Well, Well, Well

Eleven

The village's main well was a little out of the way of the village itself, and by out of the way he meant a short walk out of the ruins. Unfortunately, it was a short walk which took them out of the shade of the closest pyramid and also the opposite direction of the Sphinx; but the Sphinx was not what he had on his mind now. The grieving mother had stayed behind with her feeble son whom nothing could be done for, which had flung Rory into rather a depressed mood and he had gone quieter than normal. It was large and made of sandstone, but when the Doctor peered over the edge he saw no water within, just an awful lot of sand. An incredibly suspicious amount of sand, in fact, because the well was filled to just a metre or so beneath its mouth, though it looked like it went much deeper than that. He vaulted the wall and landed firmly on the stuff, which was very tightly packed in.

"Be careful you don't sink in that," Amy said, leaning on the side of the wall. He was just a few feet lower than her eye level there at the top of the well, kicking around in the sand.

"Does anybody have a shovel?" he continued to kick.

"You're not digging it, you'll make a void and it'll turn into quicksand," River said.

"I doubt it," he said, then he knelt down and began to paw at the sand with his hands, getting his fingernails full of dirt in the process. He had a suspicion that he definitely wasn't going to find a void, though, and that digging in the sand couldn't be that dangerous. They were out in the Sahara, everything around them was sand, and none of it was dragging people underground. It was the wrong conditions for quicksand. He scraped away a good few inches of sand and then managed to shove his hand a small way underneath until his fingers touched on cold, hard objects. He dragged them back to the surface and found himself examining a handful of coins.

"Did you find some money?" Amy inquired.

"Impossible," said River, "Wishing wells are Nordic. There wouldn't be Nordic influences down here, we're too early and too far away."

"Sacrifices to the gods, Song," the Doctor said, standing back up and thumbing the coins, "Perhaps it's an isolated event, trying to bring water back to this particular well. They're desperate, they'll try anything – besides, throwing money at one's problems is often a quick-fix no matter what century it is." He dropped the coins back down into the dirt.

"Whatcha thinking?" Amy asked him playfully, still leaning on the edge of the well.

"I'm thinking that this well has been filled with sand," he said, "On purpose. And not by one of their gods. It's packed too neatly and these coins are buried too deep for them to have been hidden by sand blown in by the wind. There's sand, then coins, then sand. Someone wants to keep this well blocked up."

"Maybe it's Apep, and he's cursing them," River said, joining them. "Let me see those coins." Eleven picked a few of them up and held them out to her. Rory had been looking out over the horizon, but now came over to join the rest of them to see what was going on. "Wouldn't be the first time an ancient god turns out to be real, would it? Isn't there an extradimensional god-creature living in the mines underneath your new daughter-in-law's village?"

"She isn't my daughter in law, though I'm not fazed in the slightest by you suggesting that they might one day get married; I would, in fact, be very happy for them if they did," Eleven said pointedly, "But I don't remember hearing anything about an extradimensional god."

"There is one," said Amy, "Donna told me. She met it, said it's weird."

"Well, that…" he stopped, then shook his head, "I will just ask Jenny at the next opportunity."

"Half the time ancient gods in old stories are something to do with you, sweetie," River continued. He couldn't work out if she was trying to get on his nerves on purpose or if her ordinary personality was what was getting on his nerves. "The Time Lords were very powerful. I saw the Singularity as well, you know."

"What's that?" Rory asked.

"It's nothing," said Eleven darkly, glaring at River for bringing that up, "Forget she said anything." He kicked a layer of sand back over the coins he had dug up now, "Where do you think we can find this man from Memphis who brings them the water?"

"Wasn't Elvis from Memphis?" Amy asked as the Doctor climbed back out of the well, which was harder than getting into the well to begin with.

"I don't think the Memphis in Tennessee and the Memphis in Ancient Egypt are the same place," said Rory.

