The young space-time-machine awoke with a massive shudder and the family panicked, each of them frantically seeking something to hang on to. 'He's got us in his claws!' the father screamed, 'He's trying to break in!'
'Ho, hooo!' the Doctor yelled, 'No need to run! It's all fine!'
But the TARDIS didn't seem to listen, because the ground tilted as gravity shifted again, throwing everyone and everything about. The space suits and Rose's luggage bounced around as if inside a washing machine. 'He's thrown us!' the mother shrieked. 'We're rolling away!'
'Doesn't feel safe!' Rose shouted at the Doctor.
'It is!' he retorted. 'Everything's fine! She's just a little scared!'
The very next moment gravity gave up altogether and Rose quickly scrambled to grab hold of a piece of railing. In the corner of her eye she saw Mary hovering in the air, limbs stretched from her body as she cartwheeled through the TARDIS. 'We're falling!' she cried. 'He dropped us to the ground! He means to smash us to bits!'
Rose strained to reach Mary, finally grabbing her by the foot, and spinning her around until she could grasp her hand. Anthony, meanwhile, bounced off the walls before finding purchase on the chair in the ceiling.
Then, from one moment to the next, the chaos ceased. The TARDIS calmed down just as quickly as she'd started her fit. Gravity was back, dropping everyone to the floor. 'That's right. It can't harm you,' the Doctor said calmly, and with a wide smile, stroking one of the panels. 'It's just warm breath from a kitten. A big, noisy kitten.'
For a few moments, everything was almost eerily quiet. The group's scared eyes jumped around, expecting the walls to cave in under vicious claws, but nothing happened.
'Is it over?' the boy asked, breathless, still hanging from the chair in the ceiling. The others slowly regained their composure, and began looking around the roomy interior of the TARDIS, their wide eyes trying to comprehend what they were seeing.
'It looked smaller from the outside,' Mary said, glancing around.
'It didn't heat up,' the father said, carefully touching his hand to the walls.
'This place needs tidying up,' the mother said, looking at the luggage that had spilled when Rose's suitcases had burst open.
'Rose, come here,' the Doctor called her over. His concerned gaze was transfixed on one of the panels.
Rose quickly raised her hands to address the passengers. 'I'll explain everything, just give us a minute.' She hurried past them and whispered to the Doctor, 'Well?'
'The dragon is real,' he said quietly.
'Yeah, I think we all got that. What are we gonna do about it, though?'
'Nothing. It's already retreating.'
'The king repelled it!' Anthony cried out. 'He finally did it!' There was a collective sigh of relief, but the Doctor's gaze remained focused.
'It's a real, live dragon,' he said, 'Not a robot, not an imaginary construct made manifest, but a real, living creature. Thinking, feeling.'
'Created by evolution?' Rose teased.
The Doctor gave her a chiding look, but conceded nonetheless, 'Yes, created by evolution. But not on this planet, which is a–' he made a wide gesture with his arms, 'a whole different mystery. It seems we've stumbled onto some kind of Nexus World.'
'A what?'
'A Nexus World, a world on which many spacial-temporal-anomalies converge, bringing all sorts of things with them that don't belong here: creatures, people, technology.'
'But how is that possible?'
'I don't know. Might be something on this world, might be something entirely different. Maybe someone is taking people and creatures and putting them here? Oooh, look! There's some sort of signal coming from the castle.' He turned to the confused family and stabbed a finger at Mary. 'You! What's in the castle?'
She frowned. 'The castle?'
'The big thing on the hill, what's inside?'
'What rock where you living under?' the father answered in her stead, outraged by the Doctor's finger-pointing attitude. 'The king, for starters.'
The Doctor pointed at the father now. 'The king! What else?'
'The Dragon's Bane,' the boy added, still hanging comfortably from the chair in the ceiling.
'Dragon's Bane,' the Doctor repeated, raising his arm to point at the boy, 'What's that?'
'A weapon,' Mary said, earning the pointing end of the Doctor's finger. 'He uses it to repel Felgorn.'
'That's his magic, then?' the Doctor asked.
'He's our saviour,' the mother said solemnly. The Doctor glanced over at her, but his finger didn't move.
'He was a bit late there with his saving, wasn't he?' Rose contended.
The woman's eyes widened. 'How dare you!' she warned. 'That's blasphemy!'
