The Lion, The Witch, and The Doctor (2/3)
The second part to my Narnia/Doctor Who fic. Did anyone notice the names? I didn’t just make them up; I had a little help :)
Title: The Lion, The Witch, and The Doctor
Chapter: 2
Author: foreverwriting9
Pairing: Doctor/Martha
Spoilers: References The Shakespeare Code and it probably helps if you’ve read The Magician’s Nephew or The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, but it’s not necessary.
Rating: PG-PG13
Summary: The Doctor and Martha travel to a world called Arnian where the snow is plentiful and where strangeness abounds.
Word Count: 1,448
-
Martha and the Doctor had been walking for a few hours when they decided to stop for a rest. Martha looked up at the still-falling snow and said, “Do you think he was actually here?”
“Who?”
“C.S. Lewis.”
“Oh.” The Doctor puffed out his cheeks thoughtfully. “Well, I s’pose there are ways to get here other than by TARDIS.”
“Like through a wardrobe?”
“Come now Martha, let’s be realistic.”
“Realistic?! We’re on a planet that is eerily similar to Narnia-which we traveled to by time machine-and you’re telling me to be realistic?”
“All right, I’ll admit realistic wasn’t the right word.”
Suddenly, there came shouts from in front of them. Without a word, the Doctor grabbed Martha’s hand and pulled her toward some bushes. A large group of rowdy horsemen galloped around a bend in the road and then by their hiding place, throwing up snow in every direction and covering both the Doctor and Martha head to foot in snow. As the last horse turned out of sight, the Doctor stood, brushed off his coat, and then bent to help Martha up.
“Who were they?” She asked, shaking snow out of her hair.
“I don’t know, but I have a feeling we’re not on the same side.”
“Aren’t they headed toward Mr. Sutnum?”
He gave her a crooked grin. “Let’s find out.”
-
Mr. Sutnum’s front door was ripped off its hinges, and the inside of his house was pitch black. Only after the Doctor pulled some matches out of his coat pocket could they actually see where they were going.
Martha nudged a broken chair with her toe. “Something tells me he’s not here.”
The Doctor chewed part of his lip. “They must have taken him with them, but why?”
“Doctor!”
At Martha’s cry he turned to see what had startled her. A middle-aged man was barreling toward him with a chair held high over his head. The Doctor moved out of the way just in time as the chair came hurtling through the air. Martha ducked, and the chair fell to the ground, sending splinters everywhere.
The man retreated behind a book case and began throwing books at them. Martha crouched behind a chair and gave the Doctor a look that said ‘great, what now?’
A particularly large copy of the Iliad soared dangerously close to the Doctor’s head, then hit the fireplace with a resounding crack as the binding tore.
“Oi!” The Doctor stepped out from behind his hiding place. He bent down and picked up the mangled book. “Do you not know good literature when you see it?”
It was then that he realized who their attacker was.
“You’re C.S. Lewis!”
“I am,” said the man, pausing in his book throwing.
“How’d you get here?”
C.S. Lewis pointed to the door behind him. “The wardrobe.”
“I knew it!” cried Martha triumphantly.
He smiled at her. “You’ve heard of me then?”
“Heard of you? You only wrote one of the most popular children’s-”
“Martha,” warned the Doctor, cutting her off. ‘Oh’ mouthed Martha, suddenly aware of her mistake. The Doctor turned to C.S. Lewis with a smile, ready to gloss over Martha’s reference to his future. C.S. Lewis raised a hand to stop him from speaking. “You’re obviously not from Arnian, but at the same time, those clothes are unlike anything I’ve ever seen. How did you get here? Is there another wardrobe that I don’t know about?”
“We came by…time machine actually, Mr. Lewis.”
“Please, call me Clive.”
“We came by…time machine…Clive.”
He chuckled. “Time machine, what will they think of next?”
“It’s Time and Relative Dimension in Space if you want to get specific, the TARDIS for short.”
C.S. Lewis clapped his hands together and rubbed them against each other quickly. “So I’m meeting aliens.”
Martha jerked her thumb in the Doctor’s direction. “He’s the alien actually, I’m all human.”
“Alien is such a bad term, more like non-human.”
“Alright, non-human, I’m at the disadvantage; you know who I am, but I’ve no idea who you are.”
