'No? I have here enough expert witnesses to have him vaporized.'

Leela angrily wrenched free from the group. 'You'l pay for that!' She floundered in the air, ignoring their calls.

They were already sliding into the void beyond her reach.

Somehow, anger drove her at Glospin. He turned to escape and leave her stranded, but she clutched at his ankle.

The others heard her voice clearly in the dark.

'Travel home, snake tongue. I cannot kill your soul, but I shall hunt you down until you howl for mercy!'

The darkness consumed them al .

They awoke in the circle. Innocet and Romana and Dorothee and Leela with them.

A circle of guns was trained down on them.

The Doctor sat up sharply. His hand went to his face. 'What do I look like? Have I been dead?'

Chris groaned and put his hand up to the veins that stood out on his temples.

197.

A figure in black stepped between the guards. 'Welcome back, both Presidents,' he said with a smile.

'And my two escaped guests as well. Thank you for leading us here.'

'Do I know you?' said the Doctor. 'Didn't we meet in the trenches of Skaro?'

'Ferain,' said Romana. 'Director of Allegiance at the CIA.'

'You put a trace on us,' scowled Dorothee. 'We were allowed to escape from the Capitol.'

'Indeed,' said the old man. 'And you are all under House arrest.'

198.

Chapter Thirty-two.

No Trespa.s.sers

'You're on the mend,' said Chris.

The Doctor gripped the young man's sleeve. 'I had a bit of a clearout.' His legs flailed over the drop.

The exhausted group had been silent as they were marched through the House. When they were forced into single file over the lagoon bridge, the Doctor staged such a corny routine of nearly falling off that Dorothee wanted to laugh.

'I've jettisoned my subconscious,' he mumbled as they struggled to pul him up.

'Was that wise?' said Romana. 'All energy, even artron energy, must go somewhere.'

'It was worth it if it helped Chris.' He kicked his legs and said, 'Oh dear, I'm stuck!' loudly for the benefit of the Agency guards.

Chris nodded. 'Thanks. My head's a lot clearer.'

'Good. The rest of you can look after the memories for me.' In the water below, something white was circling.

'Get him up,' shouted Ferain from behind. The agent commander tried to scramble past.

'I'll do it,' said Dorothee, pushing in precariously. She leant up to his ear. 'How deep is the House buried?'

'Why?'

'G.o.d, you're a weight!' she announced. But she muttered, 'Remember that nitro-nine you were always confiscating from me?'

'Couple of cans,' he said. 'Left outside pocket.' She rummaged as she grappled with him. 'Doctor, I know you never clear your pockets out, but this stuff is lethal.'

The cans were sweaty and rusting.

She looked directly into his eyes. 'Are you all right, now?'

His bottomless eyes, like Gallifrey, had their own time.

'It was a lot to take in. But I'm glad you were there to share it.'

He suddenly vaulted up of his own accord. 'Come along, get frogmarching,' he said to the agent commander. 'I want to find my Cousins, before they get up to any mischief.'

The House had never seen an Otherstide like it.

Glospin, newly returned from a sojourn of his own, smiled disdainful y as yet another squabble broke out. The floor of the Hall was already strewn with piles of books, clothes and other ephemera. Captain Redred had been trying to keep a tally, but the newly returned and emaciated Cousins were sifting through the booty from the Doctor's ship like a plague of sweeper weevils.

Beside the Loom, the two Drudges still stood immobile, staring down at the revealed corpse of Quences.

199.

A shout came from the far end of the Hall, just as Rynde and Owis emerged from the TARDIS with fresh armfuls of clothes.

Uniformed intruders were approaching, but through them, unstoppable in his fury, came the Doctor.

'Mine!' he yel ed, s.n.a.t.c.hing items away from astonished Cousins. 'Get away from my TARDIS! Get away!'

His eyes blazed as he bunged the stuff back inside the door and turned to scoop up more. 'This is my ship! How dare you all?'

Redred grabbed at his arm and was knocked senseless by a sharp and surprising left hook.

