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Rainbow-Hued Monstrosity - Chapter 4/6?
Title: Rainbow-Hued Monstrosity
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tarnera
Appearing in this work: 6th Doctor, Peri
Spoilers/Timeline: Set some time before The Two Doctors. No spoilers.
Word Count: 1,741 (this chapter)
Summary: The Doctor's coat gets stolen. He wants it back.
Disclaimer/Thanks: I own nothing, save my crazy theories. This fic has been written with the encouragement of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
fic_rush, they're a great bunch!
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
The men picked the Doctor up. He checked himself over for injury quickly and found a cut on his head. He must have hit it against something when he fell. It was bleeding sluggishly—he fished out a handkerchief and pressed it against the wound.
He found that he could walk well enough with only a little support. Considering that he'd just hung upside down for half a day and had then been dropped head-first onto a rock, he thought he was doing well. He did wish his head would stop spinning quite so badly. He could probably walk a lot better if he wasn't so dizzy.
The Doctor expected his captors to use violence or at the very least to restrain him in some manner, but they did neither. They traveled slowly, obviously for his benefit, and helped him when he needed it, which was more often than he liked. They only picked up their pace when the Doctor, feeling better, started to move faster on his own. None of them spoke a word to each other or to the Doctor the whole time.
They at last emerged into a village tucked deep in the heart of the forest. The Doctor was taken with the greatest of courtesy to one of the huts. All this was also done without a word being uttered, so he still didn't know whether he had a concussion or not. "I'm supposed to go in here?" he asked the man who was with him. The man just stared at him, pointing at the straw house. "Apparently so," the Doctor muttered, and ducked under the top of the door to enter the hut.
Inside, he couldn't see much. There wasn't any light at all. He stood roughly in the middle of the room and waited for his eyes to adjust a bit. Something moved; he could hear rustling in the darkness. He squinted in the direction of the sounds. It didn't help. Something touched his arm suddenly and he gasped, jumping away towards the door. Whoever or whatever it was spoke a liquid rush of sound that did sound vaguely familiar to the Doctor but he couldn't understand the words.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I don't speak your language. You have no idea how strange that is for me."
There was a pause. "You speak the old tongue. How unusual, that a stranger to these parts would know such a thing."
"Yes, well, I'm a bit unusual myself," the Doctor said, wishing he could see the person. It sounded like a woman. It was nice to know that he probably didn't have a concussion, though this situation was unprecedented to say the least. "Anyway, I'm not so sure I'm a stranger. I'm pretty sure I've been to this planet before, but not for a very long time."
"How long of a time?"
"At least long enough for the language to have changed so drastically that I can't understand it. How that could have happened I don't know, but it doesn’t really matter right now." He rubbed his nose. "I, uh, have a question."
The woman seemed to be moving closer to him in the dark. "What is it?" she asked briskly.
"Am I a prisoner here? Can I leave right now, if I wanted to?"
"No and no," she said. "You are not our prisoner, but we cannot let you leave while it is dark. Our village leader will probably want to speak with you as well before he lets you go."
The Doctor frowned. "Is there something wrong with the dark in this forest? Are there, I don't know, wild animals that come out at night? Because there was someone with me, a girl named Peri. I sent her back to the…to our house to get a knife, in order to free me from your snare. I think she might be out there wandering around. She may have even gotten lost. If there are wild animals—"
She touched his arm again. This time he didn't try to move away. "If your friend is out there in the dark, she will not return. Please sit, I want to take a look at your injury." She tugged at his arm gently.
"What do you mean, she won't return?" he demanded, finding himself yielding to her wishes and sitting without a fight. Maybe he did have a concussion after all.
"There are many braani that travel the night forests; all men know this," she told him with the air of someone telling a child a well-known story. Something wet touched his head and he tried not to flinch. Whatever it was stung where it touched the cut.
"What are braani?" he asked, curious. "Also, how can you see what you're doing in the dark?"
