The Missing Adventures - Evolution Part 12

'But it's not right!' spluttered Sir Edward.

'You'd better accept that I'm coming,' Sarah told him. She turned to Alice. 'I hope I can borrow a pair of riding trousers, though.'

Sir Edward almost had apoplexy. 'Men's clothing? What is this world coming to?'

Alice patted his hand. 'Don't be so old-fashioned, Papa,' she said. 'I'm quite sure that Sarah and the Doctor know what they are doing. And a dress is so impractical for a hunt, isn't it?' She smiled wistfully. 'If I were not so weak, I'd want to come along as well.'

'Never!' her father vowed. Then he sighed. 'Oh, very well. I suppose I have no choice but to agree.' He took a swig of his own brandy. 'I'd better have them ready five horses, I suppose.'

'Four should be sufficient,' the Doctor replied. 'I think it would be better for Roger to stay here and look after Alice.'

'Here, I say!' Bridewell exclaimed. 'I'm jolly well coming if she is. I can handle a gun.'

'Probably not as well as Sarah,' the Doctor informed him. 'Anyway, I aim to capture the creature, not blow its brains out.' He gave Bridewell a wide grin. 'Besides, if your friend Ross reappears, I think it would be better for you to be here to question him, don't you?'

'If Ross turns up,' Alice promised, 'I shall make certain he is here when you return, if I have to sit on top of him!'

Sir Edward sighed. 'What is this world coming to? Women shooting and hunting, and now me own daughter talking about getting into a fight.' He shook his head. 'That's what comes of living in a country ruled by a Queen, I suppose.'

Sarah laughed. 'Cheer up,' she told him. 'You may grow to like it.' She turned to Bridewell. 'Please do as the Doctor suggests,' she begged. She wasn't sure why, but she had a definite suspicion that the Doctor was simply trying to get rid of Roger.

'Oh, very well,' Bridewell agreed with a sigh. He took Alice's hand. 'I wish I were coming along, though. It sounds like such sport.'

Alice laughed. 'I promise, Roger, you won't be bored in my company.'

'Time for you to change, Sarah,' the Doctor observed. 'Then meet us at the stables. By the time you're ready, we can set off for the moors.'

'I say,' exclaimed Doyle, draining his gla.s.s. 'This is jolly exciting, isn't it?'

'The best is yet to come,' the Doctor promised.

After she'd changed, Sarah hurried down to the stables. Sir Edward gave her an askance look but didn't comment on the trousers and jacket she was now wearing. Instead he simply handed her a rifle. 'You can really use this?' he asked.

'Want to see me try?' asked Sarah cheekily.

'No,' he answered, managing a slight smile. 'I suppose I am rather too hidebound, aren't I?'

'To be honest,' she told him, 'I think you're doing pretty well, all told.' She accepted the reins of a rather fine mare.

'She's beautiful. Aren't you, girl?' Sarah patted the mare's nose, and slipped the rifle into the boot on the saddle. She mounted the horse and rode over to where the Doctor was waiting. 'You didn't want Roger along, did you?' she asked softly.

'No,' he agreed, just as quietly. 'I think our friend Colonel Ross may turn up, and I'm not sure whose side our Mister Bridewell would take. I preferred not to have him make a choice. Besides,' he added with a grin, 'what could he do that you can't?'

'Not a lot,' laughed Sarah.

Sir Edward rode over, and one of the grooms handed them all dark lanterns and matches. 'Right,' the aristocrat said. 'I think we're ready. Now, stay close to me. The moors are considerably more dangerous than they might appear, and twice as bad at night. There are marshes and bogs that undoubtedly contain several bodies, and I'd be happy if we didn't add any more.'

'I'll drink to that,' Sarah muttered. The thought of being sucked to her death at the bottom of a bog was discomforting, but she intended to see this through.

Sir Edward nodded, then turned to the Doctor. 'As I promised, Doctor, I'll give you your chance to capture this beast alive. But if it looks like any of us are in danger, or that the creature will escape, I aim to shoot it down like the animal it is.

I trust you can accept those terms?'

'You're being more than fair,' the Doctor answered. 'I am certain that we won't be in danger from this creature, but if there is trouble then I won't hesitate to kill it either.'

'Excellent.' Sir Edward gave them all a tight smile. 'Then let us be off.'

