Doctor Who - [New Adventure 29] - [Vampire Trilogy 2] - Blood Harvest

by Terrance Dicks

  "But you will, I promise," said Bernice, jabbing Varis's ear with the blaster. The most extraordinary feeling was creeping over her. She found herself hoping Varis would decide to make a fight of it.

  I'll blow Varis's head off for a start, she thought fiercely. Then I'll shoot down as many of the others as I can. We'll drag the rest from their horses and cut them to pieces.

  It seemed as if she could already hear the thud of steel against flesh and the screams of the dying, smell the coppery tang of freshly spilled blood. She found herself filled with eager exaltation. Then, as if a relay had been tripped in her mind, she found her head suddenly clearing.

  She leaned forward and spoke fiercely to Varis. "Tell your men to move back, towards the woods. Once the way to the village is clear we'll let you go and join them."

  Varis didn't speak, and Bernice had a sudden fierce desire to press the firing stud. It faded almost at once but Varis must have seen the lust to kill in her eyes.

  In a high quavering voice he shouted, "Strap the body to my saddle and then pull back to the edge of the woods. I'll join you there. Move!"

  Reluctantly the guardsmen obeyed. Wrapping their dead comrade's body in a cloak, they strapped it to Varis's saddle and then cantered slowly back down the road.

  When they were a safe distance away, Bernice shoved her blaster back in her pocket and stepped away. Varis swung himself onto his waiting horse and looked down at her.

  "You choose to side with rebels then?"

  "I choose to try and stop a bloodbath," said Bernice. "There's something on this planet that wants to start one. You and these villagers have a common enemy."

  Varis gave her a baffled look. For a moment he seemed about to speak, then he turned and rode away.

  Just inside the wood a tall, cloaked figure waited, its mind alert to every nuance of the scene being played out at the crossroads. As the desire to kill rose in Bernice's mind its excitement rose high. The figure's eyes glowed red -and then faded as she recovered control. Disappointment flooded through the watcher's being as the horsemen rode away. The girl had reacted so promisingly and then, suddenly ... Still, there would be other times. Puzzled and unfulfilled, the tall figure faded back into the shadows.

  Bernice shivered. "I don't know what got into me. For a moment I really wanted to kill him."

  "So did I," said Ivo grimly. "But too many others would have died. Come, my Lady." They made their way back to the village and came to a halt outside the inn. "Go back to your homes and farms," ordered Ivo. "We'll talk again tomorrow." As the little crowd dispersed, Ivo and Bernice went back inside.

  The hall was in darkness except for the glow of the dying fire. In front of it stood an old woman wrapped up in a shawl. "It's Magda, Gerda's mother," whispered Ivo.

  He went across to her. "Magda, I'm sorry there's no news yet. We didn't find..."

  "No, you don't understand," said the woman excitedly. "My Gerda's alive - she's come back!"

  A white-faced, fair-haired figure came out of the shadows.

  10 THE REVENANT

  Bernice stared at the girl in horror. As far as she could see, it really was the girl she'd seen in the Tower. The same physical type at least, tall and slender and fair-haired. Then again, she thought, it's not all that easy recognizing someone walking towards you in firelight, especially when the last time you met they were hanging upside-down with their throat cut.

  "More light, Ivo," whispered Bernice fiercely. "Quickly!" Ivo took an oil lamp from the mantelshelf and lit it with a brand from the fire. He put it on a nearby table and a pool of yellow light spilled out.

  Gerda stopped when the light struck her, blinking uneasily.

  "Well, girl, where have you been?" said Ivo harshly. "Don't you know we've all been looking for you?"

  The girl spoke in a dry husky whisper. "I'm sorry... I got lost. I'd been visiting ... a friend in one of the farms on the edge of the forest. I left just before dawn ... I wanted to get back here before you got up. I took a wrong turn somewhere and found myself getting deeper and deeper into the forest. It took me all day and most of tonight to find my way back home."

  Her mother came up and put her arms around her. "There, there, poor child, you're safe now..."

  Bernice had been looking hard at the girl while she was speaking. The voice sounded curiously lifeless. Now the girl stood stiffly within her mother's arms, making no attempt to return the embrace.