Her fingers paused. "It is best not to talk of them at night. If you truly do not know, I will tell you when it is light. If one says their name too much at night, they will visit that one to his despair. As for your second question," her fingers placed a cloth pad, wrapped cloth bandaging around his head. "All of my people can see in the dark as clearly as in daylight. You cannot?"
"No, I can't. Too bad, really. It seems a very useful skill." He fingered the bandaging. Not so tight as to be painful, but it wasn't about to come loose. She clearly knew what she was about, at least healing-wise. "I have to go find Peri. She's all alone, and if there are hostile creatures out there that might harm her, I need to go find her, make sure she’s safe." He started to get up.
“No,” she said softly.
“What do you mean, ‘no’? I’m the Doctor, nobody tells me ‘no’ unless they have a very good reason, and even then very few people try it,” he snapped, finally making it to his feet. What was wrong with him? Getting to his feet shouldn’t be this difficult. “I usually ignore those that try, anyway,” he continued, forcing himself to stay upright. Like getting up, this was much harder than it should have been.
“I mean, no, you will not be able to leave. The medicine with which I cleansed your wound induces sleep. It appears to be working quite fast and effectively on you, more so than on most of my people.” Her hands touched him again, tugging at his sleeve. When he didn’t immediately start walking in the direction she indicated, she slipped under his arm and pulled him where she wanted him to go.
“But that’s not fair,” he protested weakly as she guided him to one side of the hut, completely ignoring his feeble attempts to pull free. She pushed him down onto something that yielded with a slight crackling sound under his weight. A bed of some sort; a cloth mattress perhaps stuffed with grasses, the Doctor thought distantly. His head drooped toward the surface of the bed as she swung his legs onto it as well. He made a rather pathetic attempt to get up, but she had one hand on his chest and held him in place easily.
“I am sorry,” he heard as if from a long way off. “I did not mean to deceive you. Sleep now; our warriors will help you find your friend in the morning.”
His eyes closed slowly; sleep was inevitable at this point. He was forced to let them drift shut.
The last thing he heard before he was completely unconscious was her murmuring, “…if she is still alive to be found.”
***
Tama stood in her hut, looking down at the sleeping stranger. He had called himself 'Doctor', a word that had several different meanings in the old language. A healer, a sorcerer, a wise one; a person who knew a great deal about all things. She checked his bandaging one last time now that he wasn't moving around, made sure it was tied securely, and checked that he still breathed. He would be all right; the medicine that was making him sleep should help to heal the cut on his head.
There was a movement behind her from the hut door. She turned to see her grandson Jast slip through, and nodded to him. He came up to stand by her side, both of them looking down on the Doctor.
Tama spoke in the language of the village, not the old tongue she had been speaking with the Doctor. "Is this him, Jast? The one you saw?"
"On the Forbidden Beach with the female, yes. But I begin to think he is not a braani after observing him more closely. Would a braani be so ignorant of woods-wisdom as to become caught in a snare? Would a braani succumb so easily to medicine, or even bleed in the first place?" Jast asked, truly puzzled by the events of the day.
"He is not faking this sleep, I am sure of it. However, even if he is not a braani he may still try to trick us in another way," Tama murmured.
Jast nodded. "That is always a danger, with braani or with strangers. What will we do?"
Tama thought for a bit. Nodding to herself she said, "You still have the charm I made for you? Is it still potent?"
He nodded. "I think so. It hasn't wilted or shown any sign of falling off the coat I took from him," he gestured at the unconscious man. "What do you wish me to do with it?"
"He spoke of a friend, a woman-child with the strange name of 'Peri'. He seemed quite distracted with worry over her. Take the charm to ward against braani and find her. Bring her back here. I think he will be easier to deal with once he is assured that she is safe. If they are intending to fool us, we will be on guard against any tricks, and they will not be on guard against us. After all, we saved both of them." She moved away to the other side of the hut, her turned back a clear dismissal to her grandson. He nodded respectfully to her then ran off to his hut to get the charm. "Go with the Gods guarding your path, my grandchild," she murmured in the old tongue after he was well out of earshot.
