The Spear of Destiny Read Free Page A

they were farmers, fishermen.’
    ‘By and large …?’
    ‘They were great explorers, too.
     They discovered North America five hundred years before Columbus
     thought he had. They got as far as the Mediterranean, Russia.
     You have to remember that most accounts of the Vikings are
     written by the Christians who displaced them. Somewhat biased
     accounts.’
    ‘You know this for a fact?’
    The Doctor gave Jo a hurt look.
     ‘What I do know
for a fact
is
     that they’re the only humans ever to name a day of the week
     after bathtime. Washing once a week was pretty advanced stuff
     two thousand years ago.’
    Jo laughed.
    ‘Well,’ said the Doctor. ‘Shall we
     look around?’
    Jo nodded. ‘Let’s.’
    The Doctor brought up the outside
     view on the TARDIS’s scanner screen. They were treated to the
     sight of a peaceful forest, with snow deep on the ground and
     thick on the branches of the trees, although it appeared to be a
     bright and sunny day otherwise.
    ‘Seems quiet enough,’ said the
     Doctor.
    He shut down the screen, opened
     the door and they headed out.
    ‘Cold,’ said Jo.
    ‘Will you be warm enough?’ asked
     the Doctor. ‘I could always fetch my Inverness cape for
     you?’
    ‘I’ll be fine,’ said Jo hurriedly.
     She shot a quick smile at the Doctor so as not to hurt his
     feelings.
    Their feet crunched noisily into
     the snow, which was frozen hard.
    ‘Which way do we go?’ asked
     Jo.
    ‘I’m not sure,’ said the Doctor.
     ‘Let’s circle around. It can’t be far. There should be a large
     temple complex. And a village serving it.’
    Jo stopped and looked back over
     her shoulder. ‘Will the TARDIS be all right?’
    ‘She’s tougher than I am,’ said
     the Doctor seriously. ‘And, anyway, I have a theory.’
    ‘Yes?’
    ‘Yes. You see, the whole nature,
     shape and even the modern blue pigment of the TARDIS is so
     deeply unfamiliar to the primitive mind that, although the optic
     nerve registers its presence, the brain cannot decode what it is
     seeing. The primitive visual cortex is unable to relay
     information about it consciously to the viewer. In effect, even
     though her chameleon circuit is still damaged, she’s as good as
     invisible. She’ll be just fine.’
    ‘That’s remarkable,’ said
     Jo.
    ‘She is a remarkable old girl in
     many ways,’ said the Doctor. ‘Let’s move, shall we? We’ll be
     warmer if we walk a little faster.’
    They made their way deeper into
     the forest. As long as there wasn’t another snowfall it would be
     easy enough to find their way back to the TARDIS from the trail
     of their footprints in the snow.
    The woodland was on sloping land,
     and they headed gently downhill through a mixture of birch and
     ash and conifers until, finally, they saw the trees thinning out
     a little in front of them.
    ‘I hear a river somewhere,’ said
     Jo.
    ‘Yes,’ said the Doctor, nodding.
     ‘That way.’
    Very soon they glimpsed clear
     green water flowing rapidly in a wide and strong river, whose
     banks were covered with snow and ice.
    ‘This way,’ said the
     Doctor.
    ‘How do you know?’
    ‘Because rivers mean settlements
     sooner or later.’
    ‘Sooner, I hope. I’m
     freezing.’
    ‘I could still go back for my cape
     …’
    ‘Look, Doctor! What’s
     that?’
    Jo pointed downstream to the
     opposite bank, where there was a huge wooden construction. As
     they moved closer, they saw what it was – a vast waterwheel fed
     by a channel from the river. Then they saw that beyond it was
     another one, exactly the same, and beyond that, more – six of
     them in total – and all drawing water from the channel
     underneath the heavy wooden wheels, which turned slowly but with
     a power that was somehow threatening.
    ‘Fascinating.’
    ‘Is there a way across?’
    ‘Let’s head downstream. Maybe
     there’s a bridge. I wouldn’t want to cross that river, even on a
     summer’s day.’
    The river was deep and moved in