'You've captured him,' the Doctor told the boy, taking the stick away. 'Now You'd better present your prisoner to the village headman.'

'That's my grandfather!' said one of the girls, marching up.

'He's my prisoner,' protested the little boy. He took Chris by the hand and led him into the centre of the huts. The children swarmed around him, brandishing their sticks, a miniature army.

The Doctor tethered the horses to a young tree, smiling to himself.

The village was a few dozen huts and a well. Somewhere, someone was singing while they worked. An elderly man was hobbling across the square of dirt in the centre of the village, leaning hard on his stick. 'Look, Grandfather!'

said the little girl. 'We've captured a giant!'

' Hajimemas.h.i.te! Hajimemas.h.i.te! ' said Chris. The little girl gave him a whack in the knee to silence him. He looked back at the Doctor, helplessly. ' said Chris. The little girl gave him a whack in the knee to silence him. He looked back at the Doctor, helplessly.

The Time Lord walked up. The elderly man bowed to him and Chris, his eyes uncertain. 'I am the head man of Shuuraku village.'

'This is Chris, and I'm the Doctor. We're on our way to Hekison. We need to buy some arrows.'

32.The old man bowed again. He put a hand on his granddaughter's shoulder.

'Go and tell the fletcher to bring a quiver of his best arrows.' She smiled and ran off.

' Arigatou, Arigatou, ' said the Doctor. 'We've heard that Hekison has had excellent luck recently. ' said the Doctor. 'We've heard that Hekison has had excellent luck recently.

'And no wonder,' said the headman, 'with the Bodhisattva herself visiting them.'

'Kannon?' said the Doctor.

'I haven't seen her myself,' said the headman. 'But their fortunes have been much improved since she made her first visit. Each night I pray that she might grace us with a visit as well. Come, you must drink some tea with me.'

The Doctor coughed. He glanced at Chris, still trapped by an army of children.

'Release the prisoner,' said the headman, 'and go back to guarding your fort.'

' Hei! Hei! ' shrilled the kids. ' shrilled the kids.

'Lesson number forty-seven in a series of twelve million,' murmured the Doctor 'Know the local manners,' said Chris, as they followed the headman to his house. The Doctor smiled at him, pleased. 'That's an Adjudicator lesson too,'

Chris said.

Kiiro tugged on the giant's rope, silencing him.

Aoi's father said, 'We're not interested in every detail of your journey. Stop prattling.' The giant bowed.

'I ought to go back and deal with that impertinent headman,' said Father.

'He said nothing to us about Kannon.'

The snowman bowed, indicating he wanted to speak. Aoi's Father glared down at him. 'My lord, I think it was just his best guess at what the other village had found,' said the man. 'I don't believe he would have held any real facts back from you.'

Father considered for a moment. 'There can't be much left to your story,' he said.

'Have I told you about regeneration?'

Chris glanced over at the Doctor. 'Not much,' he said.

'It's time you knew more about it, then.'

Chris grinned. 'Are you going to tell me about the Time Birds and the Time Bees?'

'No I'm not,' snapped the Doctor.

33.After a few hours' travel, the plains had turned to forest. They were following a narrow path between the trees. There was a ribbon of blue sky far overhead, and the air was rich with the scent of humus.

Chris eased his horse forward until they were level. 'OK,' he said. 'Regeneration is when you turn into someone else, right?'

'Not precisely,' said the Doctor. 'I won't go into the technical details, but, if a Time Lord comes very close to death, we can replace our bodies.'

'Is this like the way you heal really fast?, 'No,' said the Doctor. 'It's a qualitatively different process.'

'So you change into a completely new person.'

'In a way. . . New face, new personality. I never. . . ' He glanced at Chris, sideways. 'You never know what you're going to get. Whoever it is, it won't be me any more.'

'It's like reincarnation,' said Chris. 'Without dying.'

'Hmm. Death's easy for human beings. You only have to do it once.' The Doctor frowned. 'Regeneration is not so hard for other Time Lords as it has been for me, for a number of reasons. Not the least of which is that they do it in medical facilities. Slowly. With a.s.sistance. It was never meant to be an emergency measure.'

Chris was silent for a while. Usually the Doctor would talk about history or books, or ramble lengthily about the places and times he'd visited.

'A penny for them,' said the Doctor.

'I was just wondering why you're telling me this,' said Chris.

'I know I'm going to regenerate again,' said the Doctor. 'If I don't die first.

I can't change it, and yet. . . sometimes I think about going home. Hiding in the libraries and cloisters.'

Chris looked at him, wondering. 'My life goes by so quickly compared to theirs.' the Doctor went on. 'Time Lords with time on their hands. Going nowhere. Risking nothing. Doing nothing.' He gave a rueful smile, looking up at Chris as though he'd forgotten the human was there. 'That's when I realize I'd rather be dead than back home.'

Chris didn't know how to respond. He couldn't imagine being that lonely, knowing there was no one in the whole universe who was like you. The Doctor didn't fit in anywhere, not even back at home amongst his own people. 'You're so different from them.'

