Chapter Twenty-Two

Wounded

The Doctor walked a little ahead of the small group, still rubbing his cheek sulkily. He hadn't expected to be set upon so viciously by Rapunzel. Slapping, hair-pulling and shin kicking – he was never one for girly fighting. It always left him confused and panicked. In the end he had just flailed madly and hid behind Ashley who managed to get the princess to back off. At least she had stopped yelling insults at him now, which was a step forward he supposed. The one about his 'chicken legs' had hurt the most though. Of course he was going to have skinny legs; did she have any idea how much he ran in one day?

Pushing the angry princess from his thoughts he estimated how long it should take them to reach the castle. About an hour perhaps? They probably would have been able to see the peak of one of the towers if it wasn't for the dense foliage above them. So that left an hour to think of what they were going to do when they actually got there. Sneaking in was out of the question – Princesses and horses generally don't do sneaking.

'How's your face?' Ashley asked, pulling up beside him.

'Handsome and slightly painful,' the Doctor replied. 'That girl's hands must be made out of steel.'

Ashley glanced over her shoulder. Rapunzel was now sitting on the back of Arnie, both legs on one side with her knees together. If Arnie suddenly decided to run she would probably tumble right off, seeing as she was more concerned with braiding her hair again than hanging onto the reins. Arnie's expression was dark and brooding. He had been mostly silent since they had left the tower, only piping up every now and then to state that they didn't even need him anymore, and that he had things he would rather be doing like sleeping or trying to break his own legs. He moaned, but didn't make any attempt to leave them.

'So what's the plan then?' Ashley asked, grimacing at something disgusting that hung from the Doctor's sleeve.

'Ah, well… I haven't quite gotten that far yet.' He admitted. 'I suppose the first step is to find out exactly what's going on. I think it's already quite obvious that Janex is blackmailing the Trolls, or at least he's brainwashed them. Trolls aren't really well known for their strong brainpower. They're quite impressionable.'

Ashley sighed and rubbed her head with the heel of her hand. 'I should have known you'd just come back with more bloody questions than answers. Okay… Tell you what; we'll plan together. Two heads are better than one, right?'

The Doctor glanced to her, amused. 'I imagine so, yes. Although I normally count myself as two.'

She rolled her eyes at him. 'What happened there exactly? I mean… what did you see? How big was the castle, that kind of thing.'

'I didn't really see the castle from the outside,' the Doctor replied, rubbing his chin. 'I was quite frozen when I arrived by air and was quite panicked when I left in the same manner.' He waved a hand dismissively and turned and grinned at her. 'But enough about me. We have plenty of time to come up with plans. How about you, eh?' He nudged her with his elbow. 'Going around rescuing damsels? You're practically a hero now.'

'I was the one who needed rescuing.' Ashley replied bitterly. 'She tried to get me in a dress.'

The Doctor put on a shocked expression. 'Never!' he breathed sarcastically. 'Now if someone had just tried to get a dress on me I'd have been a lot happier.'

Ashley turned and glowered at him. 'What is this, a competition to see who had the worst time?'

'Of course not, that would be childish. But I'm pretty sure I would win if it was.' He stopped and shielded his eyes from the light to peer across the valley they had just arrived at. 'We should be there soon.'

'Sooner we get there the sooner we can leave.' Ashley nodded.

Arnie arrived at her side; Rapunzel still perched on his back. He turned and looked at Ashley, grimacing slightly. Rapunzel had barely registered that they had stopped. She brushed her newly made braid over her shoulder and adjusted the green beret-style hat on her head. She glanced briefly at the Doctor – who was paying no attention to her – and repositioned herself so she was leaning back a little with her chest sticking out.

'Why have we stopped?' Ashley asked, following the Doctor's gaze across the valley. 'Do you see something?'

'I see someone,' the Doctor replied. 'It might be Karl but…' He squinted. 'But it could be a bear…'

Arnie groaned loudly. 'Oh just my frigging luck. Everyone either gets frozen or bloody emigrates and out of everyone we manage to run into bloody Papa Bear.'

Ashley glanced to him curiously. 'Why's that so bad? What is he, nasty or something?' She looked stricken. 'Will he try to eat us?'

Arnie snorted. 'Papa bear's a vegetarian. Actually he won't even touch eggs or milk… one of them, y'know.'

'Oh yeah…' Rapunzel nodded, scrunching her nose. 'What do they call them? Vegetables?'

'Vegans.' The Doctor corrected.

'Whatever.' Rapunzel muttered, glancing away to examine her fingernails.

'Anyway,' Arnie went on. 'Couple of weeks ago someone broke into their house. Again – they're not very lucky y'know. And I just so happen to be wearing the saddle that had been in his shed.'

Ashley frowned at him. 'You nicked his stuff?'

'No!' Arnie insisted. 'Some kids were selling it. Dead cheap. Only cost me one horseshoe.'

'Fascinating,' the Doctor mumbled. 'But it's not Papa Bear. It's Karl.'

