THE SONG OF THE OPERA GHOST
Chapter Fifteen Erik looked down into the hole cursing the Doctor and cursing Rose. Lastly, he cursed himself for not following close behind the child when she entered the torture chamber. At first, he couldn’t imagine her being foolish enough to plunge into the watery grave, but looking back on it, he realized that’s exactly what the little whelp would do once she saw her precious Doctor. “You think you may have won, Doctor,” he hissed,” but all you are doing is delaying the inevitable. I have come too far now to lose to you, and I’ll be damned if I find myself back on that prison planet.” Rising, he walked back out the door and headed towards some switches beside the front door. “I suppose it is only polite to give the Doctor and his love a little light to see by while they are trying to escape,” he said, turning one of them on. The Doctor got to his feet and helped Rose to stand. It was completely dark, and he had no idea where they were. He figured they were somewhere near the lake since the hole had been just beside the door. “Stay with me, Rose,” he said,” There’s no telling what we might find in here.” Rose nodded and took hold of his arm. She walked beside him while the Doctor turned to his left and groped around in the darkness. His hand touched a wall a few feet from where they had been. “Blast,” he muttered. “What’s wrong?” The Doctor sighed. “This wall, that’s what’s wrong,” he said, angrily. “What about it?” “I’m sure the lake is beyond this wall,” he said to her,” and since the lake is draining into that room, that means that the water level is lowered enough that we could see any booby traps contained in it. And, since we know the corridor beyond the lake that leads up to the trapdoor is booby trap free, the lake is now our best hope for escaping alive. But, since we don’t have any explosives or a pneumatic drill, we can’t break through to it. Which means, we’ll have to take the scenic route, which I’m sure is just chock full of death traps.” He turned and looked at the darkness surrounding them. “Not to mention, there is no light in here, so we’ll be fumbling around in the darkness and---“ Suddenly, the Doctor was blinded as lights came on in the corridor. He cursed, as he and Rose covered their eyes. “Damn it! I’m tired of being blinded every ten seconds in this place!” he yelled. They took their hands away and noticed that there was round bubble-like lights attached to the right side of the corridor wall, spaced out every couple of feet. The white light coming from them lit the way perfectly. “I guess it’s a good thing Erik has alien technology. These lights are brighter and more reliable than torch light. Although, I’m sure that won’t keep us from stumbling into the booby traps along the way.” “Do you think Erik is waiting for us to fall into something before he comes after us?” Rose asked. The Doctor snorted. “Most likely. I know this much about him. The git doesn’t like to do much work, he prefers his victims to off themselves, hence the torture chamber and hypnotic voice that can control minds. If we didn’t get out the door in time, I’m sure we would have fallen under his spell and just sat there while the water went up over our heads.” He smiled at her. “Well, we might as well start off, so we can get out of here and get back to the TARDIS. Then, we can arm ourselves and come up with a plan to stop him. Just remember what Andre said, keep your hand at the level of your eyes. I have a feeling that piece of advice is about to come in handy now.” They raised one hand in front of their faces, clasped the other hand, and started down the corridor. “Doctor, who is this guy?” Rose said to him, “How do you know him?” “I first met him in my fifth life. I was taking my companions, Tegan and Nyssa to Gannet Seven for a bit of relaxation. Come to find out, he had been using his voice to hypnotize people to get them to do his will or just kill people he didn’t like. He hypnotized my companions. When I found him, he tried his voice on me, and I tricked him into thinking I was hypnotized. He was in the TARDIS with me, and I told him I could take him to a planet where he could hypnotize an army that he could use to take over the universe. Instead, I took him straight to the warden’s office on Tetrazarlion, a prison planet. They arrested him, and I went on my way thinking that was the last I would ever see of him. But, apparently he escaped and has been plotting his revenge for some time now. It’s been so long ago since I last saw him that it took me a minute to remember who he was. Course, the disfigured face also confused me. I guess that’s another reason why he wants me dead, although I had nothing to do with