THE SISTERHOOD OF KARN
Chapter Three Clara had never seen the Doctor so enraged before. She looked at Mira who was gazing at him calmly and thinking how the woman must either be really stupid or really brave. "What have you done to her?" the Doctor bellowed at Mira. "Where did you find her?" "We found her on Karn and the Sisterhood took her in, sheltered her, fed her and taught her. She is a woman and every woman on Karn must become part of the Sisterhood or die." Clara backed up at hearing that and the Doctor glanced at her and deliberately got between her and Mira. "You nutters have been a thorn in my side for far too long," the Doctor growled at Mira. "If you've harmed Rose with your so called teachings, I will tear this place to the ground with my bare hands and burn you all at the stake, you got that?" Clara was shocked at the level of fury the Doctor was demonstrating over this Rose. She began to wonder if Rose was another one of the Doctor's "Exes". Before she could ask him, Mira calmly told them to follow her and she turned, ignoring the Doctor's rage and led them out of the room. "I better find Rose with her sanity intact or they'll be hell to pay," the Doctor muttered as he and Clara followed her. "Is she another ex then?" Clara ventured to ask as they followed Mira to another carved door. "Yes," the Doctor said, calming down for Clara's benefit. "Do you think they did hurt her?" Clara said as they passed through the door into a short corridor. "I don't know. I don't trust these people. For all I know, they might have filled Rose's head with superstitious nonsense and if she's the High Priestess now..." "You think they might have brainwashed her?" Clara said when the Doctor fell silent. The Doctor kept silent but Clara saw him clench his jaw and saw the rage in his eyes and was glad she wasn't going to be on the receiving end of his wrath if they did do something to her. Mira led them to another carved door and opened it. She ushered them inside and Clara looked around when they stepped in. it was another stone room with more tapestries on the walls, except these had magical symbols and mythical beasts on it. In the center of the room was a dais with a golden throne on it. More symbols were carved into the high back of the chair. Beyond that was another carved wooden door that was shut. Mira told them to wait here before turning and leaving the room the same way they came in. the Doctor narrowed his eyes when the door closed and he could hear it being locked. "Doctor, what she said about women having to join their group or die…" Clara said. "Don't worry, I won't let them hurt you," the Doctor said. Clara nodded, her fears eased. She walked over to one of the tapestries and gazed at it. It looked like a unicorn except it had two long horns in the middle of its forehead. "What's this?" Clara said, pointing to it. The Doctor turned to look at it. "No idea. Probably some mythical creature they thought up that gives them power and loads of biscuits and things like that," the Doctor said, waving his hand dismissively. Clara grinned at that. "If it's real, can we ride the unicorn then?" she teased. The Doctor shared her grin. "Ah but it's not a unicorn with two horns, eh? It would be a goat…horse. A goat horse. It's a goat horse," he said, gesturing to it. "Can we ride the goat horse then?" "If you behave and not convert to their wacky religion, then you can ride the goat horse at the end of the day." He grinned when Clara jumped up and down like a child and whooped at that. They both fell silent and the Doctor sobered up when the door behind the throne opened and several ladies came inside, all of them wearing white makeup and either red makeup around the eyes or red dots on their cheeks. All of them were wearing the funny flattop headdress and all of them formed a circle around the dais after the last one closed the door behind her. Clara noticed the Doctor was frantically searching the faces but since she didn't know what Rose looked like, she couldn't help him in his search. The women began to sway and do jerky movements with their arms, pawing at the air in slow motion while they chanted something. It looked ridiculous to her and she could tell the Doctor was annoyed with it and becoming impatient as he divided his attention between the group and the closed door. "Could you skip the interpretive dance thing and let me see Rose?" the Doctor finally said after two minutes of chanting, swaying and pawing. "They look ridiculous, Doctor," Clara said. "You think? I had to endure this rubbish the first time I was here and that's when I was being burned at the stake. COME ON!" the Doctor yelled at the women. He sighed when the women ignored him and kept on with