Chapter Five
Author:
tarneraAppearing in this work: 6th Doctor, Peri
Spoilers/Timeline: Set some time before The Two Doctors. No spoilers.
Word Count: 1,741 (this chapter)
Summary: The Doctor's coat gets stolen. He wants it back.
Disclaimer/Thanks: I own nothing, save my crazy theories. This fic has been written with the encouragement of
fic_rush, they're a great bunch!Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
The men picked the Doctor up. He checked himself over for injury quickly and found a cut on his head. He must have hit it against something when he fell. It was bleeding sluggishly—he fished out a handkerchief and pressed it against the wound.
He found that he could walk well enough with only a little support. Considering that he'd just hung upside down for half a day and had then been dropped head-first onto a rock, he thought he was doing well. He did wish his head would stop spinning quite so badly. He could probably walk a lot better if he wasn't so dizzy.
The Doctor expected his captors to use violence or at the very least to restrain him in some manner, but they did neither. They traveled slowly, obviously for his benefit, and helped him when he needed it, which was more often than he liked. They only picked up their pace when the Doctor, feeling better, started to move faster on his own. None of them spoke a word to each other or to the Doctor the whole time.
They at last emerged into a village tucked deep in the heart of the forest. The Doctor was taken with the greatest of courtesy to one of the huts. All this was also done without a word being uttered, so he still didn't know whether he had a concussion or not. "I'm supposed to go in here?" he asked the man who was with him. The man just stared at him, pointing at the straw house. "Apparently so," the Doctor muttered, and ducked under the top of the door to enter the hut.
Inside, he couldn't see much. There wasn't any light at all. He stood roughly in the middle of the room and waited for his eyes to adjust a bit. Something moved; he could hear rustling in the darkness. He squinted in the direction of the sounds. It didn't help. Something touched his arm suddenly and he gasped, jumping away towards the door. Whoever or whatever it was spoke a liquid rush of sound that did sound vaguely familiar to the Doctor but he couldn't understand the words.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I don't speak your language. You have no idea how strange that is for me."
There was a pause. "You speak the old tongue. How unusual, that a stranger to these parts would know such a thing."
"Yes, well, I'm a bit unusual myself," the Doctor said, wishing he could see the person. It sounded like a woman. It was nice to know that he probably didn't have a concussion, though this situation was unprecedented to say the least. "Anyway, I'm not so sure I'm a stranger. I'm pretty sure I've been to this planet before, but not for a very long time."
"How long of a time?"
"At least long enough for the language to have changed so drastically that I can't understand it. How that could have happened I don't know, but it doesn’t really matter right now." He rubbed his nose. "I, uh, have a question."
The woman seemed to be moving closer to him in the dark. "What is it?" she asked briskly.
"Am I a prisoner here? Can I leave right now, if I wanted to?"
"No and no," she said. "You are not our prisoner, but we cannot let you leave while it is dark. Our village leader will probably want to speak with you as well before he lets you go."
The Doctor frowned. "Is there something wrong with the dark in this forest? Are there, I don't know, wild animals that come out at night? Because there was someone with me, a girl named Peri. I sent her back to the…to our house to get a knife, in order to free me from your snare. I think she might be out there wandering around. She may have even gotten lost. If there are wild animals—"
She touched his arm again. This time he didn't try to move away. "If your friend is out there in the dark, she will not return. Please sit, I want to take a look at your injury." She tugged at his arm gently.
"What do you mean, she won't return?" he demanded, finding himself yielding to her wishes and sitting without a fight. Maybe he did have a concussion after all.
"There are many braani that travel the night forests; all men know this," she told him with the air of someone telling a child a well-known story. Something wet touched his head and he tried not to flinch. Whatever it was stung where it touched the cut.
"What are braani?" he asked, curious. "Also, how can you see what you're doing in the dark?"
