Episode 4: Attila Part 4

Just as suddenly as it had began, the sword dropped to the floor, at Poliakin’s feet. Conner looked at the sword, but didn’t feel like touching it, neither did Poliakin.

“The touch of a time traveller did that,” Georgia muttered.
“How do you know that?” Conner asked.
“Because I do,” Georgia said shrugging.
“A time traveller, you mean, you travel in time?” Poliakin asked.
“Yeah, I’ll give you a second so that can sink in,” Georgia replied.


The Doctor crept along a corridor in Attila’s palace, hoping that he would not be seen by any Huns. He hid behind a statue as Captain Groutroster, Ezio and Shaka appeared at the other end of the corridor.

“What do you mean?” Ezio was saying.
“I mean there is something not right with Attila’s new magician,” Captain Groutroster snarled, “He’s too happy, he doesn’t like killing.”
“But sir, there is something not right with Attila,” Shaka pointed out, “He’s changed, especially since we arrived here, he’s become nastier.”
“He’s become firmer and more efficient,” Captain Groutroster replied, “Do you think that’s a bad thing?”
“Not at all,” Shaka muttered, “But still he’s become crueler, I mean he throws people in some pit, doesn’t he, and then what happens...?” The Doctor pressed himself right against the wall, as Captain Groutroster and the others walked past.
“You will not talk of that,” Captain Groutroster growled, “I don’t know how you found out about it, maybe it’s best if I don’t put you up to this task.”
“But sir...” Ezio began.
“Enough!” Captain Groutroster roared, “You’ve had your say, now get on patrol!” They left the corridor, leaving the Doctor to think. He was going to find the TARDIS, Attila had told the Doctor that it was dangerous, so he was keeping it locked up somewhere, and the Doctor was going to find it.

“Doctor!” Attila said loudly, as he appeared at the other end of the corridor.
“Hello, I was just exploring,” the Doctor said smiling.
“The area beyond the end of this corridor is off limits, I’d like you to return to my main hall now,” Attila ordered, “I need advice from my favourite magician.”


General Nay barged his way into a laboratory in the Nayragar base. Standing in the room was Ridgebull Ragar, a female Nayragar with purple hair. As a child she was chosen from the Ragar clan to be married to General Nay, and was the chief scientist of the base. General Nay and Ridgebull were the heirs to the Nayragar throne.

“Ragar what’s going on? Attila has not killed the alien!” General Nay snapped.
“If you had tuned into your reports from me and not ignored them, which by the way I find so rude that I could push you off an alien cliff, you would already know,” Ridgebull said smiling.
“Silence you, I don’t need any backchat,” General Nay hissed.
“Oh I’m sorry, have I hurt the emotionless one?” Ridgebull asked sweetly.
“TELL ME WHAT’S GOING ON!” General Nay roared.
“Attila the Hun is known to have a love for magic, this part of his consciousness was so strong that he still enjoys magic, and he won’t kill a magician,” Ridgebull explained.

“Well your experiments fail then don’t they?” General Nay commented.
“No they do not, we never said that the essence transition could completely remove the personality,” Ridgebull explained, “There is still some subconscious left, which we can’t get rid of.”
“Not yet, if you developed it some more, and worked harder...” General Nay began.
“Do not get me started on working hard, you don’t even know the meaning of it,” Ridgebull erupted with rage, “You see we have just the same authority as one another, but I, unlike you, have to marry a nasty, unlikeable piece of dirt, so let’s leave the hard work to those who can work hard, and leave the work which requires no brains or effort to you.”
“Say something like that to me again, and I’ll see your head on a spike! The Huns seem to think that that is a good punishment,” General Nay hissed.
“Unless it hasn’t crossed your barbarian mind, but they are barbarians with disgusting habits and primitive ways of doing everything, much more primitive than those who lived in Tointraken before them,” Ridgebull replied, “Oh and by the way what you just said would be treason if I cared one tiny little bit.” With that Ridgebull turned and marched off, accompanied by two female scientists.

