Part 16 (2/2)

The Doctor sighed. 'Yes. This is my home - the ancient House of Lungbarrow in the Southern Ranges of Gallifrey, where I grew up. A wild and beautiful setting for the worst place in the Universe.' He gestured at the coffin. 'And this was Ordinal-General Quencessetian.o.bayolocaturgrathadadeyyilungbarrowmas, to give him his full t.i.tle and decoration. He was the head of the Family and my benefactor.'

Chris came closer and studied the old man in the coffin. Quences appeared serenely peaceful as he lay in state.

There were fresh flowers laid on his chest, roses with petals like grey silk. Droplets of fresh dew clung to the petals. Chris could see no immediately apparent signs of the brutal murder the old man had suffered.

The Doctor turned to Glospin. 'How long?' he said. 'Why is he still so well preserved?'

'Six hundred and seventy-three years,' said Glospin. 'To the day.'

The Doctor squatted to examine a small panel at the base of the bier.

71.'How did he die?' asked Chris.

Glospin raised an eyebrow.

'He's not dead,' said the Doctor. He tapped the panel. 'This is a static field generator.'

'Very good,' said Glospin. 'The Kithriarch is waiting in stasis.'

'Waiting? Why would he be waiting? What for?'

'You,' said Glospin. He turned to Chris. 'The Doctor Doctor is six hundred and seventy-three years late for Quences's deathday. The poor old man refused to read his own wil until his favourite was here. The whole Family has been kept waiting al that time.' is six hundred and seventy-three years late for Quences's deathday. The poor old man refused to read his own wil until his favourite was here. The whole Family has been kept waiting al that time.'

To Chris's surprise, the Doctor smiled at Glospin. 'That's not my problem, Cousin. As I recall, you were at pains to stop me from coming. No doubt, you were worried about what you'd miss out on. Though I can't imagine why. The Ordinal-General cast me out and disinherited me long ago.'

'That's right, Wormhole. But we're still waiting.'

'Why? Did Satthralope lock the doors and swallow the key?'

'You'l soon see,' Glospin said. 'The company you fell in with at the Capitol was fascinating. It gave me a lot to think about. How old did you say you were now?'

The Doctor snorted in indignation.

'Oh, and a word of warning,' Glospin continued. 'Be very careful of Cousin Owis.'

'Never heard of him,' said the Doctor.

'Exactly.'

A scowl spread across the Doctor's face. He looked from the coffin, around the Hall and up to his TARDIS, suspended out of reach. 'I'm sick of this dark. I need air. Let's get some air into this House before we al suffocate!

It must be light soon.'

He marched to the side of the Hal and began to haul away a heavy tapestry. Behind it, the arch of the tall window was blocked by heavy planks.

'What's going on?' Possessed by a sudden rage, the Doctor started to tear at the planks with his bare hands.

Dust flew into Chris's eyes. The screams of the panicking Cousins echoed through the Hall. Again, he saw the darkness rising up the windows.

The Doctor dragged a plank to the floor. Then another. It was dark as night outside the windows of the Hall. He set his bottleopener to the latch. With a vum vum, it snapped apart.

Before he could pul open the window, it was slammed wide open by a smal avalanche of falling soil and rock. He choked, up to his knees in tumbling earth. 'What have you done to my House!'

A cloaked woman stepped out of the shadows almost beside him. Chris knew Innocet immediately. She was tall and had grown thin, but her gaunt face was stil proud. She wore a battered brown bonnet and seemed to carry a great weight on her back.

'It's what you you have done!' she said. have done!' she said.

She and the Doctor stared at each other in a long, long moment of mutual recognition.

72.Chris, his eyes still smarting with dust, heard the creaks and groans of the long-neglected House. He heard hatred and rage stir in its timbers, but, stronger than that, he felt the surprise and contempt that pa.s.sed silently between Innocet and the Doctor. And it mingled with the sorrow that came from a tremendous bond that had turned so sour.

'Innocet,' said the Doctor and he reached to take her hand.

She pulled back from him. Her hands were trembling.

'There's been.. . a kil ing,' she said, looking at Chris and Glospin. She pointed at one of the arches that led off the Hall. 'Through there. It's Arkhew. He's in the funguretum. He's been murdered.'

73.

Chapter Fourteen.

The Keep

'How many dead?' said Romana.

Chancel or Theora sat at her office port amid the strewn aftermath of the outrage. 'One guard killed outright,' she said to the image of the President on the plasma screen. 'And one ordinal civilian sent for regeneration.'

'Are you all right, Theora?'

The Time Lady touched her hair where the celebrated arabesques were coming undone. 'A little shaken,' she admitted, but her decorum and authority were undiminished.

'The device came up in one of the service lifts. It was loaded on Under-Level fourteen, near the dry-dimension docks.'

'So it could have been sent by anyone.'

'The panoptic record for that level is unaccountably blank. The lift was programmed to stop at Level eighty-four.'

'But that's the Tharil Emba.s.sy!' exclaimed Romana. 'And only two floors below the Presidential suite.

'The guard there realized that something was wrong, but had no time other than to get the lift away.'

'So he sent the lift further up the tower?'

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