Two of the ugly trolls sprang lightly from the shadows of an alley. It was the first time Butcher had seen them up close, and the sight filled him with dread. They sized him up, barking at each other, then the first leapt at him with a hiss. The soldier ducked to one side, bringing down his sword and burying its blade deep in the beast's skull.

The second was on him almost instantly, fangs locked around the forearm he'd instinctively raised to protect himself. His mail armour and leather jerkin offered scant protection as the teeth tore through to the bone, and Butcher screamed out.

222.

'Leave off him, you horrible brute,' shouted John Garrud, storming out of the inn wielding a heavy iron poker, its tip glowing red hot. He swung it at the Krillitane with all the force he could muster and heard the sickening sound of bone caving in. The creature slumped over, and John grabbed Butcher, dragging him back inside as three more Krillitanes bounded up the street.

Before there was time to bolt the door, a Krillitane forced its head through, trying to push it open, but the monster hadn't counted on Gertrude and her candlestick. 'You get out of my inn this instant, or so help me..." she screamed, belting it about the snout repeatedly.

'You're barred. All of you.'

The battered alien whimpered, pulling back, and John slammed the door shut, bolting it and barricading it with an oak table for good measure.

Laying down the poker, he knelt beside the wounded soldier and propped him up, trying to get a look at the poor soul's bleeding arm, which Butcher was clutching close to his chest.

'Are you all right? What the 'ell is going on out there? Demons and brimstone? It ain't normal.'

Gertrude hurried over with a bowl of water and some torn cloth, and began to dress Butcher's damaged arm. 'Leave him be, John, he's hurt.'

'No, they're not demons, John. The Captain told me,' Butcher rambled. They're allies of Matilda, come to steal the throne of England. That Doctor fellow seemed to know all about them.'

223.

'Doctor?' Gertrude sucked her teeth, as if she'd expected as much. 'I should have known all this was something to do with him.

He's barred and all.'

Something outside crashed against the door. The Krillitanes were trying to smash their way in, and all three humans looked towards it, listening to the hungry squeals clearly audible beyond.

John touched his wife's arm, and said calmly, 'Come on, Gert, it isn't safe here no more. We have to go.'

Gertrude nodded, resolute and determined despite the tear in her eye. They'd better not be here when I get back,' she sniffed, and together they lifted Butcher and made their way to the back entrance.

Without anyone at the controls, the skiff had slowed to a halt, floating a little above the water and drifting gently towards the river bank.

Henk looked down at the irritating man lying on the deck. It was about time the Doctor got what was coming to him. 'I'm sure I'm not the first to say this, Doctor, but you really are a total pain in the-'

He didn't get the chance to say any more, as white light exploded violently behind his eyes. Darkness flooded through his senses and he crumpled to the deck, unconscious. Behind him, clutching the maintenance clamp she'd just smashed into the back of his head, stood Emily.

She smiled at the Doctor. 'Who was rescuing who there, exactly?'

224.

'Let's call it quits.' The Doctor grinned, leaping to his feet and giving her an enormous hug. 'Better get him tied up.'

While Emily quickly secured Henk, the Doctor examined the skiffs payload of barrels.

'What are you planning?' Emily asked, watching him skip from barrel to barrel.

'Have you ever heard of crop dusting? It's a method of controlling insect infestations on agricultural farm land. A plane flies in low over the crops, and literally dusts them with insecticide. Think of the Krillitanes as your insects and their oil as-'

'Insecticide,' Emily interrupted, shocked at what the Doctor was suggesting. 'But didn't you say that makes them explode? How is that any less cruel than what Henk was doing?'

The Krillitanes won't stop once they've found Toch'Lu. They won't leave Earth until they've hunted down every living thing, tasted all it has to offer and taken whatever they want. They'll leave it a barren wasteland, so it's them or a million million species. I've got no choice.'

The Doctor looked haunted, as if this course of action were in some way a failure on his part, and Emily understood he didn't take it lightly.

'Besides, hopefully it won't come to that. I've got a plan.' The Doctor had a mischievous glint in his eyes, all hint of worry gone.

There used to be this TV show, well, there will be this TV show, called One Man and his Dog. One Man and his Dog. Sort of like an a.s.sault course for sheepdogs and farmers. Sort of like an a.s.sault course for sheepdogs and farmers.

225.

Well, I always thought I'd be pretty good at it, and now I'm going to have a chance to find out. We fly this thing over the city walls and spray them with oil. That should put the wind up any stray Krillitanes, and stop them moving any further. Then we'll move inwards..."

Emily grinned, understanding. 'Shepherding the Krillitanes back towards their ship. Brilliant.'

'Isn't it? I wonder what kind of alt.i.tude we can get in this thing?'

