a bit too much of an coincidence otherwise. But it's not coming from the king's chambers. We're almost there."
He had pulled his Sonic Screwdriver out and was scanning – and indeed, there was something.
"They are transmitting," he whispered and stopped to not bump into Mira, who was pointing at a door. "But what? Oh."
"They're in this room- What?"
They were transmitting indeed. Into the future. But how? There shouldn't be many people around able to do that. Not like this. Actually, none. But then, maybe... If someone was able to do it then... For a moment he was afraid he knew what they would find. But that was impossible. He was dead. Died in his arms. Then, suddenly, it stopped.
"Shit. It stopped. But he's in here! It's only one person." Mira said quietly and flung the door open.
It was an empty room, a man sitting on the floor. He was a member of the palace guard, but unarmed.
"Hello there!" he said and crouched in front of the man. "It's a bit cold on the floor, isn't it?"
The man just looked up at him, his eyes empty. It was clear that it hadn't been him, but something else, with him in this room. "What just happened here?"
Mira crouched next to him now, but remained silent.
"I- Who are you? What are you doing here?" The man asked, looking around. "Where am I?" He slowly started to get up, unsteady on his legs.
"I'm the Doctor, and this is Mira," he introduced themselves and got up as well. "What just happened in this room?"
The man just stared at him with empty eyes. "I don't know. My shift had just ended, I was on my way to the guard's room."
"He really doesn't know," Mira whispered. "He's genuinely confused."
She was right. They wouldn't get anything out of this guy. But thankfully he had been able to trace the transmission. The TARDIS should have no problems to follow it.
"Come!" he said, and, as she didn't instantly moved, he took her hand and pulled her with him.
"Where are we going?"
"To the TARDIS. I know where the transmission was going to. We go there and see what happens."
"But what's with the book?"
"No time for that now."
"Wait." She stopped, forcing him to stop as well. "No time? If we leave now and arrive at a set point in the future or in two years and arrive at the same point, what does it matter?"
He looked at her. Oh, that's why he loved her. And yet sometimes it was a bit annoying at the same time. Hurrying is other companions like that had worked most of the time, but not quite with her. In truth he was just impatient and wanted to leave now. He thought the book and the weird transmission was connected anyway.
He pulled her closer and gave her a kiss on her forehead. "I know," he said. "But I'm curious. Come!"
NicoleR85, OneWhoReadsTooMuch, bored411: Thanks for leaving a review and great seeing you still reading it!
