Eye Of The Jungle, Chapter 10

The wind had died down and everything was calm. This perplexed the Doctor.

“What’s wrong?” asked Ivy.

“I’m not sure. But if we’re supposed to go through some tests then why has the wind stopped before we’ve gotten to the end of the river?”

“Perhaps the test is over,” suggested Caroline.

“So we succeeded then,” smiled Ivy.

“Maybe…” A thought entered the Doctors head. “Or maybe we failed.”

“Failed! How?” asked Ivy.

“Dennington and the others. Maybe they’ve had bigger troubles than we thought.”

“Mark will be fine,” called Nivere from the front of the raft. She’d been rowing since the incident and Ivy and the Doctor had been pleased that she’d kept quiet for most of the journey.

“Are we anywhere near the end of this river yet?” asked the Doctor.

“Yes. Just look up there.” Nivere pointed ahead. The river was trickling into smaller streams that were too narrow for the raft. Ahead was more of the dense jungle.

“And we have to go through more jungle?” asked Caroline.

“I’m afraid so. This is where we have to travel through the most dangerous part of the jungle.” Nivere emphasised the dangerous part.

After a few minutes Nivere guided the raft to one of the banks of the river. They gathered up their belongings and sat down beside the water.

“Now all we have to do is wait for Mark,” said Ivy. “I hope he’s okay.”




But Dennington was not okay. He had been washed up on some rocks half a mile away from Nivere’s position. He spluttered and coughed the water out of his system and managed to drag himself to a safe distance from the water.

After a few moments of lying down and gazing up at the dark, over-hanging trees, he sat himself up and looked around him. Everything was still and silent.

“Where the hell am I?” he asked himself.

A noise came from behind him and he was amazed to see a tall, slender, blonde haired woman step out from behind a tree. Dennington felt his heart strings tug and tears of joy began to well in his eyes.

“Mark,” said the woman. Her voice was silky and smooth. “Mark, I’ve missed you.”

“But…but it can’t be,” said Dennington, fighting away the tears. “You died on the moon. You’ve been gone seven years.”

“And those were the loneliest seven years of your life. I know, Mark, I know.”

Dennington got to his feet and ran over to the woman. She embraced him and kissed him passionately on the lips.

“I won’t let you die again, Julia, I won’t.”

“Oh, I know you won’t.”

The woman, Julia, looked into Dennington’s eyes. The explorer could feel something was wrong with her and not all of this was ringing quite true. But right now he didn’t care. He had his wife, Julia, back and he was never going to let her go again.

Julia took his hand and led him into the jungle. After a while she let go and began to run. Dennington chased her and they both laughed, ignoring the branches and sharp thorns that were slashing against their clothes.

Julia arrived at a large lake that had been formed from a stream that had run from the river. She dived in. Dennington couldn’t believe this was happening and he dived in after her.

They swam around for a moment, splashing water at each other and then embraced again. It had been such a long time and he had turned into a robot for Nivere. He needed Julia back in his life, but something at the back of his head was telling him that this couldn’t be happening.

“What’s wrong?” asked Julia.

“I don’t know,” he replied, pulling away from his wife.

“I want you to come away with me, Mark.”

“No.” He was stunned at the harshness of his own voice.

“Why?” The tears began falling from her eyes.

“Because you’re not real.”

As he said the words Julia was dragged under the water by some invisible force. When she emerged her eyes were bright yellow and cat-like. She snarled at Dennington and lunged at him.

Dennington backed away. “You’re not Julia.”

“I can be,” she snarled, attempting to wrap her arms around him again.

He pushed her back, but she grabbed him around the throat.

“I love you Mark,” she growled.

“You’re not Julia!” he yelled, pushing her under the water.

After a few moments of struggling she stopped. Dennington began crying and watched his wife’s body sink to the bed of the lake and then evaporate.

A voice came from beyond the heavens.

“Well done, Mark. You have defeated one of my illusions. You are indeed strong. But are you the strongest? We shall see.”

After a while Dennington regained his composure and swam to the bank. He sat there for a good fifteen minutes and then made his way back into the jungle with a new determination. Someone had blackened the memory of his wife and he wasn’t going to let them get away with that.




The Doctor, Ivy, Caroline and Nivere sat around the edge of the lake waiting for Dennington’s party. It had been around an hour and there still hadn’t been any sign of the second raft. Things were beginning to look decidedly grim.

The Doctor looked across to Nivere. For once she seemed truly concerned. Maybe it was because Mark Dennington had been a close friend of hers and she’d finally realised that her eagerness to proceed with this expedition had resulted in the rest of her crews disappearance.

First Bridges and now the others. That’s if they were dead, of course. There was no telling.

And then there was Danny. What was he doing now?

Too many questions. The Time Lord picked up a stick off the ground and began to draw in the sandy-mud. The doodle was interrupted when a shadow was cast across the Doctor. It was Caroline.

“How are you doing?” asked the Doctor.

“Fine,” said Caroline, giving a weak smile.

“We haven’t had a chance to talk since we arrived.”

“No, we haven’t,” she said, looking him in the eyes. “But I can understand that you wanted to talk to Ivy. She’s an old friend after all.”

“And I hope that you and I can be friends as well, Caroline.”

Caroline looked unsure. “I like you, Doctor, but I don’t feel like I can settle into this life. Not while I know so little about my own.” She looked sideways at him. “And so little about you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ivy never recognised you at first. How come? If she’d travelled with you for - what, five years? - you would have thought she would have recognised you.”

“Hmm,” said the Doctor, drawing his knees up close to his chest. “I wondered when you were going to start asking about that.”

“It’s almost like she thought you looked like a completely different person.”

“Not exactly,” smiled the Doctor. “You see, I am a Time Lord, and Time Lord’s have certain…gifts. When our bodies become damaged - irreparably damaged - we can completely regenerate ourselves. Change our appearance. Renew ourselves.”

“You mean-?”

“When Ivy knew me I looked completely different. I had a completely different personality. And I was younger and fitter and healthier.”

“Healthier? Has this got something to do with those pills you’ve been taking?”

“Not exactly,” said the Doctor. “I’m not exactly sure how to explain that to you at the moment.”

“Hmmm,” said Caroline, rolling her eyes.

“As soon as I’ve figured it out myself, I’ll tell you.”

Caroline moved around uncomfortably and then looked at him. “I’m also worried that you don’t care what happens to us.”

“What!?” The Doctor was taken aback.

“The TARDIS is lying at the bottom of a swamp, Doctor. You didn’t seem to bat an eyelid.”

“Caroline, I’m concerned; truly concerned. But we can’t do anything about it yet.”

“But is there a way to get the TARDIS unstuck?”

“Possibly,” said the Doctor, managing a slight smile which didn’t reassure Caroline.

There was a splash of water and the Doctor, Caroline and Nivere got up and ran towards Ivy who was crouched down beside the river banks.

“What was it?” asked Nivere.

“I don’t know,” said Ivy, trying to peer over the edge.

“Look!” Caroline pointed towards a shape under the surface of the water. A large, green shape.




Tressure dismissed Yentob and Slavin and watched as Danny cautiously entered the chamber.

Danny looked confident and not a bit scared.

The fool, thought Tressure, he’ll never be able to stand up against me.

“Good morning, sir,” said Danny extending his hand.

Tressure narrowed his eyes, thought about shaking the young mans hand and then decided against it. “Good morning, Mr. Lennon.”

“You know my name?”

