A/N) Thanks for all the reviews so far! I will try to get another chapter up before Christmas!

Eight

She had decided that it would be best if she visited the murdered girl's parents. The Shaman remained in the tribe having decided not to return to his cave, especially since it seemed the darkness could reside in there without him noticing. She didn't know if the enemy could reside within the Northern Tribe – for her to succeed she surely hoped that it couldn't, otherwise she would be in a lot of trouble.

Martha walked towards the centre of the village where the girl's parents were still preaching hate against their daughter's killers. A lot more people had joined them since she had spoken with the Shaman. She moved gently through the crowd, careful not to agitate them further. The tension was high and she shivered as the words they spoke penetrated her thoughts, making her feel uneasy.

She swallowed and knelt down beside the couple who were sitting cross-legged on the ground, beside their daughter, whispering words of anger and retribution. The mother was slowly patting her dead daughters head.

"Excuse me." Martha leaned down and spoke quietly enough that she hoped wouldn't wind up the entire group of people that surrounded the couple.

The woman's dark eyes caught her own and Martha fought the urge to shiver as she stared in the soulless depths of the eyes. There was anger stirring behind those brown orbs and Martha wondered if she had made a mistake in disrupting their preaching.

"What?" the woman's voice was hard and un-emotional.

"I need to speak to you and your husband, please." A bit of courtesy might help. "It's about your daughter."

"We are praying for revenge, you should know that."

Martha bit her lip. "I'm not from around these parts – your culture is unfamiliar to me."

"Why would an outsider want to speak to us?" said the husband, glaring at Martha. In his overly large hand he held his daughters cold one.

"I need some information – and there is something you ought to know about your daughter's death."

"It was you." The woman's sharp eyes bore into Martha's own, accusing her of her daughter's death. "You killed her."

Martha raised her hands, shaking her head. "No, I didn't. But I know what happened to her – I saw her die. It was partly my fault but I didn't harm a hair on her head." She crouched on the ground, her knees pushing into the mud.

"You can talk to us here," the father ordered.

"I can't," beseeched Martha. "It is a matter of importance that I speak to you alone."

"Then we will come to you later when we have finished our work."

Martha nodded, seeing no other way to convince them to come with her now. She stood, nodded to them and walked away. She was fully aware that the crowd was watching her, but once she was more then ten metres away from the body of the girl the crowd, and likely the parents, continued their revenge chant.

She decided to explain to Kaza her findings. She felt bad about leaving him in the dark and after all he had risked the life of one of his tribe to bring the Shaman to her. Walking through the tribe back towards the Chief's hut, Martha found to her surprise most of the un-damaged huts completely empty. Glancing over her shoulder she was not surprised to see the majority of the tribe comforting the girl's parents. The Chief was not among them.

Of course he doesn't incite hatred. He doesn't see the point – it prolongs the war they are in the middle of in.

"Miss Jones? I presume you are coming to speak to me?"

She turned back, a slight smile on her face. "I was, unless you are going somewhere?"

Kaza shook his head, holding a long staff in his hand that was made of wood. "I was just going to pray. Would you like to join me?"

Martha nodded, accepting the offer. She had a chance to possibly learn more about Kaza's people and their culture. She had guessed the rest of Kaza's tribe were wary of her due to her difference to them. Instead of his usual attire of robes, Kaza wore a simple cloak. His shoulder length, silky black hair rested on his shoulders and he moved with ease. The Chief led Martha towards the forest that she and the Doctor had arrived in.

"This is the Forest of Cubhe – it means bountiful. This forest used to be abundant with food and water. The wildlife used to live in harmony but now what remains is endangered. This forest is strictly off limits to everyone, save for myself and the Shaman."

"Why is that?" asked Martha. They had just entered the forest, and Martha found herself taken by the beauty of her surroundings. It had only been two days since she and the Doctor had arrived and discovered the barren wasteland that Maralus had become. The beauty of the forest had quickly vanished from Martha's mind in the wake of the wasteland of the planet, the hearing of the prophecy and the Doctor's capture.

"I'd forgotten its beauty," whispered Martha as she gazed intently at the many different species she had not seen when she and the Doctor had been exploring this place. "Why has this place remained untouched?"

"A long time ago the many fractions agreed that one part of our world should remain undamaged by the war – it is a place where we can visit in harmony, if we so wish but no one has ever done so in hundreds of years. I am the only one who visits. It is a place I can visit in times of stress, like now," he sighed. "I am fed up of war – and this place feels like it is a part of a different world. It is the only sacred place where war cannot touch it. What is your world like?"

