Doctor Who_ The Massacre Part 10

'Not a word, just upped and went,' the man said.

Steven looked desperately up and down the busy streets but he knew it was hopeless. Also he half-knew Anne believed he had found the Doctor and had gone back to the Cardinal's palace to try and secure the release of her brother and her aunt.

'A pretty little wench, she was,' the man added with a sly wink and Steven turned away.

Both Lerans and Muss hung onto every word the Doctor recounted about his audience with the Queen Mother and when he had finished they looked at one another.

'But who is Bondot and how will he bring about the Admiral's downfall?' Muss asked.

Lerans shrugged: 'Nicholas, I have no idea. On neither side does such a name exist, at least not to my knowledge.'

'Then do we a.s.sume that it's a codename for someone highly-placed who could topple de Coligny?' Muss replied.

'Highly-placed? We know their proper names, so why the masquerade?' Lerans put the fingertips of one hand to his forehead. 'Unless Bondot is one of two people whose names could never be a.s.sociated with the Admiral's defeat.'

'The King or the Queen Mother,' Muss volunteered.

'Precisely,' Lerans turned to the Doctor. 'We need to know.'

'Gentlemen, I have run all the risks that I'm prepared to in this venture,' the Doctor spoke sternly. 'Twice now I have almost come face to face with the real Abbot of Amboise. The third time could be an actual confrontation.

No, I agreed to see the Queen Mother and then be on my way and I am holding you to those terms so, please, deliver Steven to me.'

There was a long pause during which Lerans and Muss exchanged an uncomfortable glance.

'I'm afraid we can't because we don't know where he is,'

Lerans said finally.

'He escaped from the Admiral's house and took the serving girl with him,' Muss added, 'but they are being actively sought' he hesitated fractionally 'by Catholic and Huguenot alike.'

'Try looking on a rubbish dump,' the Doctor snapped back. Both Lerans and Muss's eyes widened in astonishment.

'Why there in particular?' Muss asked.

'Why not?' the Doctor replied.

'A mysterious object was discovered on one and it has been transported to the Bastille,' Lerans explained.

'And just before we came here, we heard that the Abbot of Amboise was on his way to see the King for it to be burnt at the stake,' Lerans added.

'What children you all are!' the Doctor exclaimed and then exploded into uncontrollable laughter.

12.

Burnt at the Stake Intimidated by the Abbot's fire and brimstone eloquence and, despite his curiosity about the 'satanic abode' (as the Abbot described it) which sat in the courtyard of the Bastille, the King gave his consent to burn it at the stake, although he insisted that he should be present when it was destroyed. The Abbot agreed but added that it could not be burnt immediately.

'Why not?' The King was peeved.

'I must gird the armour of the Lord around His feeble va.s.sal before I confront Lucifer and his demons in their infernal lair,' the Abbot rhetorised.

'Quite so, Lord Abbot,' the King replied, unable to think of anything else.

'I shall attend upon your Majesty one hour before the tocsin sounds,' the Abbot proclaimed, then bowed and swept out of the room with Duval trotting at his heels.

Anne gave herself up to one of the sentries at the entrance to the Cardinal's palace and was taken to Colbert who had her thrown into the cell with her brother and her aunt.

Then he hurried to Duval's office to report that the wench was back. But to his surprise Duval showed little interest saying that for the time being she was unimportant as matters of far greater moment were afoot.

For his part Steven stood on the riverbank, throwing pebbles into the Seine whilst trying to resolve the dilemma of contacting the Doctor. It was obvious that he was masquerading as the Abbot of Amboise and the excuses put forward by Lerans and Muss to explain away his disappearance were patently lies. So Steven decided to go back to de Coligny's house and have it out with them. But re-entering was almost as difficult as escaping had been.

He was refused admittance by the guards because he had no appointment, no written authorisation and his appearance wearing Preslin's ill-fitting clothes was unprepossessing. But after a heated discussion which almost came to blows he persuaded one of them to fetch the officer in charge.

'Take me at once to Viscount Lerans or Nicholas Muss,'

he demanded vociferously of the officer who looked him up and down with cold eyes.

'State your business,' the officer snapped.

'That's between myself and them,' Steven retorted.

'Then on your way with you, knave,' the officer replied and turned to leave.

'All right, tell them Steven Taylor wants to discuss the other Abbot of Amboise.'

The officer looked back at him. 'What do you mean by "the other"?'

Steven prodded a forefinger towards the officer's gilded doublet. 'Just tell them what I've said.' His voice was low and dangerous.

The officer hesitated for a moment then told him to wait and went leisurely into the building. His return a few minutes later was more hurried and his manner respectful.

'Come with me, please,' he requested, 'and I'll take you directly to them.'

Lerans was leaning against the wall beside the window overlooking the courtyard and Muss was seated at his desk as Steven was ushered into the office. Muss waved the officer away; he shut the door behind him. Steven looked from one to the other.

'Well, where is he?' he demanded. 'And don't bother to say with Preslin.'

'But, Steven, I give you my word, he is,' Lerans protested mildly.

'Not when he's pretending to be the Abbot!' Steven threw back. There was an awkward pause during which Muss and Lerans exchanged a glance. 'So where is he?' he repeated.

'Safely underground in Paris,' Muss said.

'Take me to him.'

'No, not yet.'

'Why not?'

'There is a Catholic conspiracy against Admiral de Coligny but we don't know what it is and your friend in his role as the Abbot is helping us to uncover it,' Muss explained.

