Chapter 1
The sound of the TARDIS rests dormant, but present. And the Doctor is on a chair reading a book. He sits and reads calmly, but has a frown on his face, as if he really does not like the content of the book that he is reading. He is wearing the reading glasses that Amy gave him on their trip to New York. He is wearing his tweed jacket again, his purple coat rests on the back of the chair. His eyes portray a great sadness as he reads the book.
"Hey! What'ya reading?" Clara calls out from the other end of the TARDIS control room.
"The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. I'm reading it again. Its an amazing piece a literature... Do you know it?" The Doctor responds, cheering up slightly because of Clara's good mood.
"I think that I read it in school when I was a kid. I remember it being very boring." Clara says as she sits down on the chair beside the Doctor.
"Well thats the problem with kids, isn't it? They can't respect a piece of literature that is very well put together. I mean honestly. Kids think that Shakespeare is boring, but really he is a brilliant man, with new words on his tongue every other minute. There just isn't enough appreciation for old literature." The Doctor says, starting to smile now. "Also, Shakespeare is a really cool guy"
"Well, of course you've met Shakespeare. Tell me about him!" Clara says, she smiles and rests her head on the Doctor's shoulder.
"Aww, old William Shakespeare. He almost accidentally helped destroy the world. A race called the Carrionites were using his words to take over the world. Honestly they were completely brilliant. But they're completely gone now. Thank god." The Doctor responds, grinning now.
"Okay then. Well, read to me. I am really in desperate need of some good literature." Clara says in a playful tone of voice.
"Okay. Abigail Williams said "The court shall fall, to hurt them all, and when they call, they will faint and forget" Everybody in the court room fell to the clutches of the witch taking hold of Abigail William's body. Wait that is not right. I have read this book, and watched this play many times, and that never happens. It almost sound like. No it couldn't be."
"Are you okay Doctor? What couldn't be?" says Clara, now expressing a great deal of worry. She knows when the Doctor is worried.
"Never mind. It doesn't matter. Did I ever tell you about Capsha 7. Its an amazing planet. With frozen waves 20 feet high, and sharks that fly. Could you imagine, sharks that fly. But the best part isn't any of this, its that it is very warm, and you can swim in the ocean and climb all of the waves." The Doctor spurts on, trying very hard to ignore what he has just noticed. Right then he starts playing with the controls of the TARDIS " And of course, we can go to the moon of Capsha 7. You know how sometimes the moon of earth looks really colorful and blue, well this moon is literally blue. It has become a huge tourist attraction. So they put in a fake atmosphere, but still eliminated a lot of gravity. So you can breathe, and you can fly. Its brilliant." The Doctor is now slamming at the controls, and moving around the TARDIS console. The TARDIS lands and the sound of the TARDIS stops.
"So, if I step out of this door I am going to find the moon of Capsha 7?" Clara asks the Doctor.
"Oh, absolutely not, if you step outside you are going to find Salem in 1692. We can go to Capsha 7 after I am done with this little thing that I noticed." The Doctor grabs his coat. Him and Clara leave the TARDIS.
"Ah! The fields of Salem in February. Can you feel it Clara? Can you smell it?" The Doctor says, raising his arms and motioning to the air. A huge grin now crosses his face.
"All I have to say about the fields of Salem in February is;it's really cold! Let me go into the TARDIS and grab my jacket. Don't you run off on me!" Clara walks back inside the TARDIS to search for her coat. The Doctor waits for Clara for almost a minute, and then he hears screaming.
"T'was a witch, the devil's daughters' hand has cursed my beloved son. Wake up, please wake up!" The Doctor runs to screaming. Dashing into action mode. He arrives at the edge of Salem, and sees a boy lying on the gravel road. A group of people stand around the dormant boy, who is only the age of 11.
"Stand back,I need to see what is wrong with him!" The Doctor kneels to the ground. He reaches into his coat for his Sonic Screwdriver. He pulls it out and starts to scan the boy.
"What is that? It is a tool of magic, a tool of the devil." A frightened man yells from the crowd. This leads the crowd to uproar, and attack The Doctor.
"Stop!" Clara yells confidently from the back of the crowd. "That is not a tool of magic. It is a..." Clara, hesitating to say anything out of pure fright that he might say the wrong thing. "kind of knife we use in Britain. Yes. A kind of knife we use to cut cattle" Clara declares, but still unsure of herself.
"Yes, we're people from Britain. And sometimes we cut up cow." The Doctor exclaims while getting up from the ground.
"Then I am sorry for the people. We, the people, are in a very difficult time. But do not worry, they are all faithful to our lord and savior. " A man in robes says as he wades through the crowd. "Mary Kitchen, you must take your son to Mr. Hale. There he will be examined for any witchcraft. The man says, pointing the mother to the nearby church.
"Thank you Reverend Parris." The woman responds out of gratitude.
"Reverend Parris I presume." The Doctor addresses the Reverend while walking towards him.
"Yes. And who might you and your friend be?" The Reverend responds quizzically, wondering why there are British people in his town.
