DOCTOR WHO AND AN UNEARTHLY CHILD

by Terrance Dicks

  Za looked at her for a moment, then slipped into the tunnel.

  Hur followed him.

  8

  The Forest of Fear

  It was dark in the forest.

  The path was so narrow that low-lying branches whipped constantly across their faces, and they had to shield themselves with upheld arms as they ran.

  The air was chill, though the forest protected them from the night winds. The path was so enclosed on each side and overhead that it was like running through a tunnel. Still, it was a thousand times better than the ghastly cave with its stench of death and shattered grinning skulls. Susan led the way, then Barbara, then Ian, with the Doctor in the rear. As they ran, Ian became aware that the Doctor was falling further and further behind.

  He turned and saw that the old man had stopped running altogether. He was leaning panting against a tree. 'Stop! Just for a moment, please.'

  'We must keep moving, Doctor.'

  The Doctor nodded weakly. 'In a moment... in a moment.'

  'We're not far enough away from the cave yet...'

  'I know... I know. But I simply can't run any more!'

  'Try!' urged Ian.

  The Doctor nodded wearily, but he didn't move.

  'All right,' said Ian. 'There's only one thing for it. I'll have to carry you.'

  He advanced on the Doctor, who waved him indignantly away. 'You'll do no such thing, young man. I don't need your help. I may be old, but I'm not senile. I just want to get my breath back, that's all.'

  Ian looked despairingly at Susan. She came forward and said, 'Please, grandfather.'

  The Doctor sighed and hoisted himself wearily from the trunk. They moved on, though this time at a slower pace. There were mysterious rustlings in the forest around them, and the cries of wild beasts.

  Barbara moved up close to Ian. 'Are you sure this is the right way?'

  'I think so. We want to cut off the corner of the forest and get back to the ship. We came in to the forest at a different place - it's hard to be sure. What do you think?'

  'I can't remember, Ian. I simply can't remember!'

  There was hysteria in her voice.

  Ian put a consoling hand on her shoulder. 'Never mind, we're free, aren't we? That's the main thing.'

  They moved on their way.

  Ian heard a noise in the darkness behind him and whirled round. The bushes seemed to be moving slightly, and he thought he heard a low throaty sound, like the purring of a giant cat...

  'What is it?'

  Ian shrugged. 'Just some wild animal or other. Probably more scared of us than we are of it.'

  But in his heart Ian wasn't too sure. He racked his brains to remember what animals had been about in the days of the cavemen.

  Not dinosaurs, at least, though that was a common mistake. Luckily for man, these great monsters had been long extinct. But mammoths certainly. And what about the sabre-toothed tiger? Surely that had been around?

  Cautiously they moved on through the dark forest. They came to a fallen tree, and paused to take their bearings.

  'I remember this place,' said Susan excitedly. 'But we didn't go right by it, we went around.'

  'That's right,' agreed Barbara. 'The trail passed it on one side.'

  'I hope you're both right,' said Ian. 'Because if you are, the ship can't be very far away.' He turned to the Doctor, who was leaning on Susan's shoulder. 'How are you feeling?'

  'I'm quite all right, thank you, young man! Don't keep regarding me as the weak link in this party.'

  Suddenly, Barbara gave a little scream, and moved closer to Ian.

  'What is it?'

  'I don't know. I thought I saw something move - over there in the bushes.'

  'Nonsense,' said the Doctor airily.

  'I tell you the bushes moved, I saw them. We're never going to get out of this terrible place. Never!'

  'What could it have been, grandfather?' whispered Susan.

  'Imagination, my dear child. Pure imagination,' said the Doctor, but he looked round rather uneasily.

  Ian put a consoling arm around Barbara's shoulders. 'Look, I know this seems like a nightmare, but we'll get out of it.'

  'We'll all die in this terrible forest, I know we will!'

  'No we won't,' said Ian gently. 'Not if we don't give up.'

  'Ian, what's happening to us?'

  'Look, we can't be far from the ship now. We'll be safe there. We got out of the caves, didn't we?'

  Susan moved closer to the Doctor and shivered. 'It's so cold!'

