Doctor Who: Marco Polo (14 page)

'I shall have won both it and my ship,'
he said grandly.

'Won?' They were suspicious.

'Playing backgammon with Kublai
tomorrow morning.' He told them of all he had won on the journey from
Shang-Tu. 'I shall wager it all against the TARDIS.' Barbara and Ian
looked anxiously at each other.

'What if you were to lose, Doctor?' Ian
finally asked. The Doctor looked offended.

'That is out of the question,
Chesterton,' he snapped, 'I am the infinitely better player.'

Barbara crossed her fingers.

The banquet, for about five hundred
people, was, in the opinion of the Empress, so successful that after
her third helping of Yang-Chow shrimp balls she turned to Kublai.

'Promote him.'

'Promote whom, scintillating
glow-worm?'

'Ling-Tau. Make him the commander of
the palace guard or some such position so that he is worthy of the
Lady Ping-Cho's hand.' She stretched out her chopsticks and plucked a
sweet-and-sour spare rib from a dish.

'We take your meaning, beauteous
butterfly,' Kublai replied.

The War Lord Tegana also had a
suggestion to make. He wanted a private interview with the mighty
Kublai Khan in the morning. Kublai, with a quick glance at the
Doctor, was obliged to refuse but agreed to receive the War Lord in
the afternoon after he had received Marco's gift of a flying caravan.
Although Tegana's face remained impassive, the Doctor saw the shock
in his eyes and thought that now there was much more than mischief
afoot. But it was none of his business, he thought, as by the end of
the day the four of them would probably be light-years away.

In the morning the Doctor went to the
throne room where Kublai was waiting alone for him. The room was even
more imposing than the one at the summer palace. Again the throne
stood on a dais against a brocaded back wall and there were golden
double doors in the centres of the other three walls which were lined
with statues, busts and ornaments in jade, gold, silver, ivory and
coral, all of them on individual pedestals. Kublai was standing
beside one in jade near the back wall. It was round and reminded the
Doctor of an ornate doorknob. Kublai turned it
and a section of the wall swung open to reveal a small antechamber.

'The Empress doesn't know about this
one,' Kublai said with a nudge as they went in. A similar knob on a
similar pedestal on the inside closed the wall behind them. There was
no lighting yet the room was bright from the phosphorescent paint
used to decorate it.

'Look,' Kublai said, pointing to a
Judas-eye in the wall, through which the throne room could be seen.

'And, Sire, if the Empress were
therein?' the Doctor asked. Kublai chuckled and crossed to the
opposite wall where there was another Judas-eye and door knob on a
pedestal.

'It opens onto the corridor so that we
may slip out and enter the throne room with all propriety.' In the
middle of the room was an ivory table with a backgammon board on it.
Two high-backed ebony chairs faced one another across the table.

'Shall we play, dear friend?' Kublai
asked.

'Gladly,' the Doctor replied and they
sat down.

In the Doctor's suite, Susan, Barbara
and Ian paced nervously.

'Grandfather's bound to win,' Susan
said, 'think back to the chess games crossing the Gobi desert.'

'And everything he's already won from
Kublai at backgammon,' Barbara added.

'Yes,' Ian agreed, 'the odds are on his
side.'

An hour later the Doctor came in.

'I lost,' he said, and slumped into a
chair.

The Doctor watched disconsolately from
a balcony as the TARDIS was delivered on its wagon in the middle of
the afternoon. It was still on the original platform to which Ian and
Marco had strapped it months ago on the Plain of Pamir. Carefully the
platform was slid off the wagon and carried by fifty servants into
the palace and the throne room.

'There's one consolation, Doctor,'
Barbara said, standing at his side with Susan and Ian, 'we're all
safely under the same roof again.' The Doctor grunted and patted her
hand. From a window the War Lord Tegana also watched its arrival.

'It flies, you say?' Kublai turned to
Marco who stood beside the throne.

'Yes, great Khan.'

'Give us your arm and let us examine
this caravan.' Slowly Kublai, suffering from a recurrence of gout
brought on by the previous evening's banquet, hobbled around it. 'We
find the caravan small, Marco, barely enough room for the Empress and
ourself, let alone our retinue.'

'On my oath, great Khan, the Doctor and
his three companions were travelling in it.'

