Part 24 (1/2)

Jamie had watched him open the big, leaded window and scramble out with the enthusiasm of a child and the agility of a monkey. But the treacherous conditions outside and the height of their room on the third storey seemed to have somewhat quelled the Doctor's appet.i.te for escape.

'Why don't you let me try?' asked Jamie helpfully.

The Doctor shook his head and moved his feet a fraction.

'Don't argue. I'll be able to accomplish far more when I'm on the other side of the door.'

His right foot slid across the ledge and he dug his fingers into the wall, feeling his nails sc.r.a.pe against the powdery mortar.

Some four feet away was another window, identical in design but slightly ajar. The Doctor had taken careful note of the layout of the third storey on their way back from their audience with Cromwell. He was confident that the open window would lead him into the corridor and, from there, he could organise Jamie's escape and find Richard Cromwell's room.

As the darkness stole over the scene, the Doctor breathed a sigh of relief that he was not only practically invisible to an onlooker but that he could see less and less of the ground below.

He reached out his hand and began to slide further. Jamie looked on helplessly, his hands describing anxious little circles as he leaned out of the window.

The Doctor took a deep breath and made three or four quick steps. His boots rang off the frozen stone but his grip on the wall didn't falter. He looked back to wink at Jamie but the boy's image was disappearing in the dusk.

Turning back to face straight out, the Doctor steadied his breathing and shuffled his feet again. He could see the cas.e.m.e.nt of the next window only a few feet away.

Emboldened by this, he began to move more rapidly, hoping to get the whole process over and done with. Reaching for the elaborately carved exterior of the window, he s.h.i.+fted his left foot and suddenly slipped.

A great, lurching, sickening rush raced through him as his foot met empty air and he struggled to right himself. His fingers scrabbled at the brickwork, desperate to find purchase, but there was nothing bulky or strong enough to take his weight.

In a second he had fallen.

The Doctor's breath was knocked out of him as his chest connected with the stone ledge. He hung in silence for a moment, wondering how on earth he had been saved.

Jamie's voice came sailing through the dusk. 'Are you all right, Doctor?'

The Doctor felt the cold wind streaming over his, back and realised that his cloak had caught on the windowsill as he fell.

It was ripped from the bottom almost to his shoulder and it was the only thing keeping him from falling.

'Doctor?'

He dug his fingers in and pulled at the ledge, trying to hoist himself back up. There was a dreadful tearing sound and the cloak split further. The Doctor felt it flapping about him like a damaged wing.

'Jamie!' he gasped at last. 'I'm in a bit of bother!'

He heard scrabbling nearby. 'Hang on! I'm coming!'

The Doctor shook his head, for the benefit of no one in particular. 'No. It's too dangerous. Wait a minute.'

He glanced upward and saw that the cold breeze was stirring the heavy brocade curtains of the room he wanted to enter. Biting his lip, he made a huge effort and managed to heave his elbow on to the ledge. His legs swung below him, kicking at the air.

The Doctor had timed it well, and, as the curtain billowed outwards, he grabbed hold of it for dear life just as his cloak tore completely in two and floated to the darkened ground.

Smiling to himself, the Doctor grasped the curtain with both hands and began to hauI himself up, his feet clas.h.i.+ng against the wall.

'It's all right, Jamie. I've got it now ' he began.

The curtain began to tear, just as the cloak before it, and the Doctor could see the wooden rings that attached it to its rail splinter and crack under his weight.

With a worried bellow of fear, he dragged himself up on to the ledge and did a neat forward roll into the corridor, casting the curtain out as he did so.

. He stood in the darkness for a moment, catching his breath, and then poked his head out of the window.

'Jamie!' he hissed. 'I'm in. Just wait there and I'll have you out in a tick.'

He didn't wait for Jamie's a.s.sent but raced down the dark deeply carpeted pa.s.sageway, slowing only as he approached the outside of their room.

The guard stood there, looking bored and tired, his helmeted head drooping on to his chest.

The Doctor watched him in silence for a while, sucking on his finger and gazing at the long rug which stretched the length of the corridor. He frowned deeply and, reaching a decision, pressed himself flat against the wall so that the shadows cloaked him completely.

Then, without warning, he began to sing in a quiet, gentle voice. '”Her husband was a soldier, and to the wars did go, And she would be his comrade, the truth of all is so...”'

The guard looked up, dragged from his reverie by the unexpected voice. He peered into the darkness and thrust his pike out before him. 'Who's there?'

There was silence in the corridor and then the Doctor's voice sprang up again.

'”She put on man's apparel, and bore him company, As many in the army for truth can testify.”'

The guard slid the visor of his helmet upward and began to advance, slowly and carefully, along the corridor.

'Who's there, I say?' he barked, steadying the pike in his hands.

Again there was silence and then the Doctor stepped out from his hiding place, holding his hands above his head.

The guard was puzzled. 'What the devil... ?'

The Doctor smiled sheepishly. 'No. Not the devil. The Doctor.'

He threw himself down on to the floor and, grasping the trailing end of the rug in both hands, pulled with all his strength. Wrong-footed, the guard was sent sprawling against the corridor wall. His head slammed against the plaster, and with a groan he slumped unconscious to the floor.

Losing no time, the Doctor rifled through the keys that hung at the guard's waist, found the one that gave access to the room, and then, slipping his hands under the guard's armpits, dragged the unfortunate man into a darkened recess.

The keys rattling in his hand, he stole across the corridor and slipped a heavy black one into the lock.

'Hang on, Jamie,' he whispered. 'Almost there.'

As the door opened, the Doctor's head jerked round.

Footsteps echoed dully on the floor. Footsteps coming his way.