Rising Water (A Doctor Who Fanfic) Chapter 3
this is the third installment in this story in which River wakes up in a very bad mood. Clearly I don't own these characters...
Chapter 3
The control room was a riot of flashing lights.
“I told you never touch anything!” the Doctor yelled coming into the room and rushing to the scanner.
“I didn’t!” Amy insisted.
“Ahhh, it’s the capacitor, we’ve been in the vortex too long. She needs to stabilize. I’ll just land somewhere safe, somewhere nothing ever happens. How about Ledsworth?”
“You’re taking us home?” Before Amy could finish her question the doctor strode to the doors and flung them open. “Well no, I mean I …” he trailed off as he turned to see a motley collection of mud huts in a small forest clearing.
“This is Ledsworth? The place has really gone to seed.” Rory deadpanned, joining him at the door.
“I seem to have arrived a bit earlier than I intended, never mind - any port in a storm, we just need to wait a half hour for the tardis’s auto-relative shift capacitors to gear down.”
“This is Ledsworth, but when?” asked Amy moving to the scanner. “1250. Doctor you have literally brought us to the Dark Ages.”
“Fascinating, shall we have a look around?” the Doctor asked sarcastically.
It was decided that even if it was the Dark Ages they likely had something to eat somewhere in the little village. The smell of baking bread was rising gently in the dawn air. The three of them trudged down a gently sloping hill towards the market square.
“Lovely morning, what could possibly go wrong?” chirped the Doctor.”
Rory stopped walking and turned towards the Doctor. “Seriously, Don’t say that.”
- - - - - -
Hours later the three of them were shackled in a dark, gritty cell as a pair of short, stout aliens that looked for all the world like a goblins from a book of children’s fairy tales argued about what to do with them.
“Sell them or eat them, I don’t care.” The monster nearest the doctor was gesticulating his lack of interest with a sharp looking spear. Saliva dripped from its fangy mouth as it spoke.
“I do tend to have an opinion on that, personally I’m against both alternatives” Amy said.
As both guards turned their attention to Amy the Doctor started to work on the primitive shackles that bound him with a small pin.
But the guard noticed his activity and cruelly jabbed his spear into the Doctor’s shoulder. As the pain seared through him, the Doctor felt River jerk awake, the connection between them suddenly bright and alive, vibrating with the force of her rage.
He started to chuckle, raising his head to look the monster in the eyes. “Oh you really shouldn’t have done that.” He could still feel her, she was coming fast and the intensity of her anger and fear almost overtook him.”
“That’s really very not good,” he said to himself.
“Run. Get out, now.” He barked at the alien that looked like a goblin. Leave the children untouched and never bother these people again.”
“You are in no position to make demands.”
“I’m giving you a chance to live”, the doctor bellowed. “You’ve just made a very serious mistake and I’m not going to be able to stop what’s about to happen to you. Trust me, if you value your life, if you have any interest whatsoever in your continued existence go now!”
“What mistake?” sneered the creature, rotating his spear so that it tore painfully against the doctor’s shoulder.
“You woke up River,” he said coldly.
As the Doctor spoke, a figure stepped into being behind the Goblin and silently closed an invisible door. A sword flashed behind his captor and the Goblin’s head landed with a sickening thud on the floor.
“I did try to warn you,” the doctor said with a grimace.
The second goblin advanced toward her, but she sidestepped him swinging her blade up through his spear arm and then kicked him hard in the chest. He staggered back and slumped against the wall cradling his stump of an arm and moaning.
River dropped to her knees in front of the Doctor; and, before he could protest, removed the spear from his shoulder in one sure motion.
“Aaarggghh, that really hurt!”
“Hi honey, nice handcuffs” She raised her eyebrows at him suggestively as she pushed his jacket open.
“Umm, standing right here.” Rory called.
River liberated the sonic from his inside coat pocket and then promptly walked away from the Doctor to where Amy and Rory stood shackled to the far wall.