“The Doctor, and this is my companion, Martha.” He liked how the introduction seemed to roll right off his tongue.
“The Doctor? Just the Doctor?”
“You got it Clive.”
“So,” said C.S. Lewis, leaning up against the bookshelf, “have you been friends with Mr. Sutnum long?”
“We’ve only just met him,” explained Martha. “Have you known him long? You know, seeing as you walk in through his wardrobe.”
“Mr. Sutnum and I have been friends for about a year.”
“How long has this Jadis been in power?” Asked the Doctor.
“About three, maybe four months.”
“Hmm,” the Doctor tapped his fingers together. “So you were here when King Nasla was still in power.”
“Yes. Mr. Sutnum always talked about what an excellent king he was. Apparently he was quite a hit with the women of the kingdom as well.” He said, eyeing Martha.
She murmured something indistinct that sounded to the Doctor like, “I only like aliens nowadays.” He couldn’t keep a small smile from creeping onto his face.
“Clive, I’d like to get to the bottom of this whole mess, would you be willing to give us directions to the castle?”
“I’ll do you one better, I’ll guide you there myself.”
-
According to C.S. Lewis, the castle had once been a golden, shining beacon at the center of Arnian. Now, however, it seemed to have fallen into a state of disrepair that suited Jadis.
The group crept up to the main gate. It was open, and there were no guards to be seen. Hunched over in the bushes, the Doctor took stock of the situation. “This is strange; there should be guards, or at least someone. She wouldn’t just leave the front entrance open and unguarded.”
Martha turned and looked at him. “Coffee break?”
The Doctor stared at her, then shook his head. “A castle-wide coffee break? As nice as that sounds, I think it’s improbable.”
She shrugged. “Just a guess.”
C.S. Lewis prodded the Doctor. “Wherever we’re going, we better go fast; the gate is closing.”
They turned to look, and sure enough, the main gate was beginning to descend. The Doctor let out a heavy sigh. “Damn.” He quickly grabbed Martha’s hand. “C’mon, let’s go.”
They made a mad dash for the gate, and just as they passed into the interior courtyard, the gate came down with a loud thud. All three stood for a moment, trying to catch their breath. Suddenly, there came the sound of approaching footsteps. The Doctor turned to Martha and C.S. Lewis. “Up for another run?”
C.S. Lewis looked at him as though he were crazy. “Do you do this all the time?”
“Running for our lives?” Asked Martha. “Yes, it’s a daily occurrence.”
The Doctor gripped her hand yet again, and pulled her toward a door. He turned and eyed C.S. Lewis. “Coming?”
With a sigh, C.S. Lewis broke into a run and followed them.
-
The door opened up into a kitchen, and after going through another door the group soon found themselves in a hallway which branched off in several directions.
“Hmm,” the Doctor tapped his fingers to his lips, thinking. “We’ll have to split up if we’re ever going to find Jadis.”
Martha, of course, wanted to go with him. But she knew that wasn’t an option. “I’ll go with Clive.” She said with a small sigh the Doctor didn’t miss. He squeezed her hand. “That’s my girl.” He whispered, knowing he would try to make it up to her later. He gently let go of her hand and reached into one of his pockets. “Here,” he said, holding his sonic screwdriver out to her.
Her eyebrows rose slightly.
“No, really, take it. Hold onto it for me.”
“What if you need it?”
He shrugged. “I’ll just have to find you then.”
She smiled and carefully took the sonic screwdriver out of his hand. The Doctor took a few steps back and gave them both a wide grin. “Alright then, good luck!”
C.S. Lewis nodded. “You too Doctor.”
Martha’s eyes locked with the Doctor’s.
“Be careful.” He said softly.
She nodded. “You too Doctor, you too.”
-
C.S. Lewis sank down into a chair with a groan. “We’ve been through almost all these rooms, and there’s still no sign of Jadis.”
“We have to keep trying,” encouraged Martha.
He held up a finger. “One more door and then we’re going to find the Doctor and see if he’s had any luck.”
“One more door.” She agreed. She turned to the next door, pointed the sonic screwdriver at the knob, then slowly swung the door open.
A bizarre sight met her eyes.
“Umm…hullo.”