'Is the caravan an optical illusion, as
our magicians create for us to see what we do not see? Measure the

dimensions, Marco.' Pacing out his
steps, Marco walked around it.

'No illusion, great Khan,' he said as
he helped Kublai back to the throne. Kublai stared at his flying
caravan.

'Summon the Doctor to our presence and
do not bother to retire backwards kow-towing.' Marco smiled, bowed
and left to confront the silent group in the Doctor's suite.

'Kublai Khan wants to see you, Doctor,'
he said lamely under their cold stares and, suddenly, was overwhelmed
by guilt. 'I'm sorry. I should never have done what I did. It was
selfish and, therefore, unjustifiable.'

'Give the Doctor the key and we'll go,'
Ian answered abruptly. Marco looked at them for a moment and then
nodded.

'I'll go and fetch it.'

'You'll do no such thing, Polo.' The
Doctor jumped to his feet. 'Both those keys are the property of the
flying caravan's rightful owner, Kublai Khan.' He pointed an accusing
finger at Marco. 'You took it away from me illegally and I naturally
tried every recourse to take it back from you. But I lost my ship to
Kublai Khan in a game of backgammon and gambling debts must always be
honoured or redeemed. I shall come with you to see him.' Leaving
Barbara, Susan and Ian gaping in stupefaction, the Doctor, followed
by Marco, strode from the room.

Kublai was still staring at his flying
caravan when the Grand Vizier announced that Marco and the Doctor
awaited the great Khan's pleasure in an ante-room.

Kublai beckoned to him for them to
enter. As they did so, the Grand Vizier intoned 'Kow-tow'.

'Do stop it,' Kublai cried, 'the very
idea makes my foot throb.' Then he smiled at the Doctor. 'Do you have
a key to our flying caravan, dear friend?' The Doctor glanced at
Marco and then turned back to Kublai.

'No, Sire, Polo has them.'

'Them, dear friend?'

'There are two, Sire.'

'And Marco has them both?'

'Yes, Sire.'

'On you, good Marco?'

'No, great Khan, in my suite.'

'Fetch them for us.' Marco bowed and
left the room.

'We are told, dear friend, that only
you know how to open the door of our flying caravan.'

'That is true, Sire.'

'Will you instruct us in the method?'

'No, Sire, I will not.'

'Why do you refuse us?'

'Because inside is a world beyond your
understanding, Sire.'

'So we own a flying caravan in which we
may not fly.'

'Yes, Sire.' Kublai leant back on his
throne and winced. 'You should go on a diet, Sire. Banquets are all
very well but as Master of all Asia you should take more care of your
health.' Kublai began to chuckle.

'With our flying caravan, we are Master
of the World, dear friend.'

'When it was mine, I never felt that
way about it, Sire. I used it to travel from A to B, or sometimes
from A to Z.'

'You are not a Khan, dear friend, we
are. And to rule we need the symbols of power. The sacred tooth of
Buddha confirms our dominance over India, this palace over all Cathay
and beyond.' Kublai pointed to the TARDIS. 'Our flying caravan is
also a symbol of power, absolute power.'

Marco came back into the room and held
out the two keys. Kublai took one of them and instructed Marco to
have the second destroyed. Marco put it in his pocket. Kublai turned
the key over slowly in his hand and smiled at the Doctor. 'No, we are
wrong, dear friend. Whosoever holds this has the key to the world.'
He glanced at the Grand Vizier. 'Fetch us immediately a chain of
finely beaten gold that we may wear this permanently around our neck.
Holding the Key to the World,' he mused aloud as the Vizier hurried
out, 'that's even better than being Master of the World.' He smiled
and looked at the Doctor.

'We shall never play backgammon with
you again, dear friend.'

'I am now fully aware of that, Sire,'
the Doctor replied.

The Doctor and Marco walked back to the
suite in silence where Ian, Barbara and Susan waited for them. Once
inside the main room Marco took the second key from his pocket and
offered it to the Doctor.

'I am not one given to repeating
myself, Polo. Either honoured or redeemed.' The Doctor sat down and
shook his head with a sad smile. 'He has delusions of grandeur,
Chesterton.'

'Marco?' Ian was shocked.

'No, Kublai. He thinks he has the Key
to the World. I'd like a cup of tea.' He clapped his hands and
several servants scurried in.