“I know everything. This is my world, my planet. Everything is mine. I am God.”

“Then you must be extremely powerful.” Danny’s tone had changed from sounding confident to sounding full of admiration.

“More powerful then you could imagine.”

“But, what do you do here? I mean, what is the reason behind having an entire planet under your control? I could understand if it was Earth or something, but there’s only one small tribe on this planet.”

“I wanted power – I have it. It’s all I ever wanted. But the question is, Danny, what do you want?”

“What do I want?”

Tressure leaned in closer. “Yes. What do you want?”

“I want to be a God as well.” Danny wasn’t sure he was really thinking this as he said it.

Tressure smiled and then let out a huge belly laugh that threatened to shake the entire chamber to it’s foundations.

Danny frowned and felt angry.




The jungle was full of all sorts of strange sounds, sights and smells and by now Dennington was getting hungry. He’d lost his pack of food when the raft broke up and he wasn’t sure whether he dare try any of the fruits that hung from the trees. Eventually he’d reached a small pool and, risking it, he had taken a drink of the cool water. It may have been cool, but it was fowl tasting and he spat it out immediately. At least his thirst was quenched for a while. But this jungle had seemed to have gone on forever.

A sound made him stop in his tracks. He turned around and standing beside him was a small, pale-skinned man with a long white beard and white hair. His eyes were small and pale and he was grinning at Dennington.

“Can I help you?” asked Dennington.

“Can I help you?” smiled the man.

“I don’t think so. Who are you?”

“A friend.”

“A friend in this jungle? I doubt it.”

“We are not all savages,” said the man. His high voice had taken on a darker sound. “I am not from the tribe of Tressure.”

“What do you mean?” asked Dennington, sitting down beside the small man.

“I do not worship the Eye. I am one of the few on this planet that don’t believe in this false God.”

“You don’t worship the Eye? Well how come you’re allowed to live on this planet.”

The little man was about to speak and then stopped himself. “It’s a long story, my friend.”

“Perhaps you could tell me as we walk. I’m trying to get back to my friends.”

The two men – one tall, one small – set off further into the jungle and the little man told of how he and some others had broken away.

“The legend goes that Captain Tressure was carrying the Eye of the Gods on his cargo ship. The ship crashed here when it was just sand and baking hot sun. He grasped the power of the Eye and a whole new world grew around him.”

“The jungle?”

“Yes, the jungle.”

“You mean he created all of this?”

“Yes. The Eye gave him this world. Throughout millions of years the Eye had travelled from person to person. The person that took the Eye became a God and it was his bound duty to create a world and civilisation and try to continue the life of the universe. Then, after centuries, the Eye would depart and find a new host, having learnt all it could from each new civilisation.”

“Well, this Tressure doesn’t seem to have created anything worthy of continuing the life of the universe.”

“No. And that’s the problem. He became power mad and created a tribe which was there to solely protect him. A few of us broke away and we’ve been trying to fight him ever since through these many long centuries.”

“But how come he let’s you live here?”

“He doesn’t. But he gave up trying to destroy us a long time ago. You see, his mistake was in giving his tribe magical powers. Magical powers which we also have. There have been times he has succeeded in killing of a number of us, but we can usually hide ourselves from him for short times.”

“And you are here to do…what exactly, besides fighting him?”

“We want to rescue the Eye. Free it and let it find a planet more worthy. And then perhaps our planet can begin to live without fear. Maybe we can advance as a civilisation without having to live in the dark ages.”

The little man had given his name as Dunjan and had promised to accompany Dennington to the fortress of Tressure. Dennington had decided that Nivere and the rest of the team would have continued on their way there, but the Jungle threatened to become more and more dense and soon they’d have to find an alternative way in.




“What’s happened to Aamina and Mark?” asked Ivy, impatiently.

Grasp coughed and spluttered.

“Come on, Grasp, where are they?” said the Doctor.

“Leave him,” complained Nivere, getting down to her knees beside the drenched lizard who they had pulled from the river.

“Shut up, Nivere,” moaned Caroline. “If it was anyone else you wouldn’t give a toss.”

“How dare you -”

“Captain Nivere, how long are we going to persist with this disrespect for others? Caroline is quite right about you. We need to know where Aamina and Dennington are, and from this point on I’m taking charge.”

It was the first time the Doctor had used such authority, but it took Nivere by surprise and silenced her.

“Well done, Doctor. You certainly showed her,” smiled Ivy.

Nivere narrowed her eyes and backed away from the group whilst the Doctor, Caroline and Ivy attempted to get some sense out of her bodyguard.

“The raft…”

“What about the raft?” urged the Doctor.

“The raft…it…it broke up.”

“What about the other two?” asked Ivy.

“They…they tried to argue with me…”

“Oh, let me guess. You killed them?” said the Doctor, looking down in disgust.

Amazingly Grasp’s mouth curled up into a sneer. “I attempted to kill them. They wouldn’t obey orders.” He chuckled. “We fought. They both fell into the water. I don’t know where they are now.”

The Doctor rubbed his tired eyes and sat on the floor shaking his head. “People are dying because of this stupid expedition. We need to round everyone up – if they’re still alive – and get us back to the ship. This expedition has to end now.”

“It won’t!”

The Doctor looked up. Nivere was standing over them, aiming a blaster at the Doctor’s head.

“Captain Nivere, please - !”

“Shut up, Doctor. Grasp, get to your feet. We’re leaving.”

The lizard man struggled to his feet and stood by his Captain’s side.

“So you’re going to kill us in cold blood, are you?” asked Ivy.

Nivere laughed and shot out three energy bolts. The bolts hit the Doctor, Ivy and Caroline and they flopped down to the ground. There was no movement.

Eye Of The Jungle, Chapter 9

“What in the nine realities…?” The Doctor couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Ivy, Dennington and Caroline were in the distance and shouting towards the Doctor's party.

“I'm sorry,” said the Doctor, putting a hand to his ear. “I can't quite hear what you're saying?”

Ivy shouted a bit louder, but the Doctor still could only make out bits. “I.....shoot.......bloody thing.”

“Shoot it?” suggested Captain Nivere.

“Ah yes, of course. Grasp.” The lizard didn't move.

“Grasp,” said Nivere. “Fire a few shots at that thing.”

“Yes, Captain Nivere,” Grasp said obediently and began blasting bolts of deadly energy at the giant cloaked figure. The thing screeched out in horror.

“What the hell is it, Doctor?” asked Nivere.

“It looks like a walking nightmare,” said the Doctor. “After Ivy’s fiancée died, she had had nightmares about the Grimm Reaper taking James’ body away from her”

By now the giant was beginning to recoil backwards and Ivy and the others were getting ahead of it. Eventually the giant fell to it's knees, gave out a large howl and the final blast from Grasp's gun dispersed the giant into a cloud of nothingness.

Ivy helped Dennington and Caroline up to the side of the river and they collapsed in the sand beside the Doctor, gasping for air.

“Are you okay?” asked the Doctor, gazing down at her.

“Yes. I think so,” she said. “I sometimes have the nightmares. Even now. Are you okay?”

“No, we've been sat here all night waiting for you. Where have you been?”

“We had some problems.” Ivy pointed to Caroline who was lying on the floor next to Dennington.

“Caroline,” gasped the Doctor, looking at her wounded thigh. “What happened?”

“They attacked me. Then they locked me up and then threatened to stab me with a flaming spear.”

