Doctor Who: Marco Polo (6 page)

'My lord is kind,' Ping-Cho replied.

'Thank you, Ping-Cho,' a smiling Marco
added.

'Yes, it was wonderful,' Ian agreed and
turned to Susan. 'Did you know that the Hashashins gave their name to
the English language?'

'Assassins,' Susan replied, 'but I
always thought that Ala-eddin's lair was on a mountain in Persia.'

'It was,' Ping-Cho agreed, 'Mount
Alumet.'

(Out of the corner of her eye, Barbara
saw Tegana surreptitiously sidle out to the courtyard and, on the
spur of the moment, decided to follow him.)

'Then who were the Hashashins in the
cave?' Susan asked.

'Some of Ala-eddin's sect,' Marco
replied. 'He had them hidden everywhere awaiting his commands and
longing to return to paradise. Here at Tun-Huang, they were in the
Cave of Five Hundred Eyes. It's on the road to Su-Chow about a third
of a league away.'

Tegana left the way-station on foot
which intrigued Barbara as she kept him in sight through the town and
onto the road for Su-Chow. When Tegana reached the Cave of Five
Hundred Eyes, he went inside.

'Malik,' he called, 'Malik.' From the
shadows of a passageway at the back of the cave an old, bearded
Tartar shuffled forward.

'Who calls my name?' his voice
quavered.

'The War Lord Tegana in the service of
Noghai Khan.' Malik bowed.

'We have waited for you,' he said.

'You need wait no more, old man,'
Tegana replied and asked what word Malik had from Noghai.

'You shall hear it,' Malik beckoned to
him and led him along the passageway from the roof
of which hung stalactites. Reaching up, Malik twisted one of them and
part of the rock wall swung open to reveal an inner chamber. They
went inside and were confronted by three Tartars, one of whom had one
side of his face disfigured by a sabre slash.

'In the name of Noghai Khan, welcome,'
he said and with their right hands they clasped each other by the
wrist.

'What have you to tell me, Acomat?'
Tegana asked.

"He has formed his army and
marches now on Karakorum to await word of your success,' Acomat
replied.

'I shall not fail Noghai,' Tegana
boasted.

'You did at Lop,' Acomat reminded him.
'You were to meet our couriers on the fourth night in the desert.'

'There was a sandstorm,' Tegana said
and recounted the events which had followed it.

'What is required of us in Tun-Huang?'
Acomat asked.

'Follow us as we journey on, then when
I give the signal, attack and take the old magician's caravan to
Noghai while I ride to Kublai's court at Sheng-Tu.'

'What about Polo and those who travel
with him?' A hard glint came into Acomat's eyes.

'Put them to the sword,' Tegana replied
as he flicked a speck of dust from his costume.

Malik shuffled over to them. 'My Lord
Tegana, did a woman accompany you to the cave?' Tegana shook his
head. 'There's one in the outer chamber now,' Malik said. Tegana
crossed to the wall, removed two pieces of rock and peered through
the holes at Barbara who stood in the dusk looking at the cruel faces
with evil glowing eyes carved on the walls.

Involuntarily Barbara shivered and
thought that following Tegana may not have been a good idea after
all, but she was intrigued by his disappearance. Cautiously, she went
deeper into the larger cave until she came to the passageway. As she
groped her way along it, water from a stalactite dripped onto her
face, so she took her handkerchief from her pocket and wiped it off.
She came to the end of the passageway. In front of her was solid
rock. She turned around and walked with a quickening pace back into
the outer chamber. Suddenly, from behind, a hand was clamped over her
mouth and her handkerchief fluttered to the ground.

Ian was the first to realise that
Barbara was missing. Susan and Ping-Cho had gone up to their room
where Ping-Cho took off her make-up and costume. The Doctor was
closeted in his room making final adjustments to the energy
distributor before installing it in the TARDIS while Marco was in the
lounge bringing his log-book of their journey up-to-date. Ian went to
Barbara's room and knocked on the door. When there was no reply he
looked inside, then checked with the girls and the Doctor. They all
came downstairs and Ian went out to the courtyard calling her name
whilst the Doctor told Marco that Barbara was missing.

'What do you mean - missing?'
Marco looked up with a puzzled expression on his face.

'Exactly that. Barbara's not here,' Ian
said, coming in from the courtyard. Marco stood up.

