Author's Notes: Lindisfarne (and Holy Island) is a real place, and descriptions of the castle, priory and general orientation of the island are based on memory and a bit of research. However, while I visited the island once in the past, I do not know any of the inhabitants. All characters appearing in this story are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Disclaimer: This story takes place within the Doctor Who universe. This story is a way of re-interpreting concepts and ideas already present in Doctor Who. All Doctor Who characters within belong to the BBC. All other characters are fictitious. This story is for fun and for sharing, but not for profit.
Chapter 2: Things that Go Bump in the Night
When they finally reached the last oak door at the top, Ten unbolted it slowly and cautiously pushed it open a crack. He peered around for a moment into the dark and then opened it more fully and edged out into the open air. Rose followed quietly behind.
They crept around the battlements, but there was no sign of the shadowy figure. Ten walked out into the middle, took out his sonic screwdriver and scanned, turning around a full 360 degrees.
'Anything?' Rose asked as he perused the results.
'Not much,' he confirmed, 'but there is a trace of energy. Something was here.'
'What'd give off that kind of energy?' she wondered.
'A few things,' he answered. 'One being a transmat beam which, given our guest has already left, is the most likely.' He pocketed the screwdriver and, stepping further away from Rose, held out his hands away from his body. He closed his eyes.
'What are you doing?' Rose tilted her head quizzically.
He didn't answer her for a moment, so she watched him as he slowly reached out all around him. He was a silhouette against the fading light on the horizon, a tall, thin shadow with the long drape of his coat and spiky tufts of hair jutting out over his forehead. His arms reached out to either side of him, long fingers outspread. He mumbled something and took a few steps forward, still with his eyes closed. He then stepped to the side, still reaching out with his hands as if feeling for something.
Then he stopped still. 'Right here,' he murmured. 'Yes.'
'What is it?' she asked softly.
He opened his eyes and brought his arms down. 'A disturbance of time,' he said so matter-of-factly and clearly that Rose almost jumped after the hushed mood of a moment ago. 'Something came here through time. Funny, though, it doesn't feel connected to the energy residue the screwdriver detected.'
'So whatever it was we saw is a time traveller,' she said.
'Yes,' he answered with a frown. 'But who? A transmat beam I can understand. But a time traveller? Travelling freely with no portal here? Who would that be? The only races who can do that are the Time Lords and the Daleks. We...ell, the Transcendental Beings, but they wouldn't. Well, and time agents, but they rarely come to this century, except for Jack-and it won't be him. And John, but it won't be him either.' He paced a little, frowning. 'It feels familiar somehow. Not sure why...'
'Reapers?' she asked with trepidation.
'No,' he said. 'If it were one of them, it would still be here with its friends, and we'd be in a lot of trouble. Besides, we haven't created any paradox.' He grinned and bounced on the balls of his feet. 'The mystery deepens!'
'Right.' She suddenly yawned. 'Now that nothing's happening, I'm tired. I don't know about you, but sleep is looking awfully good right now. It's been a long day.'
He nodded as he took one last glance around the roof.
~ o ~ O ~ o ~
Silently, they made their way back into the castle, carefully bolting the door behind them. Once they made their way down to the main level, Ten checked all the rooms and the doors, while Rose went back to their private quarters.
Some time passed before he returned.
'All locked up,' he announced cheerfully, as he came down the hall. He entered the bedroom. 'I don't think... Oh!'
The large bed had already been made up, and Rose was already lying in it, blankets pulled up to her chin and eyes closed.
'Ah,' said Ten, softly. 'Right then.' He nodded slowly and quietly took off his coat and jacket. He went across to the living room and threw them across the back of the sofa and returned to the bedroom. Rose hadn't moved. He turned to the single bed and picked up the wrapped bedding, turning it around in his hands looking for an easy spot to tear open the plastic.
A soft giggle sounded behind him.
He turned around. Rose, looking very much awake, was watching him, her eyes sparkling with mirth.
'What?' he said with an injured air. 'This plastic wrapping is tough.'
'I'm sure it is,' she said. 'You're the picture of concentration. But you missed something.'
'What?'
'Look at the foot of the bed.'
He did so. 'Oh!' he exclaimed. Two large rucksacks lay there. One had been opened and at the top lay clothing, clearly Rose's. He opened the other, and the first thing he saw on top was his own blue suit.
'These weren't here before,' he said. He laid his hand flat on the clothing and nodded. 'Eleven.'
'He must've returned while we were in the village,' said Rose. 'D'you think he was the one on top of the roof?'