'They just saved our lives, dear,' her husband argued, 'Maybe even twice? Who knows what would have happened if they hadn't given us that breathing tool.' He smiled up at his son. 'You ready to come down yet, lad?'
'No!' Anthony grinned, legs kicking happily.
'Where are you from, anyway?' Mary asked, pointing two fingers back at Rose and the Doctor. 'And who are you two?'
'Good questions!' the Doctor threw at her, pointing with his second finger for effect. An awkward moment passed, before they all lowered their hands. The Doctor casually adjusted his tie. 'Right. I'm the Doctor, and this is Rose.'
'Hiya,' Rose smiled, waving her hand.
For a moment, Mary and her parents just stared. 'You have no titles,' Anthony concluded, a big frown on his face.
'You're not royalty, then?' the father asked.
'Well…' the Doctor began, 'not anymore, I guess...'
But Mary's mother already started to hiss, her eyes darkening with every word, 'You are nothing but common folk, yet you speak so far out of place?'
The Doctor looked at her coolly. 'Right,' he began, 'imagine we are travellers from very, very far away. Imagine we have no clue about your king, or that flying beastie, or where exactly our place is. Both metaphorically and physically.'
She frowned in confusion. Mary started to look around as if trying to find evidence to the Doctor's claim. 'What is this refuge of yours? I thought it was much smaller. Is it... perhaps...'
'Bigger on the inside, yes,' the Doctor finished. 'Please, Mary, this is very important.'
'But that's nonsense! How can it be bigger on the inside?'
'Eyes on me!' the Doctor said sternly, and Mary obliged, eyes wide with a mixture of confusion and defiance.
'Right,' the Doctor went on, looking around the TARDIS. 'The important thing is, we can help. This creature, this Felgorn-fella isn't supposed to be here, and quite frankly, neither is any of us. I need to know everything about this place, everything about your past.' He tilted his head as he addressed Mary again. 'Say, out of pure interest: why is he punishing you?'
She blinked twice. 'Because we nearly killed all the angels.'
When Rose risked a glance outside, there was nothing but scorched, smoking earth peppered with the glow of countless dying embers. Flakes of ash were whirling and snowing all around. Felgorn was gone.
The Doctor slipped past her and jumped into the blackened soil, and almost banged his head on one of the metal spikes that now jutted from the TARDIS' surface. 'Oh, you didn't like all that roaring, did you now?' he consoled his infant space-time-machine, stroking it softly.
A cool breeze welcomed Rose as she climbed outside, sending a shiver up her spine, and reminding her that she'd been underwater just a couple minutes ago. 'How is she?'
'Fine,' the Doctor answered. 'I gave her some auto-entropic puzzles to keep her occupied. But it'll take a while until those spikes are gone again.'
'Grumpy mode,' Rose said. 'I remember. Oh, there it is.' Rose said, pointing at a small point in the distant sky, gliding away on wide wings. 'He's just leaving,' she muttered. 'What did he come for in the first place?'
'I don't know,' the Doctor muttered back. 'Felgorn the furious fire slinger, sent by the gods to prevent a genocide. Quite biblical, that story. Who would have thought humans would wage war against angels? Just shows, something's only miraculous until it pops into existence. Suddenly, angels are nothing more than unwanted neighbours who live right where you want to build your farm, your church, your juggling studio. You really have some ghastly habits lurking inside your genome.' Rose pursed her lips, feeling an unfair bout of guilt creeping up. 'But then Flappy-Fiery Felgorn shows up!' the Doctor went on, gesturing wildly, 'A threat to every living creature in the Dale, and it just so happens the angels have the means to repel it. Divine intervention, which makes true believers. True, happy believers.' He ended with his hands stretched out like the Jesus statue in Rio de Janeiro. Behind them, the others were climbing out of the TARDIS, and starting to walk around it, eyeing it with much bewilderment and curiosity. Or with a horrified expression, in the case of the mother. Anthony had picked up one of the space-suit helmets, and started playing with the sun visor.
'But he keeps coming back, that fiery fellow,' Rose argued. 'He keeps punishing them for no reason. They already repent for what they've done, they even adore the angels now.'
'Yeah,' the Doctor said, and his voice turned very ominous. 'Something doesn't add up. Something's fishy about all this. Very fishy. We have to get inside that castle and take a look at that Dragon's Bane machine. It's clearly advanced tech, maybe from a crash-landed spaceship, or from an ancient indigenous species. New universe, new alien civilizations, who knows what we'll find? It's bound to have some historical data on its hard drive that we can use to figure out what's going on.'