  Bernice took Ivo aside. "There's something wrong."

  "It seems you must have been mistaken, my Lady," said Ivo awkwardly. "That's Gerda right enough. Perhaps you saw some other girl dead in the Tower. Or perhaps..."

  "Perhaps I imagined the whole thing? That's what someone wants you to think. Well, I didn't," whispered Bernice fiercely. "That's the girl I saw in the Tower all right - and I saw her dead."

  "But how can that be? The dead do not return to us. Unless - " Ivo broke off, appalled at what he heard himself saying.

  "Call the old woman over," said Bernice.

  "Magda, come here!" ordered Ivo.

  Leaving her daughter, the old woman came over to them, looking suspiciously at Bernice.

  "Tell us exactly what happened - when your daughter came back, I mean," said Bernice gently.

  "I was back at our house, on the edge of the village, waiting for news. I couldn't sleep. Then I heard Gerda calling from outside the house."

  "She didn't come in?"

  "No, she was just standing there in the street. She wouldn't come into the house, she was too frightened. So I went out and brought her along here." The old woman went back to her daughter, leading her to a bench by the fire. Bernice was thinking furiously.

  "Look at her, Ivo. Just look at her!"

  "My Lady?"

  "Look at her face, her hands, her clothes. Everything clean and immaculate. If she'd been wandering in the woods all day and all night she'd be scratched and dirty, and her clothes would be in rags. She didn't go into the house, remember."

  "Her mother said she was frightened."

  "But that doesn't make sense either! Why should she be too scared to go into her own house with just her mother there? She must have known you'd be angry with her but she was quite prepared to come and face you, here at the inn ... Yes, of course!"

  "What is it, my Lady?"

  "That flower everyone puts over their door and windows ..."

  Ivo nodded. "The garil flower. A superstition from the Old Time. Most of the old people still keep it up."

  "So Gerda's mother would have it over her door?"

  "Most certainly."

  "What about you? Is there any over the inn door?"

  "To be honest, my Lady, I've never bothered with it."

  "Don't knock it, it really works," said Bernice grimly. "I've tried it. Have you got any here?"

  "We use it in cooking. There should be some in the kitchen somewhere."

  "Find it then. Quickly please."

  Ivo hurried off to the kitchen and Bernice sat watching mother and daughter huddled on the bench by the fireside. Old Magda had her arm around her daughter, but the girl sat stiff and unresponsive.

  "You're so cold, my child," Bernice heard the old lady say. "Come closer to the fire." The girl didn't move.

  Ivo returned clutching a rather wizened-looking root from which grew a straggly dried-up flower.

  Bernice took it from his hands. "Bit ancient, but it'll have to do. Stand by, Ivo."

  Bernice went over to the couple on the bench, holding the garil plant out before her. Gerda ignored her, gazing sullenly at the ground, but Old Magda looked up eagerly. Before Bernice realized what was happening, she reached out and plucked the plant from her hands.

  "Thank you, my Lady, most kind. See, Gerda, the lady has brought garil to protect you from evil."

  She tucked the plant into the neck of her daughter's dress.

  With a howl of pain Gerda sprang to her feet. Snatching the plant from her dress, she hurled it into the fire.
/>   Her mother jumped up, looking at her daughter in astonishment.

  "Gerda, child..."

  She tried to put an arm round the girl's shoulders. With one sweep of her arm Gerda smashed the old woman away with so much force that she crashed into the wall beside the big fireplace.

  Gerda swung round to confront Bernice - and changed. She seemed to grow taller and stronger, reaching out with hands that had become like claws. Her face was a ghastly white, her eyes glittered fiercely and she drew back her lips to reveal long pointed fangs.

  Bernice fumbled in her pocket for her blaster, realizing that it was already too late. A bulky shape brushed her aside. The creature that had once been Gerda hurtled through the air towards her - and impaled itself upon the sharpened stake in Ivo's hands.

  So fierce was the impact that Ivo was knocked from his feet. He scrambled up and jumped back, dragging Bernice with him. On the floor before them the vampire howled and writhed, clutching at the stake through its heart. Then with one final convulsive jerk it became still.