that aside from putting him in the place where it happened. But, you know these loonies, everything is my fault whether I did it or not.” He gave Rose a sad smile. “It is my fault that he escaped, Rose,” he said. “Doctor, no.” “Yes, I should have taken him to a more secure place like Volag Nok. I should have made sure there was no chance he could get loose and come back to terrorize my companions and me. It’s because of me that he came after you, kidnapped you, and made you suffer. I’m sorry for that, Rose.” “Doctor, you didn’t know. That was five lives ago, and you said you hardly remembered the guy. You can’t know what people are going to do once you leave them behind. You put him away, and you thought he was secure, and that’s the best you can do. You can’t keep tabs on everyone you put in prison. I don’t blame you one bit for any of this. Frankly, I’m glad you do know him, so we know what we’re up against. Please don’t blame yourself.” “I know I shouldn’t, Rose. I just get sick of constantly fighting the same villains repeatedly. Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, Omega, Davros, the Master, the Rani, Ice Warriors, Yeti, Slitheen, Zygons, and on, and on, and on. Every time I think I have finally seen the last of them, they just pop right up and make my life hell all over again. It gets old, Rose. It gets really old seeing the same ugly faces over and over, and apparently I can now add Erik to the list of villains who just won’t go away. That’s why once we get past this little obstacle course of his, we are going to make sure he is finished for good, so I won’t have to have another companion menaced five hundred years from now. I…” Suddenly, he heard a snapping sound and heard Rose scream. He had just enough time to turn his head and see her fall through a trap door before she pulled him down to the floor. He tightened his grip around her hand and thrust his other hand into the hole. “Rose, grab my hand!” he yelled at her. As Rose tried to grab his hand, the Doctor heard a sound that chilled him to the bone. The sound of snakes hissing while their rattles vibrated. “Oh, lovely, a snake pit, how original,” he muttered, as Rose finally grabbed his hand. He quickly pulled her up into his arms before she was bitten. “I’m glad you had a hold of my hand, Rose.” “Yeah, me too.” He shook his head while he listened to the hissing snakes. “We have to be extra vigilant from here on out. Next time, we might not be so lucky,” the Doctor said. They stood up and held their hands up to their eyes. Now, there was no talking, as they looked all around for any sign of a booby trap. They moved down the corridor slowly and cautiously. It was due to this vigilance that Rose managed to see the flash of light seconds before a huge scimitar swung at their heads. She grabbed the Doctor’s head and ducked with him when it came within an inch of their necks. The Doctor smiled at her. “Good job, Hawkeye!” “Thanks.” They fell to their knees when the scimitar came back the other way. They crawled a few feet away from it before standing back up again. “Wow, he certainly wasn’t kidding when he said this place was booby trapped, eh?” the Doctor said, “What’s next, a vat of boiling oil that gets dumped on our heads?” They held their hands up and resumed their cautious pace down the passageway. Then, finally, the thing that Andre had warned them about happened. Rose gasped when a noose came out of nowhere, dropped down around the Doctor’s head, and tightened. The Doctor let out a grunt, as his hand was pressed up against his face. “Rose,” he said, in my nose is smushed against my hand, tone of voice, “Could you be a dear and take this off me, so I can breathe again?” Rose grabbed the rope, loosened it, and jerked it away from his head. The Doctor sighed and took his hand away from his face. “Thank you,” he said. He looked up and saw the noose had come through a tiny hole in the ceiling. “Most ingenious,” the Doctor murmured, “I see the reason now for holding your hand up to your eyes. It’s so the rope won’t be able to tighten completely around your neck and strangle you.” He winked at her. “Course most people don’t have a respiratory bypass system that they can use when that happens, but still, hanging isn’t a pleasant thing to go through. Reminds me of the time when I was in my sixth life and a bunch of crazed villagers in Salem, Massachusetts tried to hang me and Peri for witchcraft after seeing the TARDIS appear in the middle of their town.” He grimaced. “Course the outfit I had on at the time didn’t help matters much,” he muttered, “still, won’t be doing that again any time soon. Ah, well, I guess we need to move on and find out what other fun things are in this