Part 29 (1/2)

'Then they'll kill Rokk!'

Kat hesitated. 'But what if he gets to Enros and dooms the planet?'

'We don't know that will happen!'

'I'm sure of it!' They locked eyes, each hoping to find rea.s.surance in the other's stare.

From the direction of the Great Hall, they heard a male voice screaming.

223.

'I'm cold,' said Chris.

Roz had to agree. Detrios was freezing: the surface could support life, but that was about all. Even so, it wasn't like her partner to complain about such things. He was trying to avoid thinking about what happened next. That, more than the temperature, caused Roz to s.h.i.+ver.

'Where now?' she asked.

'I don't know.' Chris scanned the dunes half-heartedly. 'I've never been to the surface before.'

'Then I suggest we find a way down.' He gave a slight nod, which Roz decided was consent enough. She set a brisk pace and hoped he would follow. She shuffled dust out from under her feet and kept her eyes peeled for downward-leading hatches.

'I'm not sure about this.'

She halted, surprised by her partner's sudden remark. He cut a solitary figure against the dull grey backdrop and she knew that, at this moment, it would be easy to persuade him to give in. He wanted that. She owed it to him not to let it happen.

'Can you turn back? Can you go home and forget about it all?' Chris shook his head. 'Come on then,' Roz said, her brusqueness masking her true emotions. 'Let's search.'

She just hoped she would be able to cope with the fallout later.

Without pause for thought, Kat broke cover and raced towards the Great Hall. Thruskarr reached to s.n.a.t.c.h her back, but he was too late. He followed reluctantly, but at a good pace despite that. They were halfway down the pa.s.sage before Kat realized that, just beyond the now open door, a fight had broken out.

The five cultists had rushed into an ambush. Through a flurry of fists, sticks and knives, Kat saw the faces of Rokk and Myrg.

They had taken their foes by surprise, but the odds were still against them. Kat jumped in and propelled one cultist to the floor. Thruskarr took care of another, flipping him into a wooden bench. In seconds, it was over and only the four rebels were standing.

Now the heat of the moment had pa.s.sed, Kat realized that the scream she had heard had come from Myrg's throat: the bait 224 which had lured his enemies within. He was leaning against the wall now, panting, whilst Rokk nodded only a brief acknowledgement to the new arrivals before hauling one of the groggy but conscious cultists to his feet. 'I want to know where Enros is!'

His captive spat at him. Rokk increased his grip until the young man squealed. Kat was suddenly aware of banging from the other entrances. She saw that benches had been pulled in front of them. But the cultists were determined and the northern door was splintering beneath a concerted onslaught.

Thruskarr studied the shadows searchingly. 'It doesn't make sense that Enros would be anywhere else. This is the only guarded area.'

Rokk's prisoner laughed, although his voice was hoa.r.s.e. 'Our Lord is too clever to be beaten by mere heathens. You will not find him.' Kat remembered the so-called deity's secret hiding place, in which he had concealed himself when she and Christopher had tried a similar a.s.sault. She almost revealed the information, then thought it might be best if Rokk didn't share her knowledge.

Rokk lost patience and punched the cultist, who collapsed in a heap. He grabbed another. 'One of them will tell us!'

Kat laid a hand on his arm. 'We haven't enough time. We'd be better off getting out of here!'

'There are only four of us,' Myrg agreed, worriedly.

'Where is Krossli?' asked Thruskarr.

'He provided a diversion to get us in here,' said Rokk. 'I think they caught him.' In a spurt of rage, he pinned the cultist against the wall. 'That's why this sc.u.m is going to tell me what he knows! I'm not letting our sacrifices be for nothing!'

Kat still hung onto his arm. 'It's not worth it!' she insisted.

'Listen, Rokk, I really think the world might end if Enros dies!'

Rokk whirled and stared at her with contempt. 'Not you, of all people!'

'No!' she said hastily. 'But -'

She was interrupted by a crash and a shout: the north door had fallen and seven cultists charged into the Hall. Kat spun towards 225 the door she had entered by, but six more were hurtling from that direction. Rokk acted quickly, grabbing the knife from his captive's belt. He threw it to Kat, then brandished his stick. The outnumbered rebels moved, in a back-to-back circle, to the centre of the room.

The two attacking forces converged upon them.

Chris didn't recognize the area of the underground city into which he and Roz emerged. It was evidently residential: rough holes cut out of damp walls gave access to barely habitable caves. Most were part.i.tioned off by curtains, but in others Chris saw ill-made furniture and family groups huddling together in fear. Many more civilians were out in the streets, talking in doom-laden tones, not knowing what to do as (so far as Chris could make out) civil war ran rife through their community.

Those people who noticed the visitors avoided them, displaying a mixture of fear and disgust.

'Come on,' Roz hissed as he faltered, his eyes drawn to the images of misery. 'Forget them.'

'I can't,' he protested. 'How could I? I never saw this last time. I thought of the Detrians as being just rulers, cultists and rebels. What about these people? What about the real inhabitants of the planet?'

'We can't help them all.'

'But to rescue one woman? It all seems so pointless. We can't let this happen. We can't let the Doctor . . .' He tailed off, realizing that he had begun to shout.

Roz looked at him with a pitying expression. She had known this all along; known just how futile their mission would be. But she had acceded to his demands anyway. She had even persuaded the Doctor to do likewise.

She had known that Chris had to see for himself.

He turned away to digest that revelation. His new line of sight brought him face-to-face with a Detrian woman. She was cowering in her dirty hovel and clutching a screaming child to her breast. Chris almost felt like crying himself, at the merciless inevitability of her fate.

Roz was there for him, as always. 'Shall we head back to the 226 rendezvous point? Or do you want to carry on searching?'

'They're the cause of it!' a hoa.r.s.e, male voice interrupted, removing the need for that painful decision. The Detrians had chosen to avoid them no longer.

Chris felt Roz tensing. Her hand hovered over her gun and he reluctantly made his do the same. They were becoming surrounded by what he could only liken to a lynch-mob. Too many to fight; their only chance lay in calming them.

'We're not here to hurt you. Please let us pa.s.s. We're simply looking for someone.'

'Like Enros?' You one of his pink-skinned alien friends?' A murmur of discontent answered that cry.

'No, no!' another man piped up. 'This one escaped from Enros!'

'That's right, I did,' said Chris, eager to distance himself from the evil cult leader. 'We're no allies of his.'