Sarah fell in behind him as they filed out of the stables and down the riding path. There was a slight queasiness in her stomach that she knew was nerves. While she'd faced greater troubles beside the Doctor not least of which being the all-too-recent hunt for Morbius on the devastated surface of Karn there was always something indescribably eerie about the unknown on Earth. She was fairly sure that the Doctor knew what he was doing, but there was always the knowledge that he also had a habit of messing up rather badly from time to time. She could only hope that this wasn't one of those times.

The ride was pleasant, with the setting sun tinting the woodland landscape in rich autumn colours. The wind was getting colder, however, as the sun paused on the horizon before bidding them all goodnight. Sarah shivered, and knew that only part of this was due to the chill.

The path led them out onto the moors proper, and it was as bleak and raw a landscape as any that even Karn could have offered. Gra.s.ses and stunted shrubs were littered haphazardly across the moors, but the soil over the base rocks was too thin to support much growth. What little that struggled to survive had to compete with the winds that seemed eager to hurl any growths away. In the gathering gloom, the pathside pools and swampy areas were little more than patches of black in the grey landscape.

Sarah could see why the locals so fervently believed that this was a landscape carved by the devil himself, and that the forces of evil walked about here when honest folks were warm and safe abed. Given her choice, that was where Sarah would have been by now. But she couldn't desert the Doctor when he might have need of her.

She glanced at Doyle, who seemed to be enjoying this adventure. It was a long time since she'd read his Hound Of The Hound Of The Baskervilles Baskervilles, but she recalled enough details to know that at least part of what he was experiencing this night would end up in the novel. Was the creature they were after the basis for the hound itself? Doyle had credited a local friend with the source of the legend, but perhaps that was to cover up his involvement in this strange hunt? She knew that none of his biog-raphies had ever mentioned this stay-over in Devon. Nor had they mentioned his meeting with the young Kipling. But, as Sarah well knew, history was merely what posterity chose to record, and not necessarily what had actually occurred.

The night pressed in close about them. There was the sound of an owl hooting in the distance, but few other signs of life.

Sarah knew that deer lived out on the moors, as well as the hardy local ponies. There were smaller animals too, like hares and foxes, and no doubt plenty of mice to tempt the owls.

Plus there was the monster that they were after, whatever it might be.

They rode in silence. Sarah kept her eyes darting about, but there was less and less to see. Bizarre rock formations melted into the darkness, and the weird, twisted stumps of trees ceased to stand out against the black sky. There was no moon again, probably because of clouds, since there were few stars glittering either. It was like riding on the far side of the moon, far from any life at all.

After a while, Sir Edward gestured to a side path. 'That should take us close to where we lost the creature last night,' he said softly. 'We'll have to camp out once we reach the bogs and wait. I daren't take us further.'

'It will come to us,' the Doctor informed him. 'The poor creature is most likely starving. It must take a great deal of fresh meat to keep a beast that size alive.'

'Good.' Sir Edward snapped his reins and his steed slowly took the side path.

Sarah's mare shied slightly, nickering a soft protest. It could probably smell the spoor of the creature they were after.

Sarah gently insisted that it stay on the path, and the horse reluctantly obeyed. The feeling of oppression grew stronger in Sarah now, along with a horrible feeling that there were eyes out in the darkness, watching her. She tried to shrug the impression off as being just a case of the jitters, but it wouldn't leave. If there was any basis in fact to it, it had to be just some wary animal out there. It couldn't be the monster, could it?

After another ten minutes or so, Sir Edward halted. Sarah could barely see him on his steed now, the night was so dark.

'This is as far as I dare go,' he called softly. 'We'd better leave the horses here.'

Sarah slid off her mare and tied its reins to one of the twisted trees. The mare whinnied softly, then settled down as Sarah rubbed its nose. 'Easy, girl,' she murmured. 'Everything's fine.' She drew her rifle, though, and felt comforted holding it. Stepping out, she fell in with the Doctor, Doyle and Fulbright. Together they moved further into the darkness. A minute or so later, the aristocrat signalled a halt.

The Doctor nodded and bent to examine the ground. There was the rasp of a match and the barest flicker of a flame in his cupped hands as he looked around. Then he blew out the light. 'Its not emerged yet,' he reported almost inaudibly. 'Positions.'

