The child lay on the edge of a precipice, eight feet below the cliff they stood on.

"We need rope!" Yaz yelled, turning to run into the Tardis.

A chunk of ledge broke away under the four-year-old, leaving his arm dangling over the abyss. His head came dangerously close to falling over, taking him with it.

"There's no time." The Doctor shrugged off her coat and threw it aside. "Graham, grab the Tardis... Yaz grab Graham… Ryan grab Yaz and me."

"Wha..?"

"I'm going down." At those steely words the Companions snapped into place.

The Doctor slapped her hand into Ryan's. He grabbed her in a wristlock. She leaned out over the cliff, reaching down.

The blond child lay unconscious below, dressed in the shorts and braces of this Alpine countryside, a gash showing on his forehead.

She reached, bracing one knee on the cliff face, upside down. Still not close enough. "Ryan, kneel!"

Ryan labored down to one knee, then the other, lowering her another half meter.

"Not enough." Another tremor shivered the cliff, clods of dirt broke off, narrowing the child's ledge further. The Doctor squirmed around.

"What are you doing?" Yaz yelled, unable to see, feeling the yank on their arms.

"We can't stretch any further, Doc!" Graham yelled, sounding strained.

"Just hold on!" the Doctor yelled back.

She contorted around and untied her bootlaces one handed. She slipped her boot and sock off and clamped her laces in her teeth. She turned herself upright, feet dangling.

"Bloody hell, Doc! What are you doing?" Graham asked.

The Doctor stretched her leg down. She twisted and wiggled, grabbing Ryan's wrist with both hands, bracing on her elbows on the cliff.

"Should I lay down?" Ryan asked, his voice growling under the exertion. She shook her head frantically.

With probing toes she touched the back of the child's shoulder. She wiggled her foot under his right brace. Then shoved her foot over and gripped his left brace with her toes.

"Bull!" she said, her mouth muffled with shoelaces.

The Companions heaved. She clenched her foot, angling it out to keep the child from hitting the cliff.

Ryan and Yaz pulled her up. She scraped the last few feet sideways and flopped over the edge. She pushed back on her elbows, then lay back and lifted the child up and over with her other foot. Boot still dangling from her mouth.

Yaz and Graham grabbed the boy and pulled him to safety. Yaz's eyebrows quirked but she untangled the Doctor's bare foot from the child's braces.

"He's still breathing." Graham said.

The Doctor spat her laces out. "Good. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" She jackknifed up and grabbed her calf.

"What's wrong?" Yaz asked.

The Doctor grimaced. "Charley horse."

Ryan grunted a laugh. He knelt, sweating.

Yaz grinned and helped her massage her leg. "How did you do that?"

The Doctor grimaced and lay back, arms spread out with a sigh. "One of the advantages of this incarnation, good long toes."

"He must weigh forty pounds." Ryan said, shuffling over to Graham to get a look at the boy. "You've got strong legs."

"It's all the running." The Doctor stared up at the puffy white clouds.

There was another rumble, and they could hear rocks crashing into the ravine below.

"Well, it's a good thing for him we came along," Graham said. "Talk about hanging on by a toehold."

—

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