Her fingers paused. "It is best not to talk of them at night. If you truly do not know, I will tell you when it is light. If one says their name too much at night, they will visit that one to his despair. As for your second question," her fingers placed a cloth pad, wrapped cloth bandaging around his head. "All of my people can see in the dark as clearly as in daylight. You cannot?"
"No, I can't. Too bad, really. It seems a very useful skill." He fingered the bandaging. Not so tight as to be painful, but it wasn't about to come loose. She clearly knew what she was about, at least healing-wise. "I have to go find Peri. She's all alone, and if there are hostile creatures out there that might harm her, I need to go find her, make sure she’s safe." He started to get up.
“No,” she said softly.
“What do you mean, ‘no’? I’m the Doctor, nobody tells me ‘no’ unless they have a very good reason, and even then very few people try it,” he snapped, finally making it to his feet. What was wrong with him? Getting to his feet shouldn’t be this difficult. “I usually ignore those that try, anyway,” he continued, forcing himself to stay upright. Like getting up, this was much harder than it should have been.
“I mean, no, you will not be able to leave. The medicine with which I cleansed your wound induces sleep. It appears to be working quite fast and effectively on you, more so than on most of my people.” Her hands touched him again, tugging at his sleeve. When he didn’t immediately start walking in the direction she indicated, she slipped under his arm and pulled him where she wanted him to go.
“But that’s not fair,” he protested weakly as she guided him to one side of the hut, completely ignoring his feeble attempts to pull free. She pushed him down onto something that yielded with a slight crackling sound under his weight. A bed of some sort; a cloth mattress perhaps stuffed with grasses, the Doctor thought distantly. His head drooped toward the surface of the bed as she swung his legs onto it as well. He made a rather pathetic attempt to get up, but she had one hand on his chest and held him in place easily.
“I am sorry,” he heard as if from a long way off. “I did not mean to deceive you. Sleep now; our warriors will help you find your friend in the morning.”
His eyes closed slowly; sleep was inevitable at this point. He was forced to let them drift shut.
The last thing he heard before he was completely unconscious was her murmuring, “…if she is still alive to be found.”
***
Tama stood in her hut, looking down at the sleeping stranger. He had called himself 'Doctor', a word that had several different meanings in the old language. A healer, a sorcerer, a wise one; a person who knew a great deal about all things. She checked his bandaging one last time now that he wasn't moving around, made sure it was tied securely, and checked that he still breathed. He would be all right; the medicine that was making him sleep should help to heal the cut on his head.
There was a movement behind her from the hut door. She turned to see her grandson Jast slip through, and nodded to him. He came up to stand by her side, both of them looking down on the Doctor.
Tama spoke in the language of the village, not the old tongue she had been speaking with the Doctor. "Is this him, Jast? The one you saw?"
"On the Forbidden Beach with the female, yes. But I begin to think he is not a braani after observing him more closely. Would a braani be so ignorant of woods-wisdom as to become caught in a snare? Would a braani succumb so easily to medicine, or even bleed in the first place?" Jast asked, truly puzzled by the events of the day.
"He is not faking this sleep, I am sure of it. However, even if he is not a braani he may still try to trick us in another way," Tama murmured.
Jast nodded. "That is always a danger, with braani or with strangers. What will we do?"
Tama thought for a bit. Nodding to herself she said, "You still have the charm I made for you? Is it still potent?"
He nodded. "I think so. It hasn't wilted or shown any sign of falling off the coat I took from him," he gestured at the unconscious man. "What do you wish me to do with it?"
"He spoke of a friend, a woman-child with the strange name of 'Peri'. He seemed quite distracted with worry over her. Take the charm to ward against braani and find her. Bring her back here. I think he will be easier to deal with once he is assured that she is safe. If they are intending to fool us, we will be on guard against any tricks, and they will not be on guard against us. After all, we saved both of them." She moved away to the other side of the hut, her turned back a clear dismissal to her grandson. He nodded respectfully to her then ran off to his hut to get the charm. "Go with the Gods guarding your path, my grandchild," she murmured in the old tongue after he was well out of earshot.
Chapter Five