While Emily's padded armour looked sound, the strange, simple garb of the Doctor would offer no protection in the heat of battle.

'I'm afraid this is where we part company, Captain. We'll be fighting on a different front.'

For a moment Darke didn't understand, and then he realised the Doctor planned to accompany Toch'Lu and return to the Cathedral.

The selfless bravery of this man was astounding. Then good fortune to you, Doctor. My lady.'

The Captain bowed and took his leave. They watched him go, rallying the troops as he went.

'And then there were three,' said Emily, softly.

'Bow before your leader,' the newcomer demanded, a chilly disdain in his voice.

'Never,' Broken Wing spat back. In a blur of rage, he hurled himself at his sworn enemy, but the Esteemed Father was stronger, faster, stepping neatly to one side and striking a crashing blow to Broken Wing's skull. Dazed, the Krillitane staggered and fell.

The Esteemed Father was on him in an instant, digging his claws into the scruff of Broken Wing's neck, making sure he drew blood. 'Do not dare to disobey me again,' he whispered, and released his grip.

197.

From the safety of the stage, Henk watched unhappily as a dozen more Krillitanes, again wingless and as muscular as the first, hurried into the room, fanning out and encircling the dazed Broken Wing, ensuring he had no means of escape. They ignored Henk completely, and he realised with some relief that they seemed to have no interest in him whatsoever.

Another Krillitane entered, slighter in build than any of the others, with thin flexible fingers and a more bulbous snout. Henk decided it must be some kind of specialised tracker. Febron's science had been right on the money.

The tracker approached its leader deferentially. 'Esteemed Father, we have completed our search of the building. We found four bodies, members of the traitor's Brood, along with a group of humanoids.

There was evidence of a conflict between them, but we can find no sign of the traitor.'

The Esteemed Father's nostrils flared as he digested this information. Then widen the search beyond the walls of this temple.

Rip every fetid dwelling in this outpost apart, if you have to. Just find her.' He watched the tracker slip away, and returned his attention to their captive, observing the fugitive's scarred and battered body, the bent and broken wing that hung limply behind the Krillitane's back. A member of the new generation of airborne upstarts who considered themselves the natural successors to his throne, whether he was ready to relinquish it or not. The years have not been kind, 198 198 have they, Brother Myina? Or are your injuries the result of some domestic dispute?'

Broken Wing curled his lip, wondering if he might have another opportunity to tear out his enemy's throat with his teeth before his personal guard could react. 'If you are going to kill me, then do it now before I have to endure any more of your insufferable pomposity.'

'Myina the Orator.' The Esteemed Father laughed. 'How we miss your presence on the Council. It has always been a matter of great sorrow to us that you chose to side with our cousin. You were a powerful and respected First Minister. You could regain that position, if you were to tell us where the traitor is hiding.'

'You're wasting your time, Esteemed Father,' Esteemed Father,' Broken Wing laughed, his words loaded with sarcasm. 'She was never even here. Broken Wing laughed, his words loaded with sarcasm. 'She was never even here.

Our group was separated, months ago. The four younglings and I were ensnared by traders and sold on. The Brood Mother escaped. I don't know where to, but she's beyond your pitiful reach.'

'I think not,' sniffed the Esteemed Father. 'Her filthy scent is all over you. We shall find her, whether or not you provide us with a.s.sistance.'

'Ahem,' Henk coughed. 'Perhaps I can be of service?'

Safe as he felt for now, protected by his force wall, Henk knew he couldn't stay behind it for ever. If it were possible to broker a deal with this obviously important Krillitane, he might even get out of this in one piece.

The Esteemed Father turned, as if noticing Henk for the first time.

199.

'Allow me to introduce myself. I am Lozla Nataniel Henk, and-'

'I know who you are,' the Krillitane leader hissed.

Henk bowed in mock humbleness. 'My reputation precedes me.'

'Your reputation is built on exploitation and murder, and your crimes against the Krillitanes will not go unpunished. I have had agents scouring the galaxy, searching for Sister Toch'Lu and her cabal of conspirators. Once my agents discovered you had enslaved them, all we had to do was find you.' The Esteemed Father pointed a finely manicured claw at Henk. 'Execute him.'

A Krillitane immediately broke ranks and sprang towards the stage. With a bolt of energy, the force wall repelled the creature, hurling it backwards across the floor. It lay still where it fell, smoke drifting slowly from the corpse.

'Oh, dear. Do you think he'll recover?' Henk's face was a mask of compa.s.sion. 'I am terribly sorry about that. The stage is protected by a force wall, you see. I can't believe I forgot to mention it.' He had taken the precaution of increasing the defence level to full power as soon as he'd reached the controls.

Hissing, the Esteemed Father stalked to the foot of the stage, eyes blazing with hatred for this puny being.