'What manner of country do you come
from where women wander off alone at night?' he asked angrily as
Tegana came in. 'Is Barbara with you?' Tegana shook his head. 'The
city's divided into distinct areas,' Marco continued, 'and the three
of us will go in search of her.'

'You'll not find her,' Tegana said, 'by
now she will have been abducted.'

'I'm going to try,' Ian insisted and
left.

'I'll help as well,' the Doctor said.
Marco turned to him.

'No, Doctor, you stay here and both of
you as well,' he said, pointing a warning finger at Susan and
Ping-Cho, and then strode out. Tegana shrugged and followed him.
Susan looked anxiously at the Doctor and he put his arm around her.

'Barbara's an intelligent young woman
who can look after herself,' he said, whilst admitting that she must
have had a reason for going out, and went back up to his room
wondering what it could have been. Shortly afterwards he came
downstairs, went to the courtyard, looked surreptitiously around,
unlocked the TARDIS and popped inside. He shut the door behind him
and, using his pencil-torch, refitted the energy distributor. Then he
flicked on the power switch and the lights lit up.

'Ha, ha,' he said jubilantly, 'stage
one completed.' He slipped several microswitches into one pocket and
his miniaturised omni-electrometer into the other. 'Just verify these
circuits and then we're away!' He switched off the power and went
outside to be confronted by Susan and Ping-Cho. He locked the door
hastily.

'It's all right, grandfather,' Susan
hissed, 'you can trust Ping-Cho.'

'Not much choice, have I?' the Doctor
huffed as he clambered down off the wagon.

'We think we know where Barbara is,'
Susan added.

'Where?' The Doctor led them back into
the way-station.

'Messer Marco was telling us about the
Cave of Five Hundred Eyes, my lord,' Ping-Cho began.

'And Barbara was fascinated,
particularly about them glowing in the dark,' Susan continued.

'But why would she go there without
telling anyone?' the Doctor protested.

'Because the lady Barbara knew that
Messer Marco would do all he could to dissuade her,' Ping-Cho
concluded. The Doctor grunted.

'Do you know where this cave is?'

Susan nodded. 'On the road to Su-Chow,'
she said. The Doctor clapped his hands.

'Chenchu,' he called, and the manager
came from the kitchen, 'where is the Cave of Four Hundred . . .?'

'Five Hundred Eyes, grandfather,' Susan
interjected.

'On the road to Su-Chow, about a third
of a league from here, my lord, set back against the foothills.' The
Doctor turned to Susan and Ping-Cho.

'You two wait here,' he said and
started towards the courtyard.

'My lord goes there now?' Chenchu
wailed. 'At this hour the spirits of the Hashashins walk abroad.'

'Fiddlesticks,' the Doctor replied and
went outside where he stopped and looked back at them. 'The road to
where?' he asked lamely.

'Oh, grandfather, you'll get lost, you
know you will,' Susan said in exasperation. The Doctor hesitated and
then beckoned to them.

'Oh, very well, then, come along, both
of you.'

'My lord, you'll not come back alive,'
Chenchu cried out.

'It's the only way I shall come back,'
the Doctor replied airily as they set off.

Before being taken into the inner
chamber, Barbara was blindfolded, gagged and her hands tied behind
her back. All the Tartars left except one who, as Tegana was leaving,
ran his forefinger across his throat. Tegana nodded, went out and the
wall closed behind them. The Tartar tied Barbara's legs and took off
her blindfold. Squatting, she cowered back against the wall when she
saw his face. It was plump and jolly until he smiled, revealing
blackened stubs of teeth and his eyes almost disappearing behind
their lids. Then it became horrific. He took a knife from his belt
and tested the edge of the blade on his thumb. He didn't cut himself
so, still smiling at Barbara, he began honing the blade on the wall.

The Doctor, Susan and Ping-Cho entered
the cave and both of the girls gasped when they saw the eyes. The
Doctor went over to one of the faces and shone his pencil-torch on
it.

'Quite extraordinary and just as I
thought. Quartz,' he observed. 'There are veins of it running through
the rock structure and these faces were carved very cleverly so that
at the eyes the quartz is exposed.'

'Grandfather, we're looking for
Barbara,' Susan reminded him.

'So we are, my child,' the Doctor said
and shone his torch around the cave. 'Then, let us investigate.'

They searched everywhere, found the
passageway and went to the end of it. 'A fool's errand, Susan, that's
what you've brought me on,' the Doctor remonstrated as they came out
of the passageway, 'a fool's errand.' Ping-Cho saw Barbara's
handkerchief lying on the ground against the cave wall.