'I hope you never have to meet them,' said the Doctor. 'They haven't the first idea about how to have fun.'

Chris smiled. 'Ahem.'

'Yes?'

'Can I ask you a personal question?'

The Doctor glanced at him, guiding his horse around a fallen log. 'You can 34 ask. . . ' he said.

'You're not planning on doing this any time soon, are you? Regenerating?'

'I'm not planning planning on doing it at all. That's the whole problem. I know it will happen, but not on doing it at all. That's the whole problem. I know it will happen, but not when when. Unless of course I '

A flock of birds exploded out of the trees to their left. The Doctor turned sharply in his seat. Chris reached for his; word.

An arrow shot between them, missing Chris by an inch, and buried itself in a tree.

'Split up!' shouted the Doctor. His horse was suddenly galloping away.

Chris turned his steed and rode hard towards the trees, sword in hand.

'Cowabunga!' he yelled, as a samurai jerked out from between the trees, horse rearing. Three of them, all mounted. Two of them galloped after the Doctor.

Chris charged right at the archer. Get in close, he told himself, where his bow will he useless. The man got off one more shot, the shaft ripping through Chris's sleeve.

He gave the archer an almighty shove with his foot, while the man was still trying to get his sword out. The samurai roared and lost his balance, almost falling off the horse, his bow tumbling away across the gra.s.s.

Chris rode in a tight circle, suddenly very aware of the killing edge of the steel in his hand. Oh s.h.i.t. No stunguns. If they started fighting, someone was going to get killed. Probably him, since he hadn't spent a lifetime learning how to fight with a chunk of metal.

What should he do? Try to get away? What about the Doctor? He couldn't see the Time Lord, or his two pursuers.

You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, b.a.s.t.a.r.d, you could have killed me you could have killed me.

The samurai had got off his horse, and was brandishing his katana katana. He roared, 'Get down, you coward!'

Chris circled him, staying on the horse. The samurai slashed at his leg.

Chris turned the blade away with his own 'I don't want to fight you!' he shouted.

The samurai looked at him as though he was insane.

What the h.e.l.l was he going to do do?

'So that's all you know?' Father was saying.

The giant nodded. Aoi's father hadn't spoken for minutes, standing over the prisoners, considering their story.

Aoi remembered what happened next. He had finished binding the foreigner, still shaken by the man's inexplicable surrender. He had grabbed the trailing rope. 'Walk ahead of me,' he told the man.

They emerged from the trees. Aoi's father was in the valley, running to help 35 Kiiro, who was fighting the giant.

'No!' his prisoner cried. He tried to run down the slope, slipping in the wet gra.s.s. Aoi pulled him up short with the rope, and they stumbled down into the valley.

Kiiro and the giant were circling each other, slashing and parrying. 'What is he?' breathed Aoi. 'Another demon?'

'We're not demons. He's made of the same stuff as you are,' said the foreigner, watching the battle in distress.

Incredibly, Kiiro was winning. He struck the giant across his face, and followed through with a kick that sent the huge man sprawling in the gra.s.s. Aoi's prisoner shouted, 'Chris!' as Kiiro raised his katana katana for the final blow. for the final blow.

'Spare him!' Father had shouted.

Kiiro turned to look at Aoi's father, lowering his blade. The giant didn't get up.

Kiiro bowed to Father and sheathed his katana katana.

Aoi's prisoner sagged against a tree. 'Your father's merciful,' he said.

The young warrior pulled him upright again. 'There are questions you're going to answer,' he said sternly. 'Both of you.'

Kiiro was tying up the giant, who was lying on the gra.s.s, breathing hard.

'Sorry, Doctor,' he gasped, as Aoi's father pulled the ropes tight.

Aoi wished they'd told more. He wanted to know who these foreigners were were, why the Roshi had chosen them for his mission.

Why the snowman had spared his life.

'Kannon,' said Father, and snorted. 'This is the wishful thinking of frightened peasants, nothing more.'

'Possibly,' said the snowman. 'Since we didn't actually get as far as Hekison village, I can't say.'

Behind them, Kiiro was quietly drawing his katana. Aoi katana. Aoi folded his arms, holding himself still. Should he say something? folded his arms, holding himself still. Should he say something?

The snowman said, 'If you're planning to investigate, then perhaps we can help. I've had considerable experience with deities.'

'I don't think so,' said Father. 'You don't know anything.'

'I know that, whatever this thing is, your daimyo is very interested in it,'

said the snowman. 'He's sent you to collect the kami kami, hasn't he? In the hope it will give him some kind of advantage in the civil war?'

'That's right,' said Father. 'And therefore, you are going to have to die.'

The foreigners looked at each other.

'Wait a moment,' said the snowman.

Aoi's heart was pounding in his ears. Should he intercede? Beg his father to spare them?

He closed his eyes as his father nodded to Kiiro.

36.