Sarah nodded. Ahead was the mire, and behind the pathway leading back to their mounts. Around were the tumbled remains of boulders. She moved to one of them, which was an outcropping of cold stone about ten feet tall. She settled down on a flattish portion and composed her mind to wait. There were soft sounds about her as the other three took their positions, and then silence.

How long would they be here? Sarah was very alert right now, but she knew that the edge would be taken off her wits if the wait was too long. Still, if the Doctor was right, their target would be out as soon as it felt safe. Would it sense them? At least the wind was such that it would carry their scent away from the creature, so it wouldn't have that as a warning.

To pa.s.s the time, Sarah tried making sense of what they had discovered so far. What connection could there be between grave-robbers, giant dogs, and monsters at sea that killed lone fishermen? What was Ross's role in all of this, and how did Breckinridge fit in? Or was he no more than an innocent party? What about the whaler, and the business its captain had in town? Try as she might, there was only one connection she could see that this monster they hunted and the one that had killed Tolliver were hardly naturally occurring species for these parts.

The Doctor had mentioned something about their quarry being evolutionarily odd. Was it possible that someone here had brought creatures from the deep past or future into the local area? She and the Doctor had encountered examples of temporal interference before, so she couldn't rule out the idea completely. If the monsters weren't from some other time, then just what was their origin?

If she could only She froze, blanking out her mind. In the darkness, from the direction of the mire, she'd heard the sound of splashing water. Hardly daring to breathe, she concentrated all her attention on her hearing. Had it been some nocturnal bird? Or an animal? Or was it the hound?

For long seconds, she heard nothing more. Then came the rustle of something moving in the darkness. Her throat went dry and her palms went wet. She wiped her hand slowly and carefully on her trouser leg, and then gripped the rifle. It could well be the beast.

She tried to see something, anything, in the darkness, but there was no use. Aside from a few jumbled shapes of the rocks, she could make out nothing. There was the sound of another footfall, and then a vagueness in the rocks.

It was the creature.

Then there was sudden movement to one side. The beast was poised to run? to attack? and the Doctor's voice broke the stillness.

'SIT!'

His best Barbara Woodhouse impression! Sarah almost laughed with giddy relief and shock at the silliness of the command.

But the creature thumped to the ground.

There was the glare of a match, and then she saw the Doctor holding up his dark lantern, its soft light cast over the eerie scene. She gasped as she saw the beast, which hunched down, shaking, eyes darting about the clearing.

It was a dog, but not any kind of canine she'd ever imagined. Her startled glimpse of the creature as it had lumped over her the previous night had not been incorrect, but it had been incomplete. Sitting, it was still as tall as she was, its ma.s.sive head staring straight at the Doctor's grin-flecked face. It was covered in s.h.a.ggy fur, tangled and matted, dark in colour.

Teeth glittered in the glow of the Doctors lantern, but the creature made no move to attack him.

But it was the eyes that captivated Sarah. Large, expressive and filled with pain, sorrow and fear. And, despite everything, not the eyes of some dumb animal. There were definite signs of intelligence within them.

'Lord!' breathed Doyle. 'That's a creature from the pits of h.e.l.l itself!' His hand was shaking on the rifle he held.

'No,' said the Doctor softly. 'You're a good boy, aren't you, fellow?' He reached up and scratched the monster under the chin. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a large, cold pork cutlet. 'Here we are, then.' He held it out to the beast.

Sarah held her breath, expecting the creature to take the Doctor's arm with it. Instead, it gingerly set its teeth about the meat and then gulped the offering down. It looked at the Doctor, eager for more.

'As I said,' the Doctor told his companions without looking around, 'he's as gentle as a lamb if handled properly.

There's no need to harm him, is there?'

'I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it,' said Sir Edward, still shaken by what he was witnessing. 'This is utterly extraordinary.'

It certainly was, Sarah reflected. They were all standing about the creature now, the Doctor having returned to scratching its head as if the thing were a lap-dog. 'What is is it?' she demanded. it?' she demanded.

'I'm not entirely certain,' the Doctor replied. 'But its no more a dog than I am.'

'It seems intelligent to me,' Sarah observed. She gave the beast an encouraging smile. 'Who's a good boy, then, eh?'

She nervously reached out and patted its snout.

The animal used its huge tongue to gently lick her fingers.

