The Spires of Jacarthia (Chapter 8)

Chapter 8 (Fractured Family Misfortunes)

“Steady,” said the Doctor, as Reikon gulped down the ice-cold water the Doctor and taken from the TARDIS. He had used his screwdriver to remove the chains and manacles and Reikon was now sitting in the corner of the cell, his head lolling from side to side.

“He’s exhausted,” said Holly, crouching down in front of him. “And you say he’s your adopted brother?”

“Long story,” said the Doctor, waving the question away.

“A very….long story,” smiled Reikon, looking a little delirious.

The Doctor smiled. “Good to see you still have a bit of spirit in there. What happened? I thought you were dead.”

Reikon shook his head. “You should know Koschei by now.”

“Who?” said Richard, confused. He hadn’t heard this particular name yet and was beginning to feel lost.

“The Master,” said the Doctor, waving away another pesky question.

“He never eliminates a resource,” said Reikon. “He kept me…alive. I don’t even know…where I am.”

“Jacarthia,” said the Doctor, a dark look playing across his face.

“Oh,” said Reikon. “I heard what happened here.”

“Not the place I really wanted to come back to. Is Celestia here too?” asked the Doctor, trying to change the subject.

“I think so,” said Reikon. “I haven’t….seen her though.” He took another gulp of water, the Doctor tipping his head back slightly.

“But you’ve seen the Master?” asked Holly. “Have you seen Lilly?”

“Who’s….Lilly?” asked Reikon. “I’ve been chained up here since we got here. He comes down here a few times a week, feeds me some weird, grainy porridge and then punches me…about a bit.”

“He sounds like a barrel of laughs,” said Richard.

“A cellars worth of barrels,” said the Doctor. He knelt down beside Reikon. “Do you feel well enough to walk?”

“It’s my arms that are hurting, brother,” said Reikon. He slapped the Doctor on his own arm. “But I’ll be…fine.” He smiled. “Strong arms.”

The Doctor nodded, smiling at him.

“Remember that day in the barn? You caught me doing those pull-ups with two of the other boys?”

“How can I forget?” laughed the Doctor. “I thought the three of you were trying to impress the girls.”

“You were never a sporty type, where you?” said Reikon, as the Doctor helped him to his feet.

“I don’t know,” he said, giving him a little more water. “I always enjoyed a good game of cricket.”

“I wish I knew what…that was,” smiled Reikon. He hugged the Doctor. “It’s good to see you again.”

“As touching as this is,” said Holly, moving towards the exit, “I hope we haven’t forgotten why we’re here. The save Lilly.”

“And Celestia,” said Reikon.

“Lilly and Celestia,” nodded the Doctor.

“Then let’s get moving,” said Holly, impatiently.




“Why can’t you be mad?” said Lilly as she sat next to her mother in the bed chamber.

After the revelation from Lilly, Celestia had remained calm. The Master had dare not speak or do anything, instead standing between them, waiting for the silence to shatter all over the flag-stoned floor, his hopes and dreams dissolving before his very eyes.

But instead Celestia had taken Lilly’s hand, excused her and her daughter to the bewildered Master and then taken her up the spiral staircase, to the bed chamber in the highest spire.

“Please answer the question,” said Lilly.

“I am mad,” said Celestia, calmly. “But what would you have me do? Would you have me turn on my own daughter?”

“I murdered your son!” said Lilly, almost getting up off the bed but restraining herself.

“But you have already said it is because of what he had done to you. What your father made you become.”

“Yes, but-”

“Do you regret it? Are you upset by it?” asked Celestia, turning to her and looking down at her hopefully, her eyes full of tears.

“Of course I regret it. It damaged me. I was already broken. It made me worse.”

“Exactly. That’s what separates you from your father. He would not bat an eyelid about what he had done. You, my daughter, are different.”

“But I still killed him.”

“The Doctor had faith in you. You said he tried to help you.”