Henk continued with rather more confidence than he felt.

Fortunately, empty bravado was his stock in trade. 'Now, as I understand it, you're looking for the female. Toeclaw?'

200.

Toch'Lu,' the Krillitane spat back, angered by the misp.r.o.nunciation.

'Indeed. So knowledge of her whereabouts is therefore something that would be of great value to you?'

'I will take great pleasure in ending your worthless life, Henk.'

Broken Wing interrupted, bitterly, but Henk ignored him. Broken Wing was obviously not the main player here.

'My thought is this. If I had such information, then perhaps we could come to some kind of arrangement?' Henk licked his lips, nervously. 'Let me return to my ship, unharmed, and I'll tell you exactly where to find your traitor. How does that sound?'

Opening his mouth wide, the Esteemed Father revealed a double row of razor-sharp teeth, and let out a hideous, guttural cackle. His jaws snapped shut with a crunch and he glared hungrily at Henk.

As Darke led his men towards Friar Street, he found it difficult to believe that in happier times it had been filled with the bustle of everyday life. This cold morning, however, saw a steady stream of scared people surging towards the city gate at Sidbury. The old, the young, traders struggling with carts overloaded with goods, a desperate mother rea.s.suring her distraught child, all desperate to escape the city.

His small army found the going hard. The crush of people impeded the troops' progress, and the heavy snowfall didn't make things any easier. Bishops Street 201.

was on the opposite side of the Cathedral to the Castle, and although the distance wasn't far, the Captain feared they would not make it in time if they continued along their current path.

Leaving a group of soldiers to defend this part of the road, Darke took the rest of his troops through a deserted building and across the arable plots running between the row of houses and the Cathedral grounds. As they moved quietly past, the Captain surveyed its walls, now devoid of the unG.o.dly figures that had so recently swept across them. How strange that those pale walls, a symbol of all that was good and righteous in the world, could now contain such devilry.

Within minutes they had reached Lich Street, where the Cathedral's main gatehouse would afford them some advantage over the Krillitanes. Darke split his remaining men into three groups, sending one towards the end of Bishops Street and another further along the High Street. These would be the second line of defence as and when their foe overcame Darke's own unit, who would do their utmost to defend the gatehouse for as long as possible by engaging the enemy within the walls of the Cathedral.

They didn't have long to wait.

Wolf-like shadows scurried through the arched Cathedral entrance, ugly black stains racing across the deep white snow. In no time the first wave was almost upon them.

This is it, lads. Fight to your last breath,' Darke murmured, crossing himself in spite of his dented faith.

202.

Still, if it turned out there was a higher being watching over them after all, it wouldn't hurt to show willing. They were going to need all the help they could get.

He raised his sword above his head and bellowed to his men, 'For the King!'

Charging out of their hiding place beyond the gatehouse, Darke's vastly outnumbered force ploughed indomitably into the oncoming enemy. The battle for the city had begun.

The Doctor, Emily and Toch'Lu were creeping up a slipway, leading from the banks of the River Severn into the south-west corner of the Cathedral grounds. They were relieved to find that the Krillitanes had not thought to place any guards in this otherwise deserted area.

The river served a dual purpose for the Castle: as a natural defence against attack from the west, and as a means of delivering vital supplies during times of siege. It now offered the perfect clandestine route back into the Cathedral for the Doctor and his group, who had left the Castle via the riverbank, moving quickly along it until they reached the riverside entrance to the Cathedral. They hid in the shadow of the boathouse, a hundred metres from where the Krillitane vessel had touched down.

'So, we're in. What now?' asked Emily, scanning the Cathedral for an entrance. A door in the side of the refectory, not far from their hiding place, looked promising. She shivered. 'Somewhere out of this weather would be a good start.'

203.

At the same moment they both realised they were standing right beside the door into the boathouse. 'How about in here?' said the Doctor, and they ducked inside, grateful for the building's relative warmth.

That is so much better.' Emily hugged herself.

'Blimey.' The Doctor had immediately taken an interest in the vessel stored inside the boathouse. It was no boat. 'Property of one Mister Henk.'

An eight-metre-long industrial hover skiff rested on its landing skids, taking up almost the entire s.p.a.ce. What's more, it was fully laden with barrels.

'Just what the doctor ordered.' Smiling, the Doctor bounded aboard and checked its flight controls. A plan was already formulating at the back of his mind. 'Henk's entire stock of Krillitane Oil.'

Toch'Lu hung back by the doorway, nervously, and Emily couldn't help but notice. 'Are you OK?' she asked. The Krillitane glanced at the rows of barrels.