“Other than that, did they do anything to hurt you badly?” asked the Doctor eagerly.

“Badly? Doctor, they stabbed me through the leg.”

“Yes,” he said, examining her thigh, “but it's a superficial wound. It's nothing compared to what Danny's been through.”

Caroline looked over to Danny who was sat alone beside the river, dangling his fingers into the running stream and staring into space. “What's up with him?”

“He had a brush with a dream.”

“So did I,” said Caroline. “I didn’t quite understand it either.”

“What happened?” asked the Doctor.

“I was on a beach, but I was five years old. There was a health care woman talking to my parents. Apparently they were refusing to have been tested.”

“Hmm,” said the Doctor. “Keep a hold of that memory.”

“Memory?” questioned Caroline. “You mean that actually happened?”

“Quite possibly. Some dreams are just a jumbled collection of thoughts. Some relate to possible truths, and others…well, others are actual memories.”

“Here, Doctor.” Nivere handed the Doctor a medical kit from her travel bag and the Doctor began dressing up Caroline's sore wound. She winced in pain and stared at him, trying to work out what was going on in his head.




“Bridges. Dead,” whispered Dennington slowly.

“Yes. It was Grasp's fault,“ said Nivere sadly to her second in command. “He was only trying to protect me.”

“So he killed Bridges. My god, what have you got as your bodyguard?” said Dennington in disbelief.

“He's extremely loyal. You know that, Mark.”

Dennington turned away in disgust and knelt down beside Bridges' body. “We should bury him.”

“We don't have time. The expedition -”

“Damn the bloody expedition. Human life is more important than some mission. The Eye can wait.”

“No it can't,” said Nivere, grabbing Dennington by the shoulders and turning him towards her. “I have heard that the keeper of the Eye needs someone to share in his power. He needs someone new to take over.”

“What a very interesting way to put it, Captain,” said the Doctor. He'd been listening in.

“How do you mean?” asked Ivy.

“Well, we all knew that Nivere wanted the secret of the Eye.”

“I don't see what I've said that's out of turn,” said Nivere, shifting her eyes from Ivy to the Doctor and to Dennington.

“You sound as though you want to take the power for yourself.”

Nivere chuckled uneasily at the suggestion. “Oh, Doctor, I didn’t mean that. I mean, how would I know about the God wanting to share his power anyway?”

“How indeed,” wondered the Doctor.

“Right,” said Nivere, clapping her hands together as if she wanted to move off the subject. “Are we all ready?”

“We can’t carry on,” said Dennington.

Aamina groaned on the floor.

“How are you Aamina?” asked Ivy.

“Fine,” replied the quiet woman. “I don't fancy talking.” She got up and slowly and shakily wandered off to sit beside the river.

“No, you never do,” whispered Ivy under her breath.

The Doctor crossed over to Danny who hadn't spoken for the past few minutes. “We're ready to get going again, Danny,” said the Doctor gently.

“Fine. I'm not going.” He refused to look up.

“What? You can't stay here?”

“Why not? It's perfectly safe now we're off the Dream Path.”

“Because there’s a dangerous tribe out there looking for us, that's why.”

“I'm not coming, Doctor,” said Danny defiantly. “You find your Eye, get yourselves killed, whatever. I'll wait for you here.”

“Danny, why are you being like this?” asked Caroline, sitting herself up. “You know it’s dangerous out here.”

“Everything’s dangerous,” said Danny, staring blankly out across the river. “I wish I’d never come with you. I wish I’d never come back to Thornsby and gotten involved. I should be sat at home, drunk and stuffed after my Christmas dinner, watching old films on ITV.”

“Danny, don’t say that.”

The Doctor was about to speak again and then decided against it. No point in forcing the issue. He patted Danny on the back, explained to the others and they walked off, leaving Danny to his own thoughts. They hid Bridges’ body under some bushes with the Doctor making a promise to give him a proper burial later and then they made their way onwards.

When they were gone Danny turned away from the river and faced the Dream Path - waiting.




They’d followed the banks of the river around to where it turned and flowed into the jungle.

Nivere took out her notepad, made a few marks in it and then turned to face the others. “This is where we must cross onto the river.”

“Why?” asked Caroline.

“Because the river heads towards the fortress that the God inhabits.”

“Why can’t we cross through the jungle?” asked the Doctor.

“Because, it is said, that this is the most dangerous part of the jungle. Even the tribe of Tressure won’t venture into it.”

“The river’s looking pretty rough though, Captain,” said Dennington.

“Even so, it’s much safer than the jungle. It’s daylight now and we need to get a move on.”

“What do you suggest we do? Build a raft and float along?” suggested Ivy.

“That’s exactly what we’ll do, Coldstone.”

The group began gathering up thick vines which could be used instead of ropes. Grasp drew out his blaster and splintered a tree into thick pieces. Then, with his blaster beam set on a low setting, he began to carve the pieces to make them float better.

“Nice to see your concern for the plant life, Nivere,” said the Doctor, staring at her.

“Survival, Doctor,” she responded cheerily.

He walked over to join Caroline. “How are you feeling?”

“You really want to know, Doctor?” said responded. “I’m tired, worn out and in need of some clean clothes.” She sat down on the floor and began picking at one of the vines.

“Is that all?”

“No,” she said sadly. “Everything’s falling apart. I can’t even rely on Danny anymore.”

“Danny’s not well,” said the Doctor. “We’ll get him checked out as soon as we get off Theen.”

“If we get off Theen.”

Nivere called over. “Come on, you lot. Grasp’s cut up the wood and we can begin assembling the rafts.”

“Do we build one big raft?” asked Caroline.

“No. I thought we could make two.”

“Good idea,” said Ivy. “And then maybe we’ll end up getting separated again.”

“Will you stop being so sarcastic all the time?” said Aamina.

“Oh, you’ve piped up. Why don’t you just -”

“Ladies, ladies,’ said Dennington, trying to smooth the situation over. “Let’s just try and work together, shall we?”

“Good idea,” said the Doctor. “If we have to continue with this absurd mission, then we can at least let the captain find what she’s looking for and then we can all go home.”

“You’re forgetting, Doctor,” said Caroline, “our way of getting home is sat the bottom of a swamp.”

“Yes, thank you, Caroline,” said the Doctor.

The next few hours were spent tying the strips of wood together with the vines and making the two light rafts secure, interspersed with bickering and whispered jibes at one another.

When Nivere was satisfied that they were safe she ordered Aamina, Grasp and Dennington to take one whilst her, Caroline, Ivy and the Doctor would take the other.

They mounted the rafts and cast them off into the river as the winds began to pick up around them.




“Please don’t attack me,” said Danny, worriedly, as Yentob and Slavin approached him.

“And what makes you think we’d want to do that?” asked Slavin.

“Because you’ve already attacked the others.”

“Yes,” said Slavin, “we did. So that, I suppose, is a good enough reason to attack you.”

“No, please,” said Danny desperately. He held out his hands in front of him to show he wasn’t armed and then walked slowly towards the two savages. “You can see I mean you no harm.”

“Why are you doing this?” asked Yentob. “Why do you risk your life?”

“Because I believe I am what your God wants.”

Slavin turned to Yentob and they began laughing.

“What’s wrong?” asked Danny, desperate to get the two men on his side.

“How could you possibly know what our God wants?”

“Because I am not just a normal human being.”

Slavin’s face froze. “Then what are you?”

Danny grinned. “Now that would be telling. Take me to your God and I shall prove I am what he wants.”

