He'd been on some strange hypnotic path and then someone had begun firing an energy weapon and then…Then he was here. He frowned and then rubbed his eyes. He felt tired, very tired, and considered going back to sleep, but a sound kept him from closing his eyes again. It was the sound of horses hooves.
He sat up on the bed and crossed over to the window. Looking down into the street it was completely deserted. He looked across the street and all he could see was snow. He remembered what had happened: Thornsby had been attacked. Then he saw where the sound was coming from. Right outside his door was a black horse. It was clacking one foot on the floor and kept nodding it's head up to Danny.
Danny had gotten dressed and was down onto the pathway outside. He mounted the horse without giving a second thought and it galloped him towards the direction of the Barge pub. He began to panic when the horse wouldn't stop. he tried to reign it in, but it wouldn't slow down. It galloped faster and faster and faster towards the river where the Barge was docked.
'Stop!' he yelled.
It was too late. The horse jumped towards the icy water and it and Danny plunged through the ice into the chilly depths. Everything went cold and dark. Somewhere a voice was calling him from deep within his mind.
“Danny…”
Danny couldn’t speak. It was too cold.
“Danny…”
Danny screamed out loud and opened his eyes. He was lying on the Dream Path and looking up at the dark, blue sky.
“What's going on?” he asked himself. “Where am I?”
There was nobody else around. He was completely alone. He got to his feet and ran as fast as he could into the darkness.
Grasp was fighting with Bridges. They'd arrived at the Donehox river a few minutes ago, and for a while everyone had been quiet, but Bridges had decided to stir up trouble again. He'd began complaining that since getting off the Dream Path he'd been getting headaches. Nivere hadn't listened, Bridges had lashed out and now Grasp was fighting the young man for insulting his captain.
“Stop it, Grasp!” shouted Nivere. “Stop it!”
Grasp wasn’t listening as he lunged forward and pushed Bridges to the ground. The Doctor ran up and tried to intervene, but Grasp pushed him back.
“Leave them, Doctor,” said Nivere angrily. “When Grasp get's into a fight it's difficult for him to stop.”
“But he'll kill Bridges,” said the Doctor desperately.
“Perhaps. Perhaps Bridges will get the upper hand. Perhaps they'll realise how pathetic they're being and give in.”
Aamina, who had been lying unconscious on the floor, groaned. The Doctor knelt down beside her and checked her.
“How is she, Doctor?” asked Nivere.
“She seems to be coming around. She's still got some nasty burn marks on her, though, from that blasted gun of Grasps.”
“It's effective though,” said Nivere, still watching the grappling humanoids.
“What's going on?” asked Aamina groggily.
“Relax Aamina,” said the Doctor gently. “You’ve had a nasty accident and you're going to get better, but you have to relax.”
“What?” she said, confused.
“Just lie still,” said the Doctor. “This has to stop now!” he yelled at Nivere.
“Then you stop them, Doctor,” snapped Nivere.
The Doctor picked up Aamina's gun. He hated using them and was going to regret firing this one, but it had to be done. He targeted between Grasp and Bridges and then fired an energy bolt. It whizzed between the faces of Bridges and Grasp and they stopped immediately and looked at the Doctor.
“Well done, Doctor,” congratulated Nivere.
“Oh dear,” said the Doctor, as Grasp began advancing on him.
“Grasp, he didn't mean any harm,” said Nivere.
“He could have killed me. He wants the Eye for himself,” growled the lizard as he approached the Doctor's position.
“He just wanted to stop you two from fighting,” said Nivere, trying to calm down the situation.
Suddenly a blast rung out from behind Grasp. Bridges was on his feet and was pointing a gun directly at Grasp.
“Time to die, lizard boy.”
“What are we going to do?” asked Nivere, realising the situation had gotten out of hand.
“Get out of here?” suggested the Doctor.
Ivy and Dennington were crouched behind a wall in the tribe's camp. They watched as Yentob lit the spear and advanced on Caroline.
“Now?” asked Dennington.
“Wait,” said Ivy, motioning for her companion to keep back.
They waited a moment until Yentob was almost on top of Caroline.
“Now!?” asked Dennington, a little more urgently this time.
“Now,” confirmed Ivy.
They ran forward, firing warning shots from their blasters into the night air. The frightened tribe scattered leaving only Yentob and Slavin.
“Alright, neither of you move,” ordered Ivy. “Mark, get Caroline.”
Dennington moved over to the frightened Caroline as Ivy covered the men with her blaster.
“I'm sorry, Mark,” sobbed Caroline. “I shouldn't have started on these two earlier.”