“I’m not marrying her,” General Nay hissed at Vasray.
“She’s very strong-willed though sir,” Vasray replied.
“She shouldn’t be, she’s a scientist, it is I who am strong-willed,” General Nay growled, as they began to head back to his control centre.
“She’s stronger-willed than you though, sir,” Vasray commented.
“What did you say?” General Nay roared, “I have not worked hard to become a General and the heir, to be called less strong-willed than her, by a stupid, pathetic Nayragar idiot.” Vasray fell silent, and they did not speak until they reached General Nay’s control centre.
“GO DO SOMETHING! Give me updates, that is your job, I want to know what’s going on,” General Nay hissed at Vasray who nodded.

“The spaceship is connecting with the base as we speak sir,” Vasray said.
“Good,” General Nay said, “But there’s still no sign of the sword...”


Humbert Marsh paced his house, deciding what to do; he could pack and move into the rebel base, where his wife was obviously staying, or he could avoid the meeting altogether. But what if he was caught? He could just attend the meeting. There was no harm in that, was there.

“Humbert?” a voice called from outside. Humbert rushed over to his window where he found two Hun soldiers; Ezio and Shaka.
“Shaka, this is Humbert, he’s my good friend, and Humbert this is Shaka, he’s my new friend,” Ezio introduced and Humbert and Shaka shook hands.
“Ezio, can we trust him?” Humbert asked.
“You can trust me with anything,” Shaka replied, “If you think I’m all for the Hun army, well I’m not, they killed my father and stormed my village. I did join their army, where I made some friends, my captain was a very nice person, but he vanished, recently.”
“Shaka tells me that many captains have been replaced by Attila recently,” Ezio explained.
“Attila’s changed, he used to be nasty, sometimes, now he’s in a bad mood all the time, and his captains just follow him, I don’t know what’s going on,” Shaka continued.

“It’s like something changed him?” Humbert said.
“Yeah, but what could have changed him?” Shaka asked.
“Maybe some experience he’s had, maybe he found out that his captains were rebelling against him,” Ezio wondered.
“So he replaced them all, they could still rebel,” Humbert replied.
“Not if they were dead,” Shaka muttered, “My Captain vanished, although we don’t say it, all the men in my unit think he was killed.”

“Then there’s Attila’s secret death-chamber,” Ezio added, “Which the town’s council never found, yet he somehow did.”
“They had no idea it was there,” Humbert muttered.
“How do you know about it?” Shaka asked Humbert.
“Ezio told me,” Humbert answered, “I have something to tell you.”
“What?” Ezio asked.
“You must promise not to tell,” Humbert replied, “But those who left the town, and never returned, many of them have joined a secret rebel group.”
“We should join,” Ezio muttered.
“That would be treason; Attila would cut off our heads!” Shaka replied.
“You don’t have to come to the meetings,” Humbert suggested, “You could spy for us.”
“I suppose I could do that, be very nasty to people, I’d get promoted,” Shaka said, “Then I could get close to Attila and try and then I could...”
“I’m sure the rebel group would be happy for you to help,” Humbert said, “They’re meeting today, in this cave... I was going to head there now...”
“The thing is, this rebel group will have no chance against the Huns,” Ezio said, “And how did you find out anyway?”
“My wife, Eden, came back and told me, and left,” Humbert explained slowly, “I have to go to her...”
“I’ll come with you,” Ezio said.

“But, what he said, you know, these rebels have no chance against the Huns,” Shaka pointed out.
“Apparently they have a really good leader,” Humbert said, “Just as good as Attila. And even if we don’t defeat them; we can kill Attila, which would be a hard blow to them.”
“That’s true, the captains would just argue among themselves about leadership,” Shaka replied, “I’ll walk with you to the edge of the town.” Together they walked towards the North