Yentob looked at Slavin, unsure of what they should do. Slavin’s eyes narrowed and he walked up to Danny. “We will take you to our lord. But if he is angry then you will die.”

Danny wasn’t exactly sure why he felt so different, but he knew that something was urging him to do this. Something deep inside his soul.

And he could still hear the voice whispering over and over again.

“Danny….Danny….”




Problems had arisen already. The two rafts were being tossed about on the current of the river. Almost as soon as they’d gotten onto the river the wind had picked up and made things difficult for the travellers. It was almost as if someone had known that they were going to travel across. The river had narrowed and the dense jungle on either side hung over, obscuring the sunlight.

The Doctor was soaked through and he grabbed hold of the raft as tight as he could. Dennington’s raft was a little way behind and they’d gotten stuck against a rock.

“We have to turn back,” shouted the Doctor over the rushing water.

“Why?” asked Nivere.

The Doctor pointed towards the raft that they were rapidly sailing away from.

“Mark!” shouted Nivere. “Mark, can you free your raft?”

There was no answer, and Dennington was trying to push away from a large boulder with his oar.

“What’s going on?” asked Ivy, crawling around to look.

“Mark’s trapped,” said Caroline anxiously. “We’ve got to help.”

“Mark can help himself,” said Nivere, grabbing a nearby oar and pushing the raft against the wind again.

“I don’t believe you,” said the Doctor, grabbing her shoulder. “He’s your friend. And your damned body guard is on that raft as well.”

Nivere suddenly realised that she wasn’t protected. “Grasp will be okay,” she said a little shakily.

“That’s it, Doctor, I’ve had enough,” said Ivy, grabbing the oar off the captain. “We’re not leaving those poor people.”

Suddenly a blast flew through the wind and splintered Ivy’s oar.

“What the hell was that?” asked Caroline.

They looked back and saw Grasp aiming his gun at Ivy.

“Loyal to the end,” grinned Nivere. “Thank you, Grasp!” she shouted over the wind.

“This is unbelievable,” said the Doctor.

Nivere grinned and began to push the raft away with the other oar.




On Dennington’s raft, Aamina and him were clinging for dear life whilst Grasp covered them with his blaster.

“Come on, Grasp,” said Dennington. “There was no need to shoot at Ivy like that.”

“My captain’s life was threatened. Now get us free,” ordered the lizard.

“We can’t,” said Aamina, trying to wrench the raft out from between the boulders.

“Then get into the water and push from behind,” he growled.

“No way,” said Dennington. “We’ll be swept away in an instant.”

“You will obey,” commanded Grasp, putting the blaster up against his forehead.

Dennington swallowed hard, looked at the water, took his shirt off and prepared himself to jump in.

Aamina had had enough. She leapt to her feet, steadied herself and launched herself at Grasp. The lizard was taken by surprise and stumbled to the floor. Dennington lunged on top of the lizard and wrestled the blaster from his grip. He pointed the blaster at the snarling creature.

“Shoot me then,” said Grasp.

“Don’t tempt me,“ replied Dennington. “Tie him up, Aamina.”

Aamina got out some of the spare vines and was about to tie up Grasp when he lashed out at her. She fell backwards into the river. Dennington shouted in horror and dropped the blaster. He hung over the edge of the raft and tried to grab Aamina, but she was already being dragged away by the rapids. He called out to Nivere’s raft, but they were too far away to hear or see what was going on.

Then Dennington felt something cold on his cheek. It was the barrel of the blaster. Grasp was aiming it at him and was about to shoot when…

Aamina, halfway down the river, had shot a blast from her gun. It hit Grasp on his arm and he yelped, falling from the raft and cracking his head against a jagged rock. Dennington scrambled to his feet just in time to see Aamina get dragged under the water. He looked around for Grasp but he was nowhere to be seen.

Dennington began to panic and, as if he hadn’t been through enough already, the raft began to fall apart, jostled to pieces on the rocks. The space explorer felt himself fall through the wood and into the water. Before he could grab a hold of the rocks he was swept away. All he could think of was keeping his head above water.

And still the river raged on.

Eye Of The Jungle, Chapter 8

Danny was lying asleep in his bed back at his parents house. He opened his eyes and looked around him. For a moment he was disorientated. Hadn't he just been walking through a jungle?

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.

Eye Of The Jungle, Chapter 7

Caroline had been placed in a cool, stone room and it served as an excellent relief from the glaring sun outside. But now the sun had gone in and it was dark, and the room had grown ice-cold. She still felt extremely drowsy, but attempted to focus in on the things around her.

No, that was too hard. Her head was hurting. She decided on the other senses. She couldn't hear anything. No, wait, she could just hear something. It was very faint. It sounded like some kind of chant coming from outside. The room smelt of stone, but why would these savage people be using stone? Didn't they usually make their huts and buildings out of dung or mud or something? But then again, they were on another planet. Maybe things were different here, or maybe she was just too uneducated on the matter.

Touch. Ouch! Her leg hurt. She was sat on a cold stone floor, her back against the wall and her legs stretched out in front of her. Her thigh was hurting and she decided to leave it alone. And she certainly couldn't taste anything. Her throat was as dry as sand paper as well.

So here she was; locked away in a cold dark prison cell awaiting probable execution. She remembered she’d be carried for quite a while, but she kept passing in and out of consciousness and god knows how long she'd been here for. She didn't want to give in, but she had nothing else to hope for. So she just sat and waited for the inevitable.




“I beg your pardon!?” spat the Doctor.

Nivere was putting out the fire. “That girl will delay our exploration. We must go on.”

“No,” said the Doctor defiantly. “I'm not leaving her to die.”

“She's probably dead already. It's been a long time,” said Bridges unhelpfully.

“I see it didn't take long for you to recover from your plant attack then?” said Ivy spitefully to Bridges.

“Well I propose to put it to the vote.” He turned to the others. “Which ones will come with me to the tribe and rescue Caroline?”

Danny and Ivy immediately crossed to the Doctor’s side, slowly followed by Dennington. There was an awkward silence amongst the others.

“Is that it?” asked the Doctor.

“It's not worth the risk,” said Aamina. “She was foolish enough to get herself into this situation so I don't see why we should help.”

“If it wasn't for that woman you'd probably be dead,” said Dennington, reminding her of the spear attack.

Nivere stepped forward. “Mr Dennington, you have been a good friend of mine. Are you going to turn your back on this expedition now?”

Dennington felt himself give-way under the respect that his Captain offered him. “Captain, I'm not turning my back on the expedition. We can pick it up later. What's the rush?”

“Look around you,” said Nivere. “From what we've heard this place has more defence systems and traps than the city of Exxilon. I want to get to the Eye as soon as possible.”

“Then I can't go with you. Not yet,” said Dennington sadly.

“Very well. Then I must insist that the Doctor comes with me.”

“Now wait just a minute -” began the Doctor.

“No,” interrupted Nivere.

“If you insist on this, then Coldstone and Dennington can go and look for the woman. The Doctor and Danny stays with us.”

“No,” said Danny. “Caz is my friend. I want to help her.”

“Agreed. It’s my fault that she’s in this situation,” said the Doctor.

“Absolutely not. I don’t trust you, Doctor.”

“You stupid old cow,” growled Danny.

Grasp made a move to grab Danny, but Nivere held him back.

“Look,” said Ivy, “it’s fine, Doctor. Me and Mark will go and find Caroline. You just carry on and get to the Eye. It’s pointless arguing with her.”