“So, what did I miss?” she asked with an air of forced lightness, taking in the dank, dungeon-like room as she freed them from the restraints.
“Well there were some peasants with missing children. And some old wise woman told us really creepy fairy tales that turned out to be true about goblin men luring children in the forest with faerie lights. Well only sort of true, turns out goblins are aliens that traffic in child slavery and faerie lights are floating mind-control orbs, ” Rory summarized rubbing his wrists.
“Hmm” said River toeing the goblin who was still whimpering over his arm, “looks Gradulian to me, probably just caste outcasts, what do you think sweetie?”
“Yes, definitely Gradulian”, he had to twist against the restraints to turn towards her. “They’re shipwrecked and thought they’d sell a village full of children in exchange for a tow. Really unpleasant lot. Aren’t you going to set me free?”
“No, not just yet,” She said dangerously, turning her attention to the wounded guard. “The children you took, take us to them,” she demanded. When he didn’t answer immediately, she kicked him hard with the toe of her boot. “Don’t imagine that playing games with me is wise.”
The Gradulian sneered up at her. “They are ours, they followed our lights, there will be a good price for them. Kill me if you want, my clan will destroy you.”
“Who said anything about killing you?” River asked coolly. The Doctor could feel her pushing against this creature’s mind grappling with his consciousness for control. “You’re going to help us.”
She was on the verge of losing control and destroying him. “River, be careful,” he warned her. “Psychic manipulations is very tricky across species, you could blow a hole in his head.”
“He was going to do much, much worse to you,” she was talking in a low, deadly voice, “And he took children from their cradles. He took them from their mothers’ arms…” her voice broke off. This was hitting too close to home. A trickle of blood was starting to run from the creature’s nose.
“River,” he said quietly. “It won’t make you feel any better, trust me. I know.”
She turned to meet his eyes and nodded slightly, she released the alien.
He turned to the Gradulian who was now looking dazed. “I can help you get off this planet if you’ll just let those children go. This doesn’t have to end in more bloodshed.”
“Leave?” the creature shook his head. “Never!” As he spoke a loud rhythmic thumping sounded from down the damp corridor. “Hear! They come, to rip and tear and rend.”
“Well that sounds very unpleasant,” quipped the Doctor. “River perhaps you should free me now.”
“Yes, perhaps I’d better.” She said aiming his screwdriver at his cuffs and they clicked open just as an angry horde of Gradulians swarmed into the room.
“Release our chieftain!” one of them shouted.
“Oh, you’re the leader, why didn’t you say so?” River asked the one-armed alien briskly pulling him up, grabbing him roughly by the collar and shoving him out in front of her. “Excellent, you’ll make the perfect hostage.”
A short while later they were standing out in the sunshine. A truce, of sorts, had been established. The Doctor had hailed a Saurian ship (maybe he didn’t quite mention it was a prison ship) to take the slave traders away and Rory and Amy had taken charge of a noisy group of children who were dirty and a bit underfed but not too worse for it all.
River stood quietly behind him still gripping Rory’s sword, as the Doctor faced the Gradulian crowd, reminding them to not come back to this planet. “I don’t really do second chances,” he warned them. His sonic blipped in his pocked to alert him that the ship was in orbit and ready to take on its new passengers. “Ah, I think that’s your ride.”
The one-armed chieftain sneered triumphantly and hurled a dagger straight at the Doctor’s head. River moved faster than he could track, Rory’s sword arcing through the air to meet the dagger and send it flying back to lodge in the chieftain’s neck with a neat little crunching sound.
“Would anyone else care to decline the Doctor’s gracious offer?” River asked the alien crowd, who, as one, took a step backwards.
“You enjoyed that!” the Doctor snapped.
“You’ve got to admit, that was fairly bad-ass,” she grinned taking a com-link from her pocket, “You can transport them now,” she said to the waiting ship.