You Reap What You Sow (26&27 of 45)

[amberfocus]

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Chapter Twenty-six:  Donna's Decision

Donna checked her watch. It was more or less set to local time, as closely as it could be to a planet that had a twenty-six hour day, anyway. She was getting quite hungry and it seemed like the promised food was not forthcoming. She turned on her side and yelped painfully, then sat up and dug in her pocket for what had hurt her. A slow smile spread over her face as she realized she still had the sonic screwdriver in her pocket. That meant a chance for escape.

It was a good thing she’s simply been thrown in the cell as is. The men who had grabbed her didn’t think to search her. She was glad of that for more reasons than still having the tool in her possession. It had been obvious from the things that she’d heard in their conversations that the hunters didn’t have a high opinion of women, but an especially low one of the women that were hunted. Or of the young men, either. Why would they though, when it was rare for one to win the hunt and live?

It was about six in the evening when someone finally came round with a supper tray. As the man came in her eyes flew to the door, studying the lock as unobtrusively as possible. It was a slide bolt, which would take more effort than a combination lock or a simple padlock. It would be more of a vibration to jiggle it to the right than a simple press of a setting and presto unlocko, she thought.

Well, she knew the setting for resonating concrete, not that that ever worked on concrete, but it ought to do the job in this instance. She’d have to wait until the middle of the night when she could catch her captors unawares.

The man set down the food on a little table that folded down from the wall. He looked at her warily as she sat in silence. She could tell she was unnerving him and she was glad. Most of the hunt victims probably begged and pleaded for their lives at this point. She would expect that from people who just blithely went along with the savage customs of this village. They were weak. But she wasn’t and she would not beg.

Instead she would plot and plan and rescue herself. If nothing else, travelling with the Doctor had taught her that. And she was sure he had a plan or two up his sleeves as well if her own plan fell through. If he’d even noticed she was missing yet.

The Doctor’s mind had been so preoccupied with Rose lately. Not that Donna minded that. She expected that. But with Rose’s amnesia he’d been by her side almost constantly and then when Rose had gotten her memories back the two had been shagging as much as they could get away with and still manage to be responsible parents. It was good actually. Rose was good for him.

She remembered how broken he’d been when he first discussed Rose with her. He’d been a different man. Things had not been better when he’d turned up again later in her life and whisked her away to travel. Oh, he’d laughed and joked with her, but the underlying strain of being separated from the woman he loved was always with him. Getting Rose back had been a miracle. It had changed him into a man that she had only ever seen glimpses of before.

Donna sighed. The Doctor’s mind hadn’t been in any mode other than protective for a while now. But he was brilliant and sooner or later the obvious would smack him in the face, even if she wasn’t there to bring it up to him. She could count on him noticing if she didn’t return by nightfall, of that she was sure.

When the man had left her cell and locked the door behind her she looked at the food on the tray. It looked very appealing and it smelled wonderful. As she lifted a spoonful to her lips she stopped as a thought struck her. Most hunts ended early, within the first day. She had overheard the hunters saying that. She doubted that would happen with people who knew the area well without some kind of reason.

She put her spoon down. What if the food was tainted with a poison of some sort? Or a sedative, something to impair her judgment. She wouldn’t put it past the hunters to cheat. The deck was so heavily stacked against the unwed in this village. It was not a large leap in logic to consider they would use every option at their disposal.

Donna was so hungry, though. She desperately wanted to eat. Still, it wasn’t a chance worth taking and the hunger would keep her awake. It would keep her thinking. Slowly she disposed of the food in the toilet, being careful not to flush too much at once. The last thing she wanted was to be causing a back up into the cell.

She’d be okay. She’d gone without food before and she knew her limit was two and a half days. And she could go an additional four if she allowed the mind-over-matter enzyme to come into play. And she would if she needed it. She hoped she didn’t. The side effects afterwards were never pleasant. It was one thing to use it for a little boost now and then,  and be left with a bad hangover effect. But to use if for several days straight without stopping would lead to a nasty case of withdrawal that could rival coming down off opiates.

Still, if it saved her life, Donna was more than willing to use it. That decision made she decided to sleep. Rest was the most important thing for now. She set her watch back two hours to account for the differences in the planet's rotation and then to go off in eight hours. That would wake her at approximately one or two a.m. local time. Four hours before hunt time. Four hours ought to be more than she needed to find the Doctor. And if all else failed she’d make a runner for the TARDIS. Three klicks was nothing to her. She outran the Doctor and Rose all the time on distances like that, even without accessing her own personal turbo boost.

