LEGION

Chapter 6

 

The invisible swordsman was unrelentingly backing the Doctor towards the jagged glass, which was the remains of the window he'd broken that afternoon. Viciously on the attack, the slashing sword had him nearly bent over backwards. All of the sudden, the Doctor saw an opening, just a small one.

Taking a deep breath and hoping for the best, the Doctor abruptly reversed his lance, and jammed the end into the handle of the sword. Then, he yanked upwards in an arc, sending the sword flying through the broken window. It fell with a clatter upon the gravel drive, just past the flower beds. A spatter of rain fell on the silvery blade of the weapon, as the heaving Doctor stared at it, wondering if his attacker would have another go at him. But the blade remained motionless, a cold, dead piece of metal.

“I bet old Cyrano would be proud of me.” The Doctor panted. “OK, Donna, now we go back to work and find out who or what is behind all of this.” The Doctor turned, and saw that the room was empty. “Donna?” He walked out the library door and into the entry hall. She wasn't there either. “Arrgh!” He yelled, throwing back his head and stamping his foot in frustration. Looking about him, he ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. “Blimey, where'd she go this time?”

That's what Donna wanted to know. When she came to a couple of minutes later, she couldn't see anything. Groaning lightly, she sat up. For a moment, she experienced a slight sensation of vertigo, then her head seemed to clear. Feeling her arms and legs, Donna decided that nothing was broken, but winced when she felt the back of her head. She had a mild headache, and there was a small bump back there. Donna guessed she probably hit it after she fell backwards, when the library wall she was leaning against suddenly slid open. There was no telling how far she fell. Not very far, it seemed to her, if she hadn't broken any bones in her fall.

“Somebody's gonna' be seriously sorry, when I get out of here.” She muttered angrily.

Feeling around her, Donna found that she was in some sort of narrow space. Perhaps between two walls, because there was a wall at her back, and what seemed like another wall touching her stretched out feet. There was no light of any kind. She was might as well have been blind.

“Note to self:” Donna said aloud, “when exploring a haunted house with hidden trap doors, remember to bring a blinking torch with you!”

She tried calling out the Doctor's name several times, but there was no answer. There was no hope for it, she was on her own for now. Donna decided to go to her right, and began to crawl forward upon her hands and knees, because she didn't want to risk falling again.

It was then that Donna realized that traveling with the Doctor could sometimes be pretty damned undignified. As she inched her way along the narrow corridor, she eventually began to hear a series of thumps and muffled grunts. What now?

“Don't tell me. I bet this place is some dirty weekend hotel for ghosts.” She whispered.

As Donna drew closer to the noises, she suddenly bumped into something soft and solid. Giving a startled cry, she drew back. But, whatever it was, gave a surprised yelp, as well.

“Violentia?” Donna said, reaching out a hand in front of her. It came in contact with her friend's chest.

“Erm--do you mind, Donna?” Violentia said.

“Oh. Sorry.” Donna apologized, letting go of Violentia's breast.

“What are you doing here?” her friend asked.

“Same thing as you, I expect.” Donna answered, “Lost in the dark.”

“I don't understand any of this.” Violentia said in a trembling voice. “What does this...this...thing, want with us? What're we going to do, Donna?”

“I'll tell you what we're going to do,” Donna told her, grasping hold of her friend's hand, “we're going to get out of here and locate a mate of mine. He's here in this house, somewhere, right now. If anyone can help us, the Doctor can. And no ghost on earth is going to stop me from finding him.”

Back in the manor house's entry hall, the Doctor was stood in the centre of the hallway. He put on his glasses and checked over the device he'd put together in the TARDIS, to make sure it was still working properly . He set it down again and took his sonic screwdriver from his pocket. Holding the sonic up in the air, he pressed the button. The tip shone blue and it gave off a high pitched buzz. Checking the readings, the Doctor raised an eyebrow and stared down at the floor beneath his feet.

Adorning the walls of the hallway where the Doctor was stood, were the portraits of two men and a woman. The men, both middle aged, were dressed in officer's kit. One was wearing a blue dragoons uniform from the Napoleonic era, while the other wore a red uniform from the time of Queen Anne's War. The woman was young and pretty, and dressed as a lady would have done in the Georgian era. While the Doctor was looking down at the floor, someone else was looking down at him. The eyes of the Napoleonic officer in the painting seemed to be alive, watching the Doctor with a fierce intensity.

The Doctor picked up his paranormal device from a nearby side chair, and walked to the back of the house, towards the kitchen. The features of man in the portrait became three-dimensional, as the head leaned out of the picture frame, and watched the Doctor's retreating back. The officer's somber face bore a malicious-looking smile. Then, he settled back, and became a mere painting again.

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