'My independent advice. Been to a lot of places, made a lot of first contacts. Try that on your boss.'

Softly, he said, 'Your case stands or falls on its own merits, Anwa. No need to go around terrifying people.'

Anwa took the sheets of paper with a grateful smile.

'I do have one request to make in return,' the Doctor said. 'But first of all - tell me what plans you have for the Herald once you've taken her.'

'We have a procedure for that, Doctor-'

'Yes, I'm sure you do, but you have to admit that not all your procedures have been terribly well thought-through.'

'Fair comment.' Anwa gave a dry smile. 'We'll take her home. She'll be imprisoned, but only for as long as her dependence on Enamour lasts. We have people who will work with her to help her, a whole Rehabilitation Board -'

'So you won't execute her.'

224.

Anwa recoiled. 'We're not murderers, Doctor!'

'But you will use force to capture her?'

'We'll have to. As soon as she knows we're here, she'll come out fighting.'

'Then I must have the chance to speak to her.' The Doctor's voice was low and earnest. 'To reason with her. Make her understand. Because there's a city full of people down there that she can turn on. I don't want them hurt. But most of all, I want to talk to her because I think she doesn't know.'

Amy, overhearing, gave him a puzzled look.

'Doesn't know what?'

'That the Bright n.o.bles are dead,' the Doctor said. 'That none of them survived.'

Startled, Amy said, 'But she said they were coming!'

'Either she lied,' Anwa said, 'or she's fantasising.

Her masters are dead. The Doctor's right. They all died at the end of the war.'

'All of them?' said Amy. 'Are you sure?'

'Oh yes,' Anwa said softly. 'We're sure.'

'Then I must have the chance to speak to her,'

the Doctor said again, and urgently. 'Before you try to take her by force. Perhaps if I talk to her, she won't come out fighting.' Seeing that Anwa was shaking her head, the Doctor carried on quickly, 'She's afraid of you, Anwa. She's been alone for a very a long time, without friends, without comfort 225 225 of any kind. You know that you mean her no harm, and I know it - but she doesn't. She's terrified, but worse than that, she's powerful. powerful. She could do a lot of damage before you're able to stop her. I bet that's happened again and again in the past.' She could do a lot of damage before you're able to stop her. I bet that's happened again and again in the past.'

Anwa gave a grudging nod.

'See? Those procedures! Sometimes it's worth trying something new. So if I can talk to her, make her come with you willingly, we might prevent more damage, more death. And it might be better for the Herald too. Because if she does stand down, then the battle to free her from Enamour will be half-won. You'll be saved a lot of hard work.'

Anwa sighed. 'After so long, I doubt the Herald knows where Enamour stops and her own self starts. But there's no reason why you shouldn't try, Doctor.'

The Doctor beamed at her. 'That's all I want to do.

Try.'

'Still,' said Anwa, 'Camba will be guarding your back.'

'I've no objection to that.' The Doctor looked around the room. 'All done? Meeting adjourned?'

'Meeting adjourned,' said Anwa.

Amy pointed at the pile of pens on the table.

'Anyone mind if I take one of those?'

226.

Chapter 13.

Camba transported them back to the main plaza in Geath. When the crowd saw Hilthe, a great cheer went up. She waved grandly in response. Beol came to greet her and bent to kiss her hand. When he gave her his matchless smile, she smiled back, patted his hand, and tucked it under her arm. to the main plaza in Geath. When the crowd saw Hilthe, a great cheer went up. She waved grandly in response. Beol came to greet her and bent to kiss her hand. When he gave her his matchless smile, she smiled back, patted his hand, and tucked it under her arm.

Rory nudged Amy. 'Start of a beautiful friendship.'

'Her and her toy boys,' Amy said. 'Never mind, you've still got me.'

'Is the city safe now?' asked Beol.

'We have one last task to perform,' Hilthe told him and held out her hand. 'The ring, please, Doctor.'

227.

The Doctor rummaged in his pocket. 'Still think that I should do this.'

Hilthe waggled her fingers at him. Hand it over. Hand it over.