“It doesn't matter now, Caroline. We're taking you back to the Doctor.”
“Why did you take her? What have we done to hurt you?” asked Ivy.
“Just being here is the only crime you have to commit,” snarled Slavin.
Yentob moved forward with his spear, but Ivy lifted her blaster and shot the end off leaving a splintered staff.
“The next time you move it'll be your head,” she ordered. “What's Caroline done to deserve this anyway?”
“I just told you. Being here is enough to warrant your deaths,” growled Slavin. “You all come here for the same reason. You all want our Gods sacred Eye. It's not yours. Leave us in peace and then you don't have to die.”
Ivy helped Caroline remove the red robe and get back into her normal clothes whilst Dennington watched Slavin and Yentob. Then they headed away from the tribe's camp with Ivy walking backwards, making sure neither of the two men jumped her. Then, after a few moments of covering the area, they began to run; Dennington carrying the shaken Caroline in his arms.
Bridges flew through the air and landed with a thud on the rocky banks of the river. His still form lay there for a few moments until Grasp gave out a roar of delight.
“What have you done, Grasp?” Nivere was hardly able to contain her despair.
“I have killed the one who would betray you, Captain,” replied Grasp.
“You've killed one of my crew and what's more you disobeyed orders. I told you to stop,” she shouted angrily.
“I - I could not hear you,” faltered Grasp.
“Or rather you chose not to,” added the Doctor. He crossed over to the body and examined the fatal wounds on Bridges' chest. He'd been shot by Grasps gun at full power and it had virtually scrambled his insides; cooked him. Added to that his neck had been broken when he hit the rocks.
Nivere crossed over to the Doctor and shook her head. “We're going to have to bury him.”
“What we need to do, captain, is take his body back to your ship and return him to his family,” said the Doctor sadly. “And we need to call off this mission immediately.”
“No, Doctor,” said Nivere defiantly.
“Yes, captain. This has all gotten out of hand.”
A cry came from down the path. The Doctor and Nivere looked across the Dream Path and saw Danny running as fast as he could towards them. He seemed frightened and scared and kept stumbling over.
The sun was beginning to rise and Ivy, Dennington and Caroline had made good progress. After a while of being carried, Caroline had begun to feel much more easier about walking until her feet began to get sore. They had stopped beside a swamp and had rested for a while, but now they had reached the Dream Path.
“Here we are then,” said Ivy darkly. “The Dream Path.”
“Doesn't look very impressive,” said Caroline, rubbing the soles of her feet.
“It's very dangerous, Caroline,” said Dennington. “It can rob you of your soul if you're not careful.”
“And what exactly does it do?”
“It makes you dream,” said Ivy, taking out a flask of water. “It's some form of magic I suppose.”
“Magic. Rubbish,” said Caroline.
“You haven't been travelling with the Doctor long, have you?” It was a statement from Ivy rather than a question.
“Well we've been through a couple things.”
“Then you'll be opening your eyes to more things soon. Give it time and you'll be willing to believe in anything. Try travelling with him for five years.”
“Yeah, where are you from exactly?” asked Caroline, realising she knew next to nothing about this red headed woman.
“Originally Ireland. Dublin. But I moved to London when I was thirteen.”
“How come?”
“The famine.”
“Famine? What year was this?”
“1849.”
Caroline frowned. “You don’t seem much of a-”
“Much of a what?” asked Ivy with a slight smile.
“Well that’s the Victorian era. You don’t seem like much of a Victorian lady.”
“And what are Victorian lady’s like?” laughed Ivy.
“All proper and reserved,” said Caroline.
“Like I said - try travelling with the Doctor for five years. It’ll change you. Change you completely.”
“We better get moving,” said Dennington nervously. “I doubt our friendly neighbours will just let us leave.”
“Can't we rest for a while? My feet are killing me.”
“No, Dennington's right. We were supposed to meet the Doctor and the others at day break and I doubt Nivere will keep them hanging around for much longer.”
Caroline stood up and then collapsed again. “I can't do it. My feet are just too sore.”
“Then you'll have to carry her, Mark,” said Ivy. “Are we ready?”
Dennington hefted up Caroline and nodded.
“Good. Then let's go.”
The journey across the Dream Path was fairly uneventful until Dennington realised that Caroline had dropped off to sleep…
Caroline was standing on a beach at the bottom of some cliffs. She was holding a bucket and space and was dressed in a pink swimming costume. And then she realised she was about 5 years old. She looked down at her feet to the two slightly misshapen sand castles that she, presumably, had built and sat down in front of them.