  The Doctor slipped off his jacket and put it round her shoulders. 'You're welcome to this, my child.'

  'What about you, grandfather?'

  The Doctor managed a smile.

  'Don't worry about me. All this exertion has made me quite hot!'

  Ian came over to them. 'Barbara's feeling the strain a bit. We seem to have stopped anyway, so we'll rest here for a little while.'

  Susan nodded gratefully. 'Is there any chance of their following us?'

  'I'm afraid there is!'

  'That's why I don't want to stay here too long.'

  'You don't think I want to linger, do you?' said the Doctor peevishly.

  Ian gave him a long-suffering look. 'No, of course, I don't. I think we'll change the order when we set off again. You lead, with Susan and Barbara, and I'll bring up the rear.'

  The Doctor bristled. 'You seem to have elected yourself leader of this little expedition.'

  'There isn't time to take a vote on it, is there?'

  'Just so long as you understand that I won't follow your orders blindly, young man.'

  Ian leaned forward. 'Believe me, Doctor, if there were just the two of us, as far as I'm concerned you could find your own way back to the ship!'

  'You're a very tiresome young man, aren't you?'

  'And you're a very stubborn old one,' said Ian, through gritted teeth. 'But when we set off, you'll lead, the girls will come in between, and I'll go last - that's the safest way!'

  'Safest? Why safest?'

  'I think Barbara is right. I heard something in the bushes behind us when we stopped before, and it's still with us now. Something's stalking us.'

  'Sheer imagination!'

  'What makes you so confident, Doctor?'

  'I refuse to be frightened out of my wits by mere shadows!'

  Ian gave up. 'Very well, suit yourself. We'll rest here for a little while longer, and then move on.'

  In another part of the forest, Za and Hur too had paused, though not to rest. They knelt, examining the traces left by the strangers on their passage through the jungle - markings as clear to them as road signs to a modern motorist.

  'Here is a broken twig,' said Hur. 'They rested here.'

  Za examined a footprint. 'They have strange feet.'

  'They wore skins on them,' said Hur. 'There are more marks here, and here. They went this way.'

  There was a distant rustle ahead of them, and a low growling.

  Za looked fearfully at Hur. 'It was wrong to follow them. We should not have done this.'

  'We cannot go back now. Would you have Kal mock you as you mocked him?'

  Za took a firmer grip on his axe and they went on their way.

  The little party moved on through the jungle, inevitably slowed down by the fact that the Doctor was now in the lead. Barbara caught her foot in a trailing vine and fell, crashing into the bushes to one side of the path. Her outstretched hand touched something warm and wet. Stumbling to her feet she looked at her hand. It was covered with blood. She screamed.

  On the trail behind them, Za cocked his head alertly. 'They are very near now. That was one of the women. Come!' They hurried on.

  The Doctor was examining the huddled shape just beside the path. 'What is it, grandfather?' asked Susan fearfully.

  'Only a dead animal. Some kind of deer, I think. It's been killed very recently, the body is still warm.'

  'What killed it?'

  'Judging by these claw mark
s, some very large and very savage member of the cat family - possibly a sabre-toothed tiger.'

  Suddenly, they heard a crashing in the jungle behind them.

  'It is the tiger?' whispered Barbara.

  'Too noisy. It must be the cave people, coming after us. We'll have to hide, and hope they pass by. Quick, over there in the bushes.' Ian thrust them into the bushes, and they crouched down, waiting.

  Seconds later, two skin-clad figures ran into the clearing, and paused, looking around them.

  One was a massive figure carrying a stone-headed axe - one of the men they had seen at the cave.

  The figure beside him was both smaller and slighter. To his astonishment, Ian saw that it was a girl.

  The two savage figures stood poised, peering around them suspiciously.

  Close by in the bushes, the great cat was also poised. It had followed this strange prey through the forest for quite some way.

  Several times it had crouched to spring and bring one of them down, but each time something had held it back. There was something very wrong about these creatures. Their appearance, the way they crashed boldly through the jungle, and above all the alien smell of the strange skins they wore, all this was new, unknown - and possibly dangerous.

