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Lungbarrow - Chapter Thirteen

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Black Window

Cousin Innocet was crossing the galleries above the Hall when she heard the voices. They were arguing pugnaciously. The House's great chamber had properties to enhance and amplify the quietest whisper, but Lungbarrow had so many echoes of its own, and thoughts that posed as echoes, that it was often difficult to identify the source. That was what had taught her to move silently in the House. A sudden movement in a quiet place could set off a host of echoes, scattering like a blue-brown flock of raucous blossom thieves startled from the orchards in spring.

The echoes came up from the direction of the old conservatory. As she passed by one of the hearth-rooms, she heard another familiar voice.

'It's my turn,' it complained. 'If you don't let me have a go, I'll tell Innocet.'

Innocet, thus invoked, pushed open the door.

'Owis?' she said sharply. What are you doing?'

Owis looked up startled from his position by the huge fireplace. He tried to stuff some morsel into his pocket. 'I didn't do it,' he protested.

'Who's that with you?' she said.

A pair of feet were sticking out of the fireplace. She moved closer and saw that his filthy trousers were made of stitched shrew skins.

'It's Maljamin,' said Owis. 'He won't let me have a look up the chimney. He won't even talk to me.'

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Innocet knelt beside the hearth. A sense of relief washed over her. 'I thought we'd lost him,' she said. She peered into the depths of the fireplace and called gently, 'Maljamin. Time to come out of there.'

There was a grunt from inside. One foot raised and repeatedly scratched the other leg in a circular motion like that of a animal.

'Come on,' she said firmly. 'I'll take you home now.'

The scratching stopped and Cousin Maljamin slowly slid out from the chimney-piece. He was caked in black dust and his eyes were staring white. 'The sky is bright today,' he said. 'I can see the blue.'

She sighed. There was no crime in this. There had been times, when there were many more Cousins around the House, that she had waited in line with the rest of them to stare up at the distant sky. But it always reminded her of looking through the wrong end of a spyglass.

Maljamin stood slowly rocking and making little groaning noises. His nose wrinkled and twitched in a shrewish fashion.

'My go,' said Owis, and he started to climb into the fireplace.

'No!' Innocet pulled him back. 'You take Cousin Maljamin back to my room.'

'That's not fair,' said Owis. 'I want my go.'

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'What have you done with my rations?' she said.

'What rations?' He held up his half-gnawed shrew. 'This is mine. I found it.'

'In one of Rynde's traps?' she said. 'How disgusting. How can you eat that uncooked? You've already had my rations too.'

Owis clutched his food tightly as Maljamin tried to paw at it. 'I never touched your gruel,' he said.

'Jobiska told me\x85' said Innocet.

'I didn't do it. She's lying again.'

'Jobiska's an old body and deserves your respect,' Innocet reminded him. But she remembered a dribble of brown gravy down Jobiska's chin and decided that a failing memory did not always diminish an old person's grasp on the skills of deceitfulness. Besides, she was more relieved than angry to find Owis and Maljamin too. Not that she was prepared to admit it.

'Have you come out to find me just for that?' The wretched boy looked almost flattered.

'Of course not,' she said sharply. She suddenly realized that Maljamin was wandering towards the door.

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She hurried after him and guided him gently back.

'Take Maljamin back to my room,' she instructed Owis.

'And don't let him go, whatever happens. I have to find Arkhew. It'll soon be candleday.'

'Can't we wait?' Owis said. 'Or do we have to find him before the House stops being disturbed?'

'Do as you're told, Owis, or I'll report you to the Drudges. It's all your fault anyway. So just look after Maljamin.'

'What for?' he complained. 'What's my fault?'

'Oh, anything!' she said and headed towards the stairs.

The Doctor led the way out into the Hall. The whitewood trees rose up around the walls. They gave the magnificent structure the semblance of a haunted forest clearing. Tiers of empty galleries ran between the arching branches. Glospin, under Chris's escort, made no attempt to escape. He watched the Doctor all the time. He even seemed eager to keep up with his tormentor.

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The Doctor stooped to look at the large amount of freshly broken timber that was strewn across the floor. He peered up at the tangled canopy of dust webs that hid the ceiling.

'Chris,' he mumbled and pointed up.

In one swathe of web, high out of reach, a dark oblong shape was hanging, where it had been caught in mid-plummet.

Chris exclaimed, 'It's the TARDI-'

'Shush!' hissed the Doctor. 'Strange place to hang a... wardrobe.'

Glospin stared up at the shape. A broad grin spread across his face. 'A TARDIS,' he said. 'It's a TT capsule.'

Chris yanked his arm behind him. 'None of your business!'

Glospin was laughing again. 'So that's how you got in. Very clever! And it's also a way out!'

'Way out?' the Doctor said. 'What "way out"? You need to get out a bit more yourself, Glospin. You and this place are pale shadows of your former nasty selves. I don't even want to know what's happened to you and your brood. Something horrible, no doubt. I don't really care. It's no longer my business. I have better things to do.'

