TRIAL OF A TIME LORD: THE VALEYARD

Chapter Eighteen

In their cell, Rain held on to the Doctor, comforting him while they watched Alan's torture. Both their eyes were filled with tears and the Doctor was murmuring to himself about how it was all his fault while they listened to Alan's anguished screams. Rain had put up a kind of mental shield, lessening the impact of Alan's pain and suffering inside her mind but she knew her husband hadn't done that even though he didn't tell her that. She knew him too well to know that he was allowing himself to experience the full range of his brother's pain because of his misplaced guilt over what was happening to him.

"I can't bear this any longer," the Doctor finally said. "He'll die if I don't do something."

"Thete, this isn't your fault," Rain said as she put her hand on his cheek.

The Doctor ignored her. He reached out to Alan's mind, fighting past the intense anguish to reach him.

Brother, my brother, please if you can hear this, if you can concentrate, tell the Valeyard I wish to speak to him, he thought to Alan.

At first nothing happened. The Valeyard alternated between cutting Alan's flesh with a long knife and then healing the incision with Alan's rejuvenator. The Doctor feared that Alan was in so much pain he couldn't concentrate on anything else. But then his brother managed to raise his head.

"The...Doctor...wants to speak with you," he rasped out.

The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief when the Valeyard let up on the torture and the pain diminished somewhat in his mind.

"Gee, why am I not surprised?" the Valeyard said with a snort. "Well, Halfling, I'll speak with him after I finish killing you."

Brother, let me take control of your mind and speak to him, the Doctor said. If I don't stop this, you won't last another ten minutes.

Yeah, tell me about it, Alan thought back wearily.

The Doctor entered Alan's mind and pushed Alan's conscious mind into another corner of his brain so he could enter and become the dominant one. Rain rubbed her husband's back as he kept his eyes closed and concentrated on speaking through his brother.

"Valeyard," he said, using Alan's mouth, "stop this at once. I order you to speak to me and leave him alone!"

The Valeyard sighed and threw his blood soaked knife down on a nearby trolley.

"You just can't take no for an answer, can you?" he said to Alan.

"I wish to take Alan's place. Leave him alone."

"How noble. But you see, I have separate plans for you so this whole trading his life for yours doesn't work."

"I'm warning you, if he dies you die."

The Valeyard threw back his head and laughed.

"You can't stop me, weakling. I'll cut your so-called brother's face from ear to ear. I'll flay the flesh off his skull and then work my way down his body, keeping him alive and screaming until the very last and all you can do is sit there with your whore of a wife in that cell and just watch. Your threats mean nothing to me, Doctor. I have you and this Halfling at my mercy and there's nothing you can do about..."

He jerked his head up when a klaxon went off. The Doctor jerked his eyes open and watched as the Valeyard let out an angry sigh and kicked the trolley against the wall.

"That daughter of yours is another bug that needs to be squashed and unfortunately my associate isn't doing a good job of hunting him and the blind idiot down."

"Associate?" Rain muttered as the Doctor raised his eyebrow.

By this time he was out of Alan's mind and Alan was staring at the Valeyard, groggy and silent but the Valeyard continued to speak to him, thinking he was the Doctor. The Doctor cautioned Alan to be silent since the Valeyard was talking and not torturing him. He watched as the Valeyard threw Alan's rejuvenator down on the trolley next to the knife.

"My acolyte will be in here shortly to watch over you while I take care of the intruders once and for all. So if I were you, I'd say your goodbyes to the freak here because the moment I get back, the final act begins."

"Acolyte? I wonder who he means," Rain said to the Doctor.

"Dunno but it's not another Time Lord. I can't feel any other minds beside ours and the Valeyard's. Someone he's enslaved, I expect," the Doctor replied. "As long as he only watches over Alan and doesn't try to finish what his master started..."

Rain reached out and found Namid's mind. She quickly warned her that the Valeyard was coming for them. Namid thanked her and sent her love to her and the Doctor before she cut off contact. The Doctor shook her head.

"Whatever the TARDIS did, I hope it's enough to keep our daughter and Hamish alive," he said to Rain.

"I trust her, Thete. I have a feeling the TARDIS knew what she was doing when she converted Mi-mi," Rain said. "She's always been a strong woman. Not to mention your thirteenth self seems to trust her. I think she'll be fine, they both will."

The Doctor nodded.

"As long as the bastard leaves Alan alone and lets him recover...that's all I care about for the moment."

They both did a double take when the door opened and a young boy walked into the room. He was eleven years old of Persian descent. The Doctor gritted his teeth when he saw the boy was emaciated, his brown skin clinging to his bones. He was medium height with dark hair and eyes. His dark hair had been shaved down to resemble the buzz cut the Ninth Doctor had. He looked fatigued and the Doctor wondered where the Valeyard had found him.

"Correction, I want Alan to recover and this boy far away from him," the Doctor muttered to Rain.