  When Za and Hur moved into the clearing, the great beast's dilemma was resolved. It knew the cave people of old, knew the way they looked and moved and smelt, knew how they hunted with spears and axes.

  Lashing its tail, the tiger snaked through the forest towards the two newcomers.

  In the clump of bushes, Ian whispered, 'Keep down all of you. Not a sound!'

  Za looked round uneasily, sensing rather than seeing something wrong.

  He touched Hur's arm. 'Wait here,' he whispered. 'There is danger in this place. I will go and look.'

  Za moved cautiously into the clearing, heading straight for the bushes where Ian and his companions were hiding. From somewhere behind him, there came a low growl.

  Za swung round. It was the voice of the tiger, the long-toothed one, the old enemy of his people.

  Grasping his axe tighter, Za swung his head from one side to the other, listening, sensing.

  Just behind him the long grasses began to ripple. Hur saw it and screamed a warning, but it was too late. The tiger sprang.

  9

  Ambush

  As the tiger hurtled through the air towards him, Za seized his only possible chance. He ran, not back but forwards, under the attacking beast, and swung his great stone axe with all his strength at the creature's side.

  He felt the axe-head thud home. The tiger screamed in rage and pain. Its whole weight dropped full upon him, bearing him to the ground.

  Za tried to wrench back his axe for a killing blow at the skull, but only the handle came free. The axe was broken...

  To the Doctor and the others, everything seemed to happen in a blinding flurry of speed. They saw the great beast spring, bearing the caveman to the ground.. They heard the tiger scream...

  In a flash of yellow fur, it broke free and disappeared into the forest, leaving the blood-covered form of the caveman stretched out in the moonlit clearing.

  The girl gave a great cry of grief, and ran to kneel beside him.

  Ian jumped to his feet. 'Quick, now's our chance. Get away all of you. Run!'

  Instinctively, the others obeyed him. All except Barbara, who stood looking back at the two figures.

  'What are you waiting for?' shouted the Doctor.

  'We can't just leave them!'

  'My dear Miss Wright, they are savages. They would cheerfully have killed us. Remember the skulls in the cave.'

  'I don't care what they've done, they're still human beings.' Barbara began walking across the clearing to where the sobbing girl knelt by the motionless body of the man. 'I think he's dead. There isn't any danger.'

  'Barbara, come back,' shouted Ian running after her. 'This is our chance to escape.'

  'I'll come with you, Barbara,' called Susan. She moved to follow, but the Doctor caught her arm. 'You will do no such thing, Susan. Stay where you are. We're going back to the ship!'

  'No, grandfather,' said Susan defiantly. 'We can't leave her here alone.'

  The Doctor looked across the clearing and said exasperatedly, 'What are they doing? Are they out of their minds?'

  Crouched protectively over Za, Hur looked up fiercely as Barbara and Ian approached. 'Keep away!'

  'Let me look at him,' said Ian.

  'No. You will kill him.'

  Gently Barbara pulled Hur aside, as Ian knelt beside Za's body.

  'It's all right,' said Ian. 'I'm your friend.'

  Hur looked at him in amazement. 'Friend?'

  'I shall need some water.'

  'Water?'

  'Get me some water,' said Ian patiently. 'For his wounds.'

  Hur pointed. 'There is a stream - over there.'

  'Show me,' said Barbara firmly, as though addressing a reluctant pupil. 'Give me your handkerchief, will you, Ian?'

  Muttering and grumbling, the Doctor allowed

  Susan to lead him over. 'It's all right, grandfather,' said Susan soothingly. It's quite safe now.' The Doctor snorted in disgust.

  Susan looked down at the caveman. 'How is he, Ian? Is he dead?'

  'Far from it,' said Ian. 'In fact, he's a lot better than he looks.' He picked up the haft of Za's axe. 'I imagine he must have left his axe-head in the tiger.'

  Barbara and Hur came back into the clearing. Barbara gave Ian his water-soaked handkerchief, and Hur carried more water in a folded leaf.

  Ian began washing away the blood from Za's wounds, which were soon revealed to be no more than a series of deep slashes in his arm and shoulder. 'Most of this blood is the tiger's,' said Ian.

