A/N: I've pulled my dusty PS2 out of the cupboard of oblivion and have gotten myself addicted to Tomb Raider all over again D: This chapter would have probably been up yesterday if I hadn't sat in my bedroom all day with the curtains shut and looking like some kind of junkie and shaking all over with the amount of coffee I'd drank... Then I moved onto GTA3 and, I'm not really one for those kind of games tbh, but I went out this morning and was looking at cars thinking 'i'll have that one' and then remembered I can't just take people's cars... Who says games don't warp minds?! xD

Chapter Thirteen

Heroic Duty

Ashley grunted as she summoned all her strength to lift her left foot and move it in front of the other. Now it was just a case of getting the right foot to get in front again. Arnie was waiting on the other side impatiently, tapping his hoof on the soft ground.

'Get a move on, will you!' he called.

Ashley managed to pull her right foot free from the thick, sucking mud with a slurp. She was completely brown from the knees down. Her boots were unrecognisable from the sludge in the muddy pit they were crossing. They had stumbled into it a while ago, and first had tried to find a way around but had given up after half an hour. It seemed to stretch on forever. Arnie had gotten through easily, what with having small, even shaped feet to help him. However it wasn't so easy for Ashley.

'Do you think I'm doing it on purpose or something?' she snapped irritably, grabbing her stuck leg by the thigh and tugging. 'Do you think I like sploging around in the mud?'

'How would I know?' Arnie snorted. 'I've never understood you humans. Just run through it!'

'I can't!' Ashley yelled. 'Just shut up will you! For God's sake.' She managed to get one foot free again and moved onto the other. She wasn't getting anywhere fast. She tugged hard on her other foot, and let out a cry of surprise when her boot slipped right off and she dropped onto her hands and knees. A spray of mud hit her in the face and she screwed up her features in distaste.

'Ha!' Arnie brayed, grinning in amusement.

She looked up at him feeling a shiver of anger up her spine, but decided to remain silent. She managed to push herself back to her feet and turned to try and fetch the trapped boot. She pulled and pulled, put it wasn't budging.

'Do it gently,' Arnie told her, still sniggering. 'Pulling it like that only makes it harder to get out.'

'I know what I'm doing.' Ashley grunted in response. 'I don't need your stupid help.'

Arnie snorted and then sat down, watching with the smirk. 'Alright then.'

She shot him an irritable glance, and then tugged hard on the boot again. She was about to give up for the second time when it came away suddenly, with a loud sucking sound. She fell backwards with a wail, and landed flat on her back, boot held tightly in one hand. She grimaced at the wet mud around her body.

On the bank, Arnie laughed loudly.

'I think I'm ready for your help now.' Ashley said flatly, through gritted teeth.

She listened as Arnie stepped back into the thick mud, easily crossing it and joining her side. He looked down at her, grinning. 'You know,' he told her. 'You look like you belong there.'

Ashley frowned and held out an arm. 'Can you please help me? If it's not too much trouble.'

Arnie snorted in amusement, and then turned around, flicking his long grey tail at her. 'Grab hold.' He told her. 'I'll pull you up, and then you can get on my back, okay? But you have to give me a wash down as soon as we get to a stream. A proper one mind, not just a stupid sprinkle of water. I want a scrub.'

Ashley frowned. 'I'm not washing you.'

He turned and glowered at her. 'Well stay here then, see what I care.'

'Okay, fine.' She reached up and grabbed his tail. Arnie trotted forward a little and she felt the mud sucking her clothes as she was pulled out of it. She grimaced and finally got to her feet. 'Oh… urgh that's minging…' she grumbled.

Arnie eyed her. 'You're telling me.' He turned and nodded to his back. 'Get on before I change my mind.'

Ashley hesitated, eyeing the riding gear on Arnie's back. She wasn't good at riding horses. She put her muddy hands on his back, one of them still gripping her boot, and she pushed herself up. It was hard as the mud made her hands and legs slippery, and Arnie wasn't helping by wriggling and whining. Eventually though, she got onto his back.

'Oh… oh that's disgusting.' Arnie grimaced, wriggling underneath her. 'I can feel it dripping on me.'

'Just get a move on, will you!' Ashley snapped. 'We're sinking.'

Arnie stepped through the mud, not quite as easily as before with the extra weight, but a lot quicker than Ashley would have managed on her own. He finally got out on the other side and scraped his hooves on the grass.

'There,' he said. 'We're out. Now get off before you stain my coat or something.'

'Gladly.' Ashley muttered, and slid off. She sat down on the grass grumpily and went to pull on her boot again. She paused, and tipped it upside down. Mud dripped out of it in thick globs. 'Oh fantastic. They're ruined.'

