187.

Chapter 11.

There was a blinding flash. The rings of light engulfing Amy pulsed outwards. She convulsed under the recoil and the Herald's grip on her slackened. It felt to Amy as if iron bands that had been slowly tightening around her chest - choking her breath, choking her self - suddenly slackened. Keeping this picture in her mind, Amy imagined herself gripping hold of the bands, pulling them apart, throwing them away. The chasm that, only moments before seemed to be opening ineluctably before her, started to recede, like a bad dream shaken off by the coming of morning. flash. The rings of light engulfing Amy pulsed outwards. She convulsed under the recoil and the Herald's grip on her slackened. It felt to Amy as if iron bands that had been slowly tightening around her chest - choking her breath, choking her self - suddenly slackened. Keeping this picture in her mind, Amy imagined herself gripping hold of the bands, pulling them apart, throwing them away. The chasm that, only moments before seemed to be opening ineluctably before her, started to recede, like a bad dream shaken off by the coming of morning.

But the Herald would not give up easily. She made a last grab for control of Amy - to seize her, 189 189 if she could not persuade her - amplifying the harmonies until the hall itself throbbed with the noise. Amy sang back, random snippets of songs, anything that came to mind. With one last effort, and a rousing rendition of 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star', Amy released herself. She pushed the Herald back for good - away, and out of her mind. The gold light shot upwards, coalescing in a ball high above. The Herald screamed in fury and outrage; sheer white noise that cracked the dome. Then she was gone.

'Ta-da!' Amy said, and fell to her knees.

She put her hands out to stop herself falling on her face. The Doctor and the King ran to help her.

Amy stretched out her arms and let them lift her back to her feet.

Beol bent over to kiss her hand. 'You are a lady of great courage.'

'I'm not any kind of a lady. But if you do that smile again, I'll forgive you.'

Beol obliged.

Amy wrinkled her nose at him. 'So cute! I'd vote for you.'

The King placed his hand upon his chest and bowed to her. Then he went to see to his knights.

The Doctor pulled her into a hug. 'I'm impressed, Pond. You're impressive.'

'I know.' She smiled at him. He smiled back. He 190 190 had come back, she thought - just later than he'd said. Still a mistake, though, to sit around waiting for the knight in shining armour. There was the whole of her life to be led. come back, she thought - just later than he'd said. Still a mistake, though, to sit around waiting for the knight in shining armour. There was the whole of her life to be led.

'What did you see?' the Doctor said softly. 'Can you talk about it? What did she show you?'

'A bad place. The worst. A place where nothing changed.' Amy shuddered. 'For thousands and thousands of years, nothing changed. There was Enamour everywhere. It was in the food you ate, the water you drank, the air you breathed. It shaped everything around you, totally. It slid into every s.p.a.ce. You were like a bird trapped in an oil slick.

Trapped in a beautiful golden oil slick.' Then there had been the humming, the lulling... but behind that, almost extinguished but still constant, the whispering of fear... 'More than anything you wanted to get away from it, but you didn't dare. Where could you go? There was nowhere to go. You couldn't make a move, you couldn't get out, you couldn't save yourself... And - this was the worst thing - part of you wanted to stay there. It wanted what was on offer. Craved it. Not changing. Not having to grow. Handing that over. It felt like security - but it wasn't, not really. It was h.e.l.l. A golden h.e.l.l.'

Amy sighed. 'I didn't defeat her, did I? Not entirely.

She's coming back.'

'I'm afraid you're right.'

191.

'Then I suppose we'd better be ready for her.'

The Doctor nodded slowly. His put his hands in his pockets and walked to the centre of the hall. He looked up at the dome, where the Herald's light had glowed moments before and where now only a long crack zigzagged from one end of the dome to the other.

Amy joined him. 'You feel sorry for her, don't you?'

'Hmm?'

'The Herald. You feel sorry for her.'

'Hmm.'

'Why, Doctor? Why bother?'

'I suppose...' Still staring at the crack, the Doctor screwed up his face. 'Because she's as trapped as anyone else. She has her masters, after all, and she's answerable to them. If she fails here in Geath, what will happen to her?'

'She has a choice, too, Doctor. She could refuse to obey her masters.'

