A/N: This chapter is a little longer... not by much though. I've seen longer lol xD

Chapter Five

Reluctant Assistance

It took a little longer to get back to the town because the Doctor had taken them the wrong way up the track and hadn't realised for about ten minutes. So they had backtracked and finally returned, to find it emptier and colder than ever. Now even the Doctor was starting to look uncomfortable in the weather. The end of his nose was starting to turn a little pink. Ashley watched him as he looked around with a troubled frown.

'Do you want to borrow my hat?' she asked.

He looked at her, and then glanced at her hat. 'Pink and purple aren't really my colour.' He told her. He screwed up his nose. 'And it has a bobble on it. I don't do bobbles.'

Ashley rolled her eyes at him. 'Well at least borrow my scarf.' She told him. 'You're going to freeze to death.'

'I'm not even cold.'

'You're shivering.'

The Doctor tried to straighten himself up, but he was still visibly shaking. Ashley unwound the scarf from her neck, shuddering at the chill that ran down her spine and hooked it around his neck.

'Oh, Ashley,' he whined, trying to pull it off again. 'Really, I'm fine. I have my own scarves in the TARDIS! If I wanted one I'd go and get my really long one…'

'Oh shut up.' Ashley told him, wrapping the scarf around his neck.

He sighed and let her, eyebrows drawn together. She straightened it around his neck and then flattened down the front. She cocked her head, and then began to tuck it down the front of his suit.

'Alright, alright,' he told her, batting her hands away. 'I'm wearing it! You don't need to wrap me up, mum.'

'If I were your mum I'd have clipped you round the head by now.' Ashley replied with a smirk. 'You'll be thanking me when you're not dying of pneumonia.'

The Doctor frowned, readjusting the scarf and trying to restore his briefly diminished dignity. 'Right then,' he sighed. 'The stables are just over there I think. If he's there then we'll get him on our side and then get off to that castle, right?'

Ashley gave him a quick salute. 'Yes sir.'

They both headed up the deserted road, passing the stationary TARDIS. There was a row of stables just around the corner, near to where the Doctor had said they would be. And sure enough, the door was slightly ajar and the sound of snorting and shuffling could be heard from within.

'Hello?' the Doctor called, approaching cautiously. 'It's us again. The thicko tourists from the track.'

There was a snort, and a whinny. Then a groan.

'Oh for God's sake,' a voice called out to them. 'What the hell do you want? If you're after someone to take a photo I haven't got any thumbs, 'kay?'

The horse appeared in the open doorway, expression exasperated. He rolled his shiny hazel eyes and snorted again. It looked at the Doctor for a moment.

'Do you have any idea how much of a moose you look in that scarf?' the horse pointed out.

The Doctor frowned. 'We need your help.' He said. 'There's an ice dragon on the loose.'

'Oh well aren't you the master of deduction?' the horse snorted. 'Now bugger off the pair of you. I'm trying to get some sleep.'

'Mr Horse,' Ashley said, stepping forward. 'You are aware that if you stay in there you're going to end up turning into one big horse shaped lump of ice.'

The horse looked at her in bemusement. 'Mr Horse?'

'Well what's your name then?' she sighed.

The horse looked away for a moment, pondering whether or not to remain here talking with these insufferable humans or to head back inside and go back to sleeping. Eventually, he sighed. 'Arnold.' He replied. 'But you can call me Arnie. And yes I am aware of that, Miss State-the-Obvious.'

'Look, we're not asking you to do anything too strenuous,' the Doctor said seriously. 'All we want is for you to take us to the castle. You don't even have to take us the whole way, just as long as we know where it is. We need to get to the bottom of what's going on here before everyone on this planet turns to ice.'

Arnie snorted, shaking his head. 'But I just sat down!'

The Doctor and Ashley looked at him impatiently. Arnie sighed heavily and trotted around in a small circle.

'You know what it is?' he grumbled. 'I never get a minutes peace. I thought that I'd get at least a ten minute nap with that berk out of the way.' He jerked his head back, obviously referring to his allegedly dead owner. 'Is it too much to ask, really? All I do all day is run around with him on my back, and let's be honest here – he wasn't exactly in the best shape, if you get what I mean.' He didn't wait to see if the Doctor or Ashley knew what he meant, which of course they did. 'That guy was so fat the only thing attracted to him was gravity.'

'Okay, so are you going to help us?' the Doctor asked. He was wondering if it was such a good idea to ask the horse for help. It seemed to moan more than Ashley did.

Arnie sighed, his lips flapping. 'Well I suppose I have too.' He replied angrily. 'Because you two aren't going to leave me alone are you?'

The Doctor smiled and shook his head. 'No. Probably not.'

'I don't see what the big deal is,' Ashley added with a faint frown. 'I mean, all you're doing is taking us there. We're not asking you to come in or anything. Probably won't take you five minutes.'

'I just said yes didn't I?' Arnie brayed loudly, making her recoil. He glared at the two of them for a moment, and then trotted by them. 'I'm not slowing down for either of you though. If you can't keep up then it's your own stupid faults.'

The Doctor and Ashley stood for a moment, watching the horse trotting away whilst muttering bitterly to himself. They glanced to each other with similar expressions that said 'are you sure this is a good idea?'

'It's the only choice we have at the minute.' The Doctor told her with a shrug, without the question needing to be asked. 'At least we're a step closer to finding out what's going on.'

'Or a step closer to having bleeding ears from that whining thing.' Ashley replied. She looked forward to see the horse disappearing around the corner. She took the Doctor's arm and pulled him forward. 'Come on then, before we lose him.' They followed quickly, half walking and half running and finally turned the corner. As soon as they did turn it however, they came to an abrupt halt.