They both flinched when the Valeyard bitch slapped the boy so hard that he staggered back into the wall.

"I gave you one simple instruction, hunt them down and you can't do even that. You're useless!" the Valeyard growled at the boy.

"I'm sorry, Master, I tried but I couldn't find them."

"Bah, you weren't looking hard enough, you lazy idiot. No wonder you're so thin, I keep having to deny you food to punish you, but the lesson never sinks in does it."

"Leave him alone," Alan rasped out.

The Doctor gnashed his teeth when the Valeyard spun around and backhanded him.

"This is my servant, Doctor, and I'll speak to him however I want," the Valeyard growled at Alan.

"I'm Alan," Alan said. "The Doctor left my mind."

"Oh. Well, I don't blame him. He probably took a look at how thick you are and fled in terror. Anyway, this is my servant and I will do what I want with him, so shut your gob before I slice your gob open!"

Don't antagonize him, Brother, the Doctor thought to him. Let him leave. Then speak to this boy and see if you can get him to help you. If he's starving and torturing him, he's not being his servant of his own free will.

Alan held his tongue. The Valeyard snorted at that and with one final warning to the boy to watch over him over else, he hurried out of the room and slammed the door behind him. Alan waited a few minutes, making sure the Valeyard was really gone before he addressed the boy who was leaning up against the wall by the door, staring at him blankly with his arms folded over his chest.

"What's your name?" Alan said as the Doctor and Rain watched from their cell.

The boy blinked at him and the Doctor figured that he was surprised that someone was speaking to him without berating or ordering him around. Alan smiled warmly at him.

"My name's Alan, what's yours?" he asked.

The boy hesitated a moment.

"Mirza," he said with a heavy Persian accent.

"Pleased to meet you, Mirza. How old are you?"

"Eleven," Mirza said after another moment's hesitation.

"How long have you been with the Valeyard?"

Mirza gave him a blank look.

"The Valeyard..." Alan prompted when he saw the boy's confusion.

"Master, you mean?"

Alan sighed angrily.

"Yeah, your master, how long have you been with him?"

Mirza thought about it and then shrugged.

"How old were you when he first enslaved you?"

"Nine."

Rain gasped as the Doctor gritted his teeth. Alan sighed.

"Listen, Mirza, do you like working for your master?" Alan said.

Everyone saw the fear and uncertainty on Mirza's face. Alan's hearts went out to him and he smiled tenderly.

"Don't be afraid," he said gently. "Please tell me. If you help me, I'll help you, yeah? Shake your head or nod, do you like working for him?"

Mirza hesitated a moment and then shook his head.

"Would you like to get away from him?"

Mirza nodded.

"If you free me, I can help. I have a brother and sister who are watching us right now and if we free them and free everyone else the Vale...your master has captured, you can get away from him for good. But you have to help us stop him. Will you?"

"There's...there are people watching us?" Mirza whispered fearfully.

Brother, let me take over your mind again so I can speak to him, the Doctor thought.

Alan nodded. Mirza frowned as he watched Alan close his eyes and then open them again fifteen seconds later.

"Mirza, I'm the Doctor," he spoke to him. "I'm speaking through my brother. What he says is true. If you want to get out of here, you have to help us. Will you do that?"

"Master will kill me."

"Not if you free Alan and us. We can protect you, I promise. You have to be courageous, Mirza. If you do this for us, we'll take you back to your home after we get this sorted out."

"I have no home, not anymore."

"What do you mean? Where was your home?"

"My village was in Parsuash."

"Persia?" the Doctor said.

Mirza nodded.

"The Greeks called it that," he said.

"Yes, of course. Do you know the year you were taken?"

Mirza shook his head.

"Who was the ruler at the time you were taken?"

"Xerxes," Mirza said.

"Ah, so the Greeks were at war with your people?"

Mirza nodded.

"So around 480 BC, give or take."

Mirza shrugged.

"What happened to your family?"

"My mother died giving birth to me and my father was sent to fight against the Greeks. He was killed."

"And what happened to you then? Where did you go?"

"Out on the streets."

"You didn't have any other family members who took care of you?"

"My uncle but he beat me so I ran away."

"Oh you poor child," the Doctor said. "Come with us then. We can help you. Alan is gentle and kind and funny as hell. He loves children. Hell, he's a big kid himself. He won't hurt you, I promise, and neither will we. Will you please help us?"

Mirza thought it over and then nodded.

"Thank God, someone on our side," Rain said softly.

"Thank you, Mirza," the Doctor said through Alan. "You won't regret this. Now I'm going to back out of my brother's mind so he can be aware of what's going on. Just free him and then take him back to our cell. Do you know where I'm at? Which one I am?"

"I think so."

"Good, just help him, please, before your master kills him."

Mirza nodded. The Doctor retreated from his mind and hugged Rain in jubilation as Mirza went to Alan and began to undo the straps that bound him to the table.

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