7.
Hand in hand, the Doctor and Louisa hurried along the country road towards the village when there was a sudden shout from above them. "Hey Doctor, wait up!"
The Doctor turned and broke into a wide grin as he saw the figures of Jack, Katherine and Megan running down a grassy hill towards them. As they reached them, Katherine flew into the Doctor's arms and he hugged her tightly with relief. Jack smiled as well, but his smile faltered when he caught the Doctor's sudden steely glance towards him over Katherine's shoulder. "I think you've got something to tell me Jack," he said quietly.
"Whatever it is can wait!" blurted out Megan who was looking tearfully at a blissfully unaware Louisa.
Louisa suddenly went cold. "What is it?" she asked, looking between Megan, Jack and Katherine. The colour suddenly drained from her face as she realised who was missing. "Where is he?" she whispered hoarsely to Jack. "Where's my husband?"
Megan instantly burst into tears and Jack looked uncomfortably away before finally meeting her eyes. "Louisa, William's dead. I'm sorry," he said gently.
Louisa's mouth moved but no sound came out. The Doctor was at her side instantly and tried to comfort her, but she pulled away and stumbled towards Jack. "He was with you," she muttered, fighting a rising panic that threatened to engulf her. "What happened? Why didn't you keep him safe!" she accused.
Katherine went to Louisa and held her. "There were creatures," she said quickly, "they attacked us and your husband tried to protect us. He," she paused and looked over to Megan, "died saving our lives!"
Louisa crumpled into tears and Katherine held her as she wept. The Doctor caught the look that had gone between Jack, Katherine and Megan. "We need to talk," he whispered.
Suddenly a high, keening and unearthly wail echoed through the air. It was at once joined by another wail, then another and then another, until there was a terrifying chorus.
"What the Hell was that?" asked Jack, reaching instinctively inside his jacket for his revolver.
The Doctor twisted around, his eyes wide. "I think our problems just got a lot bigger!"
8.
The horrific wailing subsided abruptly and the Doctor swung around, trying urgently to get a fix on their origin. He ran across to Megan. "Megan, you know this area, where do you think that came from?"
Megan shrugged. "I don't know," she stammered nervously, trying to keep a clear head. "But it had a weird kind of echo."
The Doctor clicked his fingers. "Echo, of course! Why didn't I think of that? Brilliant!" He grinned at Megan and then started to dash away.
Katherine, still comforting a sobbing Louisa, called out after him. "Doctor, where are you going?"
The Doctor spun around to face her; his eyes bright and Katherine could see that his whole body was full of impatient energy. "It's in the gorge - under the bridge!" he explained urgently. "Jack," he continued, "you're with me. Katherine, you and Megan get Louisa back to the village; look after her." He started off again but then stopped and swung around as he remembered the two Time Agents. "Ah, watch out for two nasty guys with guns. Louisa will tell you; just take care!"
"Guys with guns?" asked Jack carefully.
The Doctor regarded him for a second and then with a wave, and followed by a grim Jack Harkness, his revolver drawn, ran off towards the bridge.
****************************
The four grey ghouls crouched, hissing and snarling, in a rough semicircle around the entrance to the dark, shadowy tunnel that led into the gorge. The boulder that had blocked it for so many centuries lay a few feet away. A grey, unnatural mist began to drift from the depths of the tunnel and as it did, the creatures began to wail once more, cries and howls of both fear and elation.
The mist began to swirl and take the shape of a tall figure dressed in a hooded black cloak. It was the same figure that had attacked both Katherine and Sir William, but this was no insubstantial spectre. The mist evaporated, leaving a fully corporeal creature, although its face was still hidden in the folds of the dark hood. "At last, it whispered, "after eons of imprisonment!" It raised two grey and bony claw-like hands to the sky. "I escaped Jassran, I am free at last!"
9.
Louisa shook off Katherine's arm and swallowed hard. "I'm alright; thank you, but I'm okay now." Her voice wobbled and Katherine knew she was just putting on an incredible brave face.
"Let's get back to the village," said Katherine reassuringly.
Megan nodded quickly. "I could do with vodka or two!" she agreed with a note of false cheer. "Louisa, who are the men the Doctor warned us about?"
Louisa looked up from her daze. The news of her husband's death had even driven her recent desperate escape completely from her mind. "I don't know exactly, but they were after your friend Jack."
"After Jack?" asked a puzzled Katherine. "Who would know Jack here?"
Suddenly, the ground next to them rippled with the blast of a sonic weapon. Breaking their cover from some trees further down the hill, Agents Holloway and Grant came charging towards them.