Arnie was a few metres ahead of them, completely rigid in fear, staring bug eyed at the creature that blocked the main street. The Doctor and Ashley took up a similar reaction, staring in disbelief at the huge dragon that stared back at them.

It was impossibly huge, with a triangular snake like head and icy blue almond shaped eyes. Its scales were a silvery blue that shined in the sunlight. Its wings were a darker colour, with more of a grey tone and were pointing straight upwards as they couldn't fit between the shops. Its mouth opened briefly, revealing long pointed teeth that looked like icicles and releasing extremely cold air. It inspected the four tiny newcomers with its huge eyes, a low growl sounding in its long throat.

Ashley found her voice and tugged on the Doctor's arm. 'Doctor…' she whispered.

'I know, I'm thinking…' the Doctor replied. He glanced around, knowing that they had no chance of outrunning this thing. The only genuinely safe place was the TARDIS, and it was behind the dragon. Running towards the creature would just be asking for trouble. Ahead, Arnie was slowly backing away, muttering faintly. The dragon seemed irritated by the horse's movements and the growl grew louder.

'Right,' the Doctor whispered to Ashley. 'When I say the word, you belt Arnie on the rump and the two of you run back to the stables, okay?'

She frowned, but couldn't take her eyes off the dragon. 'What are you going to do?'

'I'll bring the TARDIS to you,' the Doctor replied. 'Now don't complain or moan, okay? Just do as I say. For once.'

Ashley wanted to argue, but she was too frightened. She only nodded slightly. The dragon now had all of its attention focused on the retreating horse. It was obvious that it was going to freeze him at any giving moment. Before it had the chance to though, the Doctor strode forward.

'Hi there!' he beamed, waving at the giant creature.

Ashley's face contorted in horror and confusion. 'What the hell are you doing?' she whispered harshly.

The Doctor shot her an impatient look and shook his head. Arnie, seeing that he was no longer the dragon's main priority, turned and galloped off back towards the stables – not needing to be encouraged. The Doctor turned back to the dragon, that was now staring at him.

'Right,' the Doctor beamed. 'I take it you're the one behind the sudden drop in temperature, eh? Must have been horrible when you first got here right? Hot and sticky. I know ice dragons don't care for the summer much. Which is obvious really, isn't it? Bet you'd much rather be sitting in a nice big igloo with some iced tea. Maybe not the iced tea – I've never understood it to be honest. Tea is supposed to be hot, not cold- but that's a different story right?' The dragon continued to stare at him. 'Right, course it is.' He went on. 'Now, I'd just like to ask you why you feel the need to go around freezing everything? I mean usually you lot just sit around and sleep. The freezing thing is usually just a defensive thing, right? But you were going to freeze old Arnie there and he hadn't done anything to you.'

The dragon breathed sharply out of its nostrils, causing an icy breeze to whip around the Doctor and Ashley. They both braced themselves against the sudden chill. When they gasped, little clouds escaped their mouths.

'Yes, I know,' the Doctor laughed through chattering teeth. 'You are cold aren't you? Now we can do this one of two ways. You can either leave now without any bother and let this place thaw out, or we can do it the hard way and I'll make you leave.'

The dragon cocked its head. Ashley watched apprehensively. The creature pulled its head back and took in a deep breath. The Doctor's eyebrows shot up and he began to back up towards Ashley.

'Okay,' he muttered to her. 'That didn't exactly work. Get ready to run.'

'Doctor you can't make it to the TARDIS-'

'On three.'

'Doctor, no!'

'One…'

'You're going to get killed!'

'Two…'

The dragon heaved and lowered its head.

'Three!' the Doctor shoved Ashley to the right and then sprinted off to the left. Ashley stumbled back around the corner just as the dragon breathed out an icy cloud. She felt the unbelievable coldness on her back and she looked down to see the ground actually freezing beneath her feet. She pushed herself to outrun it when she finally did she heard the dragon bellowing behind her. It was so loud she had to clamp her hands over her ears. She looked around for the Doctor, but there was no sign of him.

'Oh god…' she muttered. If he had reached the TARDIS she would have been able to hear it starting up. All she could hear was the growling dragon. She turned and ran back, skidding a couple of times on the ice. She slid around the corner, slamming her shoulder into a lamppost to avoid falling completely. She looked around and finally saw the Doctor. Dread overcame her quickly.

The Doctor was only yards from the TARDIS; arm outstretched and leg up behind him in a running pose - only he was perfectly still. Ashley could see the sun glistening on the top of his head. He was nothing more than one of those ice sculpture centrepieces that he had been telling her about earlier. And beyond him the TARDIS was one big blue block of ice.

'Doct-' Ashley began to yell out his name, but she suddenly felt herself being tugged backwards. She looked around in alarm to see Arnie with the back of her jacket in his mouth, pulling her back. She struggled with him, but he had a firm grip. He managed to pull her back around the corner.

'Sshh you moron!' he hissed. 'Or it'll come and do the same to you!'

'The Doctor!' Ashley cried, panicked. 'I have to help him!'

She tried to run back, but Arnie grabbed her again. He hauled her back and frowned deeply at her. 'You run out there and it'll do the same thing to you.' He told her sternly. 'You want to help him? Then keep your bloody stupid head down.'

Ashley stared at the horse for a moment, and then blinked. She turned and ran back to the corner. Arnie sighed and shook his head, but then noticed that she hadn't gone back around the corner. He trotted after her, being careful on the ice, and the two of them peered around the corner.

The dragon was now up on its back legs, beating its wings. Ashley was horrified to see that it had the frozen Doctor in one of its front claws. She started forward again.

'Seriously, there's nothing you can do at the minute.' Arnie whispered. 'Apart from get yourself killed.'

She gritted her teeth, knowing he was right. So she stood and watched as the dragon took off into the sky, taking the Doctor with it.