Chapter Eleven

Khysssh Shhrysshk watched the three 'visitors' run out of his bed chamber into the tunnel. He was contracting his rumen to produce a gas bolus that would ignite the air. He closed his eyes and his ears and belched, feeling the warmth of the conflagration on his scales. He lowered his head onto his folded arms and went back to sleep for a couple of hours. When night fell he would claim his new throne and tomorrow he would be sleeping in the king's bed.

As Khysssh Shhrysshk left his bed chamber he was surprised that there were no charred remains in the tunnel. They must have been faster runners than he thought. He was even more surprised and somewhat puzzled when he got outside. The area was scorched from the fireball, bushes and shrubs were just sticks of charcoal. Tree bark facing the entrance was charred. There were no bodies! No footprints in the ash of comrades collecting their remains for burial. Where could they have gone?

Never mind, he would have plenty of time to contemplate it after tonight. He stretched out his wings and gave a couple of warm-up flaps, hopping along as he did so. He crouched down, leapt up and with a massive down draft of his wings climbed into the evening twilight.

His dark pupils were wide taking in as much light as they could to give him excellent night vision. He could see the walled city in the distance and set off towards it, his excitement rising. He was going to enjoy this.

The Doctor stood on the roof of the Great hall, watching the Craigon approach. He was high, maybe 1,000 feet on a straight course that lined up with the main street. The Doctor knew what the Craigon would do, he would suddenly dive and, using the main street as a runway would glide along spewing fire as he went. Throw your enemy into chaos and then pick off the opposition at your leisure.

Sure enough, Khysssh Shhrysshk started to glide down and belched out a steady, controlled stream of fire that ignited wooden buildings, carts and thatched roofs along the main street.

The Doctor held a powerful laser pen and pressed the button. A pencil thin beam of intense green light shone across the city, easily seen in the rising smoke. He activated the helmet public address system.

"KHYSSSH SHHRYSSHK!" His voice boomed over the city, rattling windows. "REMEMBER ME? I'M THE DOCTOR! YOU THOUGHT I WAS A MYTH, BUT YOU WERE WRONG, I'M A LEGEND... AND, I'M THE STUFF OF NIGHTMARES."

Rose was two floors down and could hear his voice resonating through the stone. She looked up at the ceiling and smiled at his words. She started to run as she continued her search for Lance.

The Doctor saw the Craigon turn at the end of his glide and circle around to follow the laser beam.

"Return all seats to the upright position and fasten your seatbelts, he's coming in to land." The Doctor turned off the laser pen, picked up the two swords and stood in front of the roof door.

Khysssh Shhrysshk flapped to a landing on the roof and folded his wings. He stood half as tall again as the Doctor and folded his arms across his chest while his tail swished behind him.

"I thought I had baked you earlier," Khysssh Shhrysshk boomed.

"Didn't your myth tell you that Time Lords are hard to kill? You should have taken my offer, I don't give second chances," the Doctor replied.

"NEITHER DO I!" A jet of flame shot out of his mouth, causing the Doctor to step backwards under the force of the breath. The fireball subsided and the Doctor was still standing in front of the Craigon, smiling.

"Nope, that ain't gonna work," he grinned. He tossed a sheathed sword to Khysssh Shhrysshk who caught it easily.

"Tell you what, under the sanctified rules of combat, I challenge you to a duel!" he said in a cheery voice.

Khysssh Shhrysshk withdrew the sword from the scabbard and examined it before throwing them behind him. He smiled at the Doctor and raised his hands, flexing his fingers and showing him his impressive claws.

"I accept your challenge. I will tear you asunder and stamp your remains into dust," he roared.

"Hssskk chhassk tsskk psshhack," the Doctor hissed.

Khysssh Shhrysshk was speechless with rage. Which wasn't surprising considering that the Doctor had said his mother was a damp match and his father couldn't light a barbecue with a fart.

The Doctor chuckled to himself. Rose was right; his motor-mouth could seriously piss people off. He took the moment of mounting rage in his opponent to grab the backpack, open the roof door and run.

He took the wooden stairs two or three at a time down to the landing. His vision blurred and went orange as he was engulfed in a ball of flame. Looking up he could see Khysssh Shhrysshk coming through the door and starting to descend the stairs.

The Doctor quickly opened the door to the third floor and went through, slamming the door behind him. He took his sonic screwdriver out of the backpack and fused the metal latch.

He ran down the hallway to the staircase at the other end and waited. He wanted the Craigon to see and follow him. An angry, fire breathing dragon roaming the Great Hall looking for him was not a good idea.

The small door rattled once and then splintered off its hinges. Khysssh Shhrysshk stuck his head through the doorway and looked both ways. He spotted the Doctor and started to move towards him. The Doctor sat on the curving balustrade and slid all the way down to the second floor with a 'wheeeee'.

