So until we get Rose back (and we will get her back) it's just me and the Doc. Which is a bit weird, actually. Bit awkward. We're a motley crew, us three. But significantly, we work best as a three. As a two, it's a bit...well, tense. We like each other well enough, of course. He'd never have taken me if he didn't like me, and I'd never have come if I didn't like him (so I tell myself). But unlike Rosie T, who's got a naturally good affinity with the man, I struggle to think of what to say to him. What do you say to the person who's hundreds of years older than you, and about a million times as intelligent? What can you talk to such a guy about? Anything you tell him, he knows. Anywhere you tell him about, he's been twice already. Any question you ask, he can answer in the blink of an eye...

I suppose normally it might be easier. Under normal circumstances, he'd do most of the talking, and I'd sit there nodding my head. But now Rose is gone, he's become very quiet. Brooding. The journey from Ravrock to Kriak passed in a series of awkward silences and false smiles. We were both worried, we were both scared. Often, Rose would be the chipper optimist that kept us going, kept us from getting too anxious. Me, I'm more of the pessimist. I'm grumpy. I believe that the only way to avoid disappointment is to aim as low as you can throughout life. Rose was different. Is different! She's alive. She is. I know it. And she's coming home.

So we arrived on Kriak, the Doctor having managed to pinpoint it as the Whispering's next stop. To pass the silence, I asked him how he was tracking it. He only told me that I wouldn't understand, and lapsed back into silence. I mean, yeah...fair point, I wouldn't have a clue what he's on about. But since when has that stopped him?

The Second Adventure Part 1

"Cor blimey," the Doctor whistled, looking down at the huge manor house below us, in the valley.

I joined him. "Haunted?"

"Most certainly." The Doctor said brightly. "But look at it like this; there are tribes in these hills. Tribes with axes. Tribes with sacrificial slabs and face paint. Gimme a haunted house any day. Least there might be someone comparability civilized living there."

"You reckon they're in there?" I asked. "Rose and the Whispering?"

"Not necessarily. Maybe. Only one way to find out, ain't there?"

Without waiting for me, he set off at a quick pace down into the lush valley below us. We'd landed in the middle of a windswept green plateau full of hills. It was hot in the sun, but there was a cold bite in that wind. The grass was dewy, and a smell of rain hung in the air, despite a clear blue sky. The only sign of civilization, besides the big house, was a dirt road leading off into the distance, between two large mountains. I supposed that to follow it would bring you to some kind of settlement sooner or later. Stray off it, however, and you could get lost in these hills. You could wander for hours until the savages that the Doctor spoke about found you, and ate you for dinner. I wondered in that moment just how safe we were here, out in the open.

I jogged to catch up with the Doctor and asked him about that. He shrugged. "Actually," he said, "the tribes are generally pretty scared o' civilization. They don't go near the dirt track in daylight, an' you wouldn't find one brave enough to come within spotting distance o' that house."

"How much of that is true?" I demanded, knowing he was lying to reassure me.

"Some of it, Lyn. And yes, I am being generous with that estimate. Now come on. We'll be fine. How 'bout another song to keep us goin'?"

"Depends on the song." I replied.

"Well...haunted manor house, middle o' the mountains...can only be one song, right?"

"Oh no..." I muttered.

The Doctor lowered his voice to a deep, ominous pitch and began a chillingly accurate recital of the theme music of The Shining; "bom-bom-bom-bom-bom-bom...bombom," he sang slowly.

"Thank you," I said sharply, "that'll do."

"Suit yerself," he giggled, walking a few paces ahead of me. Ahead of us, perhaps a half-mile, the big old haunted castle stood tall, casting a huge shadow. Inviting us towards itself. I dismissed the thought from my head. Despite it's imposing, unwelcoming stature, I was quite desperate to get to that house. I truly felt like we were being watched out here. Indeed, I thought, we probably were; whomever these tribes were, these were their hills. They surely knew them incredibly well, surely could hide themselves out here and lie in wait for prey...but how close? How close?

The house itself was a wooden structure. This was, after all, a planet straight out the Tudor times, or even earlier. The house, whilst large and rather majestic, was really rather slap-dash and rickety compared to 2020's Earth. Rough, uneven wooden panels made up the walls, while the decorative windows looked, even from this distance, very thin and flimsy. The roof was made of grey bricks. That stuck me as slightly unsafe. A heavy brick roof, sitting stop a house made of moss-eaten timber...but then I guessed (or rather, hoped) that perhaps the wood was just paneling as opposed to what actually kept the structure in place. Oh yeah. Surely (hopefully) there was more brickwork beneath the wood, holding it upright. I thought (hoped) so. I was going in that place! I've never much liked the idea of getting crushed.

There were three floors; ground, first, and a second one built into the roof. Perhaps four - there could be a basement, where they kept the wine and the mead and whatever other concoctions they drunk here. We were now quarter-mile at most from the house, walking in silence. From this distance, I could see candlelight flickering in the windows, could see a faint plume of smoke rising from an unnecessarily high chimney in the roof. There was a large, oak double-door at the front of the house. As we approached, the Doctor took me to one side for a moment.