"You humans are just rubbish at thinking of new names for places, that's all. Do you know how many cities Alexander the Great named Alexandria? A lot," said the Doctor, "And he was a cad. Don't you remember when we met him? He kept touching me." This he addressed to River, because it had been a long time ago but a trip with only the two of them where he had met Alexander the Great. She laughed at the memory. "It wasn't funny! I should have reported him. Harassment."

"Take it as a compliment."

"Take it as a compliment? If I were a woman you wouldn't tell me to take it as a compliment," he argued.

"No, if you were a woman I'd've told you to kick him between the legs."

"Well, this is only the weirdest feminist discourse I've ever had to listen to," Rory commented. "I assume the man who brings the water will be in the village. Do you really think someone filled the well with sand?"

"I think they're filling it, it's ongoing, present tense," said Eleven, beginning the walk in the baking heat back to the village and the shade. He could do with some water himself, ice cold and refreshing. Or maybe a nice glass of milk, milk that had been stashed in the freezer for ten minutes' prior and had condensation dripping down its sides… He stopped himself. He had never fantasised about milk before; he usually fantasised about Clara. Maybe he could convince Clara to pour him a glass of milk when he got home later – she could do it in her underwear…

And then he realised he really was getting side-tracked.

"Are you alright? You spaced out there for a minute," Amy's voice cut through his thoughts.

"Hmm? Oh, yes, I'm fine."

"Thinking about something interesting?"

"No," he lied, "Not at all." He cleared his throat. "Let's move on, shall we?" They were on a sand dune slightly higher than the village, which lay just ahead of them, when he spied over the ruined rooftops a caravan made up of half a dozen camels and well-dressed men on the opposite side who had certainly not been there earlier. They were laden with buckets and barrels, but it also did not escape his notice that they were armed.

He skidded down the sand dune and stumbled at the bottom, half-jogging to get to these newcomers, skirting the edge of the village's pillars and its ruins. At least there was more shade down there. He hadn't put on any sun cream and was thinking that this was a dire mistake, along with wearing tweed.

"Excuse me!" he called, waving to hail them down. He had to hold up his hand to shield his eyes from the sun and see their faces, his eyes aching from the brightness of the afternoon. They should have come to visit at night. "Hello there, I'm the Doctor. Are you bringing these good people water?" he asked this of the first person he came across, someone with grisly features – a scar splitting one of his eyelids and half of his lip, which made his face a permanent sneer showing off yellow teeth. They didn't give off much of a charitable vibe. But this man did not talk to the Doctor, he instead barked for somebody else to come using a word Eleven didn't recognise, and then a middle-aged man approached from behind a very decorated camel – if 'decorated' was the word. It looked almost regal. He and his troupe must be very important in Memphis.

"It is me you want to address, my good man," he said, wearing a robe which could not come cheap, made of what looked like leopard skin. "I am Sati, I am bringing these poor people water, and have been doing so since their well dried up." But the well hadn't dried up, the Doctor was sure that someone had been routinely dumping sand into it at night to make sure the water supply remained non-existent.

"How much is it costing them?" the Doctor asked. Sati laughed, then looked at his grim-faced men, and they all chuckled too, though they sounded more threatening than their leader did.

"It is a gesture of good-will, to stay in favour with the gods," he said.

"But if the gods have cut off the well, how do you know they don't want these people to die?" he challenged.

"If the gods want them to die then they will die."

"Interesting, considering they have been dying. So your efforts are futile."

"Maybe, but I cannot give up. I cannot idly stand by and watch this suffering."

"But you're not standing by, you don't even live here," Eleven continued, putting his hands in his pockets, "How did you hear about this?"

"When people came to Memphis begging. I am not sure I like your tone, sir – are you trying to imply something?" The Doctor laughed without humour, then narrowed his eyes at Sati. He forced a smile.

"Not at all. I was just wondering if you might have some water to spare for us weary travellers – we're on our way to the river," he said amicably. Sati nodded and then fetched a flask made of animal skin, which he handed to the Doctor, who shook his hand gratefully.