Danny shook his head and turned away.

“Are you sure about this, Ivy?”

“I’ve spent enough time with you to know what I can and can’t do. And I can do this. We’ll bring back Caroline safely. I promise.”




The Doctor, Grasp, Nivere, Aamina, Danny and Bridges walked down the gently sloping hill to the beginning of the path. It wound on into the distance through the shrubbery and a chill went up Danny's back as he stepped onto it.

“How do you feel?” asked Nivere, as if expecting something to happen.

“Absolutely fine,” said the Doctor. “In fact I've never felt better.”

“That's odd,” said Bridges. “Especially after your friend has been kidnapped.”

The smile disappeared from the Doctor's face.

“That's enough, Bridges,” ordered Nivere.

The path itself was fairly wide, enough for four people to stand side by side, but the darkness had engulfed the way ahead.

“What?” asked Aamina.

“Nothing,” said Bridges, who had sidled up alongside her.

“No,” said Aamina coming to a stop.

“Is something wrong?” asked Nivere, who had noticed Aamina's puzzled expression.

“What…?” she stuttered, and clutched her gun tightly. “No…No…No…No. No. No.”

Nivere grabbed her. “Calm down. What's wrong?”

Aamina span free and began firing off shots into the distance. The bolts of orange energy flew off into the darkness, illuminating the landscape.

The Doctor and Danny ran up.

“What's going on?” shouted the Doctor over the din.

“Looks like she's gone mad, Doc,” said Danny.

“Stop it Aamina,” shouted Nivere. Realising Aamina wouldn't stop she gestured to Grasp.

The lizard-man had his blaster in his hand and switched it to stun. Then he shot a couple of energy pulses into Aamina’s chest and she fell backwards into Nivere's arms.

“Was that really necessary?” asked the Doctor.

“Don't worry, Doctor, she's only stunned.”

“Even so…” said the Doctor, checking Aamina.

“Doctor, she could have killed us,” said Bridges.

“She wasn't in control of her actions. You saw her.”

“It's this path,” said Nivere. “The Dream Path is having an affect already and Aamina is it's first casualty.”

“So how do we proceed, Captain?” asked Grasp, weapon still in hand.

“Bridges and the Doctor can carry Aamina for the rest of the way.”

“I think it'd be best to try and wake her, don't you?” suggested the Doctor.

“No. She'll be dreaming now. It might be dangerous to wake her.”

“You seem to know quite a bit about this,” said the Doctor suspiciously.

“Do not question our Captain,” snapped Grasp, his finger moving over the blaster trigger.

“Oh, I wouldn't dream of it,” said the Doctor, watching the lizard's finger.

“Is that supposed to be a joke?” asked Nivere.

“No,” the Doctor sighed. “I just think it'd be easier for us if we tried to wake this young woman up.”

“I've already said no. Now let's move.”

The Doctor sighed, realising that if he made one false move Grasp might blast him as well. He seemed extremely loyal to his captain, and if anyone put any foot wrong with her he'd probably end up killing them. Order's permitting of course.

The Doctor and Bridges hefted Aamina up and then carried her between them. Bridges had her arms and the Doctor had hold of her legs. What they really needed was a stretcher, but that was going to be impossible out here. The Doctor blinked a few times, he was getting tired, and then continued walking with the others.

No one had noticed that Danny had disappeared in the other direction.




All he could feel was burning. Burning all over his body. He wasn’t even sure how he’d gotten into this state, but he felt like his entire head was on fire. And it all felt so familiar.

He tried to look around, but nothing really stood out. Nothing recognisable. It was dark and he was aware that he was in a large, building, but there was nobody about. He was on his own.

He looked at his hands. They were burning orange. Energy whipping up from them. This had happened so many times before that he had lost count.

He turned to his side and there was the TARDIS in the darkness, it’s blue paintwork illuminated and slightly off-coloured by the orange glow from his body.

He winced in pain and keeled over onto the floor.

“No!” he cried.

Something wasn’t right this time. Something felt different. He knew he was regenerating. It was a natural thing for a Time Lord, but this time it felt different. This time things weren’t going quite so smoothly. That was always the trouble with regeneration. You could never be quite sure what you were going to get.

He clambered up to his feet and leant against his time machine. He tried to focus all of his will power onto just helping him get through this regeneration.

He could feel his face burning.

“Concentrate,” he said through gritted teeth. “Concentrate!”

Finally, with a burst of energy, he flung his arms out to his side and his face exploded in orange light. Finally. It was working.

He could feel himself physically changing. Not just his face, but all over. His clothes were becoming ever so tighter on him and he felt himself grow ever so slightly.

Then, finally, with a scream and a final blast of energy, the orange light dissipated.

And he felt different. Very different.

He grabbed his face and felt around. No hair. He was bald.

And he was aware that something was standing just behind him. He tried to turn, but there was nothing there.

He was about to speak when…




“No!” The Doctor opened his eyes. He was lying on the path. It took him a while to work things out, but slowly and surely he began to realise where he was again. Standing over him was Nivere, Grasp and Bridges with Aamina lying next to him.

“What happened?” asked the Doctor.

“You slipped into a dream,” said Nivere.

His eyes glazed over and then he shook the thought away. “Just a bad dream.”

“We expected as much. We've been having problems ourselves,” said Nivere, rubbing her eyes.

“Like what?” asked the Doctor.

“Like trying to fight off the dreams,” said Nivere. “You seem to have a lot on your mind, Doctor.”

“Yes. Wait a minute; is someone missing?”

“Yes. Danny’s gone.”

“What?”

“We must have lost him somewhere at the beginning of the path,” said Bridges.

The Doctor looked back, but Danny was nowhere in sight. “How could I have been so stupid?” he said. “Can we spare another search party, Captain?”

“Absolutely not,” said Nivere frostily. “That man is old enough to look after himself. And you're coming with us, Doctor. No more rescue missions.”

The Doctor's nose wrinkled at Nivere's coldness and he looked back. “I suppose we'll just have to hope Danny follows the path and meets us later.”

“We must move, Captain,” said Grasp, looking around him suspiciously. By now the sky seemed to have brightened ever so slightly and the lizard was beginning to feel uncomfortable.

“Agreed. The longer we stand around, the longer it will take for us to get down the path. Let's move.”

The party began to move off, unaware that something was watching them. Something from beyond the confines of their current position.

And the Doctor felt a pain in his chest once again.




The door to Caroline’s cell was thrust open and four women walked up to her, waking her from her drowsy sleep. They were dressed in various skins similar to ones she'd seen on school geography videos showing Kenyan people. They smiled at her sweetly and began to spray her with some sort of water. She coughed and spluttered as it got into her mouth. One woman left and then returned with some sort of red ceremonial robe which she proceeded to make her get into.

Great, the robe of death, she thought.

A couple of burley men then entered and dragged her from the stone chamber. She was taken outside and pushed to the ground. Here it was quite sandy, like she was in a desert or on a desert island. The sky was a dark blue apart from the fires that cast orange glows into it. This was it. She was going to die.

After a moment more of the tribe began gathering around her. They gazed at her in disgust and Caroline began to feel very afraid and defenceless.

She took a few steps backwards but bumped into one of the women who had dressed her. She turned around quickly and the woman smiled. But it wasn't a friendly smile. There was something dark behind her eyes.

“Look,” said Caroline nervously, “I don't know what you want with me.”