"Run!" yelled Megan and all the women split up, running in different directions.
Grant paused, took aim, and another blast of sonic energy hit Louisa squarely in the back. With a groan she crumpled to the ground. Katherine screamed and paused, running back to see if she could help her friend.
Holloway ran towards her and aimed his blaster at her as she knelt over the fallen Louisa. "Don't move!"
*******************************
The Doctor and Jack dashed towards the old bridge in silence. Jack knew that something had seriously upset the Doctor; he had rarely seen him so angry.
"Time Agents Jack!" asked the Doctor brusquely, slowing his pace to just a fast walk. "Why are they looking for you? What have you done?"
"Doctor, I can explain!" replied Jack a little guiltily.
"You lied to me Jack!" accused the Doctor. "You said you were working for them!"
Jack nodded "I know, I know! Let me….."
But the Doctor abruptly held up his hand to silence him. "It can wait," he whispered, "look!" They had come to the ridge of the gorge and the Doctor pointed down below. They could see the cloaked figure at the entrance to the tunnel and surrounded by its ghoulish minions. "Let's find out what's going on!" He put his finger to his lips and started to walk softly and carefully down into the gorge.
10.
The cloaked figure surveyed the grey creatures that surrounded and kneeled before it. "So, my army grows," it chuckled softly. "Good, good. This planet will soon feel my wrath!" It glided forward noiselessly to stand next to one of the creatures that looked bigger, older and uglier than the rest. "My faithful servant," the figure hissed, resting a grey skeletal hand almost fondly on the creature's head. "Sealed with me for centuries, you must have been so hungry!" The creature growled softly. "Soon we will all feed on their fear!"
Behind a nearby group of boulders and rocks, the Doctor and Jack watched and listened carefully. "What is it Doctor?" asked Jack quietly.
The Doctor shrugged. "No idea," he replied, chewing his lip in thought. "Don't think he's a tourist mind you!"
Suddenly there was a cry of 'Doctor! Jack!" from the top of the gorge as Megan appeared, running as fast as she could towards them. The cloaked figure spun around and looked up with a hiss of anticipation and evil glee, whilst the creatures surrounding it snarled with hunger.
The Doctor groaned faintly, but his eyes were serious. "Oh no, I told them to stay away!"
Megan pelted down the side of the gorge, but stopped short and screamed when she saw the creatures and their terrible master at the bottom. The figure in the cloak gave a throaty chuckle as the creatures bound towards her.
"Jack, protect Megan!" ordered the Doctor urgently, pushing him up the side of the gorge. Then, with his hands in his trouser pockets and an affected air of nonchalance, the Doctor stepped from hiding and started to stroll down the hill towards the cloaked figure. "Oh, morning," he greeted it cheerily as he approached, as if noticing it for the first time. "Lovely day isn't it?" he grinned. "Staying at the village are we? Or just passing through?"
The figure turned to confront the Doctor as he got closer and then suddenly tilted its head slightly, almost as if it were listening to something. It raised a hand and the creatures stopped abruptly in their tracks. "You are not the same as the people that inhabit this planet. Who are you?"
"Oh, I'm the Doctor. I think the question really should be who are you?"
The figure gave an evil chuckle and reached up to throw back the hood that covered its head. The face beneath was of a screaming crimson-red skull, the eye sockets filled with a glowing silvery light. "I am the Jassra!"
11.
The Doctor pursed his lips in thought. "Jassra, Jassra, Jassra? Nope, can't say I've ever heard of you!" he replied cheekily. "Famous from where you come from are you?"
The Jassra glided menacingly towards the Doctor who watched it carefully, his smiling façade now dropped. "I am fear. I am terror. I am death!" it hissed and closed its silvery eyes.
Suddenly the Doctor reeled as his mind was assaulted by a myriad of terrifying images. Although this was like the attack in Deering Hall, now it was less overpowering and the images clearer. He saw a race of grey, stone-like aliens in a huge stone chamber standing around a column of twisting red and silver energy. Inside the vortex appeared a red flaming skull, laughing and triumphant. The aliens were running and screaming and dying in flames. A huge stone tower toppled to the ground amidst an ancient stone city. Grey ghoulish creatures leapt through the ruins of the city killing any that stood in their way. The Jassra creature was hissing and snarling as it was bound in a force-field of red energy beams. Stars and galaxies twisted and sped past until there was a massive explosion.