Arnie squinted and then whinnied in irritation. 'Oh bloody fabulous! I'd rather it was Papa Bear!'

The Doctor made a strange, strained sound and Ashley looked to him. 'What?'

'There's something wrong with him…' the Doctor mumbled, and then hurried towards the figure that was lumbering towards them. Ashley followed quickly, but Arnie hesitated.

'What are you waiting for?' Rapunzel demanded. 'He's leaving us! I mean… we need to see what's going on!'

Arnie frowned vaguely, and then trotted forward.

By now, both the Doctor and Ashley were running across the vast valley. Ashley glanced up through the huge gap in the trees, having to narrow her eyes at the sudden sunlight. She saw the tips of the castle over the top of the trees ahead and knew that they weren't far now. She cursed at the swords that hit her legs as she ran but tried to ignore them. The Doctor was moving much quicker now and reached Karl already. Ashley frowned slightly as the huge, dark haired man collapsed in the Doctor's arms. Unable to hold him, the Doctor had no choice but to let him fall to the ground. It was then when Ashley noticed the long, thin object protruding from the man's side.

'What happened?' she asked, finally reaching them.

The Doctor lay Karl on his back and inspected the wound. 'It's a spear.' He reported, wincing at the sight of the bloody wound. 'And if I'm not mistaken it's of Troll design.'

'Do… Doct…' Karl spluttered, horrifying all around with the blood that lined the inside of his mouth. He grasped for the Doctor with one huge hand.

'It's okay, Karl,' the Doctor told him. 'You're going to be fine. Just keep still, okay?'

Ashley knelt down beside them and looked to the Doctor with wide eyes. 'What do we do?' she asked.

The Doctor shook his head. 'Those spears have barbed ends. If we pull it out we'll… it's out of the question.'

By now Arnie and Rapunzel had arrived. Rapunzel slid off the back of the horse and stood back, her hand over her mouth. Arnie looked on with a strangely blank expression. Ashley pulled off her jacket and wrapped it around the protruding spear, pushing it down on the wound. Karl grunted and went rigid, and grabbed the Doctor's arm tighter.

'There… there are guards…' he croaked. 'All… all around…'

'How many?' the Doctor asked urgently. 'Did you see how many?'

Karl tried to force out more words, but only a trickle of blood slithered from the corner of his mouth. He took in a wavering breath, went rigid, and then breathed out slowly. His eyes unfocused and his body went limp.

Ashley watched him with wide eyes, waiting for him to move again. When it had sunk in that he had just died, she looked up to the Doctor. 'What do we do?' she almost whispered.

The Doctor stood up, eyes dark and brow deeply furrowed. 'We keep going.' He replied.

Ashley stood up. 'He said the place is surrounded, Doctor! We can't just run in there, we'll get killed.'

He turned to her, now almost scowling. 'You can set things on fire,' he reminded her. 'We can get in there.'

Ashley frowned and looked at him incredulously. 'I'm sorry? Are you suggesting I head the group and burn the place out?'

The Doctor's jaw worked. His expression softened – but only very slightly. She knew that he didn't mean it, but she also knew that he meant business. There was no way they were leaving until they had sorted this mess out.

'Even if I would, which I bloody well won't, I can't. I tried to use it earlier but it didn't work. I don't know if it's the cold or…'

The Doctor exhaled and nodded. 'The cold will affect it, yes.' He thought for a long moment. While he was doing this, Ashley looked back to the others. Rapunzel was standing off to one side, her arms wrapped around herself and looking off to the side with a pale face. Arnie was by his ex-rider, nudging his arm with his nose gently.

'Well how did you get out?' Ashley asked. 'We can get back in the same way.'

'There's dragons,' the Doctor told her. 'Three of them. Babies. Well, they're still huge. There's no way we can get back in through that way.'

'There is a way.' Rapunzel said quietly. So quietly in fact that the Doctor didn't hear her. Ashley did, however, and turned to look at her.

'What did you say?'

Rapunzel turned to face them and cleared her throat. 'There is a way in that castle.' She repeated. 'An old… um, it's a smuggler's tunnel. That castle used to be used by um, a few of the forest dwellers when it was abandoned. They would hoard stuff in there. It runs out of the west side of the castle and to the edge of the woods.'

The Doctor looked at her questioningly. 'How do you know that?'

Rapunzel shrugged. 'I dated Robin Hood for a while.'

The group was silent for a moment. The Doctor nodded and began walking once again, heading across the valley. Ashley started after him, put then felt a hand on her arm. She turned around to see Rapunzel with her hand out.

'Give me one of those.' She said, nodding to the swords.

Ashley hesitated. 'Are you sure?'

Rapunzel scowled. 'I'm a frigging princess. If I say give it to me, you give it to me. Got that?'

Ashley blinked at her, and then handed a sword over. Rapunzel nodded and then headed after the Doctor, stepping over Karl's body as she went. Ashley glanced to Arnie. He looked at her solemnly, and then followed. Ashley bit her lip, took a deep breath, and brought up the rear of the peculiar band of heroes.