Part 15 (1/2)

They stood together, shoulder to shoulder, silent, looking out at the fissure for a long while before s...o...b..ld spoke. 'Doctor,' he said falteringly, 'I... well, that is '

The Doctor raised his hand. 'Never mind.'

'I should not have lost my temper. What I said was, I believe, justified, Doctor.'

The Doctor did not reply. He chewed at his bottom lip and continued to stare out through the gap in the hedge.

'But the manner in which I expressed it was not warranted. I apologise.'

Still the Doctor did not reply. He frowned, looked up at the sky, blinked, and then pointed out at the fissure. 'You see that dark line?' he asked, putting his hand on s...o...b..ld's shoulder and bending him to follow his own line of sight. 'It's perfectly straight. There's another over there.' He swung his pointing hand, pulling s...o...b..ld round as well.

'Yes, I think I see.' s...o...b..ld straightened up again. 'Are you leaving, Doctor?' he asked hesitantly. 'Only, your box...'

'My box,' the Doctor echoed quietly. He seemed to come to a decision, drawing himself to his full height and pus.h.i.+ng his hands into his jacket pockets. 'Do you suppose,' he asked with a sudden brilliant smile, 'that you could show me the view from the top of the church tower?'

It took a moment for s...o...b..ld to work out what the Doctor was saying. As olive branches went, an interest in his church was subtle and considerate. He could feel that he was smiling too. 'Of course, Doctor. It would be my pleasure.'

The snow had eased off by the time they reached the top, but the wind was biting. s...o...b..ld drew his coat tight about him, amazed at the Doctor's apparent indifference to the climate. The top of the tower was a lead roof, sloping up to a flagpole. There was no flag flying. The stonework rose above the level of the roof, forming a wall.

The dam was a grey smudge in the distance. Away on the other side of the church was the huddle of buildings and the gaping maw of the tunnel that was the mine. But it was towards the ragged fissure cutting across the snow*covered moor that the Doctor was pointing.

Not for the first time as he surveyed the landscape, it struck s...o...b..ld that the shape of the top of the church tower was extremely similar to that of the tower of a castle. Not for the first time as he looked out across the moorland, he found himself thinking he was looking out over the church's battlements, and he mentioned this lightly to the Doctor.

The Doctor's reply was less humoured. 'This is St Michael's church,' he said as if that explained it. When s...o...b..ld made no comment, he went on: 'When they were looking for places to build their churches, the early Christians adopted, took over, many sites of ancient power.'

'Power?'

'Often the church built on such a site was consecrated to St Michael.'

'The traditional enemy of Lucifer, of the devil,' s...o...b..ld realised. It made sense.

'The sun G.o.d, in most of the old religions,' the Doctor said. 'In those days it really was was seen as a battle.' He clapped his hand on the solid stone wall in front of them. 'Fortifications of the soul,' he said with a wry smile. 'Very useful in such times.' seen as a battle.' He clapped his hand on the solid stone wall in front of them. 'Fortifications of the soul,' he said with a wry smile. 'Very useful in such times.'

'I suppose so.'

'Yes,' the Doctor said in a tone that suggested he was about to change the subject. He pointed out at the fissure. 'You get a much better view from up here than from the dam. You see that dark line we observed earlier?'

s...o...b..ld looked where the Doctor was pointing. 'Yes.'

'That's where we found the body of poor Gaddis.'

It was the first time s...o...b..ld could recall the Doctor saying anything that suggested sympathy or regret. 'It's a dead straight line,' s...o...b..ld said. 'The snow seems not to have settled there. I wonder why.'

'Why would you think? Why is there no snow where Lord Urton has stepped?'

'Heat?'

'Exactly.'

s...o...b..ld swallowed. 'Professor Dobbs gave me a brief account of your adventures last night, Doctor,' he said. 'He is now researching fire demons.' He gave a half laugh that failed to dispel his unease at the thought.

'As are we,' the Doctor said. 'And what have we discovered?'

'That there is a line where the ground is warm. Too warm for the snow to settle?'

The Doctor nodded. 'But not just one line.'

The sun was in his eyes, so s...o...b..ld had to squint to see where the Doctor was now pointing. As he made out the dark line across the moors, the Doctor's hand moved and he squinted after it again.

'But there are... several,' s...o...b..ld said in surprise.

'One line of hot ground might be accounted a coincidence or a natural feature,' the Doctor said quietly 'But I count more than seven, and that smacks of purpose.'

'All dead straight,' s...o...b..ld observed.

'”Lines of power.” Gaddis called them. And while you may still be uncertain whether to believe Professor Dobbs's account of our encounter with Lord Urton last night,' the Doctor said, 'while you may not agree with my implied diagnosis of his behaviour, while you may scoff at stories of fire demons, you will notice that all the lines run from some point on the edge of the fissure...' He turned and walked to the adjacent side of the tower, s...o...b..ld following, watching as he pointed again. '...directly to the mine.'

He spent several minutes tracing each of the dark lines with his eyes. But however he looked at them, there was no denying it. They focused on, met at, led to the mine.

'Doctor,' s...o...b..ld said slowly, 'I think perhaps I do owe you an apology. Whatever is going on here, I have to confess it is outside my sphere of experience.' The Doctor was standing between s...o...b..ld and the sun, a dark shape against the brilliant snow. 'You have the manner and knowledge of one who has come across such things before.'

'Perhaps,' the Doctor admitted.

'Tell me, Doctor,' s...o...b..ld said quietly, 'what brings you here? Who exactly are you?'

The Doctor's voice came from the black void that was his silhouette. It was at once distant and quiet. 'I'm afraid you will have to believe me, my friend, when I tell you that I do not know. Who I am, who I was... A blank.'

'A blank?'

The Doctor sighed. 'Apart from the last few years, His voice was almost unnaturally quiet.

Apart from the time since I suppose you might say I ”awoke”

Barely a whisper...

I have no memory of my past.

...Lost in a sudden flurry of fresh snow No memory at all.'

Chapter Thirteen.

Into the Depths s...o...b..ld stood in the doorway, agape in astonishment. His small study was strewn with books and papers. However meticulous his mind might be, Professor Dobbs was not a tidy worker. A pile of books stood precariously high on the side of the desk, leaves of writing paper marking various places in each. On the shelves, other books had lurched sideways into the s.p.a.ces left by their absent neighbours. The floor was largely hidden beneath books and papers.