Jack meanwhile had reached Megan on the side of the gorge just ahead of the ghoul creatures and had pushed her behind him as the things advanced towards them. But as the Jassra launched its' telepathic assault on the Doctor however the ghouls had paused and turned to watch their master. Jack fingered his revolver indecisively as the Doctor writhed in agony on the ground.
"What's happening Jack?" screamed Megan. "You've got to help the Doctor!"
Suddenly the Doctor's eyes snapped open and he gasped for breath as the images in his mind abruptly faded. He struggled to his feet, his mind racing as he tried to make sense of what he had seen. "You were created weren't you?" he asked the Jassra in a low voice. "Created and then banished?"
The Jassra laughed malevolently. "But only after I had released the destruction I craved! And now I shall wreak havoc and destruction on this world until it burns in agony!"
12.
Katherine looked up at Holloway defiantly as she checked that Louisa was still breathing and was rewarded with a weak but steady pulse. "What do you want?" she spat.
"You're the Doctor's other companion aren't you," asked Holloway curtly, "from eighteenth century France?" Katherine was startled at the man's knowledge, but before she could retort or deny it, Holloway nodded towards Louisa. "She'll be alright, she's just stunned." Even as he spoke, and much to Katherine's relief, Louisa began to groan and stir.
Grant came trudging back down the hill from where he had chased Megan and shook his head towards his partner. "She got away!" he reported, his eyes betraying his bloodlust.
Holloway glowered at Grant but then shrugged. "Never mind, we've got these two."
Meanwhile, Katherine helped Louisa to sit up. "Are you alright?" she asked gently
Louisa nodded and brushed her long brown hair out of her eyes and refastened her ponytail. She looked up furiously at Holloway. "How dare you!" she spat.
Holloway shook his head in warning. "Don't start!" he replied, his eyes flashing angrily. "Now where's Harkness?"
The two women looked at each other and stayed silent. Holloway suddenly reached down and pulled savagely at Louisa's long hair, forcing her head back. "Don't play games woman!" Now where is he?" He placed his sonic blaster at her throat as she whimpered with fear.
Katherine knew instantly that they would kill them without mercy. "They've gone to the bridge" she whispered.
******************
In the gorge, the shadows were long and it had turned cold. The sky was now completely overcast by sullen black clouds. Megan shivered as she watched the confrontation between the Doctor and the Jassra creature.
The Doctor's mind was starting to clear but he still had questions about what the Jassra had shown him. "Why were you created; as a Jassran weapon?"
The Jassra chuckled again and shook its head, but there was almost self pity in its voice. "I am a distillation of all the negative emotions and thoughts of my world. They thought that by creating and binding me, their civilisation world would become a paradise! Instead it became a nightmare, devastation!"
13.
The Doctor began to understand what the Jassran race had intended. "They just wanted to leave positive thoughts and emotions?" He sighed. "Life just doesn't work like that I'm afraid. You have to take what you've got and change it for the better yourselves." His old strength and willpower was returning now. He glanced back over his shoulder to a nervous Jack and Megan, gave them a reassuring wink and beckoned for them to join him. "Anyway you're here now and have been for, oh about eight hundred years give or take."
Jack held Megan's hand as they walked down the side of the gorge, past the ghoul creatures, and approached the Doctor. "How do you know?" Jack asked the Timelord.
The Doctor pursed his lips and stuck his hands in his pockets. "I'm going back to the legend of the monk and the bridge. I'm guessing that the poor monk didn't fall off the bridge by himself but witnessed the arrival of our skull faced friend here on Earth. Over the centuries, the Jassra's latent telepathic powers have leeched out now and again causing the odd psychic disturbance – a shade here, a cold wind there – that kind of thing. But what woke you up?" A sudden thought struck him and he groaned. "Of course, the lightning storm that Sir William told us about. Probably struck the impact spot directly and 'zap' – a bit of Dracula-like resurrection!" He looked at the silently watching Jassra and grinned. "How am I doing?"
The Jassra held out a bony hand and one of the ghoul creatures bounded towards it like a faithful hound. It was the bigger and older one. "You are very perceptive Doctor, but what happened to the monk?"
The Doctor thought for a second and looked down at the creature crouched next to the Jassra. He clicked his fingers. "He became your first ghoul guide there didn't he? I should have thought of that earlier." He paused. "How do you do that by the way?"
The Jassra laughed cruelly, the silvery glow in its eye sockets intensifying as it pointed at Megan. "Then observe the curse of the Jassra!"
Megan screamed in agony at the ferocity of the Jassra's mental assault. Her blonde hair started to wither; the colour drained from her face leaving it pale, whilst her teeth started to grow into needle-like fangs.