Part 36 (1/2)

The Doctor turned away and sulked.

153.

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'What is Otherstide?' asked Dorothee.

'Just some silly pagan festival,' he mumbled. 'Like Yule or August Bank Holiday.'

Innocet viewed them severely. 'The Other was one of the Triumvirate who ruled the old world with Ra.s.silon and Omega.'

'Oh, yeah,' said Dorothee. 'As in the Hand of -,'

'Ace!'

'But the Other turned against Ra.s.silon and was banished,' ventured Leela. 'He stole away the Hand of Omega.'

Dorothee grinned. 'Real y?'

'Depending on which version you read,' said the Doctor.

Innocet stared directly at him. 'Otherstide celebrates his casting out. Now please come down to supper.'

The Doctor poked at the robes she had brought. 'Satthralope's only resurrecting it to give the House something to concentrate on.'

The gong sounded for the third time.

He peered straight into the depths of the mirror. 'No. I think I'll sit this one out.'

The library started to tremble.

Innocet stepped back as two chairs moved in on the Doctor. He immediately backed into the pa.s.sages between the shelves. The door flew open to admit a Drudge. It pulled Leela and Dorothee clear with hard fingers as the room went berserk.

The sense of rage hit them like a breaking wave.

Data cores were hurled out of their racking like missiles. Planks half tore themselves up from the floor and lunged at the Doctor. As he vanished from view among the swaying shelves, they saw the white branches that tangled across the ceiling break free and reach down like gnarled fingers.

They heard his shout and then al the shelving caved in over him.

'Doctor!' yel ed both Dorothee and Leela. There was no answer. And through all of it, Chris had stayed fast asleep.

154.

Chapter Twenty-six.

The Play's the Thing

'He wil come down,' said Innocet.

'He could be dead,' said Leela.

'Or injured,' said Dorothee. 'We should have stayed.'

'He wil come.'

The Doctor's Cousins and companions had waited an age in the Hall in embarra.s.sed silence for the Doctor to arrive.

The tall banqueting tables had been positioned round the House's Loom, with the gla.s.s casket containing the sleeping Quences suitably garlanded to form the centrepiece. Forty-five places were set around the table, but everyone present had cl.u.s.tered into two opposing groups at one end. No one's feet touched the floor.

Friends versus Family.

Everyone looked at the body on the table.

Something rumbled under the floor and then the huge flagstones burst open with a crash. A dishevelled shape was spewed up into the Hal from the depths.

The Doctor clambered awkwardly to his feet and surveyed the gathering, swaying slightly.

'Well, well. Gallifrey's most dysfunctional family!'

G.o.d, he's drunk, thought Dorothee. She climbed down from her seat to give him a place between herself and Leela. He was not wearing his formal attire and his clothes were dishevel ed and dusty. Behind him, the hole in the floor closed itself with a crunch and a sigh.

'Charming,' he said, caustically surveying the table. 'Cheer up, everyone. It's a party. Otherstide felicitations to you all!'

He flourished a trick bunch of feathery flowers out of his sleeve.

'Very festive,' said Dorothee. 'What happened to you?'

'You know what libraries are like. They can't stand anything to be overdue.' He was trying to be dismissive, but his voice tremored slightly. And he had a black eye. 'Satthralope must keep the House under tighter control. I've never been beaten up by a library before. I don't recommend it.'

He peered at Chris, who was asleep in the chair beyond Leela.

'We can't wake him,' she said. 'He's sleeping so deeply.'

Dorothee fol owed the Doctor's accusatory glance up to the roof, where a familiar shape hung in a net of cobwebs.

'Jesus, how did that get up there?'

'How do we get it down here?' he snapped.

'Is this how you treat al your friends?' Innocet called from across the table.

'No different from his Family,' said Rynde.

Leela whispered, 'Say the word, Doctor, and I will make these miserable Cousins of yours do you honour.'

155.