The Kind Ones, Chapter 3
Olena dug into her pocket and fished out a cloth and ribbon-bound doll, making it walk up and down her legs as she spoke.
“When I was three, our people went to war. They battled for so long, that people forgot what they were fighting over. All they knew was that there were two sides: the Khotyn and the Vay. We called that age the Dark Times, because so many people were killed and everything we had built was destroyed. We used to live in the sky,” she told them, pointing emphatically toward the ceiling. “But our bombs razed the earth and unseated our home in the clouds. That’s when the Khotyn leaders of men decided to launch the ultimate weapon to end the war. The planet was already burning when the Kind Ones appeared, offering our leaders another solution. They made the Pact, and though we had lost much, we maintained our most basic way of life. We never fought again after that.”
“What was the Pact though?” Rose asked. “How did it the solve the problem?”
Olena shrugged as she squeezed her doll. “They traded something,” she said nondescriptly. “I’m not sure what it was. All that matters is that it worked and we don’t have the war anymore. Are you sure you’re not hungry?”
The Doctor blinked in surprise at her offer and smiled. “Maybe just a bite,” he said, hoping to have a moment alone with Rose.
Olena grinned and went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast.
In the meantime, the Doctor looked at Rose significantly. “I don’t doubt that what Olena said is true, but it doesn’t change the fact that this planet was destroyed,” he said.
Rose shook her head. “How is that possible?” she asked.
The Doctor shifted in his seat and leaned forward. “Someone has interfered with history,” he suggested. “More than likely these ‘Kind Ones’ that Olena described. I knew something was off about this place when I woke up here, but I’ve been…distracted,” he said morosely. He zoned out for a moment before turning to Rose with renewed energy. He dug in his pocket and removed his sonic screwdriver, waving it in the air lifelessly.
“See, that’s not good,” he said inwardly. He flicked the sonic again, but it didn’t respond. “First the TARDIS crashes, now my sonic’s gone off…” The Doctor brought out his psychic paper and examined it as well. “Blank…” he muttered. “This is a technological dead zone. Something is in the way, like a great wall jamming the signal, so to speak.”
Rose went to peer out the thin curtain as a dull sun rose over the horizon, illuminating the landscape in shades of gray and brown. “Doctor, doesn’t it seem a bit quiet around here?” she asked. “I mean, I know its early morning, but there’s no livestock…no pets, not even a bird in the sky. Where are all the animals? Or the other villagers?”
Olena surprised them when she entered the room with a small tray of food. “All the animals went away,” she said simply. “Eat up before it gets cold.”
Rose and the Doctor picked at their meager gruel while Olena stoked a fire at the hearth.
“Why did the animals…go away?” the Doctor asked between bites.
The young girl discarded her flowered hat and joined them at the table with a shrug. “They didn’t like the hum. Most of the people couldn’t stand it either.” She glanced at their curious expressions and went on. “It starts every evening after the sun sets and can go on until the time of night prayers when we go to sleep.”
“What does it sound like?” the Doctor asked, his curiosity piqued.
“Like a…droning,” Olena said thoughtfully. “Like someone was right over your shoulder like this.” Olena came behind the Doctor and uttered a low tone from the back of her throat. Rose tightened her grip on her spoon as Olena’s eyes stared straight forward like a zombie.
“Okay, that’s creepy,” Rose admitted.
Olena straightened and rested her hands on the table. “The hum makes people sick,” she disclosed. She leaned on her forearms and whispered covertly. “Last year, three people went mad. They started screaming and raving about the sound. I think it’s worse for some people…”
“What happened to them?” Rose prodded, sipping at a cup of lukewarm tea.
Olena stared forward, her mouth in a hard line.
“Andriy the baker murdered his wife when she was sleeping,” Olena recounted, “while Mrs. Yosyp drowned herself in the lake. And Bernardyn…” her voice cut out. She seemed to look inwardly for the strength to continue. “He was my friend. The last time I saw him was on the outskirts of the village. He was hidden back in the trees when I called to him. He turned to look at me, but I didn’t recognize his eyes anymore. They were like a beast’s. He ran away and I never saw him again.”
Olena grew quiet as she stared mournfully at the ground. “That’s when the villagers started taking people to the Kind House,” she said. “They thought they could satisfy them like the domovoy, and then the Kind Ones would stop the hum.”
“They’re sacrificing people?” the Doctor asked angrily.
“I don’t know,” Olena said with tears beginning to fall from her eyes. “They take them and they never come out.”
“I don't understand. What are domovoy?” Rose interrupted, afraid to hear the answer.
“They’re like ancestor spirits that guard your home,” the Doctor said distractedly. “Proponents offer them food and drinks to keep the house safe. I guess the villagers thought their folk remedies would work on the hum as well, but inert sacrifices weren’t enough. They moved on to living beings.”
Rose shuddered behind her hands that had risen to cover her face. Even with the daylight creeping in under the door, all these stories were taking a toll on her.
The Doctor glanced over sympathetically before letting out a deep sigh. “Olena, can you tell me and my friend where we might get some rest? We have had a very long day.”
Olena smiled broadly. “You can sleep in my bed, if you want. I’m supposed to go to the market today and bring back Aunt Boyka’s medicine, so I’ll be gone most of the morning. My room is back behind the kitchen.”
Rose groaned thankfully as she crumpled onto Olena’s straw-stuffed bed. The Doctor followed shortly after and spooned against her back while stretching out his sore leg muscles. Both of them were feeling battered from the crash, and were asleep just seconds after hitting the stiff sheets.
**
When Rose woke up, she thought the Doctor was snoring in her ear. She turned over and was surprised to find the other side of the bed empty, though the sound persisted and grew louder. She shook her head back and forth, trying to rid herself of the throbbing hum, but settled for a pillow wrapped around her head. She walked through the dark hut and found the Doctor in a similar position on the couch.
“It’s bad,” he groaned painfully. “It’s so, so bad!” He rolled from one side to the other, trying to blot out the noise.
Rose sat down next to him and laughed mirthlessly. It was no wonder people went mad here. Apparently, the Doctor was one of the more sensitive types Olena had spoken about. Where Rose was simply irritated and uncomfortable, the Doctor looked positively stricken.
As quickly as it had come, the sound shut off abruptly. Rose lowered her pillow tentatively, unsure if it was really over. The Doctor also unclamped his hands from around his ears and breathed a deep sigh of relief.
“It’s getting shorter these days,” Olena said quietly, startling them both. She had been upstairs before then, apparently. “It takes less time for the villagers to break down and bring someone to the Kind House.”
The Doctor was up in a flash, his rage kept at a simmer beneath the surface. “Olena, I need you to take me there right now. Can you do that?”
Olena backed away and rested her hands against the wall. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” she said solemnly.
Rose squatted down to be on eye level with the ten year old. “I think that a lot of bad things have happened here, Olena. But if there’s one person who might be able to put it right, it’s the Doctor.”
“I just don’t want you to get hurt,” Olena admitted.
“I know you’re scared,” Rose said maternally, “but the Doctor and I are really good at solving mysteries and saving people when they need us the most. If you help us now Olena, we might be able to put an end to all the darkness. Isn’t that what you want?”
Olena nodded slowly and opened the front door, signaling for them to follow her.
(Next Chapter)