Chapter Two Hundred and Eleven
The Doctor tensed his body and held his spear in both hands while Bluebell rode Arturo towards him. His anger about the situation he found himself in increased with every beat of his hearts and he had to restrain himself from jumping over the log barrier and stabbing Swampdancer with the spear. He heard a few random cheers from the crowd but most of them were now booing and the booing was growing louder with each passing moment. He sneered when he heard Swampdancer's subjects cussing and telling him to let the Doctor go. He glanced over at the frog chief but he stood silently with Chloe, not to be swayed by the opinion of his subjects. The Doctor shook his head at that and turned back to the task at hand. He ran to the right when Arturo opened his mouth and flicked his long tongue at him at Bluebell's orders. It barely missed wrapping around his left leg and he cursed under his breath.
"Hey, you leave my daddy alone!" he heard his daughter yell at Bluebell.
Another chorus of boos came after that and the Doctor quickly backed up to the back of the arena as Bluebell urged Arturo on towards him. The Doctor glanced at the backside of Arturo, quickly forming a plan in his head to get around the beast and get up on its backside to get at his opponent. While he was doing that, his family was watching from the sidelines.
Alan looked around at the frogs who were getting angrier by the moment. He glanced at Swampdancer who was watching calmly and seemed not to notice his subject's rancor. Alan tapped Rose on the shoulder.
"Bit thick, isn't he?" he said, gesturing to Swampdancer when Rose looked his way. "He doesn't realize that he's making his loyal subjects angry."
"Well, any man, frog or whatever he is that would do all this just because someone wouldn't marry his daughter deserves to have his subjects turn on him," Rose said angrily. "Not only did he force the Doctor into this, now he's allowing that tart on the lizard to cheat."
"If she hurts him, I'll hurt her," Rain growled.
"Hon, you're gonna have to beat me to her," Jack said to Rain.
They gasped when the Doctor rolled under Arturo, coming up on its side before he ran to the back and leapt up on the back of the lizard. Bluebell hopped up on the saddle and the Doctor used the spear shaft to block and repel her spear when she tried to stick it in his face. Arturo hissed and started to move but before Bluebell could sit back down; the Doctor grabbed her and jumped to the ground while the crowd cheered.
"Fight me here or not at all," the Doctor yelled to Bluebell. "You want me dead, you're gonna kill me in a fair fight!"
Bluebell shrugged. The Doctor dodged when she tried to thrust her spear at him and got in a few repelled jabs of his own while they shuffled around the arena. Then Bluebell managed to jab at the Doctor's side and draw blood as it sliced open his skin. His family looked around when everyone except Swampdancer and Chloe booed at that and they could see that most of them were looking at Swampdancer with murder in their eyes. Rain sighed and looked at Jack.
"Jack, look after my daughter for a moment, will you?" she asked Jack.
"Mummy, where are you going?" Hope said, shifting so she could look back at her mother.
"I'm going to have a talk with King Swampdancer, baby, I'll be right back," Rain said.
The other adults shared gleeful looks when Rain stomped off.
"Wouldn't want to be him right now," Alan said to them as they watched her walk over towards the chief.
"Hey!"
Swampdancer turned his head when Rain yelled at him.
"Yes?" he said calmly.
"Look, I don't know why the hell you're doing this, your ego, saving face after my husband's rejection of your daughter, I really don't care but if you would care to look at your subjects, you'll noticed that you are walking on very thin ice at the moment because most of them don't want my husband battling your warrior and I'm sure if my husband dies and loses his body, you'll lose your head because I guarantee they'll be a riot. So if I were you, I'd call this whole stupid thing off right now!"
"The Doctor agreed to this and…"
He gasped when Rain shoved him up against the logs. She raised her eyebrow when the crowd cheered that.
"See that, they want me to hurt you," Rain said to Swampdancer as she looked into his fear filled eyes. "In fact, I'm sure they'll enjoy me hurting you more than Bluebell hurting my husband, does that sound like loyal subjects to you? Now call this whole thing off and let us go or I'll climb up on that lizard and stomp you into mush, got it?"
Swampdancer looked at his subjects. Their attention was now riveted at him and Rain and he noticed that Alan, Rose and Jack were sniggering while Hope watched her mother with silent curiosity. Even Bluebell and the Doctor stopped fighting to see what was going on. Swampdancer looked at Rain.
"Let…my…husband…go…now," she growled at him.
"Um…I'd do what she says," Jack yelled to him. "We've seen what she does to people she doesn't like. It isn't pretty!"
Alan put his hands behind his back as he sauntered over to Rain. He patted her shoulder and she looked at him.
