Doctor Who - 02 - The Art of Forgetting

.6. Boudicca

Ace didn't even try to stick his nose out of the shack. Although the makeshift roof leaked in many places, it was still nothing compared to the apocalyptic downpour outside. Gold crouched down next to him, soaked through and apparently scared.

"She still there?" he whispered, his teeth clattering. His lips were completely blue with cold.

Ace turned his gaze towards a woman standing amongst the storm and torrent with her arms folded on her chest and bored expression on her face.

"Yes."

"What's she doing?"

"She's doing nothing! She's just standing there and staring at me!"

"How could the weather turn so foul? I didn't program any rain."

"As far as I can remember you didn't program Boudicca the Warrior Princess either. It was that guy. Sure as hell. He fucked up the weather. Damn, I can feel I'm coming down with a cold. I'll be sick, just in time for the finals!"

"I remember when I went to Yellowstone with Dad," said Gold. "It's a forest, it's been moved from the old Earth to the Lexon moon, they have similar climate. And suddenly it starts to rain. I thought it would stop soon, but my Dad said there was no weather control on Lexon, you know, to make it more real. So anyway..."

"Does it go anywhere?" asked Ace and sneezed loudly.

"What?"

"Your epic."

"What epic?"

"About Yellowrock, and Lexon and your Dad?"

"Yellowstone. Well, a thunder struck the tree. We were in the tent, just a few steps from that tree and I swear it blew us up in the air, two meters high. We could have died."

"Stop thinking about it!" The Warrior Princess, formerly known as the Lady of the Lake, bent down, her face, painted blue, suddenly at a level with both boys' heads. "Just be quiet! And you, King Arthur, stop moaning! I'm saving your assess!"

"What from!" shouted Ace.

"Don't talk to her," Gold whispered. "It's just a damn projection."

"Projection nobody programmed!"

"Don't be daft, Ace. Somebody had to do it!"

"I'm just saying. That man in a brown whistle. You know; the suit? He had some device, something... I don't know... a torch maybe?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Gold, vexed. "Listen, at first I thought he was an Emporium's programmer, or controller, but... just think about it; he replaced the Lady of the Lake and when he disappeared, she turned up... this Boudicca. The suit was a projection as well. Nothing more."

"Yeeeah..." Boudicca pulled a face. "Superior intelligence. Just my luck."

A lightning cut the sky open and almost instantaneously a thunder roared.

"Close." Gold's teeth chattered. "Blimey, that was close."

The Warrior Princes reached inside the shack, seized Gold by the scruff of his neck and with one strong tug pulled him out into the rain. She looked back at Ace.

"You too!"

"Wh... what?"

"Move your butt! I'm losing control. We have to get out of here."

"Get... get out? What? Get out of the game?"

"It's not a game anymore." Boudicca looked round keenly. "C'mon, follow me!"

"I'm not going anywhere!" Ace tried to put his foot down.

"Don't be stupid!" she countered. "Don't resist! This adventure can kill you."

"Right, well, that is an utter nonsense!"

"Ace..."

"This projection is completely nuts!"

"Ace!"

"I'm not leaving this place!"

"ACE!"

He finally looked at Gold and noticed that the boy, still being dragged by the scruff of his neck by Boudicca, points towards the lake. Ace followed his gaze and stepped back with a yelp of horror. The lake seemed completely different from the way it looked an hour ago. The water resembled rough inky sea, rugged with waves, torn by whirlpools, wild and dangerous. The sky above took on a green and grey shade, not unusual for the clouds heralding a tornado. It seemed that the rocky island moved closer to the shore. Only the tower remained from the bleak castle – soaring, forbidding, incredibly tall, cloud scrapping. From the top of the steeple a red eye of fire looked out at them; the only distinctive feature in an almost monochromatic landscape. Exactly at the moment when Ace noticed the flame on top of the tower, a zigzag, multi-branched lightning shot out from the fiery point. It hit the bunch of trees providing a shelter for a makeshift shack built for them by Boudicca. In a split second the trees caught fire. Broken boughs crashed on top of the shack. Ace covered his face with his forearm. A tingling sensation washed through all his body, as if it was penetrated by lightning's energy.

"Ace!" Gold yelled, reaching his hand towards him. "Ace, RUN!"

"What...? What's going...? What...?"

"Run away!"

One glance at the lake revealed dark shapes crawling out of the water. With a source of bright light – burning trees – behind his back, Ace couldn't really distinguish the monsters slithering out of inky waves, but zigzags of lightning tearing the sky and piercing the lake punched out of the darkness outlines of tentacles, gills and jaws.

Ace shrieked at the top of his voice and put in motion his legs, which were not as numb as he expected them to be. Within seconds he took a lead, leaving Gold and Boudicca far behind him, and dashing towards the heart of the forest in huge leaps, like a frightened deer. He could not wrap his mind round the recent developments and he did not intend to stop and ponder. Projection or not, an adventure or a screwed up script, he did not plan to get caught by the huge toothed monsters!

Behind his back he could hear the sounds of the Warrior Princess and Gold's retreat. The rain lashed across his face, he could barely see anything through the curtain of wet hair. His ring mail, armlets and sodden coat weighted him down, and bloody Excalibur in its scabbard was constantly getting in between his legs. Ace tried to discard the sword, but his cold fingers couldn't open the belt buckle. He dashed into the darkness, one hand on the Excalibur's pommel, the other outstretched in front of him, trying not to collide with a tree trunk or a rock. Twigs whipped at his face; a sharp leaf of a holly bush ravaged his cheek and a bridge of his nose. Ace ran and shrieked with fear, certain of his imminent death.

And suddenly he landed on a soft moss. He got completely entangled in his coat, the sword slammed into his thigh again, the ring mail's hood fell over his eyes and for a while Ace couldn't see a thing. When he finally managed to get up on his knees, and brushed the hood and hair off his face, all he saw in front of him were navy-blue fern leaves. Dark blue ferns glowing with silver sheen in the velvety darkness, as if sprinkled with diamond dust. Lifting his head higher he saw silhouettes of three slim creatures, glimmering with their own light in the gloom of the night. They had long silvery hair and huge, glowing eyes; nothing but radiant irises and wide pupils. One of the creatures tried to restrain a fighting and kicking girl. The girl was maybe ten years old and she didn't look happy at all, Ace thought. The next moment a powerful blow to the back of his head rendered him unconscious.