THE WARRIOR GODDESS

Chapter Seven

The Doctor and Rose waited on the outskirts of the village for Hatarok to return. While they waited, they watched as other villagers crept up, stared at them for a moment in awe, and then hurried back into the village. It happened so often that the Doctor began to greet the ones who came to look at them.

Finally, Hatarok appeared carrying a small leather pouch.

"This way, honored guests," he said, to them.

The Doctor took Rose's hand and followed him into the woods.

A half an hour later, they reached the clearing, and Hatarok held up his hand.

"Wait here, please; I need space to perform the rituals."

The Doctor and Rose nodded. The Doctor leaned up against a tree, while Hatarok moved around the clearing looking for a suitable spot.

"Do you think this is gonna work?" Rose asked him.

"I don't know, but at this point we have nothing to lose," the Doctor replied.

They watched, as Hatarok draw a circle in the dirt.

"I just hope while we stand here and wait for him to make contact with the spirit world, something won't happen to Martha and Donna," he added.

They watched him settle himself in the center of the circle and put something in his mouth. He began to chant softly and rock back and forth, while the Doctor sighed impatiently.

"Come on, come on," he muttered.

Hatarok stopped chanting and opened his eyes. Both of them noticed the glassy look on his face.

"Doctor, are you sure he's alright?" Rose asked.

"I guess so, he's probably done this before, so I'm guessing he's okay," the Doctor said, shrugging.

They watched, as he turned his head and looked off to his left.

"Greetings, spirit brother, "they heard him say in a slightly slurred voice. " I am looking for two goddesses, a pale one with hair the color of blood, and a dark skinned one. Do you know where they might be?"

He fell silent, and both of them assumed he was listening to the response. The Doctor looked at Rose.

"Hope this spirit brother knows where Martha and Donna are at," he said, to her.

"So, they are among the Wacona then?" Hatarok finally said. "Are they alright?"

The Doctor cursed under his breath. He hated this. He hated being out of the loop especially when people he cared about were in danger and needed his help. Hatarok listened for a few minutes and bowed his head.

"Thank you my brother," he said, to the air.

The Doctor glanced at Rose while Hatarok chanted in a singsong voice. This went on for another few minutes before he finally fell silent, raised himself from the ground, gathered up his things, and destroyed the circle with his tree branch. The Doctor leaned back up when Hatarok came over to them.

"Your fellow goddesses are alive. They are with our enemies the Wacona," he informed them. "They are unharmed at the moment, but Wacona do not worship them, so I am not sure what they will do with them."

"Where is their village?" the Doctor said.

"It is a day's journey from here in that direction," Hatarok said, pointing off to his right.

"Great, thanks for all your help!" the Doctor replied.

They stared to move away, but Hatarok stepped in front of them.

"Wait, Shizara, once you are done rescuing your fellow goddesses, you will return to us, won't you?" he asked her.

Rose looked helplessly at the Doctor. The Doctor sighed.

"Look Hatarok, I'm going to come clean with you. Rose and I are not gods, and neither are Martha and Donna. We are all mortals."

Hatarok stared at him, confused.

"But, she came to me and showed me a vision of all of you," he said, pointing to Rose.

"Yes, well, there is an…entity within Rose that protects her named the Bad Wolf, and she is the one that came to you, not Rose. The Bad Wolf is a guardian of the universe, so I guess she could be considered a goddess, but Rose is not. Rose is a human girl, as are Martha and Donna, and I'm a Time Lord. I realize that in your culture, pale skin is considered a sigh of godhood, but there are other species in the universe besides yourselves, and some of them have pale skin. It doesn't mean they are divine, it's just the way they are made."

"Then why did this…Bad Wolf come to me if you did not intend to stay and help us fight?"

The Doctor sighed.

"Because I think the Bad Wolf does what my ship does and that's find places for us to go where we can help out."

"Then you will help us," Hatarok said, smiling.

The Doctor stared at him for a moment, glanced over at Rose, and looked back at him.

"Could you…excuse us for a moment, please?" the Doctor said, to him. "I need to have a private conversation."

"Of course, Doctor," Hatarok said, smiling.

"Great, just wait here, we won't go far. I just need to get this whole thing sorted out."

He took Rose's hand and guided her back into the woods.

"Doctor, where are we going?" Rose asked as he led her farther into the woods.

"To have a private chat with the Bad Wolf," he said.

Rose frowned.

"You think she'll show up?"

"I don't know, but I sincerely hope so because I have a couple of things to say to her," he said.

Suddenly, Rose stopped. The Doctor turned and saw her eyes were glowing with the ethereal light.

"What do you wish to speak to me about, my Doctor?" the Bad Wolf said.

"First off, thanks so much for appearing, I appreciate it," the Doctor replied. "Secondly, I need to have a word with you about this whole situation, namely the fact that you took it upon yourself to enlist Rose to lead a war of some kind."

The Bad Wolf frowned.

"You do not think Rose is capable of leading a battle?" she asked.

"No, I'm pretty sure she can do that. What I'm upset about, is you apparently went off and volunteered her services without consulting her first."

"I have never consulted her on anything," the Bad Wolf said matter-of-factly. "She was born to fight evil and tyranny in the universe, and so I must lead her where she'll be of most use. The Wacona are terrorizing the Quinok, and if it is not stopped, they will be wiped out, and the survivors will be sold into slavery. I am one of the guardians of good in the universe, so whenever I see evil and injustice, I feel compelled to fight it and end it, so darkness does not prevail. Rose was chosen at birth for this very purpose, so I will put her where she is needed."

"Then she is nothing more than your slave," the Doctor said angrily. "She has no real say in anything; she's basically just cannon fodder that you can send wherever you please, and you justify it by saying that it is her destiny to do this."