He glanced at Rose, and she glanced back. They smirked, their eyes flashing excitedly.
'A live dragon!' the Doctor said.
'I know!' Rose beamed back at him. 'Not bad for the first trip, eh?'
'Your mum's gonna flip if we ever tell her!' he laughed, and they hugged each other tightly. And once again, Rose felt as if everything was back to the way it had been.
The Doctor broke their embrace but held onto her shoulders. 'This is what we're supposed to be doing, Rose! Chase a proper mystery, not sit at home and eat Fruit Loops all day.'
'No objections, your Honour,' Rose laughed.
'Virgil?' Mary's voice interrupted them. They separated and watched a concerned Mary scan the skies for her friend. Her leather-clad feet aimlessly tread over the burnt ground. In the distance, the tall trees were smouldering, the fires flickering and crackling.
'Virgil!' Mary rejoiced, and she rushed off, hands waving to the angel who approached from underneath the smoke-filled clouds.
'Quite a guardian angel,' the Doctor commented.
'I said that,' laughed Rose.
The angel touched ground and hugged the red-haired girl tightly.
'What did I say?' her father smiled, rubbing his wife's shoulder.
'Thank the king,' she said with a peaceful smile.
Mary broke their embrace, and started talking rapidly, her finger pointing straight at Rose and the Doctor. 'Stranger!' the angel called, 'You saved my beloved's family! You've earned my gratitude!'
'Great,' the Doctor said, smiling at Rose. 'I like gratitude.' And he set off to meet him. Rose followed, watching the girl and her angel-boyfriend as they went arm in arm, his feathery wings extending to cover her like a second arm holding a blanket. Mary just couldn't stop smiling. They're so in love, Rose thought. It was almost cliché, like something you only see in the movies. When's real life ever this perfect?
'Pray tell, oh esteemed strangers!' Virgil exclaimed solemnly as the Doctor approached, but Mary cut him off. 'You don't need to be formal with them,' she said. 'They're not royalty.'
'Really?' Virgil looked surprised. 'But… but then what is this refuge? Surely it is not common where you are from?'
'Oh, it was actually very common back home,' the Doctor said, 'Like sand on the beach, everyone had one. Virgil, is it?' With a wide grin the Doctor stepped to him, reaching out his hand. 'I'm the Doctor, and we have a lot to talk about.'
'Oh, but we don't.' Virgil said solemnly.
'Oh, but we do.'
Virgil shook his head. 'You have to meet my father.'
'Charming offer, but I'd rather meet the king if I'm being honest,' the Doctor countered.
'Well, then you're in luck,' Mary grinned. 'Guess who his father is.'
The Doctor's eyes widened with surprise, and he slapped his hand square over his forehead. 'Ah, of course, I remember! This new brain is slower than a fish on stilts!' He then winked at Mary. 'An angel prince, eh? Quite the catch.'
'He has to meet you,' Virgil continued, glossing over the Doctor's banter, then turning to Rose. 'I hear you protected these people at great risk to yourselves. The king must know of your bravery.'
The Doctor grinned. 'Perfect! Can't wait to meet the man who sends a dragon to his room.'
'But, Doctor…' Rose said. 'What about the village? There are fires, people got hurt.'
For a moment, the Doctor's eyes remained locked with Rose's. Then he glanced around at Virgil and Mary and the rest of her family, before he started to nod. 'Of course we'll go to the village first, see if everyone's alright. It's just the decent thing to do, really. The not-rude thing.'
'Couldn't have said it better,' Rose said.
The village was bustling with activity. People were doing their best to prevent the fires from spreading, spreading prepped canvases over smaller flames to suffocate themand isolating bigger fires by ripping down whatever stood adjacent. Rose and the Doctor watched with grim expressions on their faces, but they soon joined the effort, helping wherever they could.
The bodies were put on the market square. A crowd had already gathered, a few of them on their knees, wailing, howling. Anthony was taken away by his mother, while Mary and her father consoled the grieving. Rose had almost forgotten this part. On her previous travels with the Doctor, she had seen her share of vile monsters, from the merciless Dalek race to the literal devil himself. She was used to death and the tears it wrought, but it never got any easier.
