Stay with me, folks. This chapter is short, but sweet.
FOUR
"Ho there, good lady," the Doctor said, speaking directly to Ahedruma.
She looked at him with great big eyes, as if in total shock, and a haughty purse of her lips. "Good sir," she said, her voice icy.
Giving her his best smile, he said, "I wonder if you might be willing to do me a personal favour."
She continued to stare, almost without blinking, and her comrades did the same. "I was wondering the same thing of you. Doctor." She said his name with malice. Which was completely lost on him, the unperceptive oaf.
He looked at Jack comically in a "What're you gonna do?" sort of way, almost pitying the poor woman. Then he said to her, "Oh, now now, none of that. I belong to another, I'm afraid." He took Martha's hand and smiled at her.
Ahedruma did not flinch. This time Plexaphedros spoke up. "Promised to another, are you? How interesting," he mused in an almost singsong fashion.
A whiny voice came from the third of the "medieval rubberneckers" as he had called them. Maude said, "Interesting indeed, Doctor. Tell me, are you in love with this negress?"
"Oi, watch it," Martha piped up.
The Doctor squeezed her hand, and she got the message. And the message was to shut up and let him handle it.
"Yes," he answered seriously. "Yes, I am. Very deeply. So no funny business, eh?"
"Funny business?" Maude asked.
"I just need a favour is all," the Doctor said. "Can you make me immensely happy, please, by stepping away from this blue box, and never telling anyone what you've seen?"
The three strangers looked at each other. A barely-concealed laugh threatened to break their composure. "I think that would be fine," Plexaphedros said to the Doctor, his smirk conspiratorial and slippery. "I think the rules have now changed."
His tone gave the Doctor chills. Now that he knew the game, that kind of slippery talk from a greasy medieval man was more than a little disconcerting. He didn't much care for being loved by all at the moment, and he just wanted out of this year.
Plexaphedros, Ahedruma and Maude stepped away from the TARDIS, never taking their eyes off the Doctor.
"Thank you, kind folk," the Doctor said, just before pushing his key into the lock. "You have pleased me truly." He smiled at them brightly, waiting for a loving response, but he got none.
Jack and Feeno entered the TARDIS, and as Martha walked past, the Doctor bent down and gave her a kiss. They smiled amorously at each other before pulling the door shut.
Outside, Ahedruma watched them closely, and said to her compatriots, "Plexaphedros, I don't think we'll need to follow your plan. This is going to be easier than we thought."
