Soulforged

Chapter 7

-/-

It really wasn't much of a choice. Although The Doctor had a mixed history with the Sisterhood of Karn, they at least were likely to listen to him, before throwing him in prison. His memories of his last trip to Gallifrey were hazy; The Doctor remembered exiling Rassilon, and the High Council, leaving him the defacto President of Gallifrey. Him the head of a military coup; he wondered if The Mistress knew that? He could only imagine her amusement, and jealousy, that he had once again achieved by accident, that which she had plotted, and striven for her entire life.

Yet after that his memories were fragmented, it had something to do with Clara, and he remembered shooting his own General. Even now the shiver ran down his spine, as he could hear his own voice, asking The General which regeneration they were on. It didn't sound like him, too cold and callous, to dismiss taking a life, as being akin to man flu; the whine of the disruptor pistol, still caused The Doctor to shoot up from sleep in a cold sweat.

So Gallifrey was clearly not an option, yet his welcome on Karn was not due to be much warmer.

He landed the Tardis a good twenty feet outside of the cave system, that The Sisterhood called their home. Materialising inside would have been the height of bad manners, not to mention foolhardy, as despite their primitive appearance, The Sisterhood of Karn were more than capable of defending themselves.

Bending down, The Doctor placed his hand carefully on The Mistress's cheek. He had bundled her shivering wet form up in a blanket, her skin was still burning to the touch, and her blank gaze blazed with fever.

"Just hold a little longer, help will be here soon." The Doctor muttered to his insensate nemesis, indulging the nostalgic impulse, he brushed the wet curls away from her face. It was a tender gesture, and one he would never allow if Missy were awake, mainly because she would never let him forget it.

It was a sad testament of just how far their relationship had deteriorated, that The Doctor shied away from any small show of kindness, knowing that The Mistress would seize on any sign of weakness for her own ends. Her previous incarnation had taken his tenth self's desperation, and loneliness, and had used it as an effective weapon against him, knowing that no matter what torture she inflicted on The Doctor, he would never hurt her back.

Only that was a truth The Doctor couldn't cling to anymore. He was no longer that Time Lord.

He was a Time Lord who overthrew the government of Gallifrey, without any consideration for the fallout, who shot his own kind, for a reason he couldn't even remember now, who stole the child of his oldest friend ,and lied about it. Missy thought her son was dead, and that it was her fault, when in reality the child was alive, and her desperate attempt to revive him had worked. It was times like this, The Doctor would almost welcome another memory purge.

With one last glance back at an insensate Missy, The Doctor headed towards the doors. She did look incapable of moving, but The Mistress had fooled him before when he believed her helpless, and the last thing he needed, was to be stranded on Karn, after she stole his Tardis. Fingers creeping around the edge of the door, as the warm dry air of Karn assailed his senses, The Doctor nervously poked his head around the frame, not particularly surprised, as even the early dawn light, the hooded figures of the sisterhood could be seen, as if they had simply sprang up out of the ground.

"Urmmm...Hello..." The Doctor cleared his throat nervously, as he called out into the awkward silence.

"You are not welcome here Doctor, you bring bad spirits with you." The familiar voice of Ohila, the High Priestess, rang out from the darkness, and The Doctor watched, as the creeping light of dawn revealed her slowly.