Good, she thought. She appreciated the energy, the determination it provided her with. Something stirred inside her, demanding to correct this injustice. And it was usually the Doctor, the impossible man, who would bring about that correction. It had been one of the many reasons she had fallen for him.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked into his intense gaze. 'We will stop this from happening again,' he said, his voice dark and filled with a conviction she hadn't heard in quite a while. 'No matter what it takes.'
They hugged, and for a brief moment everything was OK. The Doctor was going to sort it all out. But her doubts returned quickly, and for a good reason: What if they wouldn't be able to help this time? What if this dragon kept on killing people, because the Doctor just wasn't the Doctor anymore?
'At least the donations are intact,' she said dryly as she looked round the market square. 'Five dead, but not a single carriage is damaged. Not even singed.'
'Quite a lucky king, isn't he?' the Doctor mused, looking at an overshadowed corner. Virgil had retreated there, as if trying to hide from the looks of the grieving. Mary had joined him, and together they stood in silence, her consoling hand on his shoulder.
'The king won't let his kin come to harm,' muttered the Doctor.
Rose remembered where she had heard this before. 'One of the villagers.'
The Doctor nodded grimly. 'One of the dead.'
Rose glanced at the bodies; they had been covered with blankets by now. She had a sobering thought: 'Maybe this king might have gotten a bit more of a move on if he'd known that his son was here?'
The Doctor appeared to have come to the same conclusion. His eyes were locked in a cold stare, filled with black rage. At least that expression she knew only too well: To evil doers it was a warning; to her it was a promise.
A curse sounded softly from the corner, and they both watched as Mary quickly scurried away from Virgil, before hiding behind the corner of a house. A moment later, another Illanti man landed. This one was taller, and his wings had a purple tinge at the tips of his feathers. His metal breast plate was embellished with a coat of arms, and his shoulder plating was red. The Doctor assumed he held some sort of leadership position, so he promptly walked up to him, hand stretched out. 'Hello! I'm the Doctor!'
The Illanti ignored him completely, looking around the place with sharp eyes. 'Virgil.' His mouth curled into a wicked smile. 'Your father is not happy.'
Virgil stepped out of the shadow, his face filled with defiance. 'It doesn't matter. He's wrong about the humans, and I'll prove it today.'
The other Illanti stepped toward Virgil; he had more than a head on him, and his voice was as arrogant as it was dangerous. 'You won't speak insolence in front of them.'
'I'm sorry, who are you, then?' asked the Doctor.
Inflating his chest, the Illanti finally acknowledged the Doctor. 'Brandomyr,' he said. 'Commander of the Royal Guard to King Miramys.' He presented his title with a sort of rumbling emphasis, as if each and every word held power.
'Is that supposed to impress us?' Rose challenged him, arms folded. The Doctor quickly tapped her arm, signalling her not to take it too far.
Brandomyr's eyes narrowed at her. 'Who's she?' he scoffed, 'another one of your playmates?'
'She saved my life,' Virgil said.
Many eyes turned to him. He'd spoken with a confidence that made even Rose and the Doctor wonder if they had accidentally saved his life at some point in the past two hours and somehow failed to remember it. But one look into each other's eyes was enough for them to be certain they hadn't. Virgil was lying.
And not very well, judging by Brandomyr's reaction. His posture shifted and he fixated Virgil with scrutiny. 'How did she accomplish this, then?'
Virgil withstood his gaze, but his face already confessed the truth; he had spoken on impulse, without thinking it through. Brandomyr turned toward Rose. 'How did you, a puny human, save an angel's life?'
Rose kept her cool, at least on the outside. Her brain, however, raced desperately to throw together a lie that might convince the boisterous git.
The Doctor saved her. 'I think you can tell him about your TARDIS, Rose.'
'Your what?' Brandomyr asked.
'My TARDIS,' Rose repeated with pride. 'It's my impenetrable refuge. I opened its gates for your angel friend just before Felgorn could turn him into chicken nuggets.'
The imperious angel's look darkened. 'What did you say?'
'She did what my father failed to do,' Virgil clarified with a new air of defiance about him. 'I will take her to him, so he can properly extend his gratitude.'
Brandomyr's expression didn't change, and Rose expected him to simply deny Virgil's wish at any moment.
But Brandomyr's mouth curled back into that wicked smile. 'Very well. Let's see how this plays out.'
