Doctor Who and an Unearthly Child

Minutes after they had disappeared, the boulder shifted enough to leave a gap at the entrance. Za squeezed through, Hur close behind.

'Where are they?' roared Za.

Hur looked at the discarded lashings on the floor of the cave.

'She did not kill them. She has set them free.'

Za saw his knife in Old Mother's hand, and snatched it from her. 'Why, old woman? Why?'

'They would have made fire,' moaned Old Mother. 'They would have made fire.'

Hur's sharp eyes had spotted the opening at the back of the cave. 'They have gone this way. Here, Za!'

Za headed for the gap, and Old Mother wound her skinny arms around him, trying to hold him back. Angrily, Za threw her aside.

She stumbled to the floor, and lay there half-stunned.

Za peered into the tunnel and hesitated. 'They have gone into the night.'

Hur said, 'They have taken the secret of fire with them.'

'The beasts will kill them. They will kill us if we follow.'

Hur went back to the cave entrance, recovered Za's axe, and brought it back to him. She pressed it into his hand. 'You are the leader, Za,' said Hur softly. 'You are strong, as strong as the beasts.

You will be stronger still, once you know how fire is made. Stronger than Kal.'

Za looked at her for a moment, then slipped into the tunnel.

Hur followed him.

8

The Forest of Fear

It was dark in the forest.

The path was so narrow that lowlying branches whipped constantly across their faces, and they had to shield themselves with upheld arms as they ran.

The air was chill, though the forest protected them from the night winds. The path was so enclosed on each side and overhead that it was like running through a tunnel. Still, it was a thousand times better than the ghastly cave with its stench of death and shattered grinning skulls. Susan led the way, then Barbara, then Ian, with the Doctor in the rear. As they ran, Ian became aware that the Doctor was falling further and further behind.

He turned and saw that the old man had stopped running altogether. He was leaning panting against a tree. 'Stop! Just for a moment, please.'

'We must keep moving, Doctor.'

The Doctor nodded weakly. 'In a moment... in a moment.'

'We're not far enough away from the cave yet...'

'I know... I know. But I simply can't run any more!'

'Try!' urged Ian.

The Doctor nodded wearily, but he didn't move.

'All right,' said Ian. 'There's only one thing for it. I'll have to carry you.'

He advanced on the Doctor, who waved him indignantly away.

'You'll do no such thing, young man. I don't need your help. I may be old, but I'm not senile. I just want to get my breath back, that's all.'

Ian looked despairingly at Susan. She came forward and said,

' Please, grandfather.'

The Doctor sighed and hoisted himself wearily from the trunk.

They moved on, though this time at a slower pace. There were mysterious rustlings in the forest around them, and the cries of wild beasts.

Barbara moved up close to Ian. 'Are you sure this is the right way?'

'I think so. We want to cut off the corner of the forest and get back to the ship. We came in to the forest at a different place - it's hard to be sure. What do you think?'

'I can't remember, Ian. I simply can't remember!'

There was hysteria in her voice.

Ian put a consoling hand on her shoulder. 'Never mind, we're free, aren't we? That's the main thing.'

They moved on their way.

Ian heard a noise in the darkness behind him and whirled round. The bushes seemed to be moving slightly, and he thought he heard a low throaty sound, like the purring of a giant cat...

'What is it?'

Ian shrugged. 'Just some wild animal or other. Probably more scared of us than we are of it.'

But in his heart Ian wasn't too sure. He racked his brains to remember what animals had been about in the days of the cavemen.

Not dinosaurs, at least, though that was a common mistake.

Luckily for man, these great monsters had been long extinct. But mammoths certainly. And what about the sabre-toothed tiger? Surely that had been around?

Cautiously they moved on through the dark forest. They came to a fallen tree, and paused to take their bearings.

'I remember this place,' said Susan excitedly. 'But we didn't go right by it, we went around.'

'That's right,' agreed Barbara. 'The trail passed it on one side.'

'I hope you're both right,' said Ian. 'Because if you are, the ship can't be very far away.' He turned to the Doctor, who was leaning on Susan's shoulder. 'How are you feeling?'

'I'm quite all right, thank you, young man! Don't keep regarding me as the weak link in this party.'

Suddenly, Barbara gave a little scream, and moved closer to Ian.

'What is it?'

'I don't know. I thought I saw something move - over there in the bushes.'

'Nonsense,' said the Doctor airily.

'I tell you the bushes moved, I saw them. We're never going to get out of this terrible place. Never!'

'What could it have been, grandfather?' whispered Susan.

'Imagination, my dear child. Pure imagination,' said the Doctor, but he looked round rather uneasily.

Ian put a consoling arm around Barbara's shoulders. 'Look, I know this seems like a nightmare, but we'll get out of it.'

'We'll all die in this terrible forest, I know we will!'

'No we won't,' said Ian gently. 'Not if we don't give up.'

'Ian, what's happening to us?'

'Look, we can't be far from the ship now. We'll be safe there.

We got out of the caves, didn't we?'

Susan moved closer to the Doctor and shivered. 'It's so cold!'

The Doctor slipped off his jacket and put it round her shoulders. 'You're welcome to this, my child.'

'What about you, grandfather?'

The Doctor managed a smile.

'Don't worry about me. All this exertion has made me quite hot!'

Ian came over to them. 'Barbara's feeling the strain a bit. We seem to have stopped anyway, so we'll rest here for a little while.'

Susan nodded gratefully. 'Is there any chance of their following us?'

'I'm afraid there is!'

'That's why I don't want to stay here too long.'

'You don't think I want to linger, do you?' said the Doctor peevishly.

Ian gave him a long-suffering look. 'No, of course, I don't. I think we'll change the order when we set off again. You lead, with Susan and Barbara, and I'll bring up the rear.'

The Doctor bristled. 'You seem to have elected yourself leader of this little expedition.'

'There isn't time to take a vote on it, is there?'

'Just so long as you understand that I won't follow your orders blindly, young man.'

Ian leaned forward. 'Believe me, Doctor, if there were just the two of us, as far as I'm concerned you could find your own way back to the ship!'

'You're a very tiresome young man, aren't you?'

'And you're a very stubborn old one,' said Ian, through gritted teeth. 'But when we set off, you'll lead, the girls will come in between, and I'll go last - that's the safest way!'

'Safest? Why safest?'

'I think Barbara is right. I heard something in the bushes behind us when we stopped before, and it's still with us now.

Something's stalking us.'