their ritual. The Doctor mimed looking at an imaginary watch and pointed emphatically to it while Clara chuckled. Then she laughed harder when the Doctor imitated their jerky pawing with wide eyes. Clara nudged him and when he looked her way did the crossed wrists and flared fingers pose while she stared at him with wide eyes. The Doctor chuckled and did it back to her making Clara snort with laughter. The Doctor lowered his arms to his sides and sighed as the ritual went on. "Could the weird makes no sense at all dance stop soon please?" he said to them. "I didn't come here to die of boredom." Mira yelled and the dancers finally ceased their ritualistic dance. "At last," the Doctor said with a sigh of relief. However, when the back door slowly opened, Clara noticed the Doctor tensing up and his eyes were riveted to it and she swore that he wasn't even breathing as he watched the door open. Then two women came through it and took up positions on either side of the door. Clara sniggered when they did the crossed wrists pose but her laughter stilled when a young woman entered the room and everyone bowed reverently. Clara studied her as she walked regally towards the throne. She was probably in her mid twenties with blonde hair that came down the front to her breasts like many of the other women present. She was wearing the same red dress and headdress as the others except her headdress had tassels on the earflaps and tiny gemstones encircling the brim. The woman had on the same cadaver makeup with tiny red dots on each cheeks. Her eyeliner and eye shadow was the same red color and she wore a calm, almost bored, expression on her face. Clara looked at the Doctor. His jaw had gone slack and she could see the rage in his eyes as the women parted to allow the young woman to ascend to the throne. "Is that Rose?" Clara asked the Doctor. The Doctor nodded, never taking his eyes off Rose. When she was seated, the women at the door closed it, walked over to the dais, stepped up on either side of it and resumed their crossed wrists pose as Rose studied the newcomers calmly. Clara looked at her face but she couldn't see any sign of recognition. She wondered if the Sisterhood even told her that the man standing in front of her was the Doctor because she didn't seem to know who he was. "I am Arkytior," Rose said gravely with a posh accent. "Who are you?" Clara looked at the Doctor when he didn't speak and could see he was struggling to get the words out. So she decided to take temporary charge of the situation. "I'm Clara and this is…the Doctor," she said putting emphasis on the Doctor's name. Both she and the Doctor fell silent after that but Rose didn't have a reaction to hearing the Doctor's name. "And what is the purpose of your visit?" she said to them in a dull voice. That was when the Doctor lost it. "WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO HER?" he roared at the women while he pointed to Rose. "You will not raise your voice around me, stranger," Rose said angrily. "Rose, it's me, the Doctor. Your Doctor. I know I regenerated but it's me," the Doctor said desperately. "Remember Henricks when I took your hand and told you to run. It's me." He fell silent waiting for a reaction but Rose only let out a bored sigh in response. "What is the purpose of your visit?" she said annoyed. "Question!" the Doctor said angrily, ignoring Rose. "Who is second in command here? Who was here when she came here because I want to know what you did to "teach" Rose to become one of you. So who was here when she was found?" "The High Priestess has asked you a question," the woman standing to the right of the throne told him. "Sod the High Priestess, I want to speak to Rose," the Doctor said to them. "So whatever mumbo jumbo magic spell brainwashing you did to her, I want it REVERSED!" he yelled. "Seize them!" Rose said, pointing to the Doctor and Clara. "For what?" Clara said as the women rushed them. "You were warned not to raise your voice around the High Priestess and now you have insulted her," Mira said as the women took hold of them. Both of them tried to fight the Sisterhood off but now more women were streaming through the back door to contain them. The Doctor looked at Rose who was sitting on the throne calmly watching everything play out in front of her. "Rose, listen, I'm the Doctor. I can save you from this! You've got to believe me! Stop them!" the Doctor said as he and Clara were pulled away towards the front door. The Doctor kept on yelling Rose's name as Clara begged her to help them. Rose sat quietly on her throne and watched as the Doctor and Clara's legs were lifted up and they were carried out the door.
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