She unfocused her mind, closed her eyes, and fell into sleep within minutes. She didn’t even hear the man come in to remove her tray.




The hunter smiled as he saw the sleeping woman. The sedative was already taking effect and she would be groggy for the beginning of the hunt, her senses dulled by the medication. He approached the bed and stared at her. She was unusual, this one. He’d never seen hair her color before as the villagers all had brown or blond hair. Well, maybe the Chieftain would let him take it as a souvenir and have it made into a wig. Especially if it was his arrow that brought her down.

He was tempted to take her as he had so many of the girls who had frequented this cell before her, but if on the off chance she did survive this and was returned to her husband, she would have regained full status as a wife and by law her husband could have him punished. This one was a fighter and the possibility was there that she might survive. And if he did make the attempt so soon after she was drugged, even the sedative wouldn’t keep her down if she had an adrenaline rush.

He liked his women compliant or begging for their lives. She had been a strong fighter when they'd caught her and he didn't want that in bed. Regretfully he turned away from the exotic looking woman. He removed her food tray and shut the door, sliding the bolt home behind him.



When her alarm went off it took her a moment to realize where she was. She’d dreamt of home and had almost expected to wake up in her flat in London or Martha’s flat in Cardiff. But no, she was in prison, locked away, awaiting what was usually a death sentence. Well, she wouldn’t wait patiently. She removed the sonic screwdriver from her pocket and flicked it to the correct setting. It took it five minutes to vibrate the bolt open, but when she heard the final snick that meant the door was unlocked she was thrilled at her success.

Slowly she opened the door and crept into the hallway. She closed it quietly and then relocked it. On silent feet she made her way towards the front of the jailhouse. She was shocked to see it had been left unguarded. Perhaps no one had ever escaped from here before. Well, there was always a first time and she would be glad to turn their expectations wonky.

She found the coat rack where her jacket had been stored and put it on, wrapping her scarf around her neck and putting on her gloves. She wished she had something that would blend into the night but there was no way she was putting on the black coat that hung from the peg. White would have been preferable so she could blend into the snow, but beggar’s couldn’t be choosers and she needed to stay warm.

Appropriately attired she slipped into the night and made her way to the medic’s house. Once she had made it there, sneaking from shadow to shadow, she saw the reason why there were no guards at the prison. They were all on the medic’s house. In frustration she made her way back to the forest. It was a dark night, the sky overcast with the threat of new snow. Going through the woods would be difficult in the dark but her sense of direction was strong and she could use the sonic screwdriver as a compass if she could just remember the setting.

After a moment or two of fiddling she found the right one and set off into the woods, the TARDIS her goal.


Chapter Twenty-seven:  This Mercurial Hope

The Doctor was reeling from the information Erinnah had given him. He simply could not believe that any culture would be so corrupt as to do what the elders of this village did to its young. He had fought down his revulsion and horror as he’d walked back to his wife and explained the situation.

“So you see, Rose, I’m going to have to do something. I have to put a stop to this. It simply can’t go on any longer,” the Doctor told her.

“I know,” Rose said. She raised frightened eyes to his. “Do you think that’s what they’re going to do to Donna?” she asked.

“Erinnah said she was compatible. I’m not going to let this happen. Donna is my responsibility. She’s part of our family and if they think I’m going to just sit back and let them steal her away from us, they’re dead wrong.” His voice was tight and barely controlled. “If they lay one finger on her, they’re going to regret it for the rest of their lives.”

“When you find her, what are you going to do?” Rose asked.

“Free her, get her to safety, and then go and foment a revolution. You know,” he said with a grin that almost hid the steely resolve in his eyes, “The usual.”

“Be careful, love,” Rose told him. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he told her and kissed her gently before leaving the room. He made one more stop down the hall to pick up a spare sonic screwdriver. It wasn’t as good as the one Donna had on her, but it was a close second as his backup tool.

“Are you ready, then?” Erinnah asked when he came back into the console room.

“In a moment.” The Doctor moved the TARDIS out of the medic’s house, to behind the communal lodge. From there it was a short walk to the prison building. He was surprised to find it unguarded.

“They don’t bother with guards at night time,” said Erinnah. “It would be breaking curfew and that could get you put on the hunt list.”

“Aren’t you worried about that now?” the Doctor asked as the entered the building and made their way to the cells.