The Doctor dodged a pursuing agent and darted smartly into the TARDIS, slamming the door.

The agents surrounded the door, trying to force it.

'That's that,' called Glospin. 'You'll never see him again.'

The light crowning the blue box flashed. There were cries of dismay from the companions.

Then the light died. The ship gave a death rattle.

After a moment, the door opened. The Doctor emerged and slowly raised his hands. 'I have disabled my ship.

Shut and folded it down completely. There is now nothing in there for you.'

Several Cousins muttered angrily.

'Goodness knows what that'll do to the inner configurations,' he muttered to Romana, Chris and Innocet, as they moved up beside him.

'I hope there was no one still in there,' said Glospin.

Owis shuffled up and peered at Innocet in her grubby undergarments. 'Is that you, Cousin? You're a bit underdressed. I don't like the new hair.'

'Idiot,' she muttered.

Glospin bowed formally to acknowledge the arrival of an elderly man in black. 'Welcome, My Lord. You and your staff are my honoured guests in the House of Lungbarrow.'

'This House is now under my jurisdiction,' he announced. 'I am Lord Ferain of the Directory of Al egiance at the Capitol.' He surveyed the gathering before turning to his agents. 'Where are the other two women? Fools! Go and fetch them back!'

Before any of them could move, one of the Drudges turned and left its position at the Loom, moving urgently away into the House.

'So when's it due?' said Dorothee.

'What?' said Leela, her mouth full of dried magenta. They had stopped in the kitchen, because Leela felt peckish again.

'You're eating for two, aren't you?' Dorothee said. 'So how long gone are you?'

Leela fingered her knife. 'You will not speak of that again, Dorothee.'

'You'l have to tell someone sometime. Anyway, I thought Time Lords couldn't do that.'

200.

[image]

'The Doctor said my ancestors were from Earth.'

'You must have had a h.e.l.l of an effect on what's his name?'

'Andred.'

'Yeah. Or maybe he's just into raw leather.'

Leela had walked across the kitchen towards an alcove. 'These are yours,' she said, fishing up Dorothee's plastic shopping bags.

There was nothing left except a box of peppermint teabags, which Dorothee pocketed.

Leela was examining the bars across the alcove door. 'Someone has tried to hack through these.'

'Wonder why they gave up,' said Dorothee. 'That's nearly sawn through.'

Something s...o...b..red on the other side. The two women backed away from the door.

'We have disturbed it,' said Leela and she pul ed out her knife.

With a crash, something hurled its weight against the barrier. The bars splintered.

The door thundered repeatedly under the onslaught. 'Time to move,' said Dorothee. She turned and ran straight into a Drudge, looming above her like a fairytale ogre.

As it s.n.a.t.c.hed at her, the door smashed off its hinges. Out of the pantry, with a growl and a stench like old cheese, stalked a white dragon. A black tongue coiled from the centre of its wide orchid-like head. Three eyes waved on thin stalks above its beautiful ruff of blotched petals.

The Drudge caught up Dorothee, lifting her as a missile. The brute moved fast on stubby crocodile legs. Its tongue shot out, curling around the servant's wooden body.

Dorothee tumbled clear as the Drudge was dragged in. The constricting tongue tightened and splintered the huge servant in two.

The animal was blocking Leela's escape. It turned towards her with a snarl. She aimed and threw her knife, striking the creature right in the mouth.

201.

It spat out the blade. Its tongue frothed white blood, but it still ambled straight at her.

Dorothee had grabbed a heavy fork. She brought it down on the thing's muscled haunches and almost bent the p.r.o.ngs.

Its long tail lashed her aside like a whip.

Leela was fumbling inside a small pouch. She pulled out a small brown spike, holding it between her fingers, but the thing was on her before she could act. The tongue coiled round her arm, dragging her down.

The spike flicked out of her grasp.

'Use it,' she yel ed, struggling to pul free. Dorothee dodged the swinging tail and scooped the spike off the floor. It was some sort of dried thorn.