Shortish chapter I know, but it seemed the right place to end it...
The Master landed awkwardly and for a few seconds lay winded. Another cry cut through the pain of landing, he scrambled up and was faced with the Doctor in the throes of a nightmare.
Flames were licking hungrily at his bedding and with a cry of alarm he grabbed the Doctor and dragged him away from the flames to the relative safety of the entrance to the tunnel that led to the warren of caves deeper inside the mountain.
The Doctor was still in the grips of whatever terror was haunting his dreams; he had to wake him up.
He put a hand on the Doctor's face and he pulled it away sharply with a hiss...Rassilon he was burning up. But he didn't have time to think about it; he had to get the Doctor awake and mobile.
Ignoring the heat he touched the Doctor's face again. "Eresh'ala, wake up!" he said urgently, but all he go in response was fear filled moan.
"Wake up, you idiot!" he cried and shook the Doctor.
He could hear the crackle of the flames and the urgent shouts of the others. He shut them out and placed his hands on the Doctor's temples...he had to wake him.
He let out a breath and forced his way into the Doctor's mind; his mind was a morass of anguish and terror.
He had to reach beyond the surface and the Doctor's emotions; it would be hard but it had to be done.
He spoke the Doctor's true name but got no response, with a growl he spoke his name and this time it was laced with panic and anger.
An answer came back this time, with such force that he was pushed out of the Doctor's mind.
The Doctor's eyes snapped open and the Master let out a relieved breath, but the relief only lasted for micro-second as the Doctor's eyes widened.
"No, no, no!" he cried and shrank away from the Master.
Was he still in the grip of the nightmare?
"Si'arila," he said.
The Doctor flinched at the Master's voice. "You're not real...you're not real," he whimpered.
"Doctor...come on!" he said but the Doctor moved further away.
The Master's temper flared and he lunged for the Doctor, but the Doctor was quicker than the Master and he missed him by a hair's breadth.
But it was enough and the Doctor was past him and into the tunnel.
The Master let out a cry of frustration and went after him.
Jack was standing the entrance to the tunnel, watching the snow drift in the wind; the snow would cover any tracks and any chance of tracking White Coat.
It wasn't something he was looking forward to telling the two Time Lords...well the Master anyway. He wasn't sure that the Doctor was mentally stable enough to tell him anything and that was another problem.
The Doctor had died, that he was certain of, the Master and the children's reactions had convinced him of that. But by some miracle he'd come back but he'd come back damaged, who knows what hell the Doctor had gone to and what White Coat had done that caused the Doctor to die...and for that White Coat was going to receive a violent death at the Master's hands and Jack would hold his coat whilst he did it.
The cry of alarm made him jump and he ran back down the tunnel and entered the cave just as the Master was leaping through the flames.
Then he was shifting boxes of supplies away from the flames and stamping out the remnants before he could think straight.
It was then that it became obvious that the two people that should be present were no longer there.
He let out a groan; there was only one place they could have gone.
He turned to Seska who was supporting his sister and asked. "Do you know these tunnels?"
Seska shook his head. "Like father said, only he and mother knew about them."
"I can track them," a small voice said; it was Ashena, the first time she'd spoken since the attack.
"No, sister," Seska said. "You should rest."
"No brother, you forget who I am...I'm the Huntress."
"Quite right," a voice said behind them and they all turned.
"You will track them...for me," White Coat said.