'That's much easier said than done.'

'The Regulator's people did it. The Herald doesn't have to obey these Bright n.o.bles, does she? Not now. Not so long after the end of their war.'

'The Bright n.o.bles.' The Doctor's face screwed up in distaste at the name. 'Now, they're the real villains of the piece, aren't they? I wonder how 192 192 bright they really are, without Enamour. The Herald may be a few rungs up the ladder from the great ma.s.s of servants, but she's by no means at the top.'

Amy thought about this. She thought about the Herald's pitilessness, the casual cruelty with which she had been seized and used. She thought about the strident music and the dead sound of despair at the heart of it. Was that also part of the Herald's song?

'You know,' Amy said slowly, 'I think those extra few rungs make all the difference.'

Beol came back to join them.

'How are your two knights?' the Doctor asked.

'Dead,' Beol said grimly. 'Both dead. Their bodies broken.'

'Still sorry, Doctor?' Amy murmured.

'Always sorry, Amy,' the Doctor replied. To Beol, he said wearily, 'Are you going to listen now?'

'You have no need to speak. The metal must go.'

Beol glanced towards the heart of the chamber, at the source of it all. 'The dragon, too. But not to the Herald's people.'

'No, not there,' the Doctor agreed. 'To the Regulator, then.'

'You're not with happy with that, are you, Doctor?' Amy said.

The Doctor shook his head. 'Rory might have been speaking under the influence of Enamour, 193 193 but he was right when he pointed out that the Regulator has threatened us. Handing it over feels too much like being coerced.' His eyes flashed.

'And I don't like being coerced.'

'But it's the only option, isn't it?' Amy said.

'Unless you're planning to take it yourself.'

The Doctor glanced back over his shoulder at the dragon.

'The howling creature has made its position clear,' Beol said firmly. 'The dragon must be delivered to it, or else Geath will suffer. We cannot allow that.'

'Doctor,' Amy said, 'you might know as well as the Regulator how to dispose of the stuff, but I don't think that's the point.'

For a fraction of a second, the Doctor seemed to be somewhere else, lost in contemplation. Then: 'Nah.

You're right. Imagine it in the TARDIS. Doesn't suit the new colour scheme, does it?' Shaking off whatever vision had briefly entranced him, he bounded off towards the doors. 'Come on! Time to check on Operation Dis-Enamour.'

Rory looked up at Hilthe's back window with a familiar sinking feeling. He clasped his hands together and braced forwards. 'Step on here,' he said to the Teller. 'I'll push you up then you can reach down and pull me up.'

194.

'Do you break and enter often?' the Teller asked in a censorious voice.

'Do you overthrow legitimate governments and install puppet rulers often?'

'Not under normal circ.u.mstances.'

'Well then. There's your answer. Alien invasion.

All bets are off. Besides, the window is open, so technically it's not breaking and entering. Now hurry up. I don't know how long we've got left but I'm guessing it's not long. It'll be morning soon.'

The Teller made no further protest and stepped onto Rory's hands. Rory pushed him through the window, and then reached up so that he could haul him inside.

'Where will she be?' whispered the Teller, looking down a dark bare corridor.

Rory pointed ahead. 'Amy said there were some stairs. They should be up there, on the right. They lead down into a sitting room and chances are Hilthe's not getting any sleep tonight. Plus we've got an escape route back here. You know, in case.'

The Teller nodded in agreement and Rory led the way down the corridor. They found the narrow flight of stairs by which Amy had escaped earlier that night.

The doorway at the bottom of these was covered in a curtain. Rory twitched it aside and looked into a sitting room. It was the same one he had visited.

Was it only a few hours since he had 195 195 sat here, drinking sweet tea with Hilthe, and got his first sight of the Herald? He was sorry he had ever set eyes on her.

Rory pulled back the curtain and quietly entered the room with a degree of stealth that would have won plaudits from the Doctor. Hilthe was sitting in one of the chairs, eyes closed, apparently asleep. Rory turned to the Teller, put his finger against his lips, and then gestured to him to come in. The Teller tiptoed across the room and stood in front of the door.

