Chapter 4

The Doctor looked over the room he was placed in the previous day with Alex. He had warned her not to go outside the room without him. It was too dangerous for her to be out there. Since the Master was the architect of this civilization, they would kill without question just like there founder. The Doctor knew that the two of them were living on borrowed time. He could only keep the charade of him being the Master up for only so long before the Citizens would get suspicious and question the Doctor and Alex on who they really are. He walked out into the balcony that was overlooking the whole city. He shook his head. These people were capable of much more than others because of their "god". He walked back inside the room and shut the doors to the balcony.

It was Alex who broke the Doctor's train of thought. She asked him, "What's your history with the Master. You told me who he was to you, but what's happened between you two?"

The Doctor didn't turn to her. He continued to stare at the window he just shut. The Doctor told her, "The Master was a Time Lord. We knew each other for nearly our entire lives. We were friends for our first few centuries, but as time passed we grew apart. Then the Master left a few decades before I did. We didn't see each other until I was in my third incarnation and the Master was already on his thirteenth. We battled and dueled as enemies and when the time was necessary we fought alongside each other as allies and the friends we were when we were younger. Then he was an accident that burned him into in a husk. He was barely alive when he started to grow his intense hate for me. Over the next few centuries, it was a game between me and him. He tried to kill me whenever our paths would cross. I was able to beat him every time only his plots and plans were too ridiculous for a sane person to conceive. There was even one time the two of us fought and destroyed an entire planet because of our rage and hate towards one another."

"You were able to destroy a planet by fighting. How?" asked Alex.

"Something to do with the planet being connected to our emotions. I really don't remember. That was over a thousand years ago and seven lifetimes ago. Give a Time Lord a break. Anyway, we met again after that. I ended up killing the Master, but the Time Lords in their desperation resurrected him."

"What desperation?" asked Alex.

"The Time War," the Doctor replied, "The Time Lords resurrected him in hopes that his love of carnage would drive him to lead a large portion of the Time Lord army against the Daleks."

"What happened?"

"The Master saw the horrors of the War and the bastard ran away and hid. We encountered each other twice after that. Both times he nearly beat me, but I won out in the end by sending him back into the Time War to die."

Alex asked, "Have you seen him since?"

"No," the Doctor said.

"Do you think he escaped somehow?" asked Alex.

The Doctor looked at her. He asked, "Why did you ask that?"

"I don't know," Alex said, "The way you speak of him makes it seem like he could somehow be free."

The Doctor looked away from her and commented, "If anyone's able to escape the time lock, it would be the Master. He has that annoying ability of surviving impossible situations."

A knock at the door brought the Doctor out his talk about the Master. He put on his suit and opened the door. He demanded, "Why are you here!"

The man who was on the other side of the door didn't budge. He stared directly at the Doctor without saying a word. The Doctor looked at the man, noticing his deep orange colored eyes. The Doctor had seen that color of eye before but on another planet millions of light years away. He could have sworn it had something to do with one of the plants on that planet. He shrugged the thought off. He asked, "What do you want?"

The man smiled, "I know who you really are, Doctor."

The Doctor's blood ran cold, the color draining from his face. The Doctor swallowed hard, knowing something bad was coming. He asked, "How do you know?"

"It's okay," the man said, "I'm not going to tell Jareth and the others."

The Doctor was cautious, "Why should I believe you?"

"I'm not loyal to the Citizens. My loyalty lies with the Woodlanders," the man said.

The Doctor looked him over as he spoke. He replied, "I believe you. Come inside."

Alex saw the Doctor bring in a man with him. She asked, "Who's this?"

The Doctor said, "I don't know. I never asked his name."
The man told them, "My name is Karyss."

"He knows, Alex," the Doctor said.

"Knows what?" asked Alex nervously.

"He is the Doctor and you are his companion," Karyss said.

Alex started to panic, "What! What's going to happen? We are going to die!"

The Doctor went to her, putting his hands on her shoulders, "It's okay. He's not loyal to the Citizens. He's loyal to the Woodlanders."

"How do you know that? He could be conning us!" Alex snapped.

"You know how I can read people," the Doctor said, "It's in his eyes. It's all in his eyes."

Alex looked at him, "What does that mean?"

Karyss looked at the Doctor as well, "Yeah, what does that mean?"

The Doctor smirked, "All in due time. The point is that we have to get out of here before the others figure it out. Wait a minute! How did you figure it out?"

Karyss answered, "I saw your ship appear. I was part of the hunting party for the Citizens. I warned the Woodlanders and returned to my party. I told them to pick you two up before they found your ship."

"That's good. That's really, really good," the Doctor said, "Can you get us out of here?"

"That won't be very easy," Karyss said, "With your return, Jareth is planning to impress you by killing the City's leader and taking over."

Smirking, the Doctor said, "That would impress the Master if he was coming."

"He is coming," Karyss said.

"He can't be," the Doctor said, "He's dead. I sent him back into the Time War a few lifetimes ago."

"That's good then," Karyss said, "Without him coming; you have a little longer before they find out who you are."

"Which brings me back to getting us out of here!" the Doctor said.