Besides, if there were things like that, giant things like that, blundering around in the woods, Rory would prefer they were chasing him rather than bearing down on Amy and the Doctor.

He could draw them off, perhaps, and then circle back to look for his friends… And then get the hell out of there.

Chapter

4

Though the Frost Was Cruel

‘Someone’s coming!’ hissed Amy.

The Doctor’s sonic screwdriver had been poised over the cage door’s lock. He quickly put it behind his back.

Bel Flurrish came down the shadowy steps into the lamplight. She stared at them through the bars. ‘Where is my sister?’ she asked.

‘We don’t know,’ the Doctor assured her gently.

‘You do know,’ said Bel, approaching the bars. Her expression was fierce.

‘We don’t!’ Amy insisted. ‘How’s about you let us out of this stupid cage?’

‘I know you know,’ said Bel. ‘How else would you have a picture of her?’

‘A picture?’ asked Amy, baffled.

‘In that wallet!’ Bel exclaimed. ‘That wallet full of conjury! I saw it!’

Amy looked at the Doctor.

‘Psychic paper,’ murmured the Doctor. He turned to face Amy. ‘Awkward. One of the drawbacks. It keys into the thing you most want to see, the thing you’ll find most compelling or convincing. Sometimes a strong emotion can imprint, with rather unfortunate consequences.’

‘She saw her sister because she’s worried about her?’

asked Amy.

‘It’s all she can think of,’ the Doctor replied. ‘Plus, she suspects us of being involved somehow because we’re strangers, so that boosted the subliminal response. Plus—’

‘There’s another plus?’

‘Yes,’ said the Doctor. ‘I think there’s a general level of tension here that’s heightening emotional resonance.’

Bel was watching their rapid conversation with increasing amazement.

‘You know she’s standing right there and she can hear every word we’re saying, don’t you?’ Amy asked the Doctor.

‘Yes, I had noticed.’

‘And you’re aware her general level of freak-out is going to sky-rocket if we keep talking like this?’

‘Indeed I am,’ said the Doctor.

He turned back to face Bel through the bars of the cage.

He smiled.

‘Listen,’ he said. ‘Arabel - it is Arabel? - Arabel, we really want to help you. We really do. We didn’t harm your sister or take her away. We didn’t even see her.

But we’d like to help you find her. What’s your sister’s name, Arabel?’

‘Why would I tell you that?’ asked Bel.

‘So that we can help you?’

‘And why would you help me?’

‘To be honest,’ said Amy, ‘we’re in a bit of a fix here.

If we can do something to help you, maybe we can prove to your…’ She hesitated, then gestured up the stairs behind Bel.’… to your community that we’re nothing to be afraid of.’

‘Indeed,’ said the Doctor. ‘Let nothing you dismay.

We come in peace. Besides, no one deserves to be lost in weather like this.’

‘No, they don’t,’ agreed Amy, shooting the Doctor a significant look.

‘So what’s her name?’ asked the Doctor.

‘Vesta,’ said Bel cautiously. ‘Harvesta Flurrish.’

‘And when did you last see her?’

‘Last night, before bed. She was gone this morning.’

‘Do you know where she might have gone?’ asked the Doctor.

Bel shook her head. ‘But she took her boots and her coat.’

The Doctor glanced at Amy, and then looked back at Bel. ‘Arabel,’ he said, ‘it’s not supposed to be this cold, is it?’

‘Is it not cold where you come from?’ Bel asked.

‘Not this cold,’ said the Doctor. ‘It’s getting colder each winter, isn’t it? Every year, a little worse. How many years has it been going on?’

‘Three or four.’

‘And the reverse is supposed to be happening, isn’t it?’

‘Of course,’ said Bel. ‘That is the goal of all Morphan work. As you should know.’

‘I was just thinking aloud,’ said the Doctor.

‘Guide tells us,’ said Bel, ‘that patterns may worsen in the short term while the greater changes take effect.

So the Elect teaches.’

‘That’s true,’ said the Doctor. ‘Sometimes. With major projects, that’s certainly true, sometimes. You’re dealing with continental weather systems. Global climate. But I’m not sure. That’s why you haven’t done anything drastic, isn’t it? You’ve been telling yourself it’s just a symptom of short-term climate change.’

‘What’s this all about, Doctor?’ Amy asked. ‘Why are you talking about weather?’

‘Look at her clothes,’ said the Doctor. ‘Her everyday clothes are well made but worn from long use. Her overcoats, and shawls, her boots… they’re all new. The people here are not used to winters this cold.’ He looked back at Bel. ‘Will you let us out, Arabel?’

Bel glanced nervously at the stairs. ‘I should not. It is against the word of the Elect.’

‘If you let us out, we will help you,’ said the Doctor.

Bel wavered.

‘But I do not have the key!’ she declared.

‘Arabel, tell me why people are so worried about conjury?’ asked the Doctor.

‘It’s a Cat A crime,’ said Bel. ‘We are taught we may only do what Guide tells us to do. If it is unguidely, then it is forbidden.’

‘Arabel,’ said the Doctor calmly, ‘just for a moment, you’re going to have to accept that Guide has told me how to do things that may not have been mentioned to other people.’

Bel Flurrish blinked and then narrowed her eyes.

‘What do you mean?’

The Doctor took the sonic screwdriver from behind his back. He adjusted it, ratcheted open the pincers, and aimed it at the cage door’s lock. It glowed as it warbled softly. The lock sprang with a click.

The Doctor opened the cage door.

Bel stared at him.

‘Let’s go and find your sister,’ he said.

They slipped up the stairs of the compter, the Doctor leading the way. The sound of voices drifted from the assembly hall.

‘They will be talking for hours,’ Bel whispered.

One of Duggat’s men was watching the doorway, leaning on the handle of the shovel he’d been carrying as a weapon. He was watching the council debate through the half-open door. A strong, cold draft was coming down the side corridor. Arabel indicated that direction with a tilt of her head.

Hugging the chilly stone of the wall, they crept past the guard, and hurried down the corridor to the rear gate. Bel struggled a little with the heavy bolt. The Doctor helped her. Amy kept glancing over her shoulder. She was certain the guard was going to hear the screech of the bolt withdrawing.

The Doctor managed to pull it silently. He ran his finger along the bolt.

‘The same metal as the nails,’ he whispered.

Amy glared at him.

He gauged her reaction. ‘No? Not the time for that?’

he asked, still whispering.

She shook her head.

They scuttled outside, into a little snowy yard behind the assembly. Amy carefully latched the door as quietly as she could.

Bel stepped up to the Doctor and put her hand flat against his chest, pushing him firmly against the yard wall.

‘I am only doing this to help my sister,’ she said. ‘I will not have her die too.’

‘Of course,’ said the Doctor.

‘If you play me for a fool…’

‘I won’t, Arabel. I promise.’

‘This is our house,’ said Bel, closing the door behind them. No lamps had been lit, and no heat stoked up either. Bel had left the Flurrish house early in her search for Vesta. The house ached with cold. Daylight leaked in through the snow-dusted windows.

‘We won’t be disturbed here,’ said Bel.

‘It’s splendid,’ said the Doctor. ‘We just need somewhere to think, just for a minute. There’s no sense in running around the countryside looking for Vesta in this weather. We need to work out where she might have gone.’