None of them responded.

“I haven't done anything wrong. Just let me go back to my friends.”

Still nothing.

Then the man, Yentob, who had attacked her, stepped out with his master, Slavin. He grabbed a spear from the nearest tribesman and held it into one of the fires. It began burning brightly and soon the end was covered in flames, it’s tip hot-orange.

“Please,” said Caroline, the tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

Yentob's face remained a blank slate as he held out the spear and advanced towards her.

Eye Of The Jungle, Chapter 6

Ivy frowned as she watched the Doctor. It’d been a long time for the both of them, but she still felt like she could trust him with anything. The last time they had seen each other was at the Bassassel gardens in China. He’d give her a time ring as a present and told her to use it wisely. Since then she’d been exploring on her own, hoping, despite everything that had happened, that one day she’d bump into him again.

She’d met him when she was in her early twenties at a Victorian fairground in London. She’d been visiting with her then husband-to-be James. James had been killed by a race of aliens that she and the Doctor had discovered where called the Hoopex. She’d taken his death badly and had struggled to find any definition to her life after that.

She had returned to her regular life in Victorian London, but the Doctor had kept a close eye on her. When she finally reached rock bottom, he had returned - about a year later - and had whisked her away into time and space. Of course then he was young and dashing and she had almost fallen in love with him. Almost. The Doctor had never shown any romantic interest towards her, and Ivy had kept her feelings secret. Deep below the surface. After all, she was still missing James.

She had spent, relatively speaking, around five years with him, travelling from galaxy to galaxy defeating Daleks, Sontarans and Hoix. Finally, after five years, she had decided that it was time to go on her own way. That’s when he gave her the time ring.

In five years she had been transformed from a proper Victorian lady, to a intergalactic space and time explorer.

He'd kept a steady pace ahead of her and Bridges, but every now and again seemed to peep out of his little world, realise he had left them far behind, and then drop back a few metres. Now the Doctor was level with Ivy, but she could tell he was beginning to hurry his pace again.

“Slow down, Doctor,” said Ivy.

“I'm sorry?” asked the Doctor, obviously lost in his thoughts again.

“I said slow down.” She pointed back the way they'd come at the diminutive figure of Bridges in the distance. “We've left poor Bridges right back there.”

“Oh, he'll be okay.” The Doctor cupped his hands to his mouth and called back. “You okay Mr Bridges?”

Bridges waved his confirmation.

“You see,” smiled the Doctor.

“I still don't see what the rush is. We'll arrive there ahead of the others at this rate.”

“Exactly,” said the Doctor clicking his fingers. “We get there before the others and do a bit of investigating before they get there.”

“The place is called the Dream Path. What do you expect to investigate there?”

“Our dreams, perhaps?”

There was a yell from back through the trees. It was Bridges and he seemed to be struggling with some kind of twisting vine. Ivy and the Doctor rushed back the way they had come to help the man.

When they arrived a large green and yellow vine had somehow wrapped itself around Bridges foot. He was scrabbling in the sand to get away, but the thing wouldn't give in. He clawed at it and stamped on it with his free foot but it wouldn’t release him.

The Doctor grabbed the vine and felt around it.

“What are you doing?” asked Ivy in desperation.

“I'm trying to work out the nerve points,” he said, concentrating and squeezing the vine like it was an inner-tube to a bicycle wheel.

“And what will that do?”

More vines lashed up and grabbed the Doctor's arm. He grimaced out as it began to wrap itself tighter around him. Ivy had her blaster aimed at the thing in an instant and shot a red-hot plasma beam at the vine. A strange and eerie scream came from within the roots of the plant, but more vines lashed up to replace the charred one.

“Do something!” pleaded Bridges in agony.

“Aim for the source,” said the Doctor through gritted teeth. “Follow the vines.”

“The source! Of course, why didn't I think of it?!”

Ivy hopped between the snake-like vines that had now tried to grab hold of her as well. Eventually she reached a mass of them that seemed to join together to form a massive lump of vegetable tissue. The smell was terrible and Ivy almost vomited at the stench.

She screwed up her face, held her breath and levelled her blaster at the thing that was writhing around angrily. The beam shot out from the gun and hit the mass. It howled, but didn't stop it's attack as the vines began moving to grab her. She fell to the floor as one of them pulled her over.

“Okay,” she panted, “how about a higher setting.”

She switched the blaster up to a higher setting and fired again. This time the creature pulled back in pain and recoiled along the ground, unfastening itself from Ivy and scuttling into the trees. Ivy lay panting for a few moments and then headed back to the Doctor and Bridges.

“Well done Ivy,” beamed the Doctor, trying to rub the green plant stains from his shirt.

“How's Bridges?” asked Ivy.

Bridges groaned on the floor. “I think I'll be okay,” he said.

“You've got some bruising,” said the Doctor, checking him. “Obviously the pressure from that plant was too much. Oh, by the way,” said the Doctor, looking to Ivy, “you didn't hurt it did you?”

“Hurt it? Of course I did.”

“Fatally?”

“No I don't think so.”

A look of relief appeared on the Doctor's face. “Oh, good.”

“Oh, it doesn't matter that it attacked us, does it Doctor?” said Ivy sarcastically.

“It probably thought we were food. So this planet doesn’t just have humanoid life on it,” he said, looking around the trees. “We'll have to be on our guard from now on. And let's stick together this time.”




Meanwhile Danny had been having a pretty quiet and lonely walk with Grasp and Nivere. He couldn't understand why they all had to separate and go different ways.

“It's all about being an explorer, Danny,” Nivere had told him. “I didn't come to this planet to go straight to the fortress holding the Eye. I wanted to explore the planet as well, compare notes with the others and mark it down in my notebook.”

That blasted notebook, thought Danny. She'd been getting it out of those bloody stupid trouser pockets of hers every single bloody minute and making notes while her lizard friend guarded her back. Guarded her back! Who the hell would want to kidnap her? To Danny she was a pompous, stuck up old cow, but to that Grasp thing she was like some sort of queen.

“Keep up, Danny,” came her cheery, but bossy voice from far ahead.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” said Danny.

They'd come to the edge of the jungle and were now crossing over a small pond that had stepping stones running all the way through it to the other side. Grasp was the first to go across and was helping Nivere across the slippery stones. At one point she lost her balance but Grasp was at her side immediately.

Now he was trying to get across. The slimy stones were making it difficult to not fall and at one point he thought he'd never get to the other side. When he eventually did Nivere and Grasp were sat on a large boulder munching on some rations.

“So you finally made it?” said Nivere with a mouthful of fake food.

“Obviously.”

“You will have more respect when you speak to Captain Nivere,” warned Grasp, clutching his large blaster tighter around his scaly fist.

“No, no,” said Nivere, “Danny obviously isn't the adventuring type.”

“And why does he have to keep threatening people all the time?” said Danny, nodding towards Grasp.

Grasp growled and Nivere shushed him. “He is my personal body guard. I rescued him when he was young -”

“Yeah I've heard the story,” interrupted Danny. “But why is he here?”

“Protection. My only reason is to protect Captain Nivere,” replied Grasp.

“And he's happy with it,” added in Nivere.

After a while they gathered up their stuff and made their way through the jungle again.

Danny felt a twitching feeling in his face. He felt his cheek – it was cold. He shook off the worries and then followed Nivere and Grasp.




“Come on, Yentob!” shouted Slavin, as he was about to drive his spear through Aamina's throat.

