Her footing slipped and she slithered down after them, landing with a squelchy thump.

'We'll be late for supper,' she said, as she tried to flatten down her wayward skirts.

He saw that she was laughing as well.

Chris felt their arms support him. His mouth tasted of dust.

'My room,' he heard Innocet saying.

The Drudge swivel ed on its base to watch them carry him away.

'I'm all right,' he muttered woozily.

'Lucky old you,' he thought he heard the Doctor say.

87.

Chapter Sixteen.

At Home with Cousin Innocet

Chris reached a decision before they even reached the room. The best way to understand this place was to play neutral. Don't talk, just watch. Play the invalid for al it was worth.

Easier said than done. The voices in his head had started their whispering again. One word came through strongly, called over and over. It sounded like Muljermeen Muljermeen.

As for the visions and dreams, some were psychic echoes recorded in the stones and wood of the House, he was sure of that. But the other dreams had started before he got to Lungbarrow. They were brightly coloured and smelt and tasted. Not like his own dreams at all. They had the Doctor's prints all over them. They were the Doctor's dreams, but Chris was unsure whether they were projected deliberately or were just leaking out of a hole in the Time Lord's head.

He felt dizzy and slightly nauseous. He groaned and put all his considerable weight on the Doctor and Innocet.

Good job I'm not in armour too, he thought.

'I'm sure that Drudge is following us,' muttered the Doctor. 'Don't look back.'

Innocet stumbled and nearly dropped Chris.

'I'll take him.' Chris was astonished to find himself being hefted up into the Doctor's arms.

'There's nothing behind us,' said Innocet.

'Speak for yourself,' complained the Doctor as they set off again. 'What a place. It's a wonder we haven't al evolved with rearview eyes.'

'Who is this?' said Innocet.

'Chris? He's my friend. He trusts me. Now tell me about the buried House? And the murder?'

'What murder?' Innocet said sharply. 'There's been no no murder. Quences is in stasis.' murder. Quences is in stasis.'

No one mentioned Quences, thought Chris.

'I was thinking about Arkhew,' said the Doctor.

So was I, thought Chris. My chief witness. And now he's dead. Funny that.

'He was always an inoffensive sort of chap, as I recall. Gentle, una.s.suming. Unusual for this Family. Didn't he want to be a cloud-sculptor?'

'He did,' said Innocet. 'But this business put a stop to that.'

They trudged on in silence. The House seemed to go for miles.

At last Innocet said, 'Where did you get a TARDIS from?'

'Ah,' said the Doctor. 'You overheard.'

'I suppose it was the only way to get in here.'

He grunted. 'I a.s.sume the transmat booth was rendered inoperable whenever whatever happened happened.' Her only response was 'Yes', so he said, 'Anyway, now I'm here, we can wake Quences up and sort this whole business out.'

88.No response. Chris, with his eyes shut, heard a door handle turn.

'And I hope I was worth waiting for,' the Doctor added. As he swung Chris round to negotiate the doorway, he muttered, 'I hope you're noting al this down.'

Inside, Chris heard another familiar voice start to say, 'I've brought Maljamin, just as you. . .' The voice faltered.

Chris half opened one eye and saw Cousin Owis, raggedly dressed, but still full-faced, almost chubby, compared with the other inmates of the place.

Owis was staring at the newcomers like an outsize schoolboy with his mouth wide open.

'Decorum,' snapped Innocet to no avail. She straightened a torn shawl that was draped over a large mirror.

Chris could feel the Doctor itching to raise his hat and introduce himself, but his hands were full. He lifted Chris gently up into a chair.

The room, like all the rooms in the House of Lungbarrow, had cavernously high ceilings and distant walls framed by whitewood branches. A sepia gloom pervaded everything as if the air was stained by centuries of nicotine.

Owis raised a finger and pointed. 'People,' he said. Beside him, seated in another big chair, was a second man.

He was covered in soot and was staring sadly at the floor.

'I told you to make sure he was secure,' Innocet told Owis. 'Go outside and watch for Drudges.'

'Why?' said Owis, without taking his eyes off the Doctor. 'Who are they? Are we going to get out? Have they come to get us out?'

'Just do as you're told!'

The Cousin grimaced his way to the door and went out backward.

The Doctor took off his hat and played awkwardly with the brim. 'That young man, I don't recognize him. I take it he's a Replacement. But if Quences is stil alive, then who has died?'

'You have,' she said bluntly.

'Ah.' The Doctor peered inside his hat as if he was looking for a name tag. 'You didn't tell me that.'

'And, now you're back, Owis has no legal right to exist.' She was rummaging through a drawer and finally produced a length of cord.

The Doctor put his hat back on. 'Wel , perhaps this would be a good time to make my farewel s... again.'

'Oh, no,' she said, testing the strength of the cord between her hands. She bent over the soot-covered man and started to tie him to the chair. He made no effort to resist. He just wrinkled his nose and made tiny rodent clicking noises with his teeth.

