CANDY

Chapter Seven

I couldn't convince Nyssa to stay put while I once more went exploring, and I wasn't about to send her exploring on her own and maybe have her vanish too, so I reluctantly took her along. Since there was no one but us to attend, the princess had put most of the attendants at our disposal and I sent them into the cane fields, all lined up like beaters at a hunt, to search for Tegan, the prince and his tutor, who by now was acknowledged also to be missing. Nyssa and I started behind the stables and worked our way down to the palace and then around through gardens, down paths, through denser areas surrounding paths, working our way back to where I'd been apprehended. We found a foxlike animal eating the remains of a grigna and commented how Earth-like Shellaran was, and how much its dominant species resembled humans. Nyssa found it odd, although she herself appears to be completely human, and I believe I do as well, if one doesn't examine me too closely. "If this poison isn't real Thallium," she remarked, "it is close enough to behave like it, and our antidote should work."

"This planet has not been colonized by outsiders," I said, "only by its own people, colonizing each other. That's very human."

We were in a grove of satsumas, and I picked one, threw it to Nyssa and picked another for myself. I wasn't hungry so I put mine in a pocket and looked around. Low gray clouds threatened rain but I wasn't about to turn back without finding Tegan, Vandon, the tutor or a clue as to their whereabouts. "Hello," I suddenly said. "What's this, then?" Nyssa came running to where I stood looking at a footprint in the fast-muddying dirt, as it was starting to drizzle. There were more but there wouldn't be for long. "We'd better hurry before these get washed away."

"They're yours," Nyssa declared. "We have been here already."

"Not unless I've taken to wearing high heels." I lifted a foot to show Nyssa my plimsolls. "I don't see boot prints either."

"But that's good," mused Nyssa. "If she is alone, she's not in someone else's power."

We followed the prints until the drizzle had obscured them all. We stopped at a doorway into the palace; it was locked.

"She might have gotten in and locked the door behind her, unless it was an automatic lock. Either way it means she might be safe."

"Or," I said, "she might not have stopped here. The rain is ruining everything." I stood looking at the locked door, wondering if there was anything in my pockets or within reach I could use to pry it open or unlock it. Nyssa stepped in front of me and knocked on it. Within 30 seconds the door swung open to reveal a girl, not yet in her teens as far as I could tell (not that I am good at such things). She was clearly conflicted about opening the door and looked quite ready to run, but I held up my hands and Nyssa did so as well. "Hello," I said. "I'm the Doctor. This is Nyssa. We are not here to hurt you. We are not here to hurt anyone. We are just looking for our friend, Tegan. Have you seen her?" The girl shook her head and relaxed the tiniest bit. "What's your name?"

"Felsy," she whispered.

"Felsy, you look a little nervous. Is there anything we can do to help?"

At this Felsy once more looked about to flee, but changed her mind and flew into Nyssa's arms instead. "They took him away!" she wailed.

"Who?" I asked, afraid I knew the answer already.

"Vandon. They took Vandon."

I looked around. We were in a straight hallway leading from the door straight forward to I had no idea where, but no one else was in that hallway, there were no doors off of it and there was a cushioned bench not far down it, so we walked the short distance to that bench and sat, Felsy between me and Nyssa but leaning on Nyssa, who held her protectively.

"Are you okay enough to tell us what happened?" Felsy nodded. "All right. Someone took Vandon. How many people?"

"Two men."

"Do you know who they are?" She shook her head. "Where was this?"

"Right here. We meet here sometimes. He's my boyfriend."

"Prince Vandon is your boyfriend?"

"Yes. We have the same tutor and sometimes she teaches us at the same time, like dancing, or if Vandon plays the piano I sing, or we have a contest. Sometimes we meet here without Grita."

"Grita is your tutor."

"She is my mother."

That took us both aback. I asked, "She knows you meet Vandon?"

"Yes."

"May I ask - I'm not criticizing but I am curious – why do you call your mother by her first name?"

"She wants me to."

"I see."

"Where is Grita?" asked Nyssa. Why hadn't I thought of that?

"They took her too," said Felsy.

I thought to ask, "Did they try to take you too?"

Felsy started to shake. "I ran really fast but I came back to see if Vandon got away. He was fighting hard."

"But he didn't."

"He couldn't. They put something on his face and he stopped fighting."

"What about Grita?"

"I don't know. I was running." Felsy started to cry and I didn't know what to do but Nyssa hugged her. Nyssa is good at that.

None of Felsy's news was good and none of it gave us a clue as to where Vandon and Grita had been taken, nor whether they were still alive, nor anything at all regarding Tegan.

"What would you like to do now?" I asked the little girl. Nyssa gave me a sharp look, but I had to know how to proceed. So many secrets! Felsy shrugged, but then she said,

"I want to go home."

"Where is home?"

"Here." I understood that she meant the palace.

"Do the bad men know where you live?" She nodded. "Maybe it is a little dangerous for you to go home right now. Nyssa? Speaking of dangerous, I think you should take Felsy back to the TARDIS and keep an eye on her." Nyssa opened her mouth to object and shut it again. "You'll both be safe there and you can make more pills for the princess. You will be there if Tegan shows up and…."

"All right," she grumbled, but she smiled at Felsy and asked, "Do you know the way to the throne room? The child nodded. "Let's go there. I have a surprise for you." Felsy led Nyssa down that long hallway. I watched them for a while, then turned to that door, pulling the satsuma back out of my pocket and partially peeling it. I exited into the rain, then slipped a piece of peel into the latch to prevent it from clicking fully shut. Now all I had to do was figure out which way to go… in the dark.

I decided to stop circling the palace and venture out as if there was a path perpendicular to it. Of course there was no such path but I proceeded through brush and mud, getting thoroughly drenched, until suddenly there was a path, also muddy, so I followed it, endlessly, until finally it let out into an immense sugarcane field. I knew the attendants were beating their way through the fields, that there were not enough attendants to cover all those square miles, and that I had no chance of finding anyone or anything here, especially in the dark. I stood still in the pouring rain and tried to formulate a plan. I wasn't even looking out into the field but in the distance, lights caught my eye. After a while it became apparent that the lights were torches. The attendants were coming back. Eventually it became apparent that some of them were carrying something, then that the something was really a someone, and that the someone was female and lifeless.

"Tegan," I whispered, horrified. Is it terrible that I was relieved when the entourage was close enough for me to realize that the body had long blonde hair and broken eyeglasses? This had to be the tutor, Grita, Felsy's mother. Who was going to tell that little girl that her mother was dead?

The party stopped when it reached me. "Strangled," said an attendant I recognized as having taken me to see the court physician.

"The prince?" I inquired, anxiously. They all shook their heads. "My friend, Tegan?" They began to move past me. "Is no one staying to find them?" Apparently, no one was.