A very long chapter here! And ends with a sort of cliffy, which was not my intention.
Enjoy!
Five
Martha had learnt long ago to leave the Doctor alone when he was thinking, especially when he was contemplating what to do next. They had been given a hut to share which was situated right next to Kaza's one, allowing the Doctor to pass to and fro from both huts. She had never seen him so edgy, so anxious to find out what had happened to this planet's people.
Kaza had explained to them that records from the peaceful days rarely existed and the harmony that had once bound the society together had been severed by the feelings of anger and hate that had replaced the feelings of love and beauty. For nearly three thousand years darkness had reined across the land, keeping them a slave to their emotions – those were the words the chief had used to describe how he felt about the war.
She had heard how an ancestor of Kaza had been taken as a mere boy of sixteen. The boy, the heir to the Northerners village, had been returned to them filled with hate for the Southerners. The war had begun when the Chief, the boy's father, had proclaimed war upon the Southerners, Easterners and Westerners for inflicting the horrible damage done to his heir.
The Westerners, Easterners and Southerners had banded together to fight back, but the Northerners were so filled with hate and anger that gradually the three tribes that had combined together were slowly shattered. The effects of that war had caused a rift between people that had once loved each other.
As the years passed each prince or princess was taken at the age of sixteen, and returned home with tales of horror, of torture and of pain. They spoke of the hate that had gathered and how revenge must be taken against their enemies – the Southerners who had been responsible for what had happened to them. Just over two thousand years ago, five children were taken, each held a strategic place within the camp of the Northerners, and, as before, when they returned they spoke of the same dark place and prison every heir to the Village had been taken to. Their passion for war influenced others and soon every child from the day they were able to lift a sword was trained in the noble art of combat to defeat their enemies.
As the years went by, children rarely disappeared as the feelings they had against the other tribe was taught to them by their parents. They were meant to hate the Southerners and they wouldn't stop fighting them until each one was dead.
Kaza had explained that he had been taught to hate but after his father's death at the hands of illness he had felt something different rise within him.
A feeling that he had never felt before: Forgiveness.
The gods he worshipped were meant to protect his father from illness – but they had failed to keep that promise, but he could forgive them for that, and it had helped him look at the war with a different point of view. Kaza could forgive the Southerners for the transgressions of the past but when he spoke to other members of his council or to the people of his tribe they did not share the same view as him. To them, the Southerners, and anyone that consorted with them deserved the ultimate penalty of death.
Whatever was preventing the people from forgiving the Southerners, Kaza wasn't being affected. It was if an influence had been banished from his mind. And Martha had to wonder if these people were being controlled by something far darker and mysterious.
"I think I know what is going on here," he said as he strolled into the hut and straight up to where Martha was sitting. He didn't even give her a chance to speak before he blundered on attempting to explain the logic that had hit him in the minutes he had been gone from the hut they had been given after Kaza had told them his people's history. "You're probably going to laugh at me but it all makes sense to me."
"What's that?" asked Martha, standing up and folding her arms.
The Doctor brushed a weary hand through his hair. "I'm pretty sure these people are being controlled by something. What concerns me most is that they feel no emotion other then anger and hate – it's like they've lost the ability to love."
"People are incapable of love you know," responded Martha, giving him a pointed look. "People who don't give an ounce of care to others feelings when they harm someone they love. When someone is murdered, some feel they have the right to do what they did, but some do not show any emotion at all because they do not care."
"Yeah, I know, but not these people. They are fundamentally human. Something is taking their ability to love from them – something dark. I can sense something dark around this village. It surrounds everyone, but Kaza seems to feel lighter then most as if he is fighting unconsciously back at it."
"I thought that too – I was going to mention it to you but you rushed off as soon as we were brought to this hut. I didn't have a chance to tell you of my suspicions – I'm just glad that you noticed the same thing as me."
The Doctor's eyebrows rose. "That is very perceptive of you. You don't sense anything at all?"
She shook her head wondering what the Doctor meant. "No…"
"Hmm," he scratched the back of his neck, "whatever this darkness thing is it knows I'm a threat to it. If I can sense it, it can sense me."
"You think its going to try to kill you?"
He shrugged. "Put me out of commission more likely or try to affect me."
"Ah," said Martha. "What do we do now?"
"The Shaman," the Doctor said, strolling round the hut, "he is the neutral party in this. Kaza told me that he predicts the future –"
Martha shook her head. "No he didn't."
"He did – well, he just told me. You were in here waiting for me. I had an epiphany. I've been here before the outbreak of this war and I remember the Shaman being the neutral person and he still is! He has the ability to see into the future or – to put it more accurately – predict the future in terms of prophecies. Not all of them come true, but he is usually correct in what he predicts."