'Isn't that rather extreme,' said the Doctor. He crouched beside them to watch. 'It's Cousin Maljamin, isn't it? What are they doing to you?'

Again Chris heard the voices calling in his head. Maljamin, Maljamin Maljamin, Maljamin...

Innocet bit on her tongue as she tightened a knot. 'I have to do this. I'm stopping him from going away. There are too many who have pa.s.sed away.'

The Doctor put a restraining hand gently on hers. 'Innocet, you can't go round tying your Cousins up. That isn't the answer. What Maljamin needs is medical attention.'

89.'Where from?' she said, pushing him away. 'I told you. I have to stop him from going. Especial y if we're al going to be out of here soon. There. That should do it.' She stood creakily, apparently satisfied with her work. 'And don't talk to me as if I'm mad.'

The Doctor softened his voice. 'Where do you think he's going to, Innocet? You didn't say. Where can he possibly go when there's no way out? Up the chimney?'

She shook her head.

Maljamin gave a little squeak.

Chris, his head awash with the voices, felt a hand on his arm.

A tiny old lady, whom he hadn't noticed before, was gazing up at him. She looked like the old lady in a film called The Producers The Producers. The touch me, hold me touch me, hold me old lady. Only smaller. He and Roz had watched the film at a late-night show in Melbourne, 2004. Neither of them got many of the jokes. It made it worse when the rest of the audience were killing themselves laughing. old lady. Only smaller. He and Roz had watched the film at a late-night show in Melbourne, 2004. Neither of them got many of the jokes. It made it worse when the rest of the audience were killing themselves laughing.

'Take me home, dear,' said the old lady. Her voice was frail and plaintive. 'I'm Jobiska. This isn't my home. We can't get out, you see. It's al wrong.'

Her pale eyes reddened with tears. Chris thought of Arkhew's bout of weeping and didn't know what to say. He squeezed her hand gently. After a moment, she hobbled away and climbed up into the arms of another chair.

Innocet had final y taken off her cloak. The Doctor was staring in disbelief at the huge sh.e.l.l that she carried on her back. 'What are you doing, Cousin?' he asked. 'What does all this mean?' He touched the ginger-grey sh.e.l.l and Chris realized that it was living hair. Her Her hair, wound continuously as a single plait that must stretch for yards if it was ever unravelled. hair, wound continuously as a single plait that must stretch for yards if it was ever unravelled.

She raised and lowered her shoulders as if testing the weight of her burden. 'It will not be cut until we are al released. It is my guilt.'

'Why?' said the Doctor gently. He glanced across at the covered mirror. 'What mustn't Satthralope know about?'

Innocet suddenly turned her head towards Maljamin.

Simultaneously, the rush of voices inside Chris's head exploded.

The Cousin's head had slumped forward on to his chest.

Jobiska made a little whimpering sound.

'I'm sorry,' said the Doctor and took off his hat again. He stood quietly for a moment, apparently paying his respects. 'I can't remember how many generations he was.'

Innocet laid her hand on Maljamin's head. She closed his eyes.

Chris picked awkwardly at the nasty sc.r.a.pe on his knee. In his head, the voices were growing desperate.

The Doctor leant forward and started to pick at the knots that tied Maljamin to the chair.

'Leave it!' snapped Innocet.

'He can't be left like this while he regenerates.'

'He's not going to regenerate.'

'What? He's not that old.'

She grabbed the Doctor's hands and started to pull him away. 'You must leave him.'

90.Maljamin's body tensed. His head jerked up and he strained against his bonds. The loosened knot unravelled. He lurched up out of his seat and lumbered towards the door. Innocet reached for him, but he pushed her roughly backward and she collided with the Doctor.

Chris catapulted out of his chair and grabbed Maljamin, wrestling him to the ground. The skinny Cousin struggled with the strength of an Ogron, but Chris forced his arms back behind him and held him transfixed. His head swivel ed to stare at his captor. His eyes were dead to the world.

'Let him go,' cal ed Innocet.

'What?' chorused Chris and the Doctor.

'Don't try to stop him. It's too late for that.' She moved towards the door. 'Please, allow him at least some dignity in his pa.s.sing.'

Chris set a knee on Maljamin's back and looked to the Doctor for instruction.

'Hold on to him,' said the Time Lord and turned to Innocet. 'I want to know where he's going.'

'Away from the misery you've caused,' she declared.

'Arrant nonsense, Cousin!'

'Just let him go!' Innocet threw open the door and froze.

A huge figure was standing outside. The dim lamplight threw half its shape into darkness. It made no move at al .

Maljamin burst out of Chris's grasp, sending the Adjudicator sprawling. He stumbled away out of the room, past the waiting Drudge.

The Doctor and Innocet stood framed in the doorway, waiting to see what the servant would do. By the time Chris joined them, Maljamin had already vanished in the gloom.

The Drudge made no move. It just stared ahead at the Doctor.