  For a moment the twisted shape of the vampire seemed to blur. Then there was only the dead body of a tall, pretty, fair-haired girl, blood soaking the front of her white dress. No dropped on his knees beside her. "Gerda," he said in a choked voice. "Poor Gerda."

  Bernice went over to Old Magda where she lay crumpled beside the fireplace. She knelt to examine the body.

  "She's dead too I'm afraid. Her head must have been smashed against the wall."

  "Perhaps it's as well," said Ivo dully. "She wouldn't have wanted to see what her daughter had become." He straightened up. "Poor Gerda - and I killed her."

  Bernice rose and came over to Gerda's body. Steeling herself, she bent down to examine it.

  "No you didn't, Ivo. She was dead already. Look!"

  Bernice pointed to a thin white line across Gerda's throat.

  "She died in the Tower, just as I said. Somehow she was brought back to life and sent here to the village."

  Ivo sank down onto a bench. "But who would have the power to do such a thing? And why?"

  "The why is easy - to discredit me, and my story of what I'd seen in the Tower. To make you all think I'd imagined it all and that there was really nothing to worry about. As for who - that's what we've got to find out." She thought for a moment. "Ivo, can you get rid of these bodies? Have them buried secretly, tonight? You'll need help, I know, but try to pick people who can keep their mouths shut."

  Ivo nodded. "Some of us fought the Lords together, in the Old Time. There are still a few of us left."

  "You'll have to put some sort of story about. Gerda wandered off, got lost in the forest and died of exposure. Her mother went to look for her and died as well. You found the bodies and had them buried in the forest."

  "Wouldn't it be better to tell everyone what's happened, my Lady, warn them of the danger?"

  "If we alert the villagers, we alert the enemy as well. I don't think anyone's in danger yet, not if they just carry on as usual. I need a little more time to find out what's behind this."

  "It shall be as you say, my Lady. Leave it all to me." Ivo recollected his duty as a host. "Can I get you food or drink, my Lady? Hot soup? I can rouse Katya."

  Bernice looked at the blood-spattered corpse on the floor and then looked away. "No, let her sleep. I seem to have lost my appetite. All I need now is rest. Can you find me some more of that garil though? No point in taking chances."

  As she prepared for bed, Bernice thought of the compact, incredibly complex signalling device hidden deep in her pack. Was it time to use it? Not quite yet, she decided. It would be nice to get a little further on her own before ...

  She went to sleep that night with garil over the door and window, a blaster under her pillow and a sizeable slug of Eridanian brandy inside her.

  As Bernice drifted into an uneasy sleep, Ivo stood by an open wall-locker just beside the door. Inside the locker was the handset of a simple communications device, now worn with age. Ivo was pressing the call button. "Kalmar! Kalmar, can you hear me? This is Ivo - I need help. Kalmar?"

  A reply crackled from the set.

  The hooded figure switched off the Time Scoop and sat back, his face twisted with rage.

  "Always the Doctor - and if not the Doctor, then one of his interfering friends!"

  The second watcher smiled. "Calm yourself. The woman may have defeated one of His servants, but do you really think she can stand against Him? When it pleases Him, He will snuff her out."

  "Better perhaps if He does not," said the third watcher. "When she realizes her danger and her helplessness, she will surely summon the Doctor. Then the Doctor will fall into His grasp - and they will both fall into ours!"

  "He can be in many places and many times," said the second watcher. "On one planet or the other, our purpose will be fulfilled -for Him, and for the Doctor as well." The voices of all three watchers joined in their ritual chant:

  "Death to the Doctor!"

  "Borusa lives!"

  "Rassilon must die!"

  When Bernice came down to breakfast late next morning, everything in the inn seemed to be back to normal. The fire burned brightly, the bodies had disappeared and someone had made a very good job of scrubbing the blood from the floor.

  Katya served the usual breakfast of gruel, greenfruit and black bread, with the added attraction of some dubious looking green eggs, fried till they were charred and leathery.

  "Marsh-fowl eggs, my Lady," said Katya proudly. "I gathered them myself."

  "Thanks a lot," said Bernice. "They look almost fresh."