He hit the ground running and ran straight into Rose. They ended up in a pile on the floor with Lance looking down at them.

"What are you doing here," the Doctor asked as he got up and helped Rose to her feet.

Lance lifted the fire extinguisher slightly. "Fire warden," he said with a grin.

There was a roar from the top of the stairs and all three looked up to see Khysssh Shhrysshk glaring down at them. Fortunately there was not enough room for him to flex his wings so he had to run down the stairs.

"Call my mother a damp match would you!" he said as he prepared to belch another fireball.

Lance pointed the extinguisher and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

Khysssh Shhrysshk grinned and spat fire, except he didn't. You could see the gas ripple in the air, but there was no fire.

Rose and Lance looked on, open mouthed. They should have been toast.

The Doctor saw their faces and then grinned. "Didn't I mention that they emit a fire dampening force field? What were you expecting, water, powder, foam?"

Rose slapped his arm hard. "Don't you ever do that again!" she said angrily as they started running again.

They were halfway down the hallway when a group of terrified servants came around the corner. They skidded to a halt. 'Damn' the Doctor thought, if he went that way they would all be killed by the Craigon.

Rose spotted her handmaiden Methanwy.

"Methanwy run," she called to her as they all screamed.

Khysssh Shhrysshk had come around the corner, his bulk filling the hallway. The Doctor opened the nearest door and pushed everyone inside. He rested his back against the door and fused it with the sonic. They were in Roses bedroom.

"Well, as usual, this isn't quite going to plan," he said. "I wanted to get him into the dungeon."

"Did you really call his mother a damp match?" Rose asked with a laugh.

"Yeah, you should hear what I said about his dad!" he laughed as he took off the helmet. The door pounded and the Doctor jumped forwards to join Rose and Lance, turning to look at the door.

The door lurched again. All three instinctively moved backwards towards the wall. There was a loud splintering bang and the door toppled forwards to land flat on the floor.

Khysssh Shhrysshk ducked and stepped into the room as Arthur came around the corner with Bedivere and Tristran.

"See the servants to safety," Arthur told them as he drew Excalibur from its scabbard.

"Sire, Lady Rose is in there with Lord Doctor," Methanwy told him.

Rose could hear the gurgling noise from his rumen that she had heard in his den. He was about to 'fire'.

She aimed the extinguisher and pulled the trigger as the air rippled. Khysssh Shhrysshk grabbed the extinguisher and pulled it out of her hands. Unfortunately the strap was around her neck and Rose went with it, straight into the arms of the Craigon.

Rose's back was against the belly of the Craigon, a powerful, scaly, muscular arm around her waist held her off the floor. She could feel the points of razor sharp claws at her throat.

"Well Time Lord, you may be difficult to kill, but I'll wager this one isn't" Khysssh Shhrysshk growled. He looked at Lance. "Drop the device."

Lance looked at the Doctor who nodded for him to comply. Lance took the strap from around his neck and dropped the extinguisher to the floor. They both saw Arthur peep around the door frame to assess the situation and disappear again.

"So Doctor, my father couldn't light a barbecue with a fart?" Khysssh Shhrysshk hissed with venom in his voice.

Even being in a life threatening situation, Rose spluttered as she suppressed a laugh.

"You will suffer for that Doctor, you will see the skin stripped off your precious lady here and then I will deal with you."

Arthur leapt through the doorway and thrust Excalibur into the side of the Craigon's chest. Khysssh Shhrysshk swished his tail and knocked Arthur across the room, his sword clattering across the floor and ending up under the bed.

As Khysssh Shhrysshk instinctively reached to feel the wound, he dropped Rose to the floor who screamed as she fell.

Going down the stairs, Methanwy heard Rose scream and turning, pushed past Tristran and ran back to the hallway. She ran to the doorway and skidded to a halt, looking into the room.

She saw Rose lying on the floor with the dragon standing over her. 'The dragon has killed her' she thought.

"ROSE!" she yelled.

Khysssh Shhrysshk, surprised by the sudden entrance belched and roared a jet of flame which engulfed Methanwy and killed her before her charred body hit the polished, oak floor.

"METHANWY!" Rose screamed as she saw her charred corpse on the floor.

She looked up at the Craigon who was grinning at his handy work.

Rose had what the Doctor called the 'Jackie Tyler' look on her face.

"YOU BASTARD!" she yelled with all the anguish and venom in her body.

Khysssh Shhrysshk ignored her and headed for Arthur, swatting the Doctor and Lance out of the way. He stood over Arthur and prepared to stamp him through the floor.

Rose looked down at the bed and grabbed the heavy blanket and cast it like a fishing net at the Craigon's head. It covered his head and he stopped to try and pull it off, it was catching on his crest scales.