  Barbara pointed. 'Look, there's a cut in his forehead - the tiger must have stunned him.' Ian bathed the cut, and Za moaned and stirred. Ian looked ruefully at Barbara. 'We seemed to have missed our chance of getting away. I bet your flat must be just littered with stray cats and dogs.'

  'They're human beings, Ian,' said Barbara again.

  'All right, I know.'

  Ian looked up at the Doctor, who stood scowling down at them. 'Have you got medical supplies in the ship? Antiseptic?'

  'This is preposterous,' spluttered the Doctor. 'One moment we are desperately trying to get away from these savages and now -'

  'Now we're helping them! I know. You're a Doctor. Do something.'

  'I am not a Doctor of medicine, young man.'

  'Grandfather, we should make friends with them,' urged Susan. 'Maybe they'll help us.'

  'Ridiculous!'

  'Why?' said Barbara angrily. 'Why must you treat everyone and everything as less important than yourself?'

  The Doctor looked severely at her. 'I suppose you think that everything you do is reasonable, and everything I do is inhuman. But suppose your judgement's wrong, not mine? If these two savages can follow us, so can their fellows. The whole Tribe may be upon us at any moment!'

  'The Tribe sleeps,' said Hur.

  'And the old woman who set us free, mm? What about her?'

  'You're right, Doctor. We're too exposed here.' The Doctor nodded complacently - but his expression changed rapidly when Ian went on, 'We'll make a stretcher and carry him with us!'

  'You're not proposing to take him back to the ship?'

  'We can make the stretcher with our coats,' said Ian briskly. 'Barbara, Susan, see if you can break off a couple of long straight branches from those bushes.'

  As she moved away, Barbara said, 'Maybe the old woman won't give us away. She helped us, she won't want the others to know.'

  'Do you think these people have logic and reason,' said the Doctor furiously. 'Can't you see, their minds change as rapidly as night follows day. She may well be telling the entire Tribe at this very moment...'

  Sometime in the night Kal woke, warned by some instinct of danger. He looked around him. Everything seemed normal. Then he saw that Old Mother was gone.
And Za and Hur... Something was happening. Whatever it was, it must be concerned with the strangers. Za had betrayed him, he was trying to force the strangers to give him the secret of the fire.

  Kal rose, knife in hand, and made his way stealthily to the cave of skulls. His suspicions were confirmed, when he saw that the great stone had been moved aside.

  He slipped through the gap and saw to his astonishment that the cave held no strangers, and no Za. Only Old Mother lay moaning on the ground.

  Kal dragged her to her feet. 'The strange creatures - where are they?'

  'They have gone,' said Old Mother, a gleam of triumph in her eyes.

  'How did they move the stone?'

  'Za moved it.'

  'Za has gone with them? Tell me, old woman, tell me!'

  The old woman pointed to the back of the cave. 'Za and Hur went after the strangers. Through there. There is another way.'

  'The strangers' hands and feet were bound,' said Kal fiercely. 'Za set them free! They have gone with Za to show him how to make fire.'

  'I set them free,' said Old Mother proudly. 'Now they will not make fire any more. There will be no more fire!'

  'You freed them?' Kal saw an end to all his hopes - the secret of fire lost, or given to Za - and all because of this meddling old woman. 'You freed them?'

  A surge of blind rage swept through him, and suddenly the stone knife in his hand was buried in Old Mother's heart.

  The old woman stared disbelievingly down at the knife for a moment, then fell dead at his feet.

  Kal plucked out the knife, wet with the old woman's blood, and thrust it beneath his skins. He would have to think of something to tell the Tribe.

  Ian was busy showing Susan and Barbara how to make an improvised stretcher. 'The poles go through the sleeves of the coats like that you see...'

  Susan knelt to wipe Za's forehead, but Hur thrust her rudely away. 'No. He is mine.'

  'I was only trying to help him.'

  Ian smiled. 'I think she's jealous of you, Susan.'

  Baffled, Hur looked around the group. 'I do not understand any of you. You are like a mother with a baby. Za is your enemy. Why do you not kill him?'