“I have to kill her,” he said angrily.

“Calm yourself and come,” said Slavin, as Caroline and Dennington ran over to the two attackers.

Yentob withdrew and was about to grab Aamina and drag her away when Caroline decided to teach the two men a lesson.

“What the hell do you think you're doing!?” she shouted, marching over to Yentob.

“Caroline, no!” said Dennington, who was trying to help Aamina to her feet.

Caroline stopped dead as she saw Yentob's crooked teeth smile at her. Then, raising his spear, he thrust it forward, like a javelin. It hit Caroline's thigh and she screamed out in agony. She collapsed to the floor and clutched her leg.

“No!” shouted Dennington, running over. He stopped dead when Slavin also raised his spear towards him.

“Go back to where you came from,” warned Slavin. “We will take the girl now. If you move any further, then more of you will be taken and this time it will be fatal.”

Dennington backed off as Yentob slung the injured Caroline over his shoulder and disappeared with Slavin into the undergrowth.

“Now what are we going to do?” asked Aamina worriedly.




Caroline was upside down and her eyes felt sleepy. A sharp pain came from her leg which, strangely, didn't feel as if it was in the right position anymore. Then, after a while of concentrating, she realised she had been slung over someone's shoulder and was being carried through the jungle. She was in too much pain to cry for help and it probably wouldn't have helped her situation anyway, so she decided to just remain like that - upside down and feeling ill.

She could hear the two men talking. The one who was carrying her had a low, but young voice, whilst the other had an older and more craggy sound to him. She couldn't make out what they were saying, though. She seemed to be slipping in and out of consciousness.

When will this end? she asked herself.

Branches slashed across her face and sharp thorns whacked into her back as they moved through the dense jungle foliage. She began to think of all the things she'd encountered since meeting the Doctor and how she'd finally gotten her into a situation that she was going to be killed in. The Apparites and Blackmore and the Trixatins. And now here she was, blood pouring from her open wound and no sign of rescue.

Please, Doctor, she thought, please, help me.




Dennington had regretted the decision ever since he and Aamina had agreed on it, but then they reasoned that they couldn't have done anything on their own anyway. If they were to mount a rescue then they needed help from the others. These people were savages. A tribe who didn't like people walking through their jungle. Dennington didn't like the idea, but a few blasters would sort their savage minds out.

Now they were heading across the jungle in a hope to meet up with the Doctor or Nivere's party on their chosen route. Aamina had gone quiet again and hadn't spoken since they'd come to the decision and it bugged Dennington. He liked to talk and those who didn't talk were considered odd by his standards. They trekked through the jungle and avoided swamps and eventually reached the path that the Doctor's party had travelled along, only to realised that they were behind them.

“Great,” sighed Dennington, “we've lost time and missed them.”

“What do we do then?” asked Aamina.

“Do? We follow the track as fast as we can and make the rendezvous at the Dream Path.”

“We'll be a few hours behind the others,” stated Aamina grimly.

“We can't just give up, Aamina.”

“That woman might already be dead,” said Aamina coldly. “I'd rather take my time than rush around the jungle trying to save her.”

“Well I'm not willing to make any decisions until we've spoken to the others. Let's go.” He marched off ahead of Aamina.




The Doctor stood in awe of the strange pathway before him - the Dream Path. It was a strange site. Ahead of them there were no tree's, just shrubbery and low bushes, and winding between the bushes was a dirt track. It reminded the Doctor of the yellow brick road and somehow he felt enticed towards it. For a moment the Doctor felt light headed, as if he were about to fall into a deep sleep, but then Bridges brought him back into focus.

“It's weird, isn't it?” he said.

“Yes,” said the Doctor smiling. “It's very…intoxicating.”

“I've studied it in books. It's part of the defence system that this so called God set up on the planet. Apparently there are a number of tasks and defences that you must pass on the way to the fortress where he lives.”

“And this is one of them?”

“Yeah,” chipped in Ivy. “You have to keep your wits about you or you may end up falling asleep.”

“That's why it's called the Dream Path,” finished Bridges, who was now taking a holo-recording of the path.

“Dreaming doesn’t sound very dangerous to me,” said the Doctor.

“The dreams that are conjured up here, though,” said Ivy, “are so deep that you may never wake up. Those that pass the Dream Path are already on their way to confront Tressure and, perhaps, claim the Gods power. It sounds like a load of old rubbish to me though.”

“And Nivere want's to cross this?” asked the Doctor.

“Indeed I do.”

The Doctor turned around at the sound of the woman’s voice and saw Nivere, Danny and Grasp emerging from the trees.

“Hello, Danny,” smiled the Doctor.

“Evening all,” said Danny, wearily. “That was a bit of a trek. Where’s Caroline?”




They had waited two hours and the sky had turned dark. The air had cooled down considerably and the explorer's had lit a fire to keep warm. Now they were huddled around it, sat in silence.

The silence was broken when Dennington rushed out of the jungle followed by a calmer-looking Aamina.

“What is it?” asked the Doctor worriedly. “Where's Caroline?”

Eye Of The Jungle, Chapter 5

The Protector's of the Eye had a camp that was two days away from the fortress. There the tribe lived for, and protected their God. They had a string of other camps that led from here to the fortress and provided the best defence against attack, should anybody want to trek to the Eye's domain and steal it. Many had done so in the past and they had all failed.

Yentob and Slavin lived at this particular camp. The furthest out from the fortress. Slavin was the leader of this group. He had worshiped his Lord since he had been told of him as a child. He'd been one of the most avid supporters as well and had spent hours a day praying to his God. His Lord had rewarded him by giving him a position as one of his closest servants and posted him to the outer most camp. Now, for the first time in months, he was being called to visit him again, but this time he would travel by the powers of God himself and not a two day trek across the jungle.

The camp was located within a dense collection of high trees. Some tribes liked to live in the tree tops in wooden huts, but Slavin's camp felt it was better and safer to be on the ground where they could stop any invaders straight away.

Slavin entered through the wooden gates of the camp and was greeted by a servant. He was followed by Yentob who was holding Slavin's staff.

“Is the circle ready, Bushtan?”

“It is, Slavin,” said Bushtan in a low, deep growl.

“Excellent. Our Lord is waiting on us. Prepare the men.”

A group of twelve men gathered around a large created from pebbles, rocks and stones. They began to chant slowly. Slavin and Yentob stood in the circle and Slavin grabbed his staff.

“My Lord, we are ready!” he called out, holding his staff above him.

The wind whipped around them and a bolt of lighting struck down at the feet of Slavin and Yentob. Yentob cowered behind his master but Slavin simply stood motionless as they vanished in a glow of green light.




The explorers where now kitted out in their jungle wear. Nivere had taken to wearing a tan suit complete with adventurer's hat and utility belt. The two men, Bridges and Dennington, wore t-shirts and shorts. Grasp had stocked up his utility belt with all manner of weapons. His green, scaly skin moving as he flexed his muscles, eyeing the others cautiously. Aamina was carrying a rucksack which contained supplies for the expedition. She also had a very large gun attached to a belt.

Ivy, mean while, was kitted out in combat trousers and top, a rucksack slung over her shoulder.

“Well, are we all ready?” asked Nivere.

“Indeed, I believe we are, Captain,” smiled Dennington, eager to get going.

“Doctor,” said Caroline, “aren't you forgetting what's happened to the TARDIS.”

“No, Caroline, I haven't forgotten.”

“Why, what's happened to it?” asked Ivy.