The Doctor sighed and pulled out the ring. It lay small and innocuous in his palm.

Beol frowned down at it. 'What is the meaning of this?'

Hilthe, retrieving the ring, told him, 'We have secured our alliance. Now we must honour its terms and work with our allies to defeat our common enemy. Stand back, all of you.'

They all moved back. Camba put her helmet on and faded into the darkness behind the dragon.

For the third time, Hilthe cupped the ring in her hands.

'Come!' she called up to the sky. 'Come back! I wish to speak to you!'

A soft whisper sweetened the night air.

'Come back!' Hilthe called. 'I am here! I am waiting for you!'

The whisper took shape and became a single note. Light formed in Hilthe's hands.

Beol, understanding suddenly what was happening, strode forwards. 'No! I forbid it!'

He reached to take the ring from Hilthe's hands but waves of golden light burst outwards in all directions, preventing his advance and enveloping Hilthe entirely.

228.

'Dear foolish boy,' Hilthe said. 'I am not yours to command.' Holding up her hands, she summoned the Herald. 'I am here! I am waiting to receive you! I have gathered your possessions! Now bring me my reward! Restore my city to me!'

The single note grew in volume. It stretched into a full chord, sweet and melodic, but Amy could hear the terrible hollow echo at its heart.

'Oh, be careful!' she cried to Hilthe. 'Please, be careful! Don't let her trick you! We're all here! I'm here! Remember! Don't forget!'

As Amy watched, the old woman's body went rigid and her flesh became translucent. She saw at once the difference between her own experience as the Herald's mouthpiece and this new manifestation. Instead of golden waves, a thick bright channel of light shot down from the sky and poured through Hilthe, emptying out of her chest and into the plaza. Hilthe was the prism through which the Herald's force and power and hungers pa.s.sed and then took shape again. Slowly, the Herald materialised.

She crouched on the ground, a half-formed figure of lights and limbs. As her strength grew, she clambered to her feet. She resembled Hilthe, as if in pa.s.sing through she had taken an imprint of the old woman's body, but she was longer and thinner and crueller. Her eyes were bright as diamonds 229 229 and her lips were black. She was a creature of light and shadow, without nuance, and a star shone on her finger.

No, not a star, Amy realised; it was the ring. As the Herald took shape, the ring seemed to be in two places at once, in the old woman's hands and upon the long alien's finger. As soon as the Herald was wholly present, the light in Hilthe's hands flickered and went out. The ring was gone. The Herald had it now. Hilthe slumped to the ground.

'I have come,' the Herald sang across the valley. 'I have come to claim for my masters what is rightfully theirs!' Seeing the gleaming pile of treasure, the Herald stepped towards it. The excitement in her voice grew. 'We shall be reunited!

We shall be restored!'

The Doctor strolled forwards, vulnerable and completely relaxed. 'h.e.l.lo!' he said. He gave the Herald a little wave. 'Remember me? We chatted earlier.'

The Herald, who had been advancing on the metal, stopped to look at him.

'Remember?' said the Doctor, shielding his eyes from her glare. 'In the hall? Under the dome? You told me about the war. You told me how terrible it was to see your world end. Remember?'

The Herald's black lips parted. 'Yes,' she whispered, the kind of whisper that makes 230 230 foundations shudder and trees wither.

'Good! Hoped you would!' The Doctor tugged at his ears. 'Memorable face, isn't it? Bit odd, never mind, nothing's for ever. Like wandering about s.p.a.ce on your own. How's that working out for you? Must be getting gloomy by now. Tell you what, how would you like to go home?'

The Herald, who had been turning back to the treasure, froze. 'Home,' she breathed.

'It could happen. If you want it to happen. I know how lonely you've been,' the Doctor said, with total honesty. 'I know what it's like, to see the world end, to wander the stars in search of something, anything. But you're not alone. Your species - it's not dead, not by any means! There are so many of them, and they're doing great things!

Marvellous things! They're kind people, they work hard, they have a future. You can go back to them.

You can be among your own kind again. You can share the peace they're building. You can be a part of it.'