  What this planet needs, she thought to herself, is a really good domestic science college. Or maybe you could market the place as an inter-galactic slimming centre. Come to Ivo's Inn - the food's so filthy you're sure to lose weight!

  She poured a slug of Eridanian brandy into her water glass, noticing that the flask was half-empty. There was another bottle in her pack but after that ... Heaven knows what the local liquor's like, she thought. Something made from crushed slugs probably. I'm going to have such a blow-out and booze-up when I get off this planet - if I get off this planet.

  She began thinking about the ideal restaurant for the occasion, and was hesitating between Maxim's in nineteenth-century Paris and a fish-bar on Metebelis Three when she noticed that Katya was still hovering, obviously eager to talk.

  "Did you hear about poor Gerda, my Lady?"

  "The girl who disappeared? What about her?"

  "Well, some of the men went searching last night and they found her body. Not just hers but her mother's too. They reckon poor old Magda went off looking for her daughter and she died in the forest as well." Katya lowered her voice. "They say the wood-weasels and the blood-bats had been at the bodies. There wasn't enough to bring back, so they buried what was left on the spot."

  "Do you mind, you're putting me off my marsh-fowl eggs."

  Ivo appeared and Katya hurried guiltily away.

  No knuckled his forehead. "Good morning, my Lady. You slept well?"

  "Eventually." Bernice glanced round the inn. "You can't have had too much sleep yourself. You must have had a busy night."

  Ivo lowered his voice. "All was done as you said, my Lady. I persuaded my friends you were right, though it wasn't easy."

  "They weren't keen?"

  "It's just that they're suspicious of strangers," said Ivo awkwardly. "And in such times as these..."

  Bernice nodded towards Katya who was sweeping the front doorstep. "Our story seems to have gone down all right."

  Ivo smiled. "I told Katya as soon as she came down, and she told the field-workers who came in for breakfast. It'll be all over the neighbourhood by tonight."

  "Good." Bernice finished as much of her breakfast as she could stomach and stood up. "I must be off. I want to take another look at that burial ground behind the Tower."

  "My Lady, is that wise?"

  "Probably not, but it's my job. That's why I came here in the first place." />
  Ivo looked so alarmed that she patted him on the shoulder.

  "Don't worry, I'll keep well away from the Tower. If anyone has moved in I'm not anxious to meet them again. And I promise I'll be back here long before it gets dark. I ought to be all right in open country in broad daylight."

  Ivo still looked uneasy. "It isn't just the Tower and whatever may dwell there, my Lady. There are other dangers."

  "Such as?"

  "The Black Guard are still patrolling the area. They'll be in an ugly mood after what happened last night. And there are wild men, outlaws in the woods."

  Bernice tapped the comforting weight of the blaster in her pocket. "Don't worry, Ivo, as long as it's more or less human I can cope with it. Expect me back about teatime."

  Ivo looked puzzled and Bernice realized that afternoon tea probably wasn't on the inn's regular menu. Lord knows what they have instead of tea and crumpets, she thought. Boiled bat's urine and toasted cow-pats probably. Or at least, that's what it'll taste like. Out loud she said, "I'll be back around the middle of the afternoon."

  Things looked pretty normal, thought Bernice as she made her way through the village. As normal as they ever were in a place like this. At the crossroads outside the village she had to wait while a patrol of the Black Guard rode by.

  Varis, their captain, glared suspiciously at her as he trotted past on a tall black horse. Bernice simply raised an eyebrow and looked bored, and he finally raised his hand in a reluctant salute before leading his men past. Bernice went on her way, feeling she'd scored a moral victory.

  She hurried through the dark and gloomy woods and worked her way round to the edge of the burial ground, steering well clear of the Tower. Rather than excavate a marked-out square, she decided to attempt a general survey, in order to discover the approximate size and shape of whatever was buried there.

  Absorbed in her task she worked for several hours, moving about the oval depression beneath the grey and lowering sky. From time to time she looked up at the dark shape of the Tower looming over her. But everything seemed quiet. Nothing emerged from the dark circle of the grotto's mouth and no sinister shape moved about the altar of black stone.