A/N: Well this story is certainly turning out popular :D Thanks to everyone reviewing, and again to ScreamsOnScreen, who is as cool as this chapter :P

Chapter Four

Cold Fingers

The forest was darker than either of them had anticipated. The trees were close together and their branches intertwined above to form a kind of natural thatched roof, which only allowed a few beams of light to scatter on the forest floor. Even with the roof though, it was still cold. Ashley was quite certain that if they had a little more light then she would be able to see her breath.

'We're not exactly going to be able to see the dragon, are we?' she pointed out. 'I can't even see the sky.'

'There's a clearing up ahead,' the Doctor replied confidently. 'Well there should be. If we're in the right forest.'

Ashley looked at him. 'You have no idea where we are, do you?'

The Doctor thought for a moment. 'Well… no. Not really.'

Usually, this would have sparked off a moan from Ashley, but she gritted her teeth against the insults and crossed her arms, choosing to remain silent. The Doctor looked at her in bewilderment for a moment, and then grinned.

'Time out works!' he beamed. 'Oh now I'm going to have to remember that. We're going to have ten minutes a day, okay? It's not that long just…' He trailed off as Ashley turned and began walking away through the foliage. He frowned. 'Hey! Where are you going?'

She didn't respond and just continued. Sensing that this was more than a childish storm-off, the Doctor followed her curiously. He found her through a sparse bush, standing in a clearing and looking down at the ground. He joined her side and looked at what she had discovered.

'You sure it's not winter?' she asked with an arched eyebrow. 'Because someone sure got chilly.'

The Doctor hunkered down so he was closer to the peculiar ice sculpture that was protruding out of the round. It was a hand. It was only visible from the wrist, but it was reaching out with fingers curled inwards, as if it had been trying to grab something. He tapped it.

'Solid ice the whole way through.' He reported. Then he leaned closer and licked the tip of the index finger, and then sat back while pondering over the taste.

'Remind me never to give you mouth to mouth if you need it.' Ashley grimaced.

The Doctor ignored her, smacking his lips. 'Female.' He said. 'She was in tact when this happened…' He rose again, looking down at the icy hand thoughtfully.

'So that's actually someone's hand?' Ashley asked in shock. 'I know it's cold but it's nowhere near cold enough to freeze someone. And where's the rest of her?'

'Good question.' The Doctor nodded, glancing around.

While he was studying their surroundings, Ashley knelt down to get a closer look at the hand. She went to touch it, then changed her mind and snapped her hand back. She couldn't help but imagine it turning and grabbing her. She wondered if the Doctor had been worried that it would turn and grab his tongue. Finally mustering up some courage, she swept away some of the twigs and leaves from around the wrist, trying to uncover more of the arm. Instead of more arm however, the hand just toppled over towards her and she let out a shriek. She fell backwards and landed hard on her behind. She glanced up to see the Doctor smirking.

'I thought it was grabbing me.' She admitted.

She thought he was going to help her up, but instead he reached past her and picked up the hand, tossing it from hand to hand. Ashley frowned a little and pulled herself up, brushing the twigs and dead leaves from her jeans.

'Snapped clean off.' He told her, showing her the stump. 'I think whoever this hand belonged to was frozen in about… five seconds? Maybe four… Fast-freeze. Never ends well. Things always break.'

'And the question still remains,' Ashley shrugged. 'Where's the rest of her?'

'I think the more pressing question is what did this?' the Doctor replied. 'And is it still around?'

Ashley looked around warily. A breeze ran through the bushes, making her edge a little closer to the Doctor. She turned her head to him to see the curling ice fingers inches away from her nose. She yelped and moved back.

'You're so easy to scare.' The Doctor chuckled.

'It's a severed hand, Doctor.' Ashley frowned. 'Don't play with it.'

The Doctor's smile faded. 'Yes, of course. Sorry.' He looked away guiltily.

'We need to concentrate on the matter at hand.' Ashley said seriously. The Doctor grinned at her and she rolled her eyes. 'It's not funny.'

'You're right.' He agreed, returning to serious mode. 'I think I have an idea what did this.'

Ashley looked at him with bright eyes. 'What?'

'Isn't it obvious?'

'Well… I haven't seen Jack Frost roaming around if that's what you mean.'

The Doctor threw his hands up, along with the icy hand which he put on the side of his head as if it was an extension of his body. 'The dragon!'

Ashley blinked at him. 'Dragons breathe fire.'

'It must be an ice dragon,' he explained, his eyes losing focus as his theory fell into place. 'It would explain the drop in temperature. This is supposed to be the warmest time of year, but it feels like the coldest.'

Ashley rubbed her hands together. 'You're telling me.'

'There's an ice dragon on the lose, and it's freezing everyone.' The Doctor told her. 'You wouldn't think it, but they're a lot more dangerous than fire breathing dragons.'

'Oh yeah right, because fire doesn't hurt so much.'

The Doctor glanced away and Ashley instantly regretted what she said. She started to apologise, but he spoke over her.

'With a fire dragon you just have to hit it with a water canon or something.' He told her, tossing the ice hand around again like it was a cocktail shaker. 'Ice dragons; oh now they're a dilly. Some of them can even freeze fire.'

'But that's not even possible.'

'Oh it is,' the Doctor smiled slightly. 'Looks lovely too. Went to an ice elementals party once and they had one of those huge ice centrepieces. Frozen fire. Beautiful it is. I'll have to show you it sometime.'

'I'll probably get a chance while we're here.' Ashley pushed her hands in her pockets and sighed. 'So what now? Do we play CSI and look for all the bits and fit her together again like a big jigsaw?'

'Well that won't do any good, will it?' the Doctor replied. 'I think we should go and find that horse again. See if we can talk it into taking us to the castle.'

'That horse was rude,' Ashley told him. 'I doubt it'll take us anywhere. Probably just calls us thick some more.'

The Doctor pointed the frozen hand at her. 'Ah, well you see if we don't find that dragon and stop it then everyone on this planet will end up like this.' He waved the hand around. 'Probably including us. I doubt that horse can fly a ship to get away, do you?'

'I don't know. There probably is a spaceship for horses seeing as they can talk now.'

The Doctor pushed the hand in his pocket so its fingers were poking out the top. Ashley looked at it with a scrunched up nose, but didn't comment. 'We'll get back on the track,' the Doctor told her. 'I can remember there being some stables near the village. He might have gone there.'

'Good a place as any to start looking, right?' Ashley replied, following.

'Yup.'

'You sure he won't like… trample us or something?'

The Doctor shook his head. 'Nah. He's armless.' He turned and grinned, pulling the hand out. 'Gettit? Armless. You're hand's attached to your…' He trailed off on her disapproving glare and pushed the hand back in his pocket. He looked away and nodded forward. 'This way.' He told her, and pulled ahead.