'My home is with my masters. Where they are, I must be. I must be there to serve them.'

'I know you think that. I know you've thought it for a very long time. But it doesn't have to be that way -'

'My masters are coming! They will take back what is theirs! The Bright n.o.bles will rise again!

231.

They will make a world of light and bliss!'

Amy, remembering that place, shuddered.

The Doctor shook his head. 'I'm sorry,' he said sadly. 'But that isn't going to happen. You have a choice now. You can go home in chains, or you can go home in peace. Either way, it's your home, and it's where you're going. There isn't anywhere else to go.'

'My masters are coming! Our world will be restored!'

'But they're not coming. They can't. They're gone. But you still have somewhere to go.

Somewhere much better than the world you lost, much better than wandering alone in the dark, where you're welcome, where you'll be at peace.

You've been lost for so long. But everything can change, if you want it to change-'

As the Doctor spoke, a new harmony arose that scorched the air with its intensity. The Herald grew in stature with it. She rose above the valley and stretched out a long and many-fingered hand across it, like an angel of death.

'Liar!' she screamed. 'Deceiver! The Bright n.o.bles live! They are coming! You cannot hold them back! They will eclipse the sun and boil the sky! This world will burn at their touch! They will break the moon and extinguish your star! The heavens will bear no trace of your existence!' She 232 232 lifted her hands up towards the dark sky as if in prayer. 'They are coming! They are coming! My masters!'

She lunged at the Doctor.

'Oops,' he said, and dived for cover. As he ran, he slipped and fell to the ground. The Herald moved in, her face raw with rage, her hand raised for the kill...

And Camba came, screaming. Her howl no longer held any note of despair. It was a war cry, a drawing of a line, a challenge to her enemy and a promise of her defeat. She strode across the plaza and with each step she shot up in height. As she bore down upon her enemy, the Doctor scrambled to his feet and dived for cover.

'Don't kill her!' he yelled to Camba. 'You mustn't kill her!'

The Herald moved against her enemy. Amy and Rory took their chance and ran to reach Hilthe. The old woman lay motionless in a dark heap upon the ground. Rory turned her over and Amy cradled her in her arms. 'Please! Wake up! Say something! Be cross about something! Anything!' But Hilthe's eyes stayed shut and her face was bloodless.

Above them, as if the Herald's threat was already coming to pa.s.s, the night sky was alight. A great battle unfolded before the people cowering in the city below. Two giants - one ebony, one golden - - 233.

clashed like elements from the lowest point of the valley to the highest point amongst the hills. They blazed along the river, seeming almost to set it on fire with the force and fury of their feud. This was a hatred that had lost no intensity even though millennia had pa.s.sed. The battle was visible for miles around. They saw it in Dant, and they saw it in Sheal, and they talked about it afterwards for centuries.

To Amy, the night seemed endless. Crouched beside the silent dragon, Hilthe cold and lifeless in her arms, she almost despaired of the battle ever ending. The spectacle became too much. She bent over the old woman, leaning in to kiss the top of her head. 'Please,' she whispered to her. 'Don't listen to the music. Stay with us. Stay with me.'

The world crashed into chaos all around her.

Then: 'Amy,' Rory whispered. 'Look! Look!' Amy looked. 'It's morning,' Rory said, and took her hand.

Pale dawn light crept into the valley of the Evesh. For a moment, the giants paused in their struggle, marking the change. And then Camba strode forwards and, with the golden sun rising at her back, descended upon her enemy like a cloud of vengeance, extinguishing the Herald's pale light for good. Now turning towards the dawn, Camba lifted her hands to greet the new day and sang her 234 234 victory out across the valley.

Down in the plaza, Amy and Rory watched fearfully as the Herald shrank down to no more than their height and collapsed on the ground in a heap of long and broken limbs. Camba, shrinking more steadily, stood over her. She took off her helmet and placed it on the ground, and then communicated with her ship in a series of soft clicks and trills. Dark bands, like fetters, appeared around the Herald's thin wrists and ankles and the matter-transmission field took her.