Part 7 (2/2)

The Doctor spun round instantly. 'Where?' he demanded looking round the room.

'There,' Tegan pointed. 'The painting.'

The Doctor looked again. 'Do you know,' he said after a while, 'I think you're right. This must be the lid of Kenilworth's sarcophagus. I wonder how it got here.'

'You should know,' a deep voice said, 'Doctor.' It came from somewhere behind Tegan.

'I'm sorry?' The Doctor and Tegan both turned to see who had spoken.

As if on cue, figures stepped out of the shadows all round the room. They were cloaked and hooded, each holding a candle. The guttering flames threw sharp shadows across their faces, making them look to Tegan like characters escaped from a Munch painting.

'Sorry,' said the Doctor as he and Tegan backed away, 'we didn't mean to interrupt. Please just carry on with whatever you were doing.'

'We'll see ourselves out,' Tegan suggested.# But the leading figure shook his head beneath his hood. 'Oh no,' he said in his deep, accented voice. 'I think now that you are here, we can find some role for you to play in our humble proceedings. Don't you?'

He waved an arm, and dark figures leapt forward from either side, grabbing the Doctor and Tegan and dragging them into the centre of the room.

Tegan struggled, kicking and trying to pull her arms free. But she was hampered by her own cloak and the restrictions of her Victorian dress. She could do little to prevent herself from being dragged across the room.

'At least they're taking us towards the TARDIS,' she hissed to the Doctor.

'I'm not sure that helps, actually,' the Doctor replied through gritted teeth.

'Careful with that elbow,' he warned one of his captors as he was wrenched away.

The shout came from the doorway, loud and clear, commanding and confident. 'Stop that, do you hear?' Another figure, tall and thin, stepped into the candlelight. 'These people are colleagues and friends of Lord Kenilworth, and you will answer to him if they are mistreated.'

'Indeed?' asked the leader of the cloaked figures.

'Yes, sir. Indeed.'

The leader laughed. 'The admirable Atkins. I think perhaps you had better join our revels.'

Before he had time to react, two more silhouettes stepped from the shadows by the door and dragged him over to join the Doctor and Tegan.

'Good plan,' Tegan said.

Atkins seemed a little fl.u.s.tered. 'What the devil - what do these people want with us, Doctor?'

'I'm not sure yet. But I'm afraid Tegan is right, you would have been better advised to make a run for it.'

By now the Doctor, Tegan and Atkins had been dragged to the far end of the room. They were facing the sarcophagus which Tegan had seen glow the previous night. Behind them the TARDIS stood stark, and un.o.btainable.

'How kind of you all to join us,' the leader of the a.s.sailants said. 'I feel I know you so well, that perhaps I should introduce myself.'

'Yes,' Tegan told him, 'perhaps you should.'

'I am Sadan Ra.s.sul, servant and high priest.'

'Really?' asked the Doctor. 'Of whom?'

'Of the one true G.o.ddess. Despised and rejected by her brother and her nephew, but her time is coming. Soon,' Ra.s.sul whispered, 'very soon now.'

'Well, I've nothing booked for the next few years,' the Doctor hazarded. 'I'm happy to wait around for an audience. How about you two?' he asked Tegan and Atkins.

'I fear Miss Warne will have some broth waiting,' Atkins said seriously. 'And of course his lords.h.i.+p will wish to know that I conveyed his message to you.'

'Silence,' Ra.s.sul hissed. 'Your time is over.' He stepped closer to them and threw back the hood of his cloak. Beneath it he was completely bald, the candlelight reflecting off the top of his head almost like a halo. The skin of his face was smooth, but Tegan could see faint hairline cracks just visible below the surface, as if his head were made of porcelain and the cracks ran under the glaze. 'You know,' Ra.s.sul said, 'how Osiris was tricked by Seth and placed inside a casket which fitted him exactly?'

'No,' said Tegan.

'Yes,' said the Doctor, 'I do recall something of the sort.'

Atkins nodded.

Ra.s.sul ignored them all anyway. 'The casket was sealed and thrown into the river.' He paused and looked at his captives closely. 'A fitting fate for those who seek to deny the G.o.ddess her freedom, her life.'

'And what makes you think we'd do a thing like that, eh?'

'Don't be facetious, Doctor,' Ra.s.sul snapped angrily. 'I was there. I saw all that you did. But it will come to nothing now. The process is started, the G.o.ddess will live again.'

'You do take your religion very seriously, don't you?'

Ra.s.sul's answer was quiet, almost whispered. 'You don't know how seriously, Doctor. You just don't know.' He shook his head, almost sadly.

Then he straightened up and snapped his fingers like a whip cracking.

Immediately Ra.s.sul's followers started herding their prisoners across the room. As they retreated, Tegan looked behind her and saw that they were being driven towards a group of several large sarcophagi leaned against the wall. She felt a sudden tightness against the back of her legs, and with a crash the rope barrier fell over behind them.

Before long, their backs were pressed against a hard, cold wooden surface.

In front of them, Ra.s.sul raised his arms high above his head. 'As the legend said,' he cried out, 'they shall be sealed forever in a fitting coffin and cast into the flowing depths.' He turned towards the darkest shadows in the corner of the room, as if to get some confirmation or a.s.surance. And it seemed to Tegan that an even darker shape within the shadows nodded its approval.

Tegan could see the Doctor reaching out behind himself to try to keep his balance, felt the lid of the sarcophagus behind her move aside, and saw Atkins tumbled backwards into the darkness. With a cry, she followed, the Doctor a moment after her. She could heard Ra.s.sul's laughter echo round the room outside as the door slammed shut on them.

The snow had stopped falling, but the fog was heavy. The torches held by Ra.s.sul's followers glowed eerily in the thick night as they made their way along the deserted streets.

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