corridor of doom. Personally, I can’t wait to find the Lightning Sand, the flame spurts, and the ROUS’s, how about you?” “Well, when you dropped into the trapdoor, I figured you dropped onto a bed of spikes or fell in a lion’s den, so I’m guessing that’ll be next,” she said, as they walked. “Hmmm, I bet you’re right. Huh, bed of spikes, I forgot about that one. Yup, after encountering the obligatory snake pit and the pendulum, I am guessing the bed of spikes is coming up too. Wanna bet on it?” Rose stared at him. “Seriously?” “Yes, I’m bored, and I want to make this more interesting by guessing what death trap is coming up next. So, ten quid says it’s the bed of spikes?” “Okay, you’re on.” “Great.” Rose couldn’t suppress a smile when she heard the Doctor mutter, “Come on, bed of spikes, show up, so I’ll be ten quid richer,” under his breath. She remembered how he and Jack used to do this sort of thing back in the old days. Constantly betting on the outcome of events. It used to peeve her old Doctor when he kept losing, and Jack kept getting richer. After he passed the 100 quid mark, he finally gave up the practice, claiming he wasn’t a bank. It wasn’t until they met Queen Victoria that he started it up again. She had won that round and figured that would be the end of it, but apparently the Doctor didn’t know when to quit. As it turned out, the Doctor lost. A javelin shot by them, barely missing their backs. Rather than be freaked out by that, the Doctor was incensed that he lost yet another ten quid to Rose, and proclaimed loudly that he wasn’t going to bet any money ever again. However, it wasn’t ten minutes later that the Doctor was again offering ten quid for the bed of spikes. “I wanna make my money back,” he said, when Rose pointed out, he had just lost again. Rose shrugged and agreed to the wager. She smiled, thinking of the nice new purse she would buy with the Doctor’s wager money. That is, if he ever actually paid it to her. Strangely, whenever she demanded the money he owed her, he always had an excuse ready for why he couldn’t pay her. Still, the money wasn’t the point of it. What mattered was the two of them were thinking of ways to make light of a tense, scary situation. That’s one of the things she loved about him, and she figured it was one of the ways he had kept his sanity intact for so long. She knew her mum would be appalled if she knew just how flippant she was being about her possible death, but she didn’t care. As long as she was with the Doctor, it didn’t matter what happened to her. She knew deep down that she would always be safe, and he would always protect her, no matter what. She stopped when the Doctor put his hand on her chest. He gave her an impish grin. “Behold, I shall defy death before your very eyes!” he proclaimed. He hesitated a moment, ran a couple of feet, soared into the air, and let out a, “Ha!” as he stomped on the floor several feet away from her. He looked around at the floor and gave her a smug smile. “Behold, no bed of spikes, I have survived for another minute, or two, go me!” He pumped his fist in the air and grinned when Rose giggled at him. “You better not tempt fate like that,” she teased. The Doctor let out a loud snort. “I’ve been tempting fate since I was knee high to a Garglisnort. Death doesn’t scare me. I laugh at it. See?” He let out a loud, boisterous laugh. “There I just laughed at death, go me, again!” “You are a complete nutter, you know that?” Rose said, walking towards him. She almost reached his side when the floor dropped away. The Doctor lunged at her and caught the hand that was in front of her face. He looked down and cursed. There, inches from her feet, was the bed of spikes. Rose looked at it. Breathing hard, she looked back up at him. “I guess you jumped on the wrong spot, yeah?” she said, trying to make light of the situation. The Doctor swallowed hard and nodded, but she could tell he was visibly shaken from what had just happened. He pulled her up and held her close. “Damn it, how many death traps are in here?” he said, looking around. “I don’t know how much longer we can keep this up. Chances are, something will happen, and we’ll end up getting hurt…or worse.” He held her protectively. “Thank God, I was right here to grab you. If it had been a second later…” “You caught me, Doctor,” Rose said, when she noticed the anguish in his eyes. “Don’t think of the alternatives.” The Doctor nodded. He gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead. “That’s it though, no more betting, no more tomfoolery. Let’s just get out of here, as quickly and as safely as we can, and get back to the TARDIS before our luck runs out.”
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