"If you will excuse us, I have business to discuss with some of these villagers." Sati indicated for his men to follow him, and the Doctor stepped back to re-join River and the Ponds while they and their convoy of camels entered the ruin village through the pillars and old walls. Eleven clutched the flask and waited for them to pass by, receiving many unusual looks, though most eyes found Amy and remained on her until she was out of their line of sight. She either did not notice or did not care.

Once they were gone, he lifted the cap on the flask and drank from it.

"Don't do that!" Rory exclaimed in horror when he saw this. Eleven held up a hand to Rory to indicate he should be quiet, then swilled the liquid around in his mouth. When he was satisfied with his diagnosis, he spat it onto the floor in front of him, making Amy jump aside.

"You almost got me!" she shouted at him.

"Sorry," he said, then he dropped the flask and let the water pour out into the sand. "It's dirty. Bad water. Definitely the route of the kidney problems, if they've been drinking it for months. Could even be poisoned, intended to kill slowly so nobody works out what's going on." On a hunch, he followed Sati and his entourage into the village, with the others still behind him, and he stood carefully out of sight and observed them giving out water.

But they were not only giving out water, he noted. The men were, but Sati stood talking to a young man, barely out of adolescence. In the quiet of the desert his words carried easily, and the Doctor could hear a discussion about the young man's house.

"…with your father so tragically out of the picture, what is keeping you here?" Sati was saying. The young man was sad and unsure of whatever he was being propositioned, and then Sati pulled out a bag of gold coins which made the man's eyes light up. "I will give you a handsome sum to purchase your land here, more than enough for you to move to a city and make your living there. Things are much easier in the cities, by the river. The gods will never let the Nile run dry."

"I am sorry," said the man, "I cannot leave the home my parents and my grandparents built before me. It would do dishonour on their memories, and they rest nearby."

"Now, now, boy," one of Sati's men interrupted, "This is a good amount of money. You think your parents would really want you to turn down this opportunity?"

"What is this house now but a place of sad memories?" Sati added.

"They are sad, but they are mine, and they are happy also," the young man said firmly. And then he was grabbed roughly by the scruff of his neck by Sati's second.

"You're going to take the money and not throw our generosity in our faces like this. Would your family want you to die out here in the dirt, like a rat? Poor and alone? Or take this money and seek fortune in the city? A wife, a child? Because you will die out here if you anger me anymore," he threatened, putting his free hand on the hilt of his sword. It didn't take anymore than this to make the young man grab the coin from Sati, and then he was thrown to the ground to sprawl in the sand. He scrambled to his feet and made a run towards the edge of the village, where the Doctor stood. The soldiers glimpsed Eleven watching as they made sure the boy escaped.

"Hey, are you alright?" Amy grabbed his arm as he passed, and he yelped and lurched away from her like her touch had hurt him.

"I don't want to die today," he sobbed, and then he went stumbling out into the desert in an easterly direction.

"Why do they want people out of this village? Killing them? Buying them out? It's like a siege without any walls," Rory said. He already looked angry about this state of affairs. The Doctor himself was seething, but knew better than to approach Sati and his goons with their axes and swords.

"There must be something here, something important…" Eleven mused. Amy cleared her throat, and when he looked at her she pointed. She pointed right at the Pyramid of Khufu next to them, the tallest of all the pyramids and the one the village was built at the edge of.

"Do you think that is something important?"

"Maybe they're looking for another way into the pyramid?" River suggested, "We do that sometimes in archaeology, and especially with a structure like this. Like a backdoor. Maybe they think they can dig around here and find a tunnel." It made sense, and he didn't have a better theory himself. Not to mention River was a legitimate archaeologist, after all.

"Then I suppose we ought to try and find a way into the pyramid too. One that doesn't involve any digging. Come along, Ponds. We have a village to rescue."

AN: As always reviews are greatly appreciated, I live for you guys' reviews. Also I totally have a flat living all on my own now - pretty crazy considering how young and useless I was when this fic began and I didn't know how to do anything for myself. But it did make me realise that the shared living on the TARDIS is very inaccurate to actual shared living because they're not constantly at each others' throats about people not doing their washing up and leaving the shared spaces filthy.