As Rose had grabbed the blanket it had uncovered Excalibur and she saw it reflecting the candlelight.

"DOCTOR!" Rose grabbed the sword and slid it hilt first towards him.

The Doctor leapt into a forward roll, grabbing the sword and rolling into a sitting position under the Craigon He thrust upwards and buried the sword deep into his abdomen. The room filled with the stench of bad eggs.

Khysssh Shhrysshk roared again and grabbed the Doctor's shoulders, lifting him off the floor, opening his mouth wide to bite the Doctor's head off.

Lance picked himself off the floor and leapt into a double footed flying kick, catching Khysssh Shhrysshk's lower jaw and spinning his head around. Lance landed on top of Arthur and grinned at him. 'Harkness would have loved this' he thought to himself.

The Doctor was thrown across the room, crashed into the wardrobe and crumpled into a heap on the floor. Khysssh Shhrysshk turned and saw Arthur and Lance entangled together. This was his chance to finish them.

Lance got to one knee and protected the King. He could see blood seeping from the stomach wound and smell rotten eggs. Suddenly his thoughts were crystal clear and he had a plan.

He quickly reached inside his jacket and found the shiny metal object he was looking for, part of his survival kit. Khysssh Shhrysshk menacingly approached, gathering himself for a final attack.

Things seemed to happen in slow motion. Lance brought his fist from inside his pocket and punched it through the wound in Khysssh Shhrysshk's underbelly. The Craigon looked stunned.

In his cheesiest Australian accent Lance said. "Time to light the barbie!"

With his hand inside the rumen, he flipped the lid on his trusty petrol lighter and ran his thumb down the flint-wheel.

The windows in the room blew out with a deafening 'BOOM' followed by a damp 'SPLAT' as bits of Craigon covered the room.

Rose pulled herself from under the blanket that had landed on her after the Craigon had thrown it off its head. She scrabbled over to the Doctor's motionless form and cradled his head on her lap.

"Doctor?" she whispered, stroking his unruly hair. "Doctor!? Don't you go an' die on me! Don't you dare go changin' again!" She was crying now, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Don't you dare go an' die on me! Not now! I've got to tell you," her voice caught in her throat. "Tell you that I..."

"Rose?" he breathed. He reached up and caressed her face, wiping the tears with his thumb.

"I'm here," she laughed and cried. "I'm here." She hugged his head fiercely.

"Help me get to the TARDIS, I need the medi-bay," he told her.

She kneeled and put her shoulder under his armpit and they staggered across the room to the door. Arthur and Lance were unmoving, either unconscious or dead. They didn't know. The Doctor took in the scene of devastation.

"Blimey! The cleaners are going to be pissed!" he laughed and immediately winced. "Ooh, cracked ribs. No laughing, definitely no laughing."

They made it to the TARDIS medi-bay and Rose helped him lie on the examination couch. The couch came to life and started beeping and pinging as various robotic tools and implements attached themselves to the Doctor. An oxygen mask fitted itself over his face. A gold mist started to envelope his body as the nano-genes started to repair his body.

Rose went back to the other room and found that Arthur was trying to extricate himself from under Lance. She grabbed Lance's lapels and started to drag him across the floor. Arthur grabbed his knees and lifted him off the floor.

"Where are we going?" Arthur asked her as they struggled through the door.

"TARDIS medi-bay" she replied.

"Rose, I have a confession to make." He smiled at her. "I understand less than half of the things you and the Doctor say."

Rose had a fit of post-stress hysterical giggles, knowing what was coming next.

"What the fuck!" Are the very un-royal words that came out of Arthur's mouth when they entered the TARDIS.

"Gadzooks!" is what Rose heard; as the TARDIS thought that this language was a bit choice for a young ladies ears.

The Medi-couch lowered itself to the floor so that they could easily lower Lance onto it. As with the Doctor, after the couch had risen, it sprang into action and started to repair his body.

A green anti-burn gunk was sprayed on his face and his burnt right hand was placed in a plastic container of the same gunk.

Exhausted, Rose looked over at Arthur. "Fancy a cup of tea?" she asked him.

"I don't know, do I?"

"Oh, that's right, you haven't got tea yet have ya. I wonder if it'll cause a paradox thingy if I make you a cuppa. Oh, who cares? I need a cup of tea."

The Doctor woke up and looked over at Rose. She was sat in a chair and had her feet up on the couch, grinning at him over the top of her mug.

"Howya feelin'?" she asked him.

He looked at the display above his head. "Apparently I'm alright."

"Here y'are then." She handed him a mug of tea.

He took it off her and had a sip. "Aaaahh." He looked over to Lance who was still asleep. Arthur was sat the other side of the couch enjoying a mug of tea.