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Chris pulled him aside. 'Doctor, I think you should lay off a bit.'

'Why? There's nothing here for me. That's always been plain.' He tugged himself free and set off towards the far end of the Hall.

Two distant lamps threw a pool of light around the raised stone bier and the translucent casket that rested on top of it.

'He was always like that,' said Glospin. 'Always switching moods like this or like that... or like the other.'

Chris hurried after the Doctor. The little figure had slowed and finally stopped a few feet from the bier. There was a figure lying silhouetted inside the glass coffin. The Doctor stood, head bowed, for a moment and then walked solemnly up to the casket.

'Quences,' he said as he peered over the top of the bier at the figure.

Chris waited awkwardly, watching Glospin, until the Doctor turned and beckoned him over.

'Chris, you know, don't you?' he said quietly.

'Yes, Doctor. I told you. This is your home.'

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The Doctor sighed. 'Yes. This is my home - the ancient House of Lungbarrow in the Southern Ranges of Gallifrey, where I grew up. A wild and beautiful setting for the worst place in the Universe.' He gestured at the coffin. 'And this was Ordinal-General Quencessetianobayolocaturgrathadadeyyilungbarrowmas, to give him his full title and decoration. He was the head of the Family and my benefactor.'

Chris came closer and studied the old man in the coffin. Quences appeared serenely peaceful as he lay in state. There were fresh flowers laid on his chest, roses with petals like grey silk. Droplets of fresh dew clung to the petals. Chris could see no immediately apparent signs of the brutal murder the old man had suffered.

The Doctor turned to Glospin. 'How long?' he said. 'Why is he still so well preserved?'

'Six hundred and seventy-three years,' said Glospin. 'To the day.'

The Doctor squatted to examine a small panel at the base of the bier.

'How did he die?' asked Chris.

Glospin raised an eyebrow.

'He's not dead,' said the Doctor. He tapped the panel. 'This is a static field generator.'

'Very good,' said Glospin. 'The Kithriarch is waiting in stasis.'

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'Waiting? Why would he be waiting? What for?'

'You,' said Glospin. He turned to Chris. 'The Doctor is six hundred and seventy-three years late for Quences's deathday. The poor old man refused to read his own will until his favourite was here. The whole Family has been kept waiting all that time.'

To Chris's surprise, the Doctor smiled at Glospin. 'That's not my problem, Cousin. As I recall, you were at pains to stop me from coming. No doubt, you were worried about what you'd miss out on. Though I can't imagine why. The Ordinal-General cast me out and disinherited me long ago.'

'That's right, Wormhole. But we're still waiting.'

'Why? Did Satthralope lock the doors and swallow the key?'

'You'll soon see,' Glospin said. 'The company you fell in with at the Capitol was fascinating. It gave me a lot to think about. How old did you say you were now?'

The Doctor snorted in indignation.

'Oh, and a word of warning,' Glospin continued. 'Be very careful of Cousin Owis.'

'Never heard of him,' said the Doctor.

'Exactly.'

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A scowl spread across the Doctor's face. He looked from the coffin, around the Hall and up to his TARDIS, suspended out of reach. 'I'm sick of this dark. I need air. Let's get some air into this House before we all suffocate! It must be light soon.'

He marched to the side of the Hall and began to haul away a heavy tapestry. Behind it, the arch of the tall window was blocked by heavy planks.

'What's going on?' Possessed by a sudden rage, the Doctor started to tear at the planks with his bare hands.

Dust flew into Chris's eyes. The screams of the panicking Cousins echoed through the Hall. Again, he saw the darkness rising up the windows.

The Doctor dragged a plank to the floor. Then another. It was dark as night outside the windows of the Hall. He set his bottleopener to the latch. With a vum, it snapped apart.

Before he could pull open the window, it was slammed wide open by a small avalanche of falling soil and rock. He choked, up to his knees in tumbling earth. 'What have you done to my House!'

A cloaked woman stepped out of the shadows almost beside him. Chris knew Innocet immediately. She was tall and had grown thin, but her gaunt face was still proud. She wore a battered brown bonnet and seemed to carry a great weight on her back.

'It's what you have done!' she said.

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She and the Doctor stared at each other in a long, long moment of mutual recognition.

Chris, his eyes still smarting with dust, heard the creaks and groans of the long-neglected House. He heard hatred and rage stir in its timbers, but, stronger than that, he felt the surprise and contempt that passed silently between Innocet and the Doctor. And it mingled with the sorrow that came from a tremendous bond that had turned so sour.

'Innocet,' said the Doctor and he reached to take her hand.

She pulled back from him. Her hands were trembling.

'There's been.. . a killing,' she said, looking at Chris and Glospin. She pointed at one of the arches that led off the Hall. 'Through there. It's Arkhew. He's in the funguretum. He's been murdered.'