'No,' he said. 'The energy was different from the Tardis, and the time disturbance... didn't feel right. In fact, the Tardis doesn't leave that kind of trace. Doesn't stick out so much.'
'Oh,' she said. 'So, we had two visitors. The shadow and Eleven. I wish we hadn't missed him.'
'I think he planned it that way,' he murmured. He stayed for a moment, kneeling.
'Yeah.' Rose nodded. But when Ten took something out of the rucksack, stood up and moved back to the single bed, she giggled again. 'No pyjamas?'
He looked at her quizzically and looked down at the hospital top and bottoms that he was holding. 'No...' he ventured. 'This was all I had on me when we returned to this universe.'
'We are getting you proper pyjamas tomorrow,' she said firmly.
He nodded vaguely, left the room and returned shortly, clad in the blue cotton material. The corridor behind him was dark. He picked up the bedding once more.
'Doctor,' whispered Rose.
He turned around to see her shaking her head at him fondly. She raised the edge of her blankets and he could see that she was wearing his favourite nightshirt on her-light blue with a cartoonish picture of a zepplin moored to Big Ben.
'Get in here,' she ordered.
'Ah!' he murmured happily. 'Yes, boss.' He flicked off the switch by the door and the room was plunged into blackness. Rose could hear him cautiously making his way to the bed. At some point, he must have stubbed a toe, because she heard a sudden intake of breath and then muttering. Finally he reached the bed and climbed in.
'I can't see a thing,' she whispered.
'No windows,' he whispered back. 'Castles aren't usually well-illuminated.' He rolled onto his side and came up against the soft form of Rose. She made a small, contented sound and squirmed about until her back was against his front. She then reached back behind her until she found his arm and she pulled it over. Ten smiled to himself and snugged her to him. 'I'll protect you against any creatures that go bump in the night,' he murmured in her ear. 'At least, if I don't trip over them first.'
'Good,' was her sleepy response.
He softly stroked her hair until her breathing evened out and, then, laying his arm back around her, held her close through the night.
~ o ~ O ~ o ~
The car sped along the causeway. George was a fast driver, and Betty an equally quick talker. Rose sat in the back seat along with the parcels and bags from the day's shopping and looked out of the window. She could see the water's edge approaching the narrow strip of land that connected Lindisfarne to the mainland.
On their way across the causeway in the morning, she had seen the occasional pile of mud and seaweed left behind by the retreating waters. She didn't see them now, but she knew that soon after the car passed, the water wouldn't take long to cover the roadway again and sweep new seaweed over the tarmac.
'Rose,' said Betty suddenly, and Rose jumped, brought out of her reverie. There was silence in the car.
'Er... what?' she asked.
'What's the Doctor's real name?' Betty asked, looking over her shoulder. 'I'd like to call him by something proper, poor soul. Nicknames are all very well, but I'm sure he'd feel more welcome if he heard his own name.'
'That's it,' said Rose. 'The Doctor. That's all he ever goes by.'
'But there's got to be something else, hasn't there,' objected Betty reasonably. 'After all, even Dr Smith likes being called by his first name amongst us old-timers.'
'Uh,' stammered Rose. 'Well, he does have a legal name. Sort of. But it's Smith too.'
'Oh my,' gasped Betty. 'How confusing! Oh dear. Two Doctor Smiths. Well... What about his first name? Our village doctor is Harold.'
'It's John,' said Rose reluctantly. 'But, honestly, it's just better to call him the Doctor. It wouldn't feel right answering to anything else. To him... or to me,' she added.
'Well, all right, lovey,' said Betty with an unhappy sigh. 'If you insist.' She shook her head. 'Dear, dear, dear.'
George took a quick glance over his shoulder. 'We're almost to the village. I can drop you off at the castle if you'd like. You have all that food and whatnot to carry in.'
Rose nodded. 'That would be great. Thanks!'
~ o ~ O ~ o ~
In the end, George and Betty helped Rose bring all the packages into the castle. Ten was nowhere to be seen.
'Nice set-up you have here,' said George as he looked around. 'Never had the chance to see inside the custodian's quarters before.'
'I like it,' said Rose. 'Only thing is, I could do with an indoor loo.'
Betty laughed. 'Ah, we all had to do without when I was young. Brings back memories, that does! Now, Mr Doctor himself isn't here. Would you like a lift back into the village to see if you can find him?'
'Yes, please.' Rose shut the refrigerator door and turned off the light.
'Have you met the volunteers yet?' asked Betty. 'They'll have already left by now.'
'Who?' Puzzled, Rose followed Betty and Arthur back out to the car, locking the door behind her.