Sarah couldn't help giggling as she shook her hand to get rid of the drool. 'He's a friendly chap,' she commented.

'Yes.' The Doctor stared at the creature darkly. 'I don't like its existence one little bit. There's something very odd about it.'

Then something changed. The beast suddenly sprang to its feet, its long snout twitching as if some scent had caught its attention. A low, savage growl seemed to roll out from the back of its throat, and its hackles started to rise. Sarah gasped and stepped back. The doctor whipped around, holding up his lantern.

The beast exploded into action. A huge paw slammed Sarah out of the way as it sprang past her. She whirled around, crashing painfully to the ground, and saw only a jumble of images. There was Colonel Ross, caught in the glare of the Doctor's lantern beam. There was the beast, fangs bared, snarling and leaping. A soft phfft!, and she was aware that something Ross had been holding had been dropped, and Ross was gone. The monster fell, the growl changing to a cry of agony that ended in the gurgling of blood and a choking sound. Then silence before a veritable storm of sound.

'I'll get the blackguard!' Doyle yelled, jumping forward.

'No, man!' cried Sir Edward, gripping his arm and dragging him back. 'You'll only get lost in the dark and stumble into some pit!'

There was the sound of the horses whinnying in fear and shock, and of Ross's footsteps fading into the night.

And there was the Doctor, kneeling beside the fallen beast, its head cradled in his arms. 'He didn't have to do this,' he said, his voice filled with anger and pain.

Doyle held out a hand and helped Sarah to her feet. 'Are you all right?' he asked, worried.

'Only bruised and winded,' Sarah a.s.sured him, grimacing as she flexed her foot and stood on it. 'I've felt better, but I've felt worse, too.' She limped over to the Doctor and the fallen monster. She could see that half of the creature's chest seemed to have exploded, and blood was oozing out over the dirty fur. Bubbles showed that the lungs and probably the heart had been punctured. It was quite clearly dead. Sarah felt a pang of sorrow, but she could see there was much more in the Doctor's hearts.

'There's nothing you can do,' she said softly.

'There's plenty I can do,' he replied grimly. He let the dead beast's head settle down to the ground and wiped its blood off onto the fur. His eyes held a dangerous glimmer in them as he stood up. 'I want to know what Ross was up to,' he said coldly. 'He came here specifically to kill the poor thing.'

'But what did he use?' asked Doyle, bewildered. 'I didn't hear a shot.'

'It was a rather powerful air rifle,' the Doctor answered. 'Virtually silent. The weapon of an a.s.sa.s.sin, not a hunter. He didn't count on my hearing him, and obviously expected to kill and escape before we knew what was happening.'

'Was it one of us he was aiming at?' asked Fulbright, shocked. 'I know he's a scoundrel, but I didn't think he'd stoop that low.'

'No,' the Doctor answered. 'He aimed at the creature. Ross is obviously too good a shot to have been after anything else.

He hit it through the heart as it moved. A difficult shot in the daylight, but almost impossible in this light. If I didn't abhor what he's done so much, I'd have to admire his skill.'

Sarah couldn't quite grasp what the Doctor was talking about. 'You mean Ross came here to deliberately kill that monster?'

'Yes.' The Doctor stared at her thoughtfully. 'I think he knew exactly what this poor beast was, and this is why he was staying at Fulbright Hall. He's connected to this travesty of nature rather intimately. He's going to have some questions to answer when I catch up with him. And I'll take great delight in beating the replies out of him.'

Fulbright stared down at the dead creature. 'Well, Doctor, one way or the other, our work here is done. The poor thing is dead, and there will be no more killings.'

'Done?' The Doctor looked at him as if he were insane. 'It's hardly begun!' He gestured down at the body. 'We have something very solid to work on now. I aim to perform an autopsy in the morning to see what this actually is.'

'I'd be happy to help in any way I can,' Doyle said eagerly.

'Good.' The Doctor sat down on a rock. 'I think that the best thing that you can do right now is all go back to the Hall and get a good nights sleep. I'll stay here and keep watch over the body. First thing in the morning, Sir Edward, I'd appreciate your returning with a cart large enough to carry this back to the Hall. And then lending me somewhere I can dissect it.'

The aristocrat looked surprised, but then nodded. 'As you wish, Doctor. Your ideas have been good so far.'