'Now that my escape is blocked,' said Hilthe, her eyes still closed, 'who will strike the killing blow? Will it be you, Rory?'

'What?' Rory said, shocked. 'What do you think I am?'

'A spy. An a.s.sa.s.sin.' Hilthe opened her eyes and glanced over her shoulder at the Teller. 'I see now that this plot has been a long time in the making.

But before you dispatch me, I would like to know the price. How much were you paid by the people of Dant?'

The Teller rolled his eyes.

'For heaven's sake!' Rory said. 'How many times do we have to say this? We're not from Dant!' We're not from Dant!'

Hilthe's eyes flashed. 'What other explanation can there be?'

'Mother,' said the Teller, 'I beg you, for a moment, 196 196 try to look beyond the petty concerns of the city-states of the Evesh. I know they've kept you busy for a lifetime, but they are trivial compared to the crisis we face tonight.'

Hilthe glared back at him in loathing. The Teller did not move from his position in front of the door. He folded his arms and glared back.

'Urn, we were supposed to be winning her over?' Rory said. 'Remember that bit? Getting her on side?'

'I have no interest in winning this woman's favour,' the Teller replied bluntly. 'She has done nothing to make me want it.' He turned back to Hilthe. 'You were right in your estimation of me, Mother. I do hold this city in contempt. I came to Geath to take revenge. And I've enjoyed every moment. I've loved watching the people hang on my every word. I've loved watching them want to get close to me and to my brother. I've loved their devotion and the knowledge that whenever I chose, I could ruin them.'

'Will you shut up?' hissed Rory. 'We need her help!'

'No, I won't shut up!' the Teller said. 'I won't be quiet any longer! She's going to hear this! The Doctor told me to talk like I've never talked before, to tell the story of my life. Well, the story of my life is that the council of this city - of which you 197 197 were the leader, Hilthe! - broke up my home and sent men to beat my friends and family into submission!'

'So you are are here to kill me,' said Hilthe. She raised her chin defiantly. 'I'm not afraid. I would here to kill me,' said Hilthe. She raised her chin defiantly. 'I'm not afraid. I would die die for Geath.' for Geath.'

'Kill you?' The Teller came to stand very close to her. 'It's what you expect from me, isn't it? You think I'm good for nothing, don't you? A thug from up the river. Not a soft-handed citizen like yourself.

And so I am. I'm country-bred and I'm proud of it.

But kill kill you? I've more on my mind tonight than you! I'm trying to save your city! I'm trying to set right a bad mistake. Where have you been tonight, Mother Councillor? Sitting in here, clinging to the past-' you? I've more on my mind tonight than you! I'm trying to save your city! I'm trying to set right a bad mistake. Where have you been tonight, Mother Councillor? Sitting in here, clinging to the past-'

Hilthe sat bolt upright in her chair, proud and angry. 'How dare dare you! A farmhand from the valleys! you! A farmhand from the valleys!

What do you know of Geath's glorious past?'

'I know enough!' the Teller shot back. 'I know it's not as glorious as you make out! And I dare because it's true! You say you'd do anything for Geath, but that's all talk! If you truly loved your city and its people and its long history, you'd put aside your pride and you'd come with us now, not hide away in the moment of its greatest need. Die for Geath? My brother brother is willing to die for Geath. My brother the King.' is willing to die for Geath. My brother the King.'

198.

The Teller stopped speaking. He backed away from Hilthe and went to lean back against the door. He was trembling with emotion. Hilthe sat with her hands folded before her and her head bowed. Rory could not see how angry she was, but perhaps there was something he could still say to persuade her.

'Hilthe,' he began hesitantly. 'We really do need your help. We're not spies, we're not enemies, and we're trying to do the right thing. But we need your help.'

'Please, Mother,' the Teller said. His tone was much gentler. 'Let us set aside our differences.

The people of Geath have put themselves in our hands. We have to do right by them. I know that you believe I took your power unfairly-'

Hilthe winced.

'You're right,' the Teller went on. 'I did. And I'm sorry. But we are in desperate straits and the people in our care need you. They need to hear your voice again.

Please, come and speak to them.'

Hilthe lifted her hand to stop him speaking. To Rory, she said, 'Ten standard time units.'

Rory nodded.