“He lost the TARDIS,” piped in Danny.

“What, again? Once he lost the TARDIS in 1690 and we ended up having to spend the next twelve months living in a hut while we waited for the ship to appear again.”

“You’re having a laugh, aren’t you?”

The Doctor tried to smooth the situation down. “It was a long time ago. A long, long time ago. I’ve become much more careful these days. I always make sure I leave the breaks on.”

“Are you people ready?” asked Nivere, who was standing on the edge of the clearing waiting for the others.

“Yes, we're just coming,” called the Doctor as he ushered the others across the clearing.

“I believe it would be best if we split into three parties. Originally it was going to be two, but with the inclusion of the Doctor and his friends, three would make things even better.”

“Ah,” said the Doctor, “would it be wise to split us all up on a hostile planet like this?”

“I'm not afraid,” said Bridges confidently.

“He's not talking about being afraid,” said Ivy. “But it does seem a bit dangerous, Captain.”

“Nonsense. Whatever's out there we can handle it.”

The Doctor opened his mouth to speak but Nivere stopped him.

“Now,” she began, “who to team up with who…Doctor perhaps you'd like to come with me. And the young man, Danny, as well.”

“I'd like to go with the Doctor,” said Caroline. “I want to keep him close.” She closed in on the Doctor and lowered her voice. “Don’t forget…answers.”

“And me. We've a lot to catch up on,” said Ivy.

“We can't all go with the Doctor.”

The Doctor made a suggestion. “How about me, Ivy and Bridges.”

“But Doctor -”

“Caroline, everything will be okay.”

Caroline wasn’t so sure. She knew that the Doctor had travelled with people before, but she was starting to get worried that her and Danny would be forgotten.

“Very well,” sighed Nivere. “Grasp and Danny, you can come with me. Dennington and Aamina can go with Caroline.”

With that they headed off to the north, each group taking a different route. They checked the map and agreed to meet up in eight hours at a place called the Dream Path.




The road was long and hard and Caroline had already had enough after the first twenty minutes. She was angry at the situation. Why the hell was she here? She'd trusted the Doctor. She'd hoped he would try and get the explorer’s to drag the TARDIS out of the swamp, but instead they were going on a quest for some bloody artefact. She wanted to get back to the TARDIS and have a bath to wash away the insects that were crawling and flying all around her.

Caroline swung a stick and whacked away a thick vine.

“Is there a problem, Caroline?” asked Dennington, who was walking behind her.

“No,” she said through gritted teeth, “everything's just fine.”

“You seem a little perplexed,” he said, still smiling.

“Well,” she gave in, “okay, if you want to know the truth I am bloody perplexed.”

“Why?”

“Because I never asked to come on this expedition. I just want to get back to the TARDIS. Back to safety.”

“Caroline, if you're worried about dangers on the jungle path then there's no need to be.”

“No need? What about all those stories you were telling me about anyone coming looking for the eye is usually dealt with swiftly?”

“Oh, yes, but they're just myths. We don't know for sure whether they're true.”

“They're true.” Aamina had spoken for the first time since they'd begun their trek. “Believe me, Caroline, you should be scared.”

“Thanks for cheering me up,” grumbled Caroline.

Dennington frowned. “Aamina, there's no need to worry the woman. She's trapped on an alien planet and we're her only company.”

“I just think she should be prepared for the worst. Makes it easier to combat.”

Caroline stopped and leant against one of the tree's. Dennington walked over to her while Aamina carried on ahead.

Caroline realised Dennington was waiting for her to talk. “I just want to go home.”

“Home? Back to your TARDIS?”

“That‘s not home. My home’s on Earth. In Thornsby.”

“Don't you like travelling?” asked Dennington, crouching down in front of her.

“I don’t know. Maybe I’d like it if there wasn’t other things on my mind.”

“Like what?” asked Dennington

Caroline had needed to get this off her chest for quite a while. “I'm not sure I quite trust the Doctor. There‘s something wrong with me. We don‘t know what, but I’ve got some sort of power deep inside of me. The Doctor needs his ship to do a full scan, and maybe it can get me home, but now he's abandoned me and gone off with that Coldstone woman. I just want to go home and get back to my normal, boring life.”

“Ivy’s the Doctor's friend,” reasoned Dennington. “I gather they haven't seen each other for some time. Naturally they need some time alone, to talk. Give him a chance, Caroline.”

“It's not just her,” said Caroline, feeling more frustrated. “It's the fact that he never considers what's going on around him. He just leaps into things without thinking and leaves a trail of chaos behind him. And she never even recognised him. What was that all about?”

Dennington was about to reply when there was a flash and Aamina screamed.




Slavin and Yentob appeared in a dark, stone chamber. The walls were a deep brown and the chamber echoed with their footsteps.

“What is this place?” asked Yentob nervously.

“Need you ask that question, Yentob?”

“I assume it's the fortress of our Lord?”

“Indeed it is.”

This made Yentob cower even more behind Slavin. “Why is it so dark?”

“Who knows what goes on in the mind of God.”

Soon they came to a narrow corridor with an eerie yellow glow coming from it. Slavin stopped and then, swallowing his fear, he marched on with Yentob scuttling behind him. The glow became brighter and brighter as they neared a particular chamber.

Slavin breathed in heavily and then pushed open a large oak door. The light flooded out of the room and bathed Yentob and Slavin in an un-earthly yellow hue. They had to shield their eyes, but soon the light dimmed.

“Come,” said a voice from deep within the chamber.

Yentob bit his lip and Slavin tried to compose himself to show he wasn't frightened. He'd been here so many times before, but he'd never gotten used to the fear of what might be asked of him.

They made their way into the chamber and, standing in front of a golden throne, was a middle aged, human man with white hair and piercing yellowed eyes.

Slavin bowed to the man. “My Lord Tressure, we are here to serve you.”

“Slavin. It is good to see you again, and you too, Yentob. You have served Slavin well and he has served me well.” Tressure stepped across to his throne and settled himself down. “Throughout the many centuries my people have fought off those who would wish to steal the Eye.” He clasped the glowing, glass eye tightly. “And we have always defeated them. However, there is a new threat. A threat which we have not witnessed before.”

“A threat bigger than the Daleks?” asked Slavin, nervously remembering the time the metal monsters tried to destroy the Eye.

“A threat that can travel in time. I have heard the legends of a planet called Gallifrey.”

“We too have heard the stories.”

“This new threat comes from that planet,” growled Tressure.

“We have observed him. They appeared in a blue box.”

“And there are the others,” added Yentob.

Tressure's face reddened with anger. “I am not interested in the others. They are worthless.“

“Forgive him, my Lord. He just wants to help.”

“He is forgiven,” said Tressure, regaining his composure. “But this Time Lord, although infinitely less powerful than me, will still be a threat.”

“What are your commands?”

“Destroy them.” Tressure's command was simple. “Destroy them before they get here.”

“Forgive me, Lord, but why can’t you destroy them yourself?” Slavin wished he hadn’t questioned his God.

Tressure’s face reddened again. “Do not ask questions! You will obey me!”

Slavin was excused and he and Yentob made there way back to the dark room they'd appeared in. In a flash of green they were gone.




Aamina was pressed up against a tree. It had been less than a minute since Yentob and Slavin had appeared in a blinding strike of lighting. Yentob now had a spear placed against Aamina's neck.

“Now it's time to die,” growled Yentob as he began to press the spear into her neck.