"I'm a lawyer. Sent here from Boston. And this is my... Intern." The Doctor says, holding up his psychic paper.
"Intern? What does that mean. Ah, I don't care, Boston language is the least of my current worries" The Reverend responds.
"Thats right. The witch hunts are your greatest worries currently." Clara says. Sounding proud of herself for referencing the book The Doctor was reading.
"Yes. Of course everybody from Boston has heard. We have condemned our first witch to die tomorrow. Also we just arrested a woman accused of witchcraft. We will have a trial for her tomorrow." The Reverend says, referencing his papers.
" And who might the person you just arrested be?" Clara asks, almost taking over the conversation from The Doctor.
"That would be Elizabeth Proctor, madame." The Reverend responds.
"Ah yes, we would like to see Elizabeth Proctor!" The Doctor says, attempting to steal the conversation back from Clara.
"And why would that be?" Wondering why anybody would want to be around an accused witch.
"Because we are her legal representatives!" Clara blurts out, without consulting The Doctor.
"Okay then, I will take you to meet Elizabeth Proctor." The Reverend says as he hastens his walking speed, and turns a corner. The Doctor looks at Clara, looking somewhat mad that she came up with a plan without consulting him. He stares at her, looking angry, and then gives her a high five.
"Legal representatives. Thats brilliant, I can't believe that I didn't think of that one. I mean, I guess I perfectly set it up, telling him we were lawyers" The Doctor exclaims, then walks away. Clara puts her face in her hand and sighs.
"Sometimes he is just such an idiot!".
The Doctor, Clara, and the Reverend are all outside of the jail.
"So, why is there so much hysteria? I mean, there can't be actual witches?" Clara asks the Doctor, legitimately curious.
"Well, there is a lot of answers to that question. The first answer could be the obvious religious reasons. Christianity waged war on women that were educated. Thats how my friend Hypatia was killed. Representing the devil's followers as women of magic. And therefore the witch was born. Throughout the years there have been many different witch hunts. And since, in this day and age, you couldn't just tell someone off, you had to get revenge a different ways. The witch hunts became one of those ways. So the witch hunts were a mix of pent up vengeance among the people of Salem, and religion." The Doctor stops walking. "The other theory is that some of the flowers turned bad, and into an LSD like substance... And you know the rest of that story." The Doctor keeps on walking.
The three of them walk into the jail, and walk to Elizabeth Proctor's cell. She sits in the corner. Without tears or any sign of struggle. She remains calm. She silently tilts her head up, and sees the Doctor and Clara.
"Who are you?" Elizabeth Proctor asks, still remaining very calm.
"Hello, I'm The Doctor, and this is my friend Clara"
"Hello" Clara adds in.
"The Doctor. The Doctor who will stand trial soon. Like the rest of us." Elizabeth whispers.
"I'm sorry?" The Doctor responds, barely hearing what the woman said.
"Nothing. Why are you here, man of medicine?" Elizabeth asks.
"Well, we're you legal representatives." The Doctor says, now realizing how preposterous a Doctor as a lawyer would sound.
"Ah, The Doctor and his friend, come to defend me in court. I do not need counseling." Elizabeth responds, starting to get defensive and anxious.
" Fine then. My only question is, have you noticed anything weird about Abigail Williams" The Doctor asks Elizabeth.
" I know much of this foul girl. But in the recent months she has been more out of the ordinary than anybody I have ever seen. She would spout lines of poetry, and carry dolls around. Picking people's hair. She performs witchcraft, and she accuses others of witchcraft as to hide her real intent!" Elizabeth yells, losing her calm completely.
"I understand Elizabeth, thank you for your time." The Doctor and Clara leave the cell, and leave the jail all together.
"So, why are we here? I know that its not just for a fun trip, because this isn't fun. And you know that." Clara says, as her and The Doctor walk away from the jail.
"I know this kind of thing. The words and rhymes and poems. The magic like psychic power. It all smells of Carrionite." The Doctor says, his voice becoming more harsh and solemn. He stops and turns around to look at Clara.
"But that is completely impossible. They all died. And even the events surrounding them have been completely Time Locked. It would be impossible for one of them to be here. But I have heard of bigger anomalies in time."
"So you think that it is the Carrionites?" Clara responds.
"Yes, absolutely. Even though it should be impossible, there is no other race that works like this." The Doctor responds, still pondering how the impossible has happened.
"How do you know its an alien, not just another creepy human with a bunch of weird poems and rhymes under her belt.
"Because I know the psychic pattern of a human. I can also feel the psychic power being used. It isn't anything that humans could do." The Doctor said, now putting his hand to his head.
"Okay then. I'll go ask around, and you try to find out the Carrionites plan. Okay? Okay. Bye" The last words fade away as Clara rushes off into the streets of Salem.
"Be careful!" The Doctor yells, but it is no use, Clara is already too far away. "Okay Carrionites. How the hell did you get here? And what the hell are you going to do?" The Doctor also disappears into the streets of Salem.