"Hi, let's control our bloodlust in front of the daughter, eh, there's a good girl," he said, patting her shoulder again. "Now, as for you…" he said to Swampdancer. "Even though my sister is being a bit rash in wanting to rip your guts out your mouth, I do believe she has a point about your subjects possibly wanting to move her aside and do the whole guts out the mouth thing themselves. See, ruling over others can be a delicate thing. You make the wrong move, you end up on a spit, roasting while your devoted followers cheer your death, not a good thing. So…if I were you, I'd follow my sister's advice and release her husband because she's very, very, VERY…protective of him and she doesn't like cuts and scrapes and bruises on his body, it makes her mad and when she's mad, guts get pulled out the mouth. Savvy?"
Swampdancer looked over when the Doctor climbed up over the log barrier. He waved at the crowd as they cheered and walked over to his wife and brother.
"I believe it's time to end this farce and let us go, eh?" the Doctor said to Swampdancer. "I've played your silly game long enough, now tell everyone the contest has ended before there's an enormous bloodbath and you're in the middle of it."
"The contest…is over, the Doctor has won!" Swampdancer yelled.
"Thanks," the Doctor said happily as the other frogs cheered. "I think you not only made my family happy but your subjects as well and that's the most important thing since you don't want a spear in your throat, right? Um, Latara, back up and give the king some breathing room, yeah?"
Rain and Alan backed away from him and Swampdancer backed away from them. The Doctor felt someone taking his hand and he looked down to see Hope smiling up at him.
"Froggy," she said, pointing to his breechclout.
"Silly," he said, poking her on top of the head while she giggled.
Chloe came up to the Doctor, her face crestfallen.
"Does this mean you don't want me?" she asked him.
Rain groaned while the Doctor gave her a stunned expression.
"All this and you're still under the impression I fancy you?" the Doctor said as Jack and Rose came up behind him. "Look, you're a nice lady but it wouldn't work out between us, yeah? I'm happily married and I'm not interested in you. Sorry, but it's the truth so you might as well face reality. Now if you don't mind, I'm knackered and we were on our way to a shopping trip. So…" he said, picking Hope up. "I bid you good day and good luck with ruling over your subjects."
The Doctor turned and waved to the frogs while they cheered him on. Refusing any assistance, the Doctor told everyone that he and his family could make it back to their TARDIS on their own and without another word, the Doctor walked off with his family following behind him.
"Are we going shopping now, Daddy?" Hope said after the Doctor set her down and she began to walk beside him.
"Yes, but first I need to go to the post office and see if I have anything," the Doctor said to her. "Haven't checked in awhile. Besides, I need to put you in a box and send you off to Timbuktu."
"No, send her off to Flankamankadoodle in the Snorf Galaxy," Alan said. "Nasty place. They have Thrimbottles there. And you don't want to make Thrimbottles angry. They'll eat your brain."
"That wouldn't be a problem for you since your brain was eaten long ago," Rain said.
"You know, I could go back and get Arturo and tie you to the front while I ride him," Alan said.
"Try it, if you dare," Rain said, looking over her shoulder. "I…"
She trailed off and sighed. The Doctor gave her a curious look and she stopped everyone and pointed behind Jack. Jack and everyone else turned and they groaned when they saw Chloe stop and stare at them silently.
"Blast, you don't understand the meaning of the word, no, do you?" the Doctor said angrily as he let go of Hope's hand and stomped towards Chloe.
"No, wait, I want to come with you. I need to get away from my father," Chloe said, holding up her hands.
The Doctor snorted at that.
"Why don't I believe you?" he said, folding his arms over his chest.
"Please, just look at this," Chloe said, taking a scroll out from a pouch hanging from a belt around her waist.
The Doctor took the scroll and examined it. It was made out of some sort of reed, pressed together and dried like papyrus. It had the consistency of papyrus and he could tell by the yellowish tinge to it that it was very old. He untied a red ribbon around the middle and unfolded it while his family came in close to observe what was going on. He read through it and then rolled it up without comment. While he turned, Hope was standing at his side, wondering what was going on. Suddenly, her father spoke but she couldn't understand him and she realized he was using Gallifreyan. She let out a small frustrated sigh and felt her mother's hand on her head. She looked at Rain.
"What's he sayin'? I don't know what he's sayin', Mummy. What's going on?" she asked her.
Her mother held up a finger and then put it to her lips. Hope stood by, impatiently, while her father continued to speak in Gallifreyan. Then the other adults began to reply in Gallifreyan and she was ever more frustrated. She looked at Chloe who was now perplexed.
"What's going on?" Chloe spoke to the Doctor. "Why have you switched to this strange language?"
The Doctor held up a finger to his family and then turned to her.
"I'm using my native tongue because I'm telling my family about this prophecy and we're debating whether to bring you along with us because of it. I believe we will let you come but on the condition that you don't try to get me to sleep with you. I'm hands off to you, is that clear?"
"Yes," Chloe said with a nod. "Thank you."
"Just follow us," the Doctor said, beckoning to her.
"What did you say, Daddy?" Hope said as she walked in front of him.
"I'll tell you when we get inside the TARDIS, just be patient, yeah?"
Hope nodded. She took her mother's hand and smiled when the Doctor tousled her hair, happy that he would let her know what was going on so she could help him again.