'Probably a good thing too.' Arnie replied. 'They did nothing for you.'

She shot him an annoyed look, and then proceeded to scoop out the rest of the mud with her hand, grimacing at the cold slimy texture. She was completely covered now – her hair was hanging in clumps, only a small amount of it still red. She finally gave up trying to clean the boot and just pulled it on. She felt the mud squelch around her toes.

'I should have brought some spare clothes.' She muttered, and then glanced at her backpack. 'Although they probably would have been ruined too.'

Arnie shook himself, sending a small spray of mud to shower over her. She barely noticed. 'Ah it's only a bit mud. Never hurt anyone. Come on then, I'm pretty sure there's another stream down here somewhere.'

Ashley was halfway getting up when she heard something. She narrowed her eyes and listened. 'Did you hear that?' she asked.

Arnie didn't even bother to listen. 'Nope. Come on. I've got a itchy spot on my back that's just begging for a scrub.'

Ashley waved her hand at him to shut up and he rolled his eyes. She listened again. 'That's someone singing.'

Arnie listened, and then gave the horse equivalent of a shrug (which was more like a shake). 'Nice for them. Now come on.'

Ashley ignored him and headed off to the right, through a mass of dense foliage. The horse snorted irritably, and then followed. He knew better than to bother complaining now, it wouldn't get him anywhere. He trotted after her, thinking more about the itch on his back than who could be singing.

As they walked on, the singing became more audible. It was a woman, and what a beautiful voice she had. It was sweet, a little too sickly sweet for Ashley's liking, but she carried on nonetheless. A little voice warned her that she should just leave it, taking the last time she had met someone out here they had tried to eat her, but travelling with the Doctor had made her into even more of a curious person. Her main objective might have been to rescue him, but she was still on a foreign planet. She had to have a look around too.

Eventually they came to a clearing. The voice was very close now. Ashley looked up to see a tall tower that seemed to reach up into the clouds. She shielded her eyes, leaving a new muddy smear on her forehead.

'How the hell did we not notice that earlier?' she asked.

Arnie was looking to the left uninterestedly. 'It's a tower. So what? There's hundreds of them out here.'

'Well there's someone in it.'

'Well done, detective. Now can we get going?'

Ashley ignored him and cupped her hands around her mouth. 'Hello?' she called.

The singing stopped. There was a moment of silence, and then a sound that could only be described as a 'squee'. Ashley jerked at the sudden high-pitched sound, as did Arnie.

'I knew you would come eventually!' a female voice squealed happily. It was high-pitched and reminded Ashley of those stereotypical thick blonde girls of the TV. 'I've been waiting for positively months. The birds were trying to say you were never coming, that you heroes are all the same, but I just knew you would come!'

Ashley shot Arnie a bemused look. He just shrugged in response. 'Don't look at me.' He mumbled.

Ashley turned back to the tower. 'I don't think we're who you think we are. We were just passing you see and…' She trailed off as she saw something tumbling down the side of the tower. She watched in confusion and at first thought it was a rope. And then the blonde colour sparked her memory and her mouth dropped open. The thick blonde braid fell short at the bottom only by a few inches or so. Apparently it was the perfect length from the window to the ground.

Ashley looked to Arnie. 'Is that Rapunzel?'

Arnie frowned at her. 'Who?' He paused. 'Oh hang on… Oh yeah I know who you mean. Well I don't know, do I? All those braids look the same to me.'

Ashley looked back at the braid in confusion. 'Does she want me to climb up there?' She peered up the tower again, vertigo briefly washing over her.

'Apparently.' Arnie replied with a sigh. He trotted off to the side and sat down. Ashley stared at him. 'Well I can't climb up there, can I?' he frowned. 'I'm going to sit down for a bit. Bloody tiring all this walking you know.'

'I can't climb up there!' she cried.

'Are you coming up or what?' the female voice barked, more impatient.

'I can't climb up there!' she repeated for the woman at the top. 'I'm not Lara bloody Croft!'

'What kind of hero are you?' the woman yelled angrily. 'Get up here now!'

'But I-'

'Climb it!'

The sudden shrillness of her voice got Ashley moving forward more out of shock than anything else. She hesitated, and then grabbed the braid in both hands. She tugged on it hard, checking its strength.

'Ow!' the woman shrieked from above. 'I said climb, not pull!'

'Sorry!' Ashley replied automatically. She cast a quick, nervous glance to Arnie, but he was inspecting a passing butterfly uninterested. Ashley took a breath, and then planted one foot on the stone wall of the tower, ready to climb. By the time she stopped to ask herself why the hell she was climbing the tower in the first place, she was already halfway up.