'I don't see that's any reason to keep us apart,' Steven replied.

'Please, Steven, his job is almost done,' Muss said, 'let him finish it.' Steven hesitated and Lerans stepped in.

'Where's the girl?' he asked and Steven recounted his adventures with Anne and the conclusion he had drawn.

'There's only one person who'll succeed in rescuing them and that's the same one who got you out of there,'

Lerans said; 'your friend, the Doctor, as the Abbot.'

There was a knock at the door. 'Enter,' Muss called out and an officer of the Court was announced.

'His Majesty the King requires the presence within the hour of your masters and yourselves to accompany his Majesty to the Bastille to witness the destruction on the stake of a fiendish machine,' he proclaimed. Both Muss and Lerans inclined their heads in acceptance and the officer withdrew.

But Steven was flabbergasted. 'Destruction!' he yelled, 'but it belongs to the Doctor.'

'We know, and we've told the Doctor it's to be burnt at the stake,' Lerans replied calmly; 'but he, for some strange reason which he chose not to reveal, found it hysterically funny.'

'I'm coming with you,' Steven said.

'Not in those clothes, my friend,' Lerans chuckled.

'They're hardly fitting for the King's presence. But we'll deck you out as a courtier and no one will recognise you.'

In that they were wrong for, as the royal entourage stood in the Bastille courtyard awaiting the King's arrival, Duval sidled over to him when Lerans and Moss were talking to Henri of Navarre and the Admiral.

'Congratulations, the wench is under lock and key,' he murmured with a faint wink, 'and Maurevert's here so it's planned for tomorrow.'

'Oh, yes,' Steven muttered, understanding only that Anne was a prisoner again as Duval moved away and the heraldic trumpeters announced the arrival of the royal coach with the King and the Abbot at his side. The King beckoned de Coligny over to the open carriage.

'We chose not to invite their royal Highnesses, our dear wife and our beloved mother, for fear they should be distressed,' he snickered. 'Wise of us, eh, Admiral?'

'Most thoughtful of you, my Leige,' de Coligny replied.

The King turned to the Abbot. 'Proceed to G.o.d's work, my Lord Abbot,' he said and looked back at de Coligny.

'Do sit beside us, Admiral.' He patted the seat beside him as the Abbot descended from the carriage.

The Abbot's habit was woven in gold and silver threads and the top of the wooden crook he held was studded with diamonds and other precious stones. Behind the carriage had been a procession of clerics and acolytes with thuribles of smoking incense. Now they came forward chanting and encircled the stake in the middle of which the TARDIS was completely hidden by the wood and the bales of straw.

At the end of their chant, the Abbot began to intone in a high falsetto voice and circle the stake. He was followed by a cleric, whom Steven recognised as the rotund priest from the Cathedral, carrying an ampulla from which the Abbot sprinkled holy water onto the unlit fire.

When he had completed the round the Abbot raised his staff into the air and with his normal voice, cried out: 'Let this cleansing fire consume your demonaical terrestial abode and force you, Lucifer, Prince of Darkness, to return to Hades to suffer the unending agonies of perdition.' He lowered the staff, held out his other hand and commanded in ringing tones: 'Bring forth the Flame of Righteousness and of the True Faith.' An acolyte, holding a flaming torch, ran over and handed it to him.

'Hie thee hence, Satan', the Abbot screamed and threw the torch onto one of the bales of straw.

The King held a lace handkerchief to his nose and expressed the hope that the smoke would not start him coughing as he wanted to discuss the coming war against Spain with the Admiral, who beamed with pleasure. But the topic was barely broached when the intense heat of the bonfire drove everyone from the courtyard and the King, before returning to the Louvre, ordered the doors to be locked and desired everyone to accompany him to the Bastille at nine o'clock the following morning to view the cinders.

Steven was quietly frantic as he rode back with Muss behind de Coligny to the Admiral's house.

'You said the Doctor laughed when you told him it was to be burned at the stake?' He kept his voice as controlled as he could.

'Yes, Steven, he thought it was the funniest joke he had ever heard and called us all children,' Muss replied, and then looked at Steven questioningly. 'But what is it?'

'The Doctor didn't tell you?' Steven queried.

Muss shook his head and said 'no'.

'He's the one to ask, not me,' Steven replied.

'But you do know?' Muss persisted.

'Some of the answers, yes,' Steven admitted. 'But not all of them, by any means.'

'Although he does,' Muss stated.

Stevens nodded. 'Every last one,' he said and they rode the rest of the way in silence.

The tocsin bell began to toll as they reached the Admiral's house and Steven found himself installed in a comfortable room and invited to dine with Muss. The food was exemplary and the wine vintage burgundy which made absurd the experiences of the two previous nights, jail-to-palace and tomb.

'They've got Anne, you know,' Steven said regretfully as he toyed with his gla.s.s.

'So you believe,' Muss replied.

'No, it's a fact,' Steven continued. 'Duval told me.'

'Duval?'

'At the Bastille this evening. I don't know who he thinks I am but he came over and congratulated me for getting her back,' Steven answered. 'And then he went on to say that Mauryvard or Merriverd was here and that it was on for tomorrow. I didn't understand a word.'

'That name, Steven, that name, what was it?' Muss's voice was suddenly tense.

'I've told you,' Steven was taken aback. 'Mauryviard, Merrivert, something like that, I was worrying about Anne and then the trumpets started blaring.'

'Maurevert, Steven, was it Maurevert?' Muss carefully p.r.o.nounced each syllable.