Martha was surprised by the question. She hadn't realised that the Chief had known that she was not from this world. Her mind focused on Earth as she considered what to say. Her home life wasn't easy, not with her mother constantly fretting over 'who the Doctor was' and that 'he was dangerous'. At least she had moved out before the trouble with her parents had started. She still hadn't gone for that dinner she had promised her mother after nearly falling into the sun. Of course the Doctor could just take her to that specific evening – that is, if he survived this.

"My world is in a state of war – but not in the way it is here," she responded, picking the words carefully. "There is a degree of peace as not everyone is affected by the troubles in the world, but there is always something going on. There are more people on my planet then on Maralus – billions of people. There are places like this but just not so beautiful."

"You have the ability to travel to the stars as well?" mentioned Kaza as they walked through the undergrowth.

"No, we don't." Martha shook her head.

"Then how did you get here if you don't have that ability?"

"The Doctor is an alien to me – he isn't the same species as me. He comes from another planet himself. He saved me from a terrible death," she remembered the Judoon and them leaving the people of the hospital to die, "and asked if I wanted to have a trip around the universe – I said yes. I left my family behind – they don't know that the Doctor is an alien, they don't even know I am not even on Earth…" she trailed off, realising that she felt bad about not telling her parents the truth. They deserved to know the truth even if her mother was paranoid about the Doctor.

"Do you miss your family?"

"Yeah, I do," she felt sad. How long had it been since she had seen her mother or even called her? Over three months…She had spent two months in hiding in 1913 and nearly a month had passed by since leaving that time period. I'm gonna have to call her at some point…

Martha turned back to Kaza, lightly smiling.

"This where I feel at peace, feel at calm and a place where I feel free from the burdens I carry."

"You carry?" asked Martha, squatting down beside the Chief as he sat down in the middle of a clearing that was surrounded by tall tress. Above them, Martha could see the sunlight pouring down in the gaps of the leaves, basking them in sunlight. The warmth on her skin was quite comforting. She started to fumble with a tiny flower that was growing beside where she had rested her palm on the ground. She vaguely recognised it as the plant she had asked the Doctor about before they had been drawn into this war, before they had even met Kaza….She recalled him saying that it was poisoned, but as she looked up she saw the Chief pulling another one of the flowers from the ground and place it delicately in his mouth and begin to chew upon it.

"The Doctor said that was poisoned," she pointed out, feeling obliged to inform the Chief of this little fact. She didn't leap forward to force the Chief to spit it out as that would have been pointless as most of the flower had been swallowed by the time she had voiced what the Doctor had told her.

"If he's a different species to you and I then it could be to him, but it certainly isn't to me. I've been eating this plant since just before my father died," suggested the Chief. "Ofhorn soothes the mind, helped me feel forgiveness…made me see that this war is pointless." He laughed then, considering what he had just said. "That's just silly – a little flower prevents me from being like my people, from hating every Southerner? It's a ridiculous idea. Forget what I said Martha Jones. It won't help you one bit."

But Martha had taken notice. And she began to wonder if that plant, the Ofhorn that she had inquired about with the Doctor, might be the key to unravelling it all.


His head was on fire.

Not literally of course as that would really hurt.

The darkness continued to attack his mind. Whatever it was, was powerful. A strong and unknown entity was something that he could be afraid of, but admitting that freely would give the creature an advantage that it didn't deserve to have. So far he had managed to prevent the entity from learning about Martha and the prophecy's true meaning but it was hurting him. It was taking most of his strength to resist against it – and he knew that if he tried to fight back it would make his situation even more difficult.

His captors were dragging him along themselves, his feet no longer responding as he continued the fight in his mind. Every few minutes he grunted from the exhaustion the effort was making him. The Doctor gritted his teeth as a painful stab in his mind wrecked through his body. He bit his lip preventing himself from yelling himself hoarse. He had a mission and that was to protect Martha. He couldn't be weak – he couldn't give in – but no matter how much he tried, the pain just got worse.

You are weak.

It was talking to him – he could hear the cruel voice reverberating in his head, demanding that he break and let it consume him.

What are you?

It had realised he wasn't of this world, its suspicions would be roused and possibly then target Martha….no… he shook his head, shoving the thought of Martha out of his head. He couldn't endanger her.

You like her? Perhaps I should hurt her?

"Leave her alone!" he yelled out, startling the two people hauling him along the path.

Then tell me what you are.

The offer was so tempting but he wasn't going to take it. He clenched his eyes shut, preventing a scream from ripping from this throat – he buckled in his captor's grip as immense pain ran through his body.

He could feel the creature stretching its will through his mind, trying to reach to the core of his mind, where all his secrets were stored. He was constructing mental shields continuously around that area, even as the creature tore them down. No one had been able to get into his mind like that before – apart from Reinette of course, but he had unintentionally opened his mind to her, without realising that a door once opened could be stepped through. The creature was forceful, powerful and dark, restless in its quest to break his mind and make him divulge everything he knew.