She looked to her side, and stood beside the cliffs were three people. Two of them where her parents, and the other…well, Caroline didn’t know who she was. She was wearing a business suit and was talking quickly and quietly with her parents.
Her parents were getting frustrated and her mother kept moving her hands about as she tried to explain something to the woman.
Her dad, however, simply stood there with his hands on his hips, occasionally looking back at Caroline.
Finally, Caroline got up and walked over to her parents.
The woman in the business suit stopped talking to her parents, smiled and looked down at Caroline.
“You must be little Caroline,” she beamed at her.
Caroline felt like she wanted to say something to her, but felt that she couldn’t.
“Don’t speak to her,” scolded her mother. “Just leave us alone.”
“As I’ve said, Mrs Parker, these are just routine checks. Caroline hasn’t had any in all of her life. These health checks must be done.”
Caroline looked up at the three of them and her eyes fixated on her dad.
He looked down at her and gave and he attempted a half-hearted smile at her.
“Mummy,” said Caroline, finally find her voice. “I want to make more castles with you.”
“In a minute, sweetheart,” said her mother.
“No. Now, mummy,” said Caroline, tugging on her mothers top.
“In a minute,” said her dad sternly.
“If you don’t let us carry out these checks, we’ll have to take legal action,” continued to business woman.
“Then you take legal action!” spat her mother. “I - WE - don’t believe in these kind of checks. We know our child is healthy. We don’t need someone telling us what we can and can’t do.”
The woman checked her watch and then straightened herself up. “Then, I’m afraid, we shall be in touch. If you want to do it the hard way, we’ll have to take that route.”
She turned around and marched back towards the path that climbed the cliff.
“Leave us alone!” shouted her mother. She then turned to her dad. “For goodness sake, Tony, why can’t you back me up on these things.”
“Sorry,” said her dad quietly. “You know I find it difficult.”
“She’s our daughter,” said her mum, looking her dad right in the eyes. “Just you remember that.”
“Okay, Danny, calm down,” said the Doctor. “What's happened this time?”
“I - I don't know,” he said with chattering teeth. “Where were you? You left me, Doctor.”
“I'm sorry, Danny, but you were the one who wandered off. You knew we were distracted.”
He began to cry. “I was dreaming.”
“We've all been having dreams of some sort,” said Nivere.
“I didn't understand it,” he said, shaking his head.
“We have to get moving,” said Nivere.
“I was back in Thornsby riding a horse. It galloped into the river and then…” He was shaking.
The Doctor took a flask of water from the Bridges rucksack and gave Danny a cup of the liquid. He struggled with it and a little dribbled from his quivering mouth.
“I'm sorry,” he said, shaking his head. “Doctor, what's happening to me?”
“It's the Dream Path, Danny. It does strange things to people. Some of us are strong enough to resist, but some, like Aamina and you, just can't fight against it's powers. I gather it’s affected me and you more because we’re time travellers. We’ve experienced a lot more and our minds are more open for these images to flood in.”
He looked up hopefully at the Doctor. “Something’s wrong with me, Doctor,” he said. “I've been feeling odd since I first got into the TARDIS. Since we left Thornsby. Just a mild, niggling headache. And then it got worse when we left Trixatin.”
“Caroline mentioned it to me earlier on when we were in the TARDIS. Why didn't you tell me this before?”
“I didn’t think it was important.”
“Even so, don't you think it would have been better for your own safety if you'd spoken about these problems?”
“Maybe. But I can cope.”
“Not from where I'm standing, Danny.” The Doctor got to his feet and straightened his shirt. “When this is all over, we're going to have to have a long talk about these headaches.”
Danny nodded.
“Have we finished the counselling session?” asked Nivere, who was anxious to get her expedition restarted.
“For now,” said the Doctor, unwilling to engage in another argument. “We're just waiting for Ivy and the others.”
The scream was horrendous.
“This is impossible!” shouted Ivy as she ran along side Dennington who was struggling to keep a hold of the sleeping Caroline.
“Maybe, but it's happening,” said Dennington breathlessly.
Ivy dared to look behind her again and saw what she thought was the most scariest thing she'd seen in all of her travels. It was a giant. A giant wearing a black cloak and clutching a scythe. It’s bone-like face peered out from underneath the hood.
“What's going on?” asked Caroline, opening her eyes sleepily. “Where’s the beach gone?”
“You were dreaming,” said Ivy.
Dennington, smiling worriedly, said, “Ivy here's just been daydreaming and her daydream seems to have come to life.”
Caroline turned around and saw the disturbing sight. “Is that…is that the Grimm Reaper?”
“I think it is,” said Ivy as the giant began swinging its scythe.
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