The Grand Vizier found a suitable chain
and took it to the throne room. Kublai threaded it through the key
and had the Grand Vizier secure the clasp at the back of his neck.

'A mirror,' Kublai commanded. The Grand
Vizier brought one and mighty Kublai Khan sat admiring the Key to the
World that hung around his neck. 'Where is the War Lord Tegana?' he
asked.

'In his suite, great Khan, waiting to
be summoned.'

'Send for him and we shall discuss our
revised terms for peace with Noghai,' Kublai said,
fingering the key.

The commander of the infantry found
Tegana pacing in full ceremonial Tartar dress, breeches tucked into
his boots, a multicoloured blouse tightly belted at the waist with
his sabre tucked under it.

'Mighty Kublai Khan, the Master of all
Asia, is pleased to receive you,' the commander announced.

'Alone,' Tegana stated, 'I am the great
Khan Noghai's emissary, therefore it will be as if both Khans were
discussing the terms of peace.'

'Mighty Kublai Khan is aware of that,'
the commander replied and escorted Tegana to the throne room.

While sipping his tea the Doctor had
been turning over in his mind the events of the past months. He was
not overly concerned about the TARDIS. He would retrieve it.
Eventually Kublai would yield it to him.

But something in the back of his mind
was nagging him and he couldn't think what it was. Was it something
he had seen on their long journey or a phrase someone had uttered? He
put it out of his head and chortled.

'The key to my ship making one Master
of the World,' he remarked, 'when one cannot even be the master of
one's own destiny.' He stopped and thought again. 'Master of the
World,' he whispered and looked at Marco.

'Polo, do you remember the bandit
attack at the bamboo forest?'

'Of course, Doctor.'

'Do you remember what their leader said
just before Tegana killed him?'

'Something about Tegana being awake.'

'Before that.'

'No, I don't.'

'I do. He said, "so the Master of
the World's War Lord Tegana is awake", and he meant Noghai.' The
Doctor dropped his cup and saucer which broke. 'There's not mischief
afoot, Polo, there's murder. Tegana is going to kill the Khan and
Kublai has a private audience with him this afternoon. Quickly, call
out the palace guard, Polo, we've not a moment to lose!'

Kublai's personal secretary was with
him when he received Tegana.

'Was this not to be a private
audience?' Tegana asked.

'But it is. Our secretary is only here
to record our discussion for both our benefit.'

'I do not wish his presence,' Tegana
replied and, drawing his sabre, slew the personal secretary. Kublai
recoiled in horror as Tegana calmly locked the three golden doors to
the throne room. Kublai tried to stop him but was hindered by his
gout and Tegana pushed him aside as he pocketed the keys.

'Master of all Asia,' he sneered, 'is
that who you think you are? It is not true. You are a gout-ridden old
fool and the great Khan Noghai will wear the key and sit on that
throne as Master of the World.' Kublai clutched the key. Tegana
smiled. 'I shall decapitate you to obtain it.' The handles of the
throne room doors rattled, which made Tegana laugh out loud. 'It is
difficult sometimes to have access to mighty Kublai Khan,' he
observed.

'You will also die, Tegana,' Kublai
said, sitting back on the throne.

'That I am prepared to do as long as
the great Khan Noghai sits where you now spend the last few minutes
of your life.'

'Our force of arms would defeat
Noghai's again,' Kublai countered.

'I have seen your army and it is
impressive, but you must take into account the leadership. Kill the
General and there is chaos.' Tegana walked around the TARDIS tapping
it with his sabre. 'The flying caravan of the greatest Khan of all,
Noghai.' He threw back his head and roared with laughter.

The Doctor, with the others outside,
heard him.

'I know how to get in there,' he said,
'follow me.' He ran along the exterior corridor of the throne room,
looking at the busts and objects on their pedestals. Marco and
Ling-Tau, who was armed with a bow and arrow, as well as several guards,
followed him.

'This is the one,' the Doctor said and
turned the knob. The wall swung open and they went into the gaming
room. 'Be prepared, Ling-Tau,' the Doctor whispered. Ling-Tau charged
his bow as the Doctor peeked through the Judas-eye. 'Kublai's still
alive,' he reported and twisted the knob on the pedestal. The inner
wall swung open and Tegana never saw the flight of the arrow that
killed him instantly.