“But I am always going to be a bad person.” The tears were beginning to fall from Lilly’s eyes.

“The Doctor is very rarely wrong,” said Celestia. She got up and crossed to the window, gazing out over the ruined city of Jacarthia. In the streets a number of newcomers were going about their daily business. Life was beginning to return to the town. “I knew him before he left Gallifrey with his granddaughter. I trusted him more than anyone in the world. He was always a good man. When I asked him to find you he didn’t question it. He just went out there and found you. If the Doctor believed he could help you then I believe he could have. He still can.”

“But Caleb-”

Celestia breathed in heavily, holding back her own tears. “My son would not have wanted you to be punished. He would have loved you as well.”

“You don’t know me.”

“But I know Caleb. I know the Doctor.” She crossed over to Lilly and took her hands. “I cannot begin to repair the damage that the Master has already done to you, but you are my daughter. Whether that means anything to you is another matter, but as much as you are a part of the Master, you are also a part of me.” She smiled at her. “And I’d like to think I’m alright.”

Lilly managed a smile through the tears. “The Doctor’s probably on his way to find me now.”

“I don’t doubt that,” said Celestia. “I look forward to seeing him again and thanking him. And maybe I can say goodbye to Caleb at last.”

“So what do we do now?” asked Lilly, getting up from the bed and looking into her mothers green eyes.

“Only you can decide that, Illithia.”




Craig was standing beside the communications table, idly tapping his fingers on the glass. The Master was standing beside the tall, glass window scratching his chin.

“What do we do?” asked Craig, a puzzled look on his face.

“You can shut yourself down,” said the Master, turning to him.

“Actually, I’d like to go and be with Lilly. She was a friend, remember?”

“You’re a robot,” said the Master. “You don’t get any requests.”

The inner door burst open and the old maid, Enis, bustled into the hall looking flustered. She raced up to the Master as fast and she could and then leaned forward, her hands on her knees trying to catch her breath.

“What is it, woman? Speak up!” The Master looked like someone had just interrupted his favourite TV programme.

“It’s the dungeons….the cell…”

“What about them?” He had a thought. “Is the prisoner still-”

“No,” said the woman, shaking her head, her podgy cheeks wobbling. “He’s been released.”

“By whom?!” said the Master.

“By me,” said the Doctor as he pushed the doors open, his arm around Reikon to support him and flanked by an angry looking Holly and an awe-inspired Richard, who was gazing around the great hall.

“I might have known,” said the Master with a smirk.

“You did invite me here,” said the Doctor, sitting Reikon down on a chair beside the communications table.

“Where’s Lilly?” asked Holly.

“Illithia is with her mother,” said the Master. “And they do not wish to be disturbed. They have a lot of catching up to do.”

“You’ve poisoned her mind, haven’t you?” said Holly, looking like she wanted to throttle the Master but holding back.

“I’ve done nothing of the kind, young lady,” said the Master. “She’s my daughter. She needs to be with her family.”

“Family means nothing to you,” said the Doctor.

“How many times do I have to say this? I have changed. That’s what regeneration is about. You’ve done it that many times you should know!”

“But you haven’t changed,” said Reikon, trying to get his breath back. “The first thing you did was try and kill me and then lock me up in that cell.”

“You are not part of this family. Your son is dead, you know?” said the Master, coldly.

Reikon looked at the Doctor who nodded sadly to him. He looked away. He had had so much taken away from him. His son, his wife…he wondered why he was still being kept alive.

“I remember you back on the early days, Reikon,” said the Master, strolling up to him. “You and the Doctor were as thick as thieves. Inseparable for a time.”

“That’s why you kept him alive, wasn’t it?” said the Doctor. “To have a hold over me.”

“But he has Lilly,” said Richard. “Surely that’s a hold enough?”

“She is my daughter,” said the Master, looking as if he was tired at saying it over and over again. “I’m not holding her to ransom.”

“She wants to be with us,” said Holly.

“Have you asked her that, Miss Dangerfield?” asked the Master.