'The folk who look after the castle while it's open,' said Arthur. 'You do know that it's National Trust, don't you? Opening times are usually ten to three or when the tides allow.'
'Oh!'
'They are the ones who do the day-to-day dusting and vacuuming of the place and guiding visitors,' added Betty. 'You and Mr Doctor look after everything else: security, fixing anything broken, unless it's historical, that is, and then you call in the experts. Best to stay out of the way when the visitors come, and don't let them use the bathroom. That's for you and the volunteers only-except in case of emergencies... Best not to keep your personal things in there. Bring them out with you when you need them. I used to volunteer here before my back got too stiff to push the hoover around.'
'Right,' said Rose. She thought uneasily of the knickers she left hanging over the shower rail and hoped that the volunteers only used the toilet.
~ o ~ O ~ o ~
Betty and George took Rose back into the village and, at her request, let her off near St Mary's church which, George explained, was the closest they could get to the priory by car. Rose's guess that Ten would gravitate to this spot earned another smile of approval from Betty.
'Wasting no time in seeing the heart of the island. Bless. Service on Sunday is at 10:45, and evensong, if you want to attend, is at 5:30 every night. You don't sing, by any chance?'
'N-no,' Rose stammered. She took a nervous step back from the car.
'That's all right, dear,' Betty said, through the window. 'We could use some new blood in the choir... so-to-speak.'
Rose watched the car drive away with a sinking feeling, took a deep breath, turned and edged past a building. She skirted around the church and headed down a path amongst the tombstones to the priory. But before she crossed half the distance, a young man bustled up to her.
'Welcome,' he said. 'Have you checked in at the visitor's entrance and purchased your pass to the priory?'
'Uh... no. Sorry!' She guiltily checked her pockets for change. 'Where's that, then?'
'Right over there.' He pointed.
'Right,' she said. 'Um... I don't suppose you've seen the Doctor come through here?'
The man's face cleared. 'The Doctor? Yes, he did. Are you with him?'
'Yeah.'
'I didn't realize... That's all right then. I think he's still there. Just keep the way you're going.'
With that, the man disappeared as quickly as he came, and Rose crossed the rest of the distance. Upon entering the ruins, she caught sight of Ten immediately. Hands in pockets, he was strolling about, peering up at the tops of the broken stone walls.
She marched up to him. As he turned around, a smile beginning at the sight of her, she demanded, 'What is it with you?'
He pointed to himself with a look of bafflement. 'With... with me?'
'Oh, never mind,' she said and she slapped his chest in fond exasperation. 'Anything interesting? Anything ghostly?'
'Not a thing.' He looked at her uncertainly and then shrugged. 'But according to all the tales, these things come out around dusk.'
'Then we'll come back then,' said Rose decisively.
Ten grinned at her, his momentary consternation forgotten. 'Yep! Come on! I want to show you...' He took her hand and pulled her towards the most intact part of the ruins in the northeast corner. He stopped her and pointed up. 'The Rainbow Arch. Stronger than the roof that was above it. Keeps on going. That's arches for you. Though I don't understand why they call it the Rainbow Arch. I mean, no colours. No prisms. An odd name, if you ask me. Now, I have seen arches you could actually call rainbow. Made out of crystal, acting like prisms in the sunlight. Refraction and reflection. No water droplets like a real rainbow, but pretty close. Verikarikoskal, very cold planet, had many of them. Ice actually, left from an ice age not unlike your own-'
'It's the shape,' said Rose, staring at it. 'I like it.'
'Oh,' he said. 'The shape. Right. Mind you, the "rainbow" bit is still misleading. The opacity of the stone simply doesn't imply any refraction.'
'Um... opacity?'
He looked at her quizzically for a brief moment and then smiled. 'It doesn't allow light through,' he said.
'Right,' she mumbled.
He took her hand. 'Come here.'
He led her to a corner where one low, broken-down wall met a still-tall upstanding facade. Clumps of delicate flowers, blue and yellow, grew in defiant profusion out of cracks and crannies in the surface of the crumbled stone.
'Look at the stone.' He placed her hand gently on the wall.
Her fingers rested in pits and whorls. 'It's all different,' she marvelled. 'It's gone all funny.' The ancient, tightly-fitted stones each showed wildly different textures. Some of the warm, reddish surfaces were deeply dimpled, while others had deep striations that covered the rock face in odd patterns. In yet others, deep grooves carved the stones, leaving sharp ridges and valleys.
'Eroded,' he said, bouncing on his toes. 'Pitted, rippled, corrugated... It's the wind. Over half a millennium, winds funneled down from the north. Particles abrade the surface of the stones and leave these patterns. Artwork from the wind!'
