Companion of Death - A Doctor Who Fanfiction (Thasmin)

Chapter 7: Wall of Fire

Of course it's fire. We established that the fire is making a regular appearance.

The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and groaned. She stormed back in looking annoyed about something. Slapping the console, she muttered in Gallifreyan about how she didn't like fires. She sounded like a child, but it was her mention of fire that caught my attention.

"What's out there?" I asked.

"A village," the Doctor replied. "Burning to the ground."

"A whole village in flames?" I asked to clarify.

The Doctor nodded silently. I cursed. It seemed that fire kept following me. First the bomb I dropped on Gallifrey, then the flame flickering in my hand, then melting the Autons, and now this. What was it that attracted fire to me?

"Scared of fire?" I taunted. It was how I hid my own feelings.

"Of course not," the Doctor denied, putting on a brave face.

"Just pulling your leg," I drawled.

We exited the TARDIS to find a village burning, as the Doctor had said. There was a man standing there, just watching the patterns the smoke made. I thought he was sick.

"What is this?" I demanded.

"They're only getting what they deserve," the man responded maliciously, an evil grin on his face. "They're witches. They burn."

"You're a witchfinder," the Doctor stated.

The man disappeared without responding. I was tempted to throw my knife at his retreating back but I knew the Doctor would not let me. Not that I cared for her opinion, but I did believe in giving your enemy a fair fight. Which included not stabbing them in the back like a coward.

"Well, I highly doubt that anybody in this village was a witch, let alone everybody," Missy stated. "You know what they say about magic. Usually it's just science beyond your comprehension. I don't know of any planet that possesses true magic."

She knew about my healing magic and lied about its existence. In Ashildr's and my homeworld, everybody had healing magic. It was almost as much a part of us as our regenerative abilities. But Tecteun's experiments had not granted the Shobogans this magic. The development of healing magic relied on our homeworld's atmosphere from a young age. The Shobogans could not steal it from us.

"Alright, not witches," the Doctor agreed. "So why did he say they were?"

"Wait – where's my sister?" I asked, looking around.

Ashildr was nowhere in sight. I fingered Clara's spike necklace nervously, scared of breaking my promise. I was scared for my sister. She was billions of years old and capable of anything, but she was still my little sister and I was protective over her.

"And where's Yaz?" the Doctor added.

Yaz was the only one of us who actually kept the Doctor's rule about not wandering off. The rest of us did as we pleased. So the fact that Yaz was missing was more worrying than Ashildr being gone.

"Ashildr would have gone after the witchfinder," Missy proposed. "As for Yaz..."

"He has her," I concluded.

"We need to find them," the Doctor stated determinedly. She returned to the TARDIS and emerged wheeling two motorcycles. "Transportation," she said, climbing onto one.

I got onto the other and tried not to recoil from Missy's touch as she climbed on behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist. The Doctor passed out helmets and I plunked one on my head, lowering the visor. I revved the engine and took off, just me and my bike the way it used to be.