"Why am I getting a bad feeling about this?" asked Martha, raising her eyebrow.
The Doctor scratched the back of his neck. "Probably because you know that whatever I say next concerns us and the role we must play in this war?"
Martha nodded. "I figured as much."
"We're going on a little trip," said the Doctor. "We need to hear exactly what the Shaman's last prophetic words were and whether they meant us or something else entirely. Kaza believes the words referred to us but he can't remember the exact words, just the gist of it."
"So, we're going up the mountain?"
"Yes we are."
"Right then, I'd better find something suitable to wear."
"You're fine as you are," he replied, pointing to the cropped jeans and purple top she wore. "It might be wise if you changed your shoes. Heals wouldn't be a good thing to wear since we're trailing up a mountain."
"Should I go barefoot then? I didn't exactly bring another pair of shoes with me, did I?"
"Well, it's a good thing that my pockets are bigger on the inside too, isn't it?" smiled the Doctor, producing a pair of plimsolls from his pockets.
Martha stared at him. "You can fit a pair of shoes in your pockets?"
He nodded, offering her the plimsolls. "You should've learned now to expect the impossible from me Miss Jones."
She had to admit, he did have a point. "I just didn't think that you could have a pair of shoes that are exactly the right size for me in your pockets."
He grinned at her. "Never underestimate me, Miss Jones."
"I rarely do," she replied.
Despite there being a path that led them straight to the Shaman's cave, Martha was quite glad that the Doctor did have bigger pockets on the inside. She was certain if she had worn her heels she would have fallen to an untimely death. The path was quite slippery, and crumbling away the further they went up the mountain. As they walked higher the pathway became narrow so much that they had to take extra care and walk sideways with their back facing the walls, as the navigated perilously along the dangerous route. Martha had to wonder why a respected Shaman had chosen to live high up in the mountains and at a place where people, if they lost their balance, could potential fall to their death.
"Easy does it," said the Doctor as he prevented Martha from stumbling over the edge of the pathway as it wound very close to the mountainside, leaving only room for one person to walk along the path.
"Thanks," she breathed. "How much further have we got to go?"
"No idea," admitted the Doctor. "Chief Kaza just told me to follow the path and we would come to a big opening in the mountain that is known to both tribes as the home of the Shaman."
As they rounded another corner, the path seemed to spread out in front of them, leaving a path that would fit more then ten people on it at once, side by side. The Doctor turned his head to the side. "Martha, I think we've found him."
She stood beside the Doctor looking at the man who sat cross-legged in front of a cave, staring at them.
"I have been expecting you," he said simply.
"I'm the Doctor and this is Martha Jones."
"Yes I know," the man replied.
Of course you would say that! You've just been told our names! thought Martha. She had the distinct impression that the Shaman was a phoney and that he had no mystical powers of any sort.
"You are strangers to our world and yet you like us," said the Shaman. "You are not human," he pointed to the Doctor, "and yet you are," he pointed at Martha. "You, Doctor, have a darkness that resides in your heart."
Martha glanced at the Doctor, but her attention was drawn away from him as the Shaman gave her a pointed look.
"You, Miss Jones, are an unbeliever. You think I have no power at all and yet I know you are from Sol 3."
"Sol 3?" asked Martha, confused.
"Sol 3 is Earth," whispered the Doctor.
"I didn't know it had another name."
"It's not something that is common knowledge on Earth," supplied the Doctor.
The Shaman leaned forward, his white beard, Martha noted, trailed to the ground. His eyes looked old, as if he had lived for thousands of years. "I tend to find that off-worlders do not believe in my ability unless I give them proof."
Martha felt instantly foolish. It seemed he could read minds too.
"There is no need for you to ashamed for not believing in supernatural powers," the Shaman replied in a soothing tone.
Martha gaped at him. "With all respect I should believe in these things. I have seen so much since travelling with the Doctor. He has opened my eyes to possibilities that I once thought improbable and yet I come here and find it difficult to believe in a man that has supernatural powers!"
"Sometimes you just have to have it demonstrated to you for you to believe it," nudged the Doctor, his eyes twinkling.
"What?"
And then she remembered: she hadn't believed that the TARDIS could travel in time until the Doctor had demonstrated it to her by going back in time and removing his tie in front of her past self. She shook her head, a slight smile on her face as she brought herself back to the present and followed the Doctor as he approached the Shaman.
"I believe you made a prophecy," said the Doctor. "Chief Kaza of the Northern tribe thinks it references my companion and me."
