The Doctor jumped up the steps to the palace two at a time. Donna, treading a little more cautiously, crept slowly up behind him. The palace now loomed before them, a mountain of turrets and towers and stained-glass windows that sparkled in the continuous sunlight. A blue sky stretched high above them.
"Well this is nice," Donna said uncertainly, looking up at the palace and grimacing at the shadow she thought she saw flit behind one of the upper windows. "Bit peaky, though…?"
"Well, I wouldn't say that…I mean the sky is blue and the sun is shining!" the Doctor grinned even more broadly and took out his sonic screwdriver. Switching it on and stretching his arm out at shoulder-height, he used the small tool to scan the area.
Donna continued to look up at the uppermost windows and frowned slightly, pulling her arms around her shoulders as if she were cold. The Doctor noticed nothing and, pocketing the sonic screwdriver, headed toward the nearest door.
Donna was quick to follow, but she couldn't shake off the feeling that someone or something was watching her.
"So, Doctor you haven't actually told me where we are!" Donna said, reaching the small backdoor that the Doctor had seen. "Is it the 1950's or the 1550's, I seriously can't tell?"
The Doctor turned to face her and nodded slowly, as if her suggestions were the answers he was looking for. "Yep, I think the second estimation was almost certainly closer."
Donna smiled crookedly again and nodded briefly, mouthing under breath right. The Doctor fumbled in his coat pocket again and drew out the screwdriver. Pressing it neatly against the keyhole, he switched on the device and at once blue rays shot out of the end like a small laser.
Donna folded her arms and waited impatiently as the Doctor fiddled carelessly with the iron lock, sighing under her breath and looking around now uninterestedly at the ornaments in the garden.
Suddenly, a large fist clamped itself over her mouth and nose, and she was thrown forcefully to the stony floor. She tried screaming, but could only manage muffled groaning noises as the large hand was still locked tightly over her mouth.
The Doctor was fighting with a muscular man nearby, but after a few minutes of struggling he too was thrown to the floor. The Doctor, still in possession of the screwdriver, simply put his hands up and surrendered.
"I-come-in-peace," he said slowly, but the man holding him down just scowled and drew out a lengthy piece of rope.
To the right of them a pair of doors flew open and crashed against the brick wall, and a large man flanked by a party of onlookers came marching towards the captives. Donna could feel her arms and legs being tied together, and suddenly a vast shadow swept across her sweating face.
"Oh-my-god!" she squealed, breaking free from her captors grasp. "I-do-not-believe-this."
"How dare you speak to me, peasant girl?" the large man asked, bending down with difficulty and staring her straight in the face. He had a large, stubbly beard and was wearing a feathery hat.
Donna, dumbfounded, merely shook her head. "I'm, I'm sorry for doing that," she replied uncertainly. A voice suddenly rang out through the silence and everybody turned to face the other captive.
"Oh my god, it's Henry the eighth!"
"DOCTOR, look what mess you've got us into NOW!" Donna yelled, and then she turned to face Henry again. "So, err, what, err, wife are you currently seeing?"
Henry's face reddened, and a slim attractive woman with shiny black hair stepped forwards and smiled coldly. She took the king's hand and began stroking it tenderly, before laying eyes on the woman on the floor.
"I am his wife. My friends take favour in calling me Anne Boleyn, but most of my subjects call me the Queen of England."
Donna smiled sheepishly, and the Doctor began chuckling loudly. "Guys, I think now is the time to let us go," he said, laughing and glaring up at the guard that was still pinning him to the floor. "The stones are beginning to hurt."