The Doctor became animated again, hurrying over to the skiffs controls. He checked some readings, and then yanked open an access panel. Pulling out a circuit board, he started making adjustments with the sonic screwdriver. 'Not high enough. I'll have to override the safety compensators. There.'

Replacing the circuit board, the Doctor threw himself into the pilot's chair and began to flick switches, ramping up the power to the engines. He winked at Emily, and smiled a wild, excited smile. 'I'd hang on to something if I were you. This is going to get hairy.'

'What in heaven's name is that?' Miller exclaimed in a hushed voice. 'A dragon? Where did Matilda get a dragon?'

'She must've sold her soul to Beelzebub, G.o.d help us,' whispered another of the men.

Darke gazed upon Henk's creation in wonder, spellbound by its majestic, deadly beauty. It was a dragon, there was no other word to describe it. The stuff of legends. As if the other Krillitanes hadn't been terrible 226.

enough, they now seemed like lambs compared to this monumental beast.

Having smashed its way through the Chapter House door, the Krillitane Storm had found itself alone in the cloisters garden, feeling the fresh air against its skin for the first time in many months.

Almost joyfully, the huge animal had lifted itself from the ground with elegant, languid strokes of its enormous wings.

Darke's men had looked on in astonishment as the thing had appeared from behind the Cathedral, landing almost delicately amidst the snow and dead bodies.

That it should fall to him and a handful of his beleaguered men to confront this awe-inspiring creature of mythical proportions! It was absurd, impossible. But confront it they must.

'Form a perimeter,' Darke instructed, betraying no hint of the fear that burned in his stomach. 'Surround the animal and move forwards.

It can't take us all on.'

Some perimeter, he thought. Haifa dozen tired, brave men against that thing. The dragon's head swung this way and that, tracking the movement of the troops as they took up positions along its flanks and to its rear, barking and snapping at them, wary but unsure of their purpose.

'Go for the legs, at the joints, and damage the wings if you can. Even the odds,' the Captain shouted. He shook his shoulders to release some tension, checked the weight and balance of his sword, and gritted his teeth. Nothing for it, they had to bring it down.

227.

'Charge!' Darke roared, and stormed headlong at the beast.

Howling, it reared up on its hind legs, and flicked its muscular tail, swatting Miller and another soldier away as if they were buzzing mosquitoes. No time to worry about them. Darke leapt out of the way, as the dragon's hand-like paws pummelled into the ground, its bony fingers digging into the earth. He took a mighty swing with his sword, aiming for a fleshy area between its thumb and forefinger.

The blade sliced deep, and immediately the beast reared up again, bellowing in pain. The Captain lost grip of his sword, which remained lodged in the wound and was swept away, high out of his reach.

Darke didn't have long to worry about being defenceless, as the abomination plucked him from the ground with its good paw, lifting him towards its open mouth where row upon row of jagged teeth, dripping with saliva, were waiting to tear him to shreds.

On the ground, the remaining men fought ever harder, spurred on by the predicament of their commander, drawing the dragon's focus away from Darke and forcing it to concentrate on fending off their barrage of attacks.

The Captain gasped as the creature's grip tightened around his chest, a crushing pressure that was almost too much to bear.

Without a weapon, there was nothing he could do to help his men, and he watched in horror as another was crushed beneath the dragon's heel.

Then he remembered the small gla.s.s tube the Doctor had entrusted to him, the special liquid possessed of 228.

miraculous properties, which he'd placed in his belt pouch for safe keeping. What was it the Doctor had said? The oil was a poison to the Krillitane, a blessing and a curse. A curse...

Did he have enough faith left in him to trust in some superst.i.tious notion of a curse, a magic potion? The Doctor had considered it powerful enough, and spoke of the liquid's properties as something real, tangible, lethal. With no sword, the Captain needed an alternative weapon. He would put his faith in the Doctor. He had faith in the Doctor.

Darke reached for the leather pouch on his belt, his fingertips brushing against it. The dragon was again lifting him towards its mouth.

He had but moments. Straining, his fingers finally gripped the gla.s.s tube, pulled it from the pouch. His face was so close to the yellow fangs...

He threw the tube hard, as hard as he could manage.

The test tube shattered against an enormous canine, splattering oil extract across the monster's gums and tongue, and Darke suddenly found himself falling.

For a moment he blacked out, but the freezing snow against his face brought him round with a start. Darke rolled onto his back and stared up at the dragon. It was blinking, mouth flapping as if it had a bad taste in its mouth. Then it began to twitch and stagger unnaturally, scratching wildly at its mouth, seemingly unaware that it was slashing into its own face with its claws. And all the while its body was changing, hideous, anachronous mutations rippling across its flesh, through its bones, 229.

as the oil extract aggressively attacked its DNA, forcing random evolutionary changes at an unsustainable rate.

