***

Tegan hadn't said a word.

That was strange, the Doctor supposed. He had expected a shouting match when he had climbed out the air hole and hauled Tegan out behind him. He had also anticipated an argument when he had run across the village pulling her along with him. He had predicted his ears would be burning by the time he had grabbed the horses' reins and jumped into the saddle, hoisting her up behind him on the horses' back.

But then, as the horse galloped across the village green and gained ground, up the hill and toward the near mountain range away from the sea, talking was impossible. He had only yelled over his shoulder for her to hold onto his waist. Kilred, the armed one, was galloping behind them, covering their back. Whatever it was that Tegan had stuffed in his pocket was digging into his thigh. But he kept the pounding pace up as the mountains neared and the sound of the pirates' horses behind them grew in pitch.

Kilred spurred his horse up next to his. "They are catching us."

"They are single riders on larger horses," the Doctor yelled back over the wind and hoof beats. "Physics is on their side."

"What do you suggest, Time Lord?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes to the side and slapped the reins against the horses' back. "If we can't outrun them, my suggestion would be to hide."

Jessica yelled over Kilred's shoulder. "The forgotten woods."

Kilred glanced over his shoulder at his wife and then sharply turned his horse toward the forest on the near side of the mountain range. "We might be able to make it at that…."

The Doctor wheeled his horse, turning a sharp ninety degree angle and then urged it back to a full gallop to follow his friend. And, through all of this, Tegan remained silent.

It was beginning to worry him.

**

Nyssa sat bolt upright in the wagon, panting awoken out of a dead sleep. Around her, there was the sound of a camp at sleep. The other women that she shared the wagon with were silent, lying prone. She took a deep breath and blinked her eyes.

"What by the keeper…" she sighed, as she pulled aside her covers and climbed to the entrance. The men were camped out about the wagon and she climbed down searching for Adric. They had met up with the fellow Hill's End travelers as they had left the sale. Elrind had said it was safer in numbers and the wagon afforded Nyssa a place to sleep. She hadn't argued.

It took only her hand on Adric's to waken him. He sat up quickly. "Nyssa…" he hissed. "What is it? What's the matter?"

"A bad feeling…where is that piece that we found?"

"Here…" he patted the blankets next to him. "It's safe. You should get back into the wagon."

"I just have the most profound feeling that we are in danger and that the Doctor is in worse, Adric. I can't shake the feeling." She implored, looking close to tears.

"And having no sleep will only make it worse if something does happen, Nyssa," he said patiently. "Elrind will protect us from danger and the Doctor will get Tegan. Everything will be all right, you'll see."

"I sincerely hope so," Nyssa answered as she stood. "I hope you are right."

**

"Cassiopeia, my lovely daughter."

Cassiopeia lowered her head as she accepted her father's praise. The Master's visage filled her hand comm screen. "Father…the Doctor has absconded with his friend."

"And the temporal stabilizer?"

"It is missing from the compound, as expected. The woman, Tegan, seems to have taken it."

"Jandar?"

"He awaits here for you."

The Master nodded with a secretive smile. "But you, my dear, have other plans."

"The Nightyearners will follow the Doctor and that warrior he has befriended, but there is the chance that he will slip through even your fingers."

"It would not be the first time."

"I think we should find additional collateral with which to tempt him to give up the piece: His other companions."

The Master threw back his head and laughed. "Ever resourceful, my dear."

**

Tegan gripped at the Doctor's waist, leaning into his back. She pressed her cheek against his frock coat. She had ridden horses before, but never bareback, never half naked, never at this speed, and never with a horde of angry men in hot pursuit. She couldn't yell, scream or cry out; she had tried, but no sound had come out. But it didn't matter some how, she thought, as she tightened her thighs into the horseflesh. All that mattered was staying upright on the horse's back. The wind was loud against her ears, but she could hear the beating of horse hooves nearing.

Not religious, she didn't know where to begin with a prayer, but stumbled through one nonetheless.

Suddenly the world grew darker and she blinked her eyes open. They were enclosed in trees; the horses' were slowing.

"Hold on, Tegan, we are going downhill…"

The Doctor's voice sounded deeper through his back. She did as he said, however, lacing her hands together, gripping each wrist with the other hand. The horse turned slightly sideways and she felt him pull back on its reins. They slid slowly down the slope. When they reached bottom, he spurred the horse onward to a thick grove of trees.

The sound of the men following them down the hills was like apocalypse approaching to her.

Darkness swallowed them and suddenly a pair of hands were grabbing at her waist. That warrior, Tegan thought numbly, he was lifting her from the stallion's back. The Doctor bounded out of the saddle and quickly grabbed the food pouch and blanket. He hissed something at Kilred in a strange language, but the other man understood and Tegan was taken away. Jessica was holding out her hands for her and as she felt the woman's cool fingers, Tegan finally allowed her muscles and mind, tortured from the pain stick, to relax and she drifted in away in a deep sleep. The last thing she heard was the sound of the Doctor's hand slapping against wet horseflesh.

**

At first there was nothing but the sound of the creek, women doing laundry and children playing. Then there was the sound of thunder that was somehow unlike thunder; it continued on and on, growing in pitch. Alerted by the sound, one mother slapped down her laundry and ran up the slight slope. She was out of breath by the time that she reached her child but still gathered the toddler to her arms. She took four stumbling steps back out of the road as tens upon scores of large black stallions galloped down the lane.

The Master glared at the woman and child as he rode next to the King.

"Are all your subjects as dimwitted?" he asked, prodding his horse into a full gallop.

"They are simple people. Most refuse to acknowledge other planets, although it is no secret that other planets exist. We have visits from enough other societies that it should be common knowledge. Most view Gallifreyans as wizards or, in the odd case, a god," Lazotan grunted, urging his mount to keep up with the Master. "Not pressing the issue and allowing them to remain ignorant allows for ease in maintaining control."

