Doctor Who - 04 - On a Pale Horse

.2. Bristol, AD 1348

"That's Bristol? Seriously? Nooo... Really?"

"That is Bristol. See, the castle."

"There's a castle in Bristol?"

The Doctor ran his fingers through his hair.

"No, just a moment, wait, not in the twenty first century, no. It's been demolished... sometime along the way... Can't remember when."

Donna was already pointing her finger at a stone structure in front of them.

"What about that bridge?"

"Oooh, a brilliant bridge, a fantastic bridge, shame it's not finished yet. One of the busiest commercial centres of the time."

"A medieval Bluewater?" Donna snorted.

"Exactly. Just like the London Bridge, non existent in your times, or the Ponte Vecchio over the Arno River in Florence, still open for tourists; there'll be shops, shops on both sides of the bridge; and houses above them – tall, multi-storey, timber houses. To save space on the bridge, they'll be jetting out over the river and over the road, propped with special supporting constructions. And there, just there, in the middle, there'll be the Chapel of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the largest chapel built on a bridge, with meeting rooms, and a bell-tower, and a crypt, and a gateway tunnelling..."

"Now what? Why did we stop? A traffic jam?" Donna, who couldn't care less about all the details, cut in.

Up till now, they were picking their way among groups of people in great numbers heading for the town. Donna and the Doctor were passing oxcarts and peasants leading roped goats and swine, carrying bunches of wild fowl, brushwood, osier and herbs, bending under the weight of baskets full of fruit, and hauling unidentified packages of all shapes and sizes. The Doctor and Donna had been, in turn, overtaken by several horsemen, usually soldiers. Once they were passed by a lady dressed in furs and brocades, escorted by several armed men (Donna stared at her with pure envy, turning her face slightly green). Whole gangs of kids were running among the carts, goats and piglets, yelling and jumping over the piles of horses' manure, cows' dung and large puddles of rainwater.

Donna was surprised with traffic on that barely hardened, narrow road. And Bristol must have been a large town, since most of the people didn't even know each other. Donna and the Doctor didn't seem to rouse any interest, although the Doctor had emphatically refused to put on a chequered tunic and tight leggings (not to mention the seezms), and was marching energetically with his trusty coat billowing behind him. Donna suspected that there was some sort of Chameleon Circuit imbedded in the coat's fabric, as the Doctor would apparently fade into the background wherever they happened to land. She, on the other hand, was wearing a brown dress, with a yellow tunic thrown on top of it. She didn't get any veil, so she braided her hair in two, thick plaits. The Doctor tried to persuade her into wearing some sort of bass slippers, but she just scoffed at him. She agreed, however, to put on a leather belt, even more eagerly, as one of the purses attached to the belt jingled in a very promising way.

The crowd of travellers apparently got stuck at the town's gate. Piglets grunted and squealed, kids were pushing one another, and grown-ups grumbled, shifting from one foot to the other, or sitting down on the road-side. Donna, craning her neck, tried to spot a cause of the obstruction.

"What's that, then? A traffic jam?"

"I'd say it's a toll," the Doctor said. "You have to pay the toll to cross the gate."

"So, what, somebody got stuck at the toll booth?" she laughed. "Forgot to bring the change again? When will they finally learn?"

"Most people pay in kind," the Doctor corrected. "Can you imagine how difficult it must be to give a change from a chicken?"