The beast let out an unG.o.dly whine, arched its back, and crashed heavily to the ground, body wracked with convulsions, pustules bubbling across its skin. With one last great shudder, it whimpered and died.

Butcher was losing blood, despite Gertrude's hastily applied dressing, and the trail of crimson they had left in the snow was drawing more Krillitanes towards them.

'Leave me here. I'll be all right,' Butcher mumbled, his voice was hoa.r.s.e and cracked.

'Don't be such a turnip and carry on walking.' John wasn't having any of that kind of talk.

'I knew we should have stayed in the inn. We could've hidden in the cellar, they'd never have found us,' Gertrude complained, more to blot out the grimmer thoughts that were occupying her mind than in actual belief they would have been safe anywhere.

'We'll be at the wall soon. Someone there will help.' John was breathing heavily, supporting the injured soldier as best he could.

'Keep moving, Gert. They aren't far behind us.'

Gertrude rolled her eyes. 'Are they not? Well that is a shock and a half.

You never know, hopefully we'll b.u.mp into the Devil's Huntsman and we can all have a party.'

There was a blur of movement ahead of them, and Gertrude screamed as a Krillitane appeared out of nowhere, then another. In seconds they were surrounded, 230.

the beasts hissing and closing in around them. They were done for.

'Gert, old girl, I'm only going to say this the once, so don't think I'll be making a habit of it,' John said, as the three of them huddled closer, waiting for the first monster to strike.

'You don't have to say anything, John,' Gertrude interrupted. 'I know.' She smiled warmly at her husband. It didn't happen often, but it melted his old heart every time.

'S'pose not.' He smiled back, oblivious to the growl of the Krillitane nearest to them. It crouched low, ready to feast.

Without warning, a thunderclap exploded above their heads, and a shape flashed across the sky. In the same instant they found themselves drenched in a sticky, wet fluid.

'What in blazes...?' exclaimed John, tentatively examining the oily substance covering his skin. He sucked his finger. Tastes like chicken.'

He looked up to find the beast that had been poised to attack now shuddering, apparently on fire, smoke curling away from its bubbling, boiling flesh. It screamed, an agonising yelp full of fear and pain and shock, and its companions looked on, horrified.

Before John's eyes, the creature evaporated in a blaze of unnatural light, exploding like seed pods bursting open in a meadow, and the remaining beasts fled.

231.

That got 'em!' Emily shouted.

The Doctor banked the skiff to the left, checking to make sure the trio of humans was now safe. He could see pockets of Krillitanes in the streets below, retreating in panic towards the Cathedral, any advance outwards from the city blocked by the oil spraying furiously from the barrels on the skiff. With the perimeter walls and outlying streets bathed in the oil, they had nowhere else to go. The Doctor's plan was working.

This one's almost empty, and we've only got two more barrels. Is that going to be enough?' Emily shouted above the noise of the skiffs engines. She'd used Henk's blaster to blow a scorched hole into the side of each of the now empty tanks, forcing the pressurised Krillitane Oil to spew out and rain down on the city.

'More than enough,' the Doctor shouted back, satisfied that their task was complete. 'We've covered most of the city, and it looks like any Krillitanes we missed are heading back to their ship.'

'Are we going after them?'

'Only to make sure they leave. All of them.' The Doctor twisted the throttle. The last time he'd seen them, Toch'Lu and the Esteemed Father had been at each other's throats, and the fate of the Earth rested upon which had emerged victorious.

The Doctor set the skiff down, not far from the Chapter House. He noticed three dark shapes in the snow, surrounded by a handful of Krillitanes, who scattered at 232.

the noise of the approaching craft. Still more Krillitane stragglers rushed past, ignoring the bodies, desperate to reach their ship.

As Emily and the Doctor approached, it became clear that the nearest shape was the broken body of the Esteemed Father. He was dead, neck bent at a sickening angle, his back shattered in the fall. A few metres away, Broken Wing knelt in the snow, clinging to Toch'Lu's lifeless remains, grieving for the loss of his Brood Mother, his mate.

'I'm sorry,' said the Doctor quietly. 'I'm so sorry.'

Broken Wing lifted his head, fire in his eyes. 'Her death will not be in vain. The Esteemed Father is defeated. I shall gather my Brood, and return home. We have enough supporters at court to set the Krillitane race upon a new path. The path she wished us to take.'

'Well, so long as that path takes the Krillitanes far away from here, that would be a good start.'

The Doctor and Broken Wing stared long and hard at each other, before the Krillitane climbed painfully to his feet, lifting Toch'Lu tenderly in his arms. He limped towards the frigate's boarding ramp, and didn't look back.

233.