The Master nodded and leaned into his mount. "And this camp? This mountain range?"

"It is but a day's ride, but if they have hidden in the woods…"

With a chuckle low in timbre, the Master answered him: "Leave the sorcery to the sorcerer, my dear King."

**

Jessica shook her head. Tegan had been given an injection; she had been afraid of that. The mark was clear on the woman's upper arm. Where the pain stick had touched her skin, there were tiny muscle spasms, but no marks. She didn't blame the woman for passing out; their captors had not been gentle in the use of the pain stick.

At least she had an answer for the Time Lord as he jumped down into the cold cellar to see to his woman.

"She has been injected with the voice silencer, Time Lord. Her voice will be gone for at least a day."

"What?" the Doctor slid to sit near Tegan's head. In the low, cramped space of the cold cellar, there was little room to stand. Around them, piled in expectation of winter, were vegetables.

Kilred went to answer, but the Doctor grabbed his arm. Overhead, they could here the footsteps of men and horse. Jessica leaned into her husband and squeezed her eyes shut, muttering a prayer to her deity. Kilred pulled her head against his chest and glanced at the ceiling. Muffled voices came through the ground and the Doctor tried to understand what was said. His accentuated Gallifreyan ears caught the conversation as it played out above them.

"They seem to have split up."

"Aye…one horse's steps lead toward the river, the other toward the mountain range, Jandar."

Silence.

"You pride yourselves as trackers…find them."

"All right, all right…."

Hoofbeats steadily moved overhead. Then a shouted order to those departing: "I don't care if the men or women are brought back alive, all I require is the piece they carry. That is worth more than their collective weight in gold. Kill them if it is easier."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. Yes, kill us indeed. Killing was always easier. He held his breath as it appeared that the pirates were doing a once more around above his head. And then there was the sound of several horses leaving the area at a full trot. Kilred opened his mouth, but the Doctor shook his head and held his finger against his lips. He could still hear a single scout above head, but soon he too left, trotting off in the direction they had all come.

"They've gone," the Doctor said, quietly.

"That was very tricky, Time Lord," Kilred said, squeezing his wife in a hug before letting her go. "And very smart…our horses will run into the hills for hours, if not days. They will follow them indefinitely."

"Yes…well…" the Doctor answered. "I have been around the block, Kilred, and have learned a thing or two."

"And by slapping off our horses, you have left us on foot."

"There is always a downside to every solution, I'm afraid."

"It is a very long walk, indeed," Jessica offered.

"I like long walks," the Doctor completed the conversation with a wide smile. "Hello, Jessica. I'm the Doctor."

"Tegan's Time Lord," Jessica nodded. "She spoke of you."

"Not well, I expect, especially if she was frightened or angry," the Doctor reached into his breast pocket and brought out a small halogen torch. He set it on the ground and illuminated the interior. He gave their surroundings only a cursory glance, noting that it was indeed a cold cellar. There were vegetables, and some cured meat. A very small trickle of a stream flowed through its floor. It was in that water that the Doctor dipped a small handkerchief into to lay upon Tegan's forehead. "We should stay here for a little while, maybe until nightfall…and then we should be on our way. Now…Jessica, you were saying? Tegan was injected. With what?"

"It is a voice silencer. A potion that is made by the village healer women from herbs in the forest. It makes a person unable to talk," Jessica offered. "I thought it was the case when she did not talk on the dais."

"There is something wrong if Tegan cannot talk," the Doctor concluded. "But I am more worried about her current state of unconsciousness."

"She has not been entirely well these last two days," Jessica said.

Kilred saw the first real sign of worry on the Doctor's face. The Time Lord stopped applying the kerchief to the woman's forehead and glanced at his wife. The strength of the gaze made Jessica squirm uncomfortably. "Unwell? How?"

"Nothing serious. Just malaise, tightness in chest, a slight headache. It was the pain stick that worried me, Time Lord."

"Just Doctor, please, and that pain stick is inhumane," the Doctor pressed. He shook his head. "There is nothing I can do until she wakes up. I suppose the sleep will do her good."

Kilred tired of the illness conversation and prodded the Doctor to think of their coming trek. How did the man feel they were going to be able to clear the mountains on foot?

"Slowly," was the gleeful answer.

And how did the Time Lord think they would be able to outwit the Nightyearners.

"When one plays chess, Kilred, one does not win by just moving his pieces. He wins by knowing ahead of time where his opponent will move their king. After all, the game is not won or lost by the pawns, but the King."

Kilred shook his head. He wondered if the man was touched. Jessica prodded him into silence. And then, the three travelers stretched out, in corners and on the cramped floor for rest in the coming travel.

**

Cassiopeia slowed her mount and squinted into the evening darkness. She could see the myriad of lights, lanterns and candles that a large traveling camp would employ for light. If her guess was correct, this was the group from Hill's End for which she searched. All she needed to do was to approach the camp with the seal that her father had given her to be allowed shelter and safety in the traveling group.

She had changed her clothing appropriately: a dark skirt, light apron and white shirt. She slipped her hair bonnet upon her head, hiding her dark long hair. With a nudge to her mount, she approached the camp.

Sure enough, the sentry stopped her with a yell.

"I approach for sanctuary," she called back, trying to hide her richly accented voice. She edged the horse forward and held up the small seal. It was a seal for the village of River Wall. She was immediately allowed sanctuary in the traveling group. She eased her horse to the wagon and she was escorted to the women's tent and wagon for sleep. The girl, Nyssa, was talking, smiling with the other women. Cassiopeia smiled widely. It was as easy as her father said to twist their goodness and naiveté until it became a weakness.

**