oOo

Tegan dragged Kyris' semi-conscious form into the relative safety of her cottage, spared just a moment to make sure he wasn't in imminent danger of dying - the wound was high and undoubtedly painful, but in her judgment ultimately survivable - then crouched low and peeked through the window that faced the cliff. Ace was howling like a madwoman, screaming for the Master to give her back her daughter, while the Master fought her off with deadly silence - but no real success, Tegan noted with satisfaction. The Doctor was crouched in a stance that suggested the desire to launch himself at the other two but she could tell he was waiting for the right moment.

"Your son he's safe."

Tegan's head snapped around as Kyris croaked out those words. "What? What do you mean?" she gasped, all thoughts of the fight going on outside forgotten. She rushed back to Kyris' side, crouching next to him. "Where is he?"

"With Nyssa in our TARDIS," he mumbled, then dropped into full unconsciousness.

Tegan could have shaken him out of sheer frustration. "Where? Where's your bloody TARDIS?" she demanded, but Kyris remained inert.

The wound on his shoulder was seeping blood, but not as much as she'd expected. She crawled over toward the bed with some vague idea of both keeping her head down and tearing up the sheet to wrap the wound when a sound near the front door caught her attention. The scuff of a foot against the floor, perhaps; cautiously raising her head and peering around the edge of the bed, she felt her heart skip in relief as she saw Tyrel moving with equal caution toward her.

He caught her eye at almost the same moment, and his face lit up as he grinned with relief. "Tegan!" he whispered, then appeared to notice Kyris' unconscious form. "What happened?" he demanded as he dropped to his knees, all business.

"The Master shot him, some kind of laser weapon. Is he going to be all right?" she added anxiously as she handed him the pillow case she'd grabbed.

"Looks like a clean shot, painful, but it appears to have cauterized itself so the bleeding at the entrance and exit wounds is already slowing down," Tyrel pronounced after a moment's study. He used the pillow case to staunch the weakened flow, packing it in carefully and professionally in a manner that Tegan envied; her field bandages always looked like bulky messes.

Once he was done, he pronounced it safe to move Kyris to Tegan's bed, which they proceeded to do with much grunting and under breath cursing, at least on Tegan's part; he was a lot heavier than he looked. When that was finished, she turned to Tyrel, throwing her arms around him for a long hug. "He said John's safe, that he's on their TARDIS. Can you take me to him?" The words came out much calmer than she felt.

Tyrel's arms tightened around her before he released his hold. "Not yet. The Master's two guards are outside, on the other side of the house. They know we're here by now, there's no way they couldn't know," he added with a rueful glance at the window. "Not with that ruckus going on outside. I managed to sneak in, but there's no way of telling if they're still in the same place. My guess is that they've been given orders to stay put unless specifically called for, but I don't suppose we can count on that if we actually put ourselves in front of them."

"Right, so we let the Doctor and Ace take care of the Master, but the guards are up to us." She nodded firmly. "Let's go."