The Doctor tapped one of the barrels. 'What we have here is the one thing that the Krillitane fear. Their own oil. It's what made them who they are, except it's become lethal to them. If one drop touches their skin, just one drop, it causes an immediate and catastrophic anaphylactic reaction.'

'It kills them?'

'Well,' the Doctor swallowed. 'It kind of makes them explode. Not a nice way to go.' While this discovery was useful, he had no intention of using it other than as a last resort.

204.

The Doctor leapt down from the skiff and approached Toch'Lu. 'I'd say what we do now is up to you. If you can get your fellow Krillitanes to leave this world unharmed, just leave, then I'm not going to have to use that stuff.

But if you can't...'

Toch'Lu shook off her human disguise, her orange eyes blazing in their deep sockets. She understood what he was asking of her. That any of my Brood lives is thanks to your actions. Whatever happens, I will stand by my promise to you, Doctor. Much depends upon whom the Esteemed Father has sent after me, and whether they have orders to take me alive. If I cannot negotiate, then I will fight.'

'I can't give you long,' warned the Doctor.

Then let us begin. I will see to it that by morning none of my brethren remain on this world. If that means all must die, then so be it,' she replied.

They left the boathouse and hurried over to the open doorway Emily had located earlier. In the distance, the screams and shouts of a pitched battle sounded eerily flat, deadened by the thick snow that lay like a death shroud over the city. Emily thought of Captain Darke, not daring to hope he would be fortunate enough to survive.

Once inside, they found the refectory was deserted. Banks of equipment installed by Henk's people had been smashed and rendered inoperable by the Krillitanes, who had stormed through like a plague of locusts. Here and there dead bodies were scattered, no longer in need of Henk's promised payday.

205.

Toch'Lu sped ahead, stopping at the next set of doors, snout lifted, testing the air. She tensed suddenly, then bolted out into the cloisters without warning, leaving the Doctor and Emily staring at each other in shock. As one, they sprinted after her, just in time to see her tail disappear around the corner.

'What's got into her?' the Doctor shouted as he pounded along the corridor. 'Looks like she's heading for the Chapter House.'

'You mean you don't know what Henk has been keeping in there?' Emily replied, as they reached the doorway and staggered to a halt. She blinked, surprised at what she saw. 'Oh. Actually, that wasn't what I was expecting.'

Bizarrely, Henk stood on stage as if ready to continue his sales pitch, even though the delegates were now either dead or fleeing the planet in their ships. He almost looked relieved to see the Doctor and Emily, and she could see why.

Half a dozen nervous-looking Krillitanes stood around the edge of the Chapter House, not sure what to do about the situation unfolding before them, and there, at the centre of the room, Toch'Lu stretched her wings in a display of superiority, circling an imperious-looking Krillitane who looked upon her with disdain.

'Well, well, well,' sneered the Esteemed Father, not taking his eyes off his mortal foe. 'It seems there is no longer any need for us to make a deal, Mister Henk.'

206.

FIFTEEN.

*he bitter enemies stared at each other intently, waiting _ to see who Twould betray a sign of weakness, who would be the first to blink.

The tension spread to all those watching, even Henk, who still couldn't comprehend how the last twenty-four hours had panned out quite so badly.

'Cousin.' The Esteemed Father nodded, welcoming his avowed enemy graciously, attention focused entirely on Toch'Lu.

'Esteemed Father,' Toch'Lu hissed back, her voice dripping with hatred. 'I am honoured that you consider me such a threat that you choose to face me in person.'

There are only so many stones in the universe. One is bound to uncover a base coward skulking beneath one of them without undue effort.' The Esteemed Father shook 207.

his head, his snout wrinkled as if her very existence created a foul odour. 'It gives me no pleasure to find you here. That you allowed yourself and your Brood to be imprisoned by this... parasite. You are not fit to be called Krillitane.'

'And you are not fit to rule us.'

Outside, the Doctor put a finger to his lips, making it clear that he wanted Emily to stay safely out of view, then he adjusted his tie and strode brazenly into the Chapter House.

'All right, calm down, calm down. If all you're going to do is trade bon mots all morning, we'll be here till lunchtime.'

This unannounced intrusion incensed the Krillitane leader. 'Who dares address the Esteemed Father without due deference?'

That'll be me. I'm the Doctor, and I don't do due deference.

Actually, I can barely say it. You must be, what, the Emperor of the Krillitanes or something?' The Doctor looked the Esteemed Father up and down. He was naked, as was the Krillitane way. 'I don't want to speak out of turn, but your robes aren't up to much, are they? Are they new? I think you should have a word with your tailor.'

'Your scent is familiar to me.' The Esteemed Father frowned. He was certain he had never encountered this insolent creature. No, this was more of a race memory, a scent pa.s.sed from one generation to the next, warning of danger. And then he remembered.

208.