"Aw, come on! Let's just go in! What about the tribes?"

"Jus' wanna give ya an advance warning, Lyn..." the Doctor said.

"About what?"

"Well...see how this planet is really very primitive?"

I shrugged. "I know. Kinda why I'm so eager to get indoors..."

"Yeah, but...well, look at it this way - you know how in the medieval times back on Earth, nobody really had showers or baths? Or deodorants? Or any kind of hygiene at all really?"

"Yeah..." I said slowly.

"Well, you'll find that 'ere is much the same, I'm afraid. So, ta cut a long story short; whomever's living in there is gonna stink. Stink like the Whispering's nest. Well, okay. Not as bad as that. But pretty bad. Ya nearly chucked up back in them tunnels. I don't want no repeat of that."

I stared at him. "Is that all? I thought you had something urgent to tell me."

"I do."

"Which is what?" I demanded.

"Look behind you."

My throat tightened, and I looked over my shoulder, where the Doctor was also looking, his blue eyes filled with fear. Behind me a half-mile was a hill. And on top of that hill was a line of people, perhaps as many as twenty. Some on horseback. Most with helmets, and heavy furs and capes. Though I couldn't be sure from this distance, my heart lurched as I saw what I believed might be longbows in some of their hands. I couldn't tell if they were men or women. I guessed both.

I nodded and turned back to the Doctor. "If we run, will they chase us?"

"Shall we place a bet on it?" The Doctor asked sincerely.

"Nah, let's not." I looked around again. The figures were walking slowly down the hill. Towards us. Apart from two. Those two who remained up there were both carrying the objects that looked a lot like longbows. Even as I watched, I saw them both reach behind themselves...archers keep their arrows in pouches behind their backs, don't they?

Yep. Yep, they certainly do. And still, the tribe advanced on us. The first of them (those, of course, on horseback) were at the bottom of the hill. Nobody was running. Not yet. But as soon as we moved...

"We've gotta go," the Doctor muttered urgently. "You ready?"

"Yeah." I whispered.

He took my hand in his and with a thrill of adrenaline, we took off. We raced across the field towards the house, out feet slapping the damp grass below us. At once, we heard an ear splitting roar from behind us, and the clashing of steel on steel as they readied their axes and bladed. Horses whined, and the sound of running feet and galloping hooves filled our ears. I didn't dare look back. To look back was to slow down, and to slow down was to get caught.

The horseback tribes' people had halved the distance between us already. But we were close now...so close. We were going to make it! But then I heard a wooshing sound, and the Doctor cried out in agony, collapsing to the ground. I stared in dismay; a long wooden stick was jutting out of his leg, with feathers on the end. One of the bowman had delivered a perfect shot. For they weren't aiming to kill. Not yet. They were aiming to cripple us, and drag us back to camp...

I threw myself to the floor beside him; good call. I heard another woosh, and felt something fly through the air above my prone position. It flew over me. If I'd been standing, if I had left it even a second later to drop, I'd have been shot in the stomach. The drop made my old battle scars ache momentarily again, but that was the least of my problems. The horseback hunters were almost on top of us. I glanced around and slammed my fist onto the floor, shutting my eyes. We were about twenty feet from the house. Twenty bloody feet! So close!

But not close enough. I heard them jump from the horses. I looked up. One was a man, the other a woman. They were filthy. And yes, they stunk. They had face paint on their cheeks, red and green dashes that looked like cuts. Their hair (brown the man, blonde the woman) was greasy, matted and scraggy. The man had a fuzzy beard. The woman was snarling like an animal, revealing sharp yellow teeth. She held a spiky iron ball attached to a wooden pole; a mace. The man had a double-sided battleaxe.

They wore pieces of brown fur over what looked like leather, their clothes bound together with ropes. Their feet were dressed in heavy leather, while their trousers were sewn up loosely at the side, and made of strange brown fabric. On their wrists and shoulders was armour. Some hardened leather, some a crude sort of tin-like metal. The woman had several necklaces around her neck.

I looked at the Doctor, and he at me. He smiled sadly, his beautiful blue eyes etched with pain.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

I shook my head. "Don't be. Not for a moment. Not for one moment."

We grinned, and took each other's hands. Above us, the brutes reached down with glove-wrapped hands...

The Doctor's Diary, Entry 1965 Part 1

The Tardis brought us down in some mountain range on Kriak. Not ideal. The plateau is where the barbarians live. Not, of course, that the towns (if you can call them that) were much better...but in town, at the worst we'd get hung. As opposed to cooked alive and tortured, which was what might have been in store for us if the tribes got at us.

But all was not lost! Below us in the valley was an old house. An occupied old house! Not ideal, of course. But whoever lived there, I reasoned, was probably rich. Probably civilized. And above all else, probably very well respected, even by the barbarians; how else would such a person remain safe out here?

So down we went. Coz of course, we were looking for a lot more than protection. We were looking for the Whispering, the reason we'd come to this dump. A rackety old wooden house...good place to build a nest. Maybe.

Had a nasty incident on the way down there though. A tribe attacked us. Shot me in the leg (ouch) and came this close to capturing us. Help, however, was to arrive in an unexpected form...