"Every being that exists has a destiny to fulfill, Doctor, whether it is for good or for bad. Everyone has a purpose in life and that includes you."

"Yes, but I chose to do this!"

"Did you really?" the Bad Wolf said smiling. "Are you sure that you were not also chosen at your birth to fight the darkness and that you are little more than a slave yourself because you are fulfilling the destiny laid out for you? Have you never wondered why you despise the "domestic life" so much, and why you were so disgusted at your people's laziness and their willingness to sit back and do nothing to stop injustice? Have you ever stopped to wonder just why you cannot sit still in one place for very long? Why you kept pressuring Rose to leave whenever she visited her mother? Did you never consider the possibility that there was something inside of you that was controlling you and compelling you to go out into the universe and make a difference? If Rose is a slave, then you are as well, because you are being led by forces greater than yourself to combat the evil that exists around you."

The Doctor sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"I guess I can see your point, it's just that…just that…"

"You fear that Rose will be taken from you again," the Bad Wolf finished for him.

The Doctor swallowed hard and nodded. The Bad Wolf smiled sympathetically and put his hand against his cheek.

"My dear Doctor, know this. What happened to you that day at Canary Wharf was not an accident. It was preordained that Rose would be separated from you for a time."

"Why? What was the purpose in it except to cause us both needless pain?"

"Ah, my beloved Doctor, there is growth in the midst of pain, both mental growth and spiritual growth, and there are always lessons to be learned. Pain is never needless. You needed to be apart from her because you needed to learn how to let go of your pent up emotions and learn how to express them in a more healthy way. Your grieving for her, and the pain you felt caused you to weep, which healed another part of you that had been devastated by the Time War. That is also part of why you were pressured by the Family until you were finally forced to become human. That was allowed, so that you would become more emotionally free, something you have a problem doing when your logical Time Lord brain is in control. You also needed the experience of being human to help you further identify and empathize with the human race since they are under your special protection. As for Rose, she needed the separation to become more self reliant and learn that she could take care of herself and do things on her own that she thought she couldn't do without your help. She went from living with her mother to being with you, so she never really experienced what it was like to be on her own. That is what she learned during her time in the other universe. When all these lessons were learned, you were brought back together. That is why the separation was allowed to happen. In addition to your time of learning, you also needed to find Donna and Martha because it was time for them to fulfill their destinies, and you never would have invited them to travel with you if Rose had been at your side. So you see, my dear Doctor, everything happened exactly like it was supposed to."

"So, you're saying that what happened at Canary Wharf won't happen again? We won't be separated like we were before?" the Doctor asked her, desperately.

"You may be separated sometimes, but never permanently," the Bad Wolf said. "She was destined to be with you, which is why a way was made for her to return to your side. All things have a purpose, Doctor, whether you believe that or not. And, that includes being here. It is time for the bloodshed to end between these two tribes; it has gone on long enough. Both sides have spun out of control and violence is being met with violence, enslavement with enslavement. It must stop."

"Then why are the Waconas being targeted if both sides do it?" the Doctor said.

"Because they are the ones who instigated it, and they commit far more atrocities than the Quinok do," the Bad Wolf said. "The Quinok are a peaceful race, the only reason they have resorted to brutality is because the Wacona will not back down. They do it because they are a simple people and do not know how to end this any other way. They think that if they kill and enslave, the Wacona will eventually become sick of fighting and leave them alone, but it has only beget more violence, and now the only way out is to fight the Wacona and beat them so soundly that they will be forced to call for peace between the tribes."

"And Rose must be the one to lead this…battle."

"Yes, because the Quinok see her as a goddess, she will be the one who will rally them and encourage them to fight for their freedom."

She gave him an amused smile.

"You speak as though you will be sitting on the sidelines," she said. "Rose may be the one leading the battle, but that does not mean you will not be at her side helping her. She is not alone in this, you know. She will have you, and Martha, and Donna at her side."

"Martha and Donna, are they alright?" the Doctor said, desperately.

The Bad Wolf smiled and put her hand against his face.

"They are safe for now, my Doctor; they are where Hatarok said they were, in the Wacona village."

The Doctor frowned.

"You mean that really worked? He really did see someone who told him where they were?"

The Bad Wolf chuckled.

"Oh, he may have seen a certain someone in disguise," she said.

The Doctor's eyes widened in understanding.

"I told him where they are, and they are being looked after…for now. But it is up to you and Rose to rescue them."

She smiled.

"And while you have been standing here whining and complaining to me, precious seconds have been lost." she said, winking.

She laid her hand against his cheek when she saw the color draining from his face.

"Do not worry, my Doctor, their shaman is looking after them for the moment and keeping them safe, but he cannot hold off the warriors forever. I will do all I can to keep them alive, but the Wacona are planning to sacrifice them, so you and Rose must hurry."

She smiled when the Doctor shut his eyes in anguish.

"My dearest Doctor, so worried for the ones he loves, and so willing to put their safety above his own. That is why you were chosen to live this life of service to the universe, because you care for others more than you care for yourself. Now, if there is nothing further to be said, I will recede back into Rose's mind and let you both get on with the rescue. Good luck, my noble warrior, I will be with you and your companions always."

The Doctor watched, as the Bad Wolf closed her eyes. Rose slowly opened them and looked around confused.

"What'd we stop for?" she asked. "I thought you were wanting to talk to the Bad…"

She trailed off when a thought suddenly occurred to her.

"Oh, she did talk to you, what did she say?"

"I'll explain on the way to the Wacona's village, Rose, but we need to go now before it's too late for Martha and Donna. Come on, we gotta tell Hatarok we're going, and then get to the village as fast as we can!"

Rose took his hand and both of them ran back towards Hatarok.

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