“I’ve been marked since the day I was born. I’m sure of it now. The randomness of the selection process has been suspect by the unwed for years. Somehow my family has always had heavy losses. There are a few like that, most with blood ties to the council or the Chieftain. There are families that have never been hunted at all. And with the way my application for marriage was blocked even with men willing to take me on with no dowry at all…well, it’s rigged. It has to be. They wanted me as soon as possible.”

Erinnah was babbling but her words made sense to the Doctor. “Which cell is the hunt victim kept in?” he asked.

“That one,” she said pointing to a windowless door. The Doctor didn’t even need the backup sonic screwdriver. It was a simple bolt that he slid open. He opened the door and peered into the cell.

“It’s empty,” he said.

“Empty?” Erinnah echoed.

The Doctor smiled. “Oh, my clever Donna. She’s figured out a way to escape. Come on.” They shut the door and relocked it before leaving the jail house. He peered at the ground and then searched through his pockets before pulling out an electric torch. He shone it on the ground, then picked out the pattern of Donna’s boots, very different from the villagers’ soles, the brand name emblazoned right in the center.

He followed them to the edge of the woods. “She’s gone into the woods,” said Erinnah. “Those are the hunting grounds. They’ll be able to track her.”

“Yes, but so will we.”

“It’s not allowed to be in the woods on a hunt day. And the hunt day will start in two hours.”

“Then we better track her fast,” the Doctor said.

He felt something light and cold brush across his face and looked up at the sky. Snow was beginning to fall. “Quickly,” he said. The pair moved into the woods and began following the path Donna had left behind.




Donna rushed through the woods, her broken arm cradled against her body. The meager light of the sonic screwdriver lit her way, held before her like a torch. It had taken her a while to become accustomed to the dark and lonesome woods but soon enough her mind had quit thinking of it and she had just kept herself going.

It had taken her an hour to find herself on the far side of the forest, her bearing north kept on track by the screwdriver. She knew from the forest’s edge it was three klicks to the TARDIS. She moved as quickly as she could once she located the gentle rise in the land the TARDIS had been parked behind when they landed.

She had never been as relieved as she was when she began to climb the easy slope, knowing she was almost there. She reached the top and stared down below her, horrified. She could see an imprint in the snow of where the TARDIS had once rested. But it was no longer there.

All she had been able to think about for the past hour and a half was making it back to the safety of the TARDIS. Now as she stared at the empty meadow she knew that her hopes had been dashed, her future safety vanishing like an illusion. She was well and truly in danger now.

The sky began to lighten and she felt the first few snowflakes as they fell from above. She had to go back. She had to find a way to meet up with the Doctor or find the TARDIS. She shoved her despair down into a tiny little knot and focused her mind on what needed to be done. One foot in front of the other she made her way back to the woods.




“Doctor, we need to get out of the woods before the hunt starts,” Erinnah told him.

“How can they start the hunt without Donna?” he asked.

“They’ll be able to track her scent with the dogs. We’ve lost her trail. The snow has filled in her footprints. We need to turn back and get to safety before they find out she’s missing. As soon as they figure it out, they’ll come for you, thinking you’re at my father’s house. They’ll seek to punish you,” Erinnah said.

“That’s not going to happen,” he said grimly. “If anyone is going to pay for what’s been done here, it’s going to be those who have perpetrated mass murder for the sake of more time on this planet.”

“There’s nothing more we can do for Donna at this time. You said she was clever. She’ll find a way to survive.”

They walked in silence for a long time until they came out of the woods behind the communal lodge. “Erinnah, I’m going to ask you to wait in the TARDIS while I talk to the unwed. It’s the only way to keep you safe from whatever happens next,” the Doctor said.

“No. I’ve made my choice. I’ll make my stand. I’m coming with you.”

“You do realize your choice might mean your death?” he questioned.

“Doctor, this is the way my life has always been. I’ve always been afraid of death. It’s always hovered over me from the time I was old enough to understand the hunt and what it was for. I know that if things stay the way they have always been then I will die. If I make a stand today, sure I might die. But I’ll choose might over will any day. Might leaves hope,” Erinnah said strength coming into her voice.  "And I quite like hope."

The Doctor nodded at her and together they walked into the communal lodge.

Ch. 28&29:  http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/93201.html 

Comments

[simplyn2deep.livejournal.com]

still a bit unsure of Erinnah, but good for her for finally standing up. sometimes one person really can make a difference.

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

She's stronger than she seems at present.