Holly looked at the Doctor and then back to the Master. Surely Lilly wouldn’t want to stay here. They were building their relationship. It’s why she had left home after all.

“I’ll make you an offer, Doctor,” said the Master, turning away and looking towards the large window. “If you leave and let Lilly and Celestia find their own path in Jacarthia with me, I will let you leave with Reikon. And I won‘t kill your two travelling companions.” He glanced back at him and smiled.

“And if I refuse?” asked the Doctor.

“Then Reikon goes back to the cell and both of your companions will be thrown from the highest tower.”

“Does Lilly know what a piece of work her father is?” asked Holly.

“I do actually,” came Lilly’s voice as she descended the large, stone staircase in the centre of the hall. “Lilly,” said Holly, running over to her and hugging her tightly.

“I’m alright, Dangerfield,” said Lilly softly. “I really am.”

Celestia saw Reikon, who’s eyes lit up hopefully, and then she turned away from him and walked over to stand beside the Master.

Lilly took Holly’s hand and walked across to the Doctor and Richard.

“Are you okay?” asked the Doctor.

“Of course I am,” said Lilly.

“He hasn’t done anything to you? You know, mentally?”

She smiled and shook her head. “No. Nothing at all. He just wants to be a father to me.” She laughed at the thought.

“And what do you want?”

Lilly looked across to her mother. Celestia smiled back sadly at her.

“I want to get to know my mother.”

“She can come with us. We all can,” said the Doctor, looking down at her and speaking in a hushed voice. “You, Holly, Richard, your mother and Reikon. We can get away from here and never look back.”

“We can’t come with you,” said Celestia from across the room, almost as if she’d heard the Doctor. “I can’t risk Reikon’s life. I can’t risk any of your lives.”

“But we can stop him,” said the Doctor, pointing towards the Master.

“Listen to yourself, Doctor. Can’t you see the ladies have made their choice.”

“Let me get one thing straight, Koschei,” said Celestia, rounding on the Master. “I am only willing to stay here to get to know my daughter and to ensure my husbands safety. That is the only reason. Not because I want to play happy families with you.”

“Lilly, you can’t do this,” said Holly, taking her hands. “What about us?”

Lilly looked away from Holly and pulled free. She walked to the centre of the hall and looked around her. “There are a few things I need to get clear here. Firstly, my father - the Master or Koschei or whatever he calls himself - has done terrible, terrible things. Those things are always going o be a part of him.” She looked at the Doctor and then at Reikon. “I’ve done terrible things too and they’re always going to be a part of me. But I have changed and I believe that my father deserves the opportunity to change.”

“The Master will never change,” said the Doctor, almost pleadingly.

“But he has to be given that opportunity,” said Lilly. “Secondly, I want to get to know my mother.” She looked back at her and smiled. “The both of us have been apart for so long. We need to learn to know each other.”

Celestia nodded, stepping away a little from the Master.

“And thirdly - this place could be my home. Back in West Pilton I lived in an ongoing, constant nightmare.” She looked at Craig who smiled back at her sadly. “It was never a home for me.”

“But the TARDIS is your home,” said the Doctor.

“And as good as that was it still brings back bad memories. Here, in Jacarthia, I have the opportunity to find myself. I have the opportunity to try and live a peaceful, normal life.”

“But it’s the Master!” said the Doctor, raising his voice a little higher than he had intended.

“And he is my father,” said Lilly. “I don’t like the guy,” she said, looking back at him, “but he’s going to keep me safe. He’s going to provide a home for myself until I am ready to make my mind up on where I go for my future.”

“Thank you, Illithia,” said the Master.

“And for the last bloody time,” she said, turning back to him. “My name is Lilly.”

“So you’re staying?” said Holly, trying to hold back her emotions.

Lilly took Holly’s hands and looked deep into her eyes, the tears making her eyes look glassy. “I’m staying, Dangerfield.”

To be concluded...