'My lord, look,' she said, holding it
up. Susan grabbed it from her.

'It's Barbara's, grandfather, I know it
is,' she exclaimed, 'she was here. Barbara. Barbara.' Her voice
echoed around the cave and into the inner chamber where the Mongol
stopped honing his knife land took out the two pieces of rock to see
into the main chamber.

'Barbara, Barbara, where are you?' they
called in unison. The Doctor shook his head.

'She must've left,' he said. 'We
probably passed her in the dark.' He began walking towards the
entrance to the cave when Susan screamed.

'The eyes, grandfather, those eyes,'
she cried pointing at the face, 'they moved.' But by the time the
Doctor reached the face and shone his torch on it, where were only
two quartz eyes staring at him. 'I swear it, grandfather, I promise
you,' Susan insisted, 'the eyes moved.'

'Reflection,' the Doctor said grumpily,
adding that it was a wild goose chase and, without doubt, Barbara was
nestled in bed at the way-station and sound asleep. Ping-Cho let
out a small shriek.

'What now?' the Doctor asked testily as
she pointed to the entrance of the cave. Tegana, his face hidden in
the darkness, stood there, legs astride and his hands on his hips.

'What are you doing here?' he demanded.

'Looking for Miss Wright,' the Doctor
replied firmly. 'I presume Chenchu told you where we were.'

Tegana nodded and asked why they
thought Barbara would be in the cave. Susan held up the handkerchief.

'This is Barbara's,' she said, 'and we
found it over there.'

'In the passageway,' Tegana replied,
'but you have not found her.'

'Not as yet,' the Doctor sounded
sarcastic.

'Then let us leave this place. The cave
is possessed by spirits,' Tegana announced.

'My dear fellow, I am not afraid of
ghosts. You maybe but I am not.' The Doctor's sarcasm was even more
pronounced. Then they heard Ian calling their names and he came into
the cave with Marco. Ian was carrying a lamp.

'I told you not to leave the
way-station,' Marco said angrily.

'But we were right to come, Messer
Marco,' Ping-Cho protested, 'the lady Barbara was here.' Susan held
up the handkerchief.

'But there's no other sign of her?' Ian
asked.

'No,' Susan and Ping-Cho answered in
unison.

'Bring the lamp, Ian, I know all the
secrets of the Cave of Five Hundred Eyes.' Marco led the way to the
passageway. Tegana followed him closely, drawing his sword as Marco
reached up and twisted the stalactite. The wall swung open to reveal
the Mongol standing over Barbara with the knife at her throat. When
he saw Tegana, he hesitated and the War Lord rushed in and cut him
down before he could stab her.

When they reached the way-station Susan
and Ping-Cho helped Barbara to her room where Susan suggested that
one of them should stay with her for the night. Barbara smiled wanly,
thanked them both, but said that she would be all right. When they
were gone she collapsed on the bed, her body racked with sobs of
terror and relief.

Marco, Ian and the Doctor thanked
Tegana for quick, decisive action. Then Marco announced that they
would spend one more day at the way-station to let everyone,
especially Barbara, get over their adventure.

'Everytime I close my eyes I see those
eyes in the cave,' Ping-Cho murmured as they lay in their beds.

'The ones you see don't move,' Susan
replied.

'True,' Ping-Cho admitted.

'Do you want to know something?' Susan
asked.

'Tell me,' Ping-Cho said sleepily.
Susan propped herself up on one elbow.

'I think Tegana knew about the inner
chamber. I think he knew Barbara was in there and I think he killed
that man not to save Barbara's life but to protect his own. That's
what I think.' Ping-Cho sat bolt upright.

'What!' she exclaimed.

'So beware of him for the rest of the
journey,' Susan continued, 'because I think he's an evil man.'
Ping-Cho lay down again and they were silent for a while.

'You'll be leaving soon, won't you,
Susan?' Ping-Cho murmured.

'I suppose so,' Susan replied.

'I shall miss you.'

'I shall miss you, too, Ping-Cho.' And
they fell asleep.

The lies began at dawn. Marco had gone
to the stables to check the horses when Tegana came to feed his
stallion. Marco greeted the War Lord and again expressed his
gratitude for Tegana's prompt action which saved Barbara's life.
Tegana filled the water-trough in front of his horse from a bucket.