'They feel warm,' she said. She tilted her head upward and closed her eyes. The sun beat warm on her face and on her hand still resting on the wall. She stayed like that for a few moments and then realized that Ten was no longer speaking. Her first thought was that he had wandered off to inspect some other curiosity. Cautiously, she cracked open one eyelid only to find him right in front of her, watching her with some unfathomable expression on his face. But before she could say anything, he took her hand.
'Right! Nothing else we can do here now. Sunset should be around 9:40 tonight, so we have a few hours. I want to show you something I found at the shop.'
A short walk later, they stood in the shop before a shelf of chocolate bars.
'What is it?' asked Rose.
Ten reached out and picked up a bar. 'Wispa,' he said triumphantly. 'Brilliant. Chocolate filled with tiny bubbles.'
She shrugged. 'So is Aero.'
His eyes grew round. 'Really?' He snatched an Aero bar off the shelf and almost ran up to the counter. Triumphantly, he pulled out a 20 pound note as Rose joined him.
'More?' asked the man behind the counter.
'Bubbles!' Ten said, grinning. 'Bubbles in chocolate. Brilliant!'
'Wait,' said Rose. 'Tell me that you ate lunch.'
'Of course I did,' he said.
'A proper lunch. Not just chocolate,' she pressed.
'Er...'
The man shook his head and handed over the change. 'I don't think he'd have room after he gobbled down those bars a few hours ago...'
'Doctor,' Rose hissed.
'I've seen you eat nothing but chips,' Ten said, somewhat petulantly. 'How is chocolate any different?'
'Another thing,' said the man. 'Use coins, would you? This is the fourth time today you've used 20 pound notes for something under a quid. I'm running out of silver.'
Rose raised her eyebrows. Ten shrugged sheepishly. 'It's easier,' he said. 'Never had to fuss with change on Pete's world. All electronic transfer. Besides, give over a piece of paper and you get a handful of round, heavy metal things. They feel like money. Why, on Quankos-'
She pushed him out of the store. 'I'll train him,' she called back over her shoulder. Outside, she snatched the chocolate bars out of his hand and, despite his protests, stuffed them in her jacket pocket. 'You're not having any more of those until you've had a proper dinner.'
'Hey!'
She sat him down on a bench. 'Empty out your pockets,' she commanded.
He goggled at her. 'Here?'
'Here. Never mind the gizmos you probably have in there. Just the loose change. All of it.'
He obeyed, muttering. Rose held her cupped hands in front of him. Soon they were filled almost to overflowing with coins, the occasional crumpled fiver pinned amongst them.
'Doctor...' she said in disbelief. 'How much shrapnel do you have?'
He shrugged again. 'They're all different. How many pound coin designs do you have, anyway?'
'Don't matter,' said Rose as she quickly counted the money into her lap, pulling out the notes and handing them back to him. She finally leaned back in disbelief. 'You have almost 50 quid here. Just in change!'
'The cash machine only gave out twenties,' he said, with an injured tone.
Rose shook her head and counted out thirty pounds in coins. 'Once you've broken the first 20, use smaller notes or coins for smaller stuff. All right?'
'Yes, ma'am,' he said meekly.
Rose handed back the remainder of the change to him and headed back inside the shop. The man grinned when she handed over the change.
'Good thing he has you to keep him in hand. He's a funny one, that bloke.'
'Yeah. You could say that.' She laughed. 'Let me know if he does that again... or buys any more chocolate.'
'No worries,' he said, grinning, and gave her three 10 pound notes.
~ o ~ O ~ o ~
They returned to the village not long after sunset, having eaten what Rose thought passed for a proper dinner-sausages and potatoes. But as they neared the priory, they heard shouting.
'Something's up!' Ten broke into a run.
A handful of villagers were on the priory grounds, among them Arthur and George.
'What's that shimmer?' gasped Rose when she caught up to Ten. He had stopped at the gate, peering at something that hovered beyond the villagers and amongst the walls.
'I don't know,' he breathed as he swung his long legs over the gate and dropped to the grass on the other side. Rose clambered over.
As they approached the entrance to the ruins, however, the shimmering cloud seemed to collect itself and darted towards the villagers who had clustered at the entrance to the ruins. For a moment, Rose couldn't see anything as the group of villagers blocked her view. But then, a woman closer to the cloud was enveloped first and she flailed wildly. The cloud billowed around her, scattered slightly and then concentrated itself again. The woman writhed.
'Get them off me!' she screamed as she fell.
Ten dashed towards her, pulling off his coat.
To be continued