And then without warning the darkness faded from his mind leaving him utterly exhausted and panting for breath. He continued to erect shields in his mind, covering the cracks that the creature had made. He thought briefly of Martha and hoped with all his heart that she was alright.

So you do care for her…

The darkness was back, having returned as quickly as it had departed. Just thinking about Martha had given the creature valuable information. He cared for her deeply, a lot more then he had ever thought possible. Rose's loss had scarred him, and he hadn't wanted to take Martha into his heart and lose another person close to him – and yet the medical student from London had gradually warmed her way into his hearts, despite his attempts to keep her at bay.

He couldn't lose her otherwise he would be alone once more and he didn't want that.

You are so alone, aren't you?

The creature had picked up on his thoughts. The Doctor realised with horror that his reflections upon Martha had enabled the creature to claw its way deeper into his mind, seeking out the secrets and personal things he had kept hidden for so long. Only one other person really knew of his love for his home world and that was Martha – he had trusted her with so much – and he kept on asking, never giving anything back to her. He had continued to push her away.

Grief welled up in him, and as the creature scrabbled away, clawing at old and abandoned memories, the Doctor swallowed, before mustering the fear he had of his situation and fought back against the darkness that had a firm hold on his mind. He was screaming, buckling in his captor's grip and then he fell into the utter bliss of unconsciousness.

His mind, for now, was completely shut off from the creature that was tormenting him.


Martha had prayed with Kaza to the Gods his people worshipped in hope, that if they truly existed, that they would help her in her mission. She had politely departed from the Chief after his prayers were done, leaving him to contemplate his thoughts. Martha returned to the village, feeling drained, but almost heartened by what she had discovered.

Before she had left Kaza to attend to his own devices, Martha had collected about fifteen of the Ofhorn plant back with her to the Northern Camp. Kaza had explained to her that as a child he had been told that the plant was dangerous and death would swiftly follow – it had been a natural instinct in his brain making him believe this truth. Martha had learnt that Kaza had eaten the plant just after his brother's death but before his father's dying day. He had come to what remained of the forest to pray to the gods in a place that was considered a sanctuary. There he had met the Shaman, who had given him the plant to eat, telling that it would aid him. Despite what his peers had told him about the poisonous plant, Kaza had chosen to trust his father's long-time friend, and eaten the plant. Since that day he had felt more at peace with himself, as if he had been cured of the darkness that held the planet of Maralus in its grip.

And that had made her wonder.

As she had possession of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver and his little crunched up piece of paper of his instructions which he had given her before his capture, she intended to scan the flower and see what the results said about Ofhorn.

Martha entered her hut and rummaged through her belongings until she found the Sonic device. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, Martha held the Sonic device in one hand, while holding the piece of paper flat on the ground, and scanning it, trying to find the right combination code that would enable her to scan or analyse the flower.

There.

Written in the Doctor's scrawny handwriting, half-way down the page, were the settings:

SCAN/ANALYSE – 3771

Picking up one of the Ofhorn flowers she had brought back, Martha corrected the Screwdriver's combination number and began to scan the flower.

There was just one flaw that the Doctor hadn't thought of – Martha couldn't understand the results of the scan. There was no output screen that displayed the results – the Doctor hadn't thought of that one insignificant barrier.

The Sonic Screwdriver, aside from the TARDIS, was the Doctor's most prized possession and it couldn't aid her one bit.


Since the Screwdriver was useless to her, Martha had decided to make her way back to the TARDIS. Night had fallen by the time she left the tribe and began to tread the path that would lead her back to the TARDIS. She had not told anyone where she was going, and despite her fear of walking alone in the dark on an unknown planet, Martha knew she had to do it. She had a mission to accomplish and she wouldn't succeed if she waited until morning when her departure could be viewed by everyone.

Thankfully there were no clouds that night, allowing Martha to see her path due to the light of the moon and stars. She moved quickly, determined not to give anyone the chance to attack or follow her.

She knew that they had found the path that had led them out of the forest after wandering through the forest. The Sonic Screwdriver was useful for something. She had set the Sonic to take her to the TARDIS, therefore preventing her from getting lost in the forest since the TARDIS had been set down nowhere near the path.

Eventually she found the blue box, standing where they had left it. The TARDIS was surrounded by the beauty and splendour that Maralus had to offer. She stopped, ensuring that no one was coming after her. She slipped the chain from around her neck off, which she had stored both hers and the Doctor key and unlocked the door. Taking one last glance around, Martha stepped inside.

To be continued...

Please let me know what you think!

Chapter Nine will be posted soon.

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