The Shaman nodded and gently stood up. He wore a long cloak that flowed to the cave floor, but his toes were just visible underneath. He had kind, deep blue eyes that showed wisdom and age. He beckoned them into the cave. There was a small fire burning away in the centre of the cave and against the cave's wall was a feather bed and a collection of pots and pans. The Shaman seated himself on one side of the roaring fire, indicating that the Doctor and Martha should sit on the other side facing him.
The Shaman closed his eyes and with his hands perched in his lap began to hum softly. An ethereal blue glow began to surround him and from his mouth came the words:
They will come,
They will endure trials and pain to save us all,
The light will shine in darkness, whilst the other conquers all.
Those who rule in shadow, beware of him (and of her)
The bringer of your eventual death.
As the Shaman spoke, the words he was speaking were carved upon his cave wall in an invisible hand, allowing the Doctor and Martha to read the prophecy as well as listen. The ethereal glow around the Shaman faded and he slowly opened his eyes to stare at the words that the Doctor and Martha were reading over and over.
"Yes, yes, the words do mean you two."
"Why is the 'and of her' in brackets?" asked Martha, leaning back on her heels.
"I have no idea – I just make the prophecies, I have no say in how they are written down by the ethereal gods."
"But what do you think?" probed the Doctor, intent on getting the Shaman's view of the Prophecy. He didn't necessarily believe in prophecies but he did know that something dark was lurking in the shadows and this thing, whatever it was, could sense him. He was certain that this creature would learn of the Shaman's words and use them to its advantage.
The Shaman frowned and ran a weary hand down his face as he considered his next words. "You, Doctor, are too dark to be the 'light that shines in darkness', so that line refers to your companion. You will be the 'other' that 'conquers all'."
"An interesting theory," said the Doctor as he pulled at his earlobe.
"You do not share the same belief?"
"Oh, of course I do," grinned the Doctor. He could see Martha shooting him a suspicious look and raised his eyebrows at her, telling her to keep quiet. "But we must be on our way. It is getting dark after all."
The Shaman watched them as they left the solitude of his cave.
They began to descend carefully down the mountain, taking extra care not to trip or fall. Once they got past the difficult stages of the path Martha decided it was time for the Doctor to explain himself.
"Alright, you didn't believe what that Shaman said did you?"
"Nope! He went for the most complicated explanation instead of the most simple one. The prophecy has some truth in it, yes, but the way he tried to decipher it made it too complicated, so I'm disagreeing with him on that!"
"You think he got our places mixed up?"
The Doctor only raised his eyebrows at her, grinning broadly.
Whatever he knew he wasn't going to tell her, at least not yet.
"You see, I was right!" cackled Aziel, as she and Arrein sat in the confines of their tent that was situated at the base of their small cave, located further up the mountain from the Shaman's one. As they had originated from the Southern Tribe, the Southerners had to climb to near enough the top of the mountain and then walk down from the top to reach the Shaman. This was one of the reasons why Aziel and Arrein had chosen to live on the mountain rather then in the strict regime that was their native tribe.
What their tribe didn't know was that they held more power over them then their Chief. After all they were servants of their god and he gave them power over even the Chiefs. It was in the mountain that the creature grew in strength and the cave that Aziel and her brother occupied led to his domain.
They were quite ecstatic that the Shaman had given them what they wanted. Not even the two strangers had noticed their presence in the Shaman's home; for their master had kept them hidden. They now knew which one of the strangers to take that would enable them to defeat the prophecy.
The Shaman had identified the one named the Doctor as the 'one who would conquer all' and the other named Martha Jones as the one who would shine in the darkness.
"Brother, we now know who poses the most threat to us – the one named the Doctor."
"Yes, dear sister, as soon as I saw him I knew that he would be the biggest threat."
Then a voice echoed through the cave in which they sat.
Then bring him to me.
"Our master wants to meet him," said Aziel, rubbing her hands together in glee.
"What of the girl?" asked Arrein, wondering if he would get the chance to kill something.
Leave the girl for now. Once you have taken her friend you will find it difficult to keep him in your grasp. Enlist the aid of your tribe – make sure that he is ready to meet me.
Arrein bowed his head to the darkness.
"When shall we proceed?" asked Aziel.
Tonight, the voice returned.
Aziel, like her brother, bowed her head and whispered: "Tomorrow, my lord, you will have the Doctor in your grasp."
I know I will. Now go. Bring me my prize.
To be continued…
Please let me know what you think!
Chapter six will follow soon. (It is still being written, so it is not available on Life on Martha either, which I hoped it would be).
magic-doctor-writer