It was first light and the servants had started to clean up after the night's activities. Tradesmen were repairing the doors. Rose watched with tears in her eyes as Methanwy's charred body was placed on a wooden stretcher and carried away.

One of the handmaidens wailed and collapsed to her knees on the floor. Rose walked over and kneeled down beside her putting an arm around her shoulders.

"Did you know Methanwy?" Rose asked her.

"Yes m'lady, we're came from the same village," she said between sobs. Rose pulled her into a hug and they both wept.

"My name is Rose," she told her gently. "I'm not a m'lady. Methanwy wouldn't call me Rose, thought she'd lose her position. But I wanted her to, and now she can't." She wiped a tear from her cheek.

"Tell me about her, I want to know everything about her. Everything about a woman who was so courageous and yet was afraid to call me Rose." She was looking up at the Doctor who stood there in silence. His face showing all the usual pain of a Time Lord who could not save everyone.

Lance was out of the medi-bay and healing well. The nano-genes had fixed up most of his injuries. The burns would take a bit longer so he had his right arm in a sling and bandages on his hand.

He had been summoned to the throne room along with the Doctor and Rose, by command of King Arthur.

Arthur and Guinevere sat on their thrones in front of the assembled court, the knighting-stool in front of them. The ceremonial sword was in its stand by the side of the stool.

"Ladies and gentlemen, today I have the great privilege to confer the honour of knighthood upon a man who demonstrated great courage, fortitude and presence of mind under extreme duress. His action not only saved Camelot and the City of Legions, but also saved my life." Arthur picked up the sword.

"Lancelot, please come forward and kneel before your King," Arthur commanded.

Lance stood and walked forwards to stand before Arthur. He knelt on the stool and Arthur touched his right then left shoulder with the tip of the sword.

"Advances Chevalier au nom de Dieu," Arthur said solemnly. Lancelot stood and Arthur hugged him gently. The assembled guest applauded and cheered as they left their seats to congratulate the new knight.

Rose hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. The Doctor grinned and slapped him on the back.

"So you two are on your way then," Lance said. "Leaving me here to my fate."

"Hey, you're the one who came here on your own volition, and you need to be here to throw Arthur's sword in the lake when he dies."

"Does that really happen?" Rose asked excitedly.

"Why not? The rest of the legend has been fairly close, and we can't have an alien sword lying around, now can we?" the Doctor said smiling.

"Tell you what Lance, before I put the Time Agency out of business, I'll get them to come and pick you up if you like," the Doctor told him.

Before Lancelot could answer, a guard called to him. "Sir Lancelot, the apothecary is here with your healing remedy."

He screwed up his face making Rose laugh. A young woman entered the throne room carrying a tray and placed it on the table.

She had curly, black shoulder length hair and beautiful green eyes. She wore a pale green dress with a white apron, and a white scarf head dress.

Lance looked at Rose and the Doctor, grinned and looked back at the young woman. She was pouring a dark green liquid from a bottle into a goblet. She brought it over to Lance and he gave her a smile that made her blush.

As he took the goblet, his fingers touched hers and held the contact for a little longer than he should have.

"What is your name apothecary?" he asked with a silky smooth voice.

"Gwyneth Sir," she said, unimpressed with his attentions. "You must drink it down in one go," she told him.

He smiled and knocked it back. He immediately stuck out his green tongue, gasped and shuddered. The Doctor and Rose laughed at the expression on his face.

Gwyneth put a small spoon into a jar on the tray and scooped up the contents. She put the spoon in his mouth and closed his mouth by pushing his chin up.

"Mmmmm, strawberry jam, you should have given me that first," he told her.

She looked at him slightly seductively and said. "Maybe next time."

"He definitely knows Jack!" Rose said laughing as he walked over.

"Don't be too eager to send the Agency to get me, will you?" he said with a grin.

Arthur and Guinevere strolled over to say goodbye as Rose's phone started to ring.

"'Scuse me," she said as she took the call. "Hi Mum, how are ya?"

"What magic is that?" Arthur asked the Doctor in amazement, pointing at Rose's mobile phone.

"No magic Arthur, just a complicated machine that allows Rose to speak with her mother over a distance," he explained.

"Remarkable!" Arthur exclaimed.

"Mum, stop cryin' an' tell me what happened," Rose said.

"Well, Arthur, Guinevere, we will be going soon. Thank you for your hospitality," the Doctor said.

"Elton? Who's Elton when he's at home?" Rose said.

"Our hospitality seems inadequate for the service you have provided us," Guinevere said in earnest.

"He was usin' you to get to the Doctor! I'll kill 'im." Rose had her 'Jackie Tyler' face on.

"Er, I think we'd better be going now, bye." The Doctor grabbed Rose's arm, waved at everyone and headed for the door.

"He had a photo of me? I'll bloody kill 'im! No one upsets my Mum!"

The End