THE RUN FOR ROSE
CHAPTER 3: Ultimatum
Moving with lightning speed, Jane stood in front of the gelding’s pawing hooves. “Easy, Zarb, old man, easy, now.” She crooned soothingly. “It’s alright baby, easy.” With a mighty snort, the gelding backed off, ears back and wide-eyed. She gently stroked his neck and reaching into her pocket, gave him a piece of carrot from the ample store she always carried there. Zarbi took it and began crunching contentedly, still keeping a weather eye on the stranger in the corner.
Jane turned and looked at the girl, who was staring wildly at her surroundings in what almost seemed to be a state of shock. “Sorry about that. He’s not usually easily spooked. You must’ve really scared him.” Rubbing her arms to drive away the cold, Rose looked at the woman askance. “Scared him? What about me? One minute I’m all comfy and cozy in the Tardis, and the next, I’m lying ‘ere freezin’ me arse off, with a big ‘orse lookin’ to pound me into mincemeat.”
Jane stood and looked at this strange girl thoughtfully for a moment. Taking off her barn coat, she knelt down and handed it to Rose. “Here, you need this more than I do.” A still slightly bewildered Rose took it and put it around her shoulders. “Thanks.” She hesitated, then asked “I know this is going to sound odd, but….” Jane smiled knowingly. “It’s all right. I got used to the odd and unusual a good many years ago. Trust me on that one. You want to know just where you are, right?” Rose nodded mutely. Jane sighed, “Well…you’re obviously in my stable. This is old Zarbi’s stall.”
she turned and patted the horse on the shoulder affectionately. The horse put his head down and stretched his neck towards Rose. “Don’t worry. He won’t hurt you. As a matter of fact I think he’s sorry he scared you.” The horse did actually appear to have a guilty look on his face, Rose thought. Jane said quietly, “You can pet him, if you like.” Rose reached out a tentative hand to the horse and he wuffled his nose against it, blowing gently on her fingers. She stroked his nose. “It’s soft, like velvet!” She exclaimed. Zarbi proceeded to snuffle Rose’s hair. Then, satisfied that all was right with the world, he turned a baleful eye on Jane. “Ah. Now you want your breakfast, ey?” She said with a laugh. Jane reached down a hand to Rose. “Come on then…by the way, I’m Jane. Jane Brown.” Taking the proffered hand, Rose got to her feet, brushing off the pine chips and a few wisps of hay that clung to her jeans. “I’m Rose Tyler.”
Jane grinned and led the way out of the stall. Rose paused to give Zarbi a pat. “Sorry about that, horse.” He turned his head and nickered at her. Shutting the stall door behind her, Jane said “Why don’t I let you into the tack room? There’s a kerosene heater in there. That’ll help keep you warm ‘till I can get you into the house.”
Opening a door, she turned on the light. They walked into a room seemingly filled with bits of harness hanging from both walls and ceiling, shiny trunks in various colours with pictures of horses or fancy lettering on them and buckets filled with all sorts of paraphernalia unknown to Rose. Joan turned on a small heater in the center of the room, and the blast of heat issuing forth felt very welcome to Rose. She led her to a beat up old brown couch with some of the springs showing through. “Sorry I can’t give you nicer accommodations at the moment, but I do have to feed and water the horses. It won’t take long. As soon as I’m done, we’ll go up to the house for some breakfast and we can try sorting this all out. Okay?” Rose merely nodded, still feeling a bit confused.
Jane turned to go, then stopped. She bent down and gave Rose a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, Rose. We’ll sort this all out, somehow. You’ll see.” With that she turned and went out, closing the door behind her. Rose sat a moment, trying to arrange her thoughts. She looked up at the ceiling and said, “Doctor, where are you? What’s happend to me?” Pausing, she whispered, “To you?”
The Doctor was having his own problems. He was bent over the console, concentrating on some complicated calculations, when an evil laugh came though the console’s speaker. The Doctor’s head came up. He frowned in puzzlement. “I know that laugh from….somewhere. But where?” He looked up at the ceiling, shouting, “Alright, ha-ha. You’ve had your laugh. Now, enough with the fun and games! Where’s Rose? Who are you? And where are you?” He paused. “And what is it you want?” “Questions, always with the questions, Doctor.” The voice gave a bored yawn. “My, you are rather tedious at times, aren’t you? No wonder you prefer to hang around with all your insipid human companions.”
The Doctor was not to be put off. “Yeah, yeah. Enough with the chit-chat.” He said sarcastically. “Where’s Rose? What have you done with her?” He asked shortly. The voice laughed again. “Patience, Doctor, Patience. Oh don’t worry. She’s fine…for the time being. I’ve stashed her away in a nice safe place…somewhere in the universe. I may even decide to tell you where, eventually. But I think, first, you and I have a few…negotiations to make.”
The Doctor stopped short, looking suspiciously at the speaker. He didn’t like the sound of this. “What sort of negotiations?” He shoved his hands in his pockets and stalked around the console deck. “Look, if this is a kidnapping…” The voice gave a mocking laugh. “Oh come now, Doctor. Would I go to all this trouble for a few mere credits or other such baubles? The Doctor stopped and glared fiercely at the speaker again. “Then what do you want? Come on, spit it out, I haven’t got all day.” The voice said quite clearly, “Now that’s not quite accurate, is it. You’re a Time Lord–you have eternity. But, if you insist, I’ll, as they say, ‘cut to the chase.’ I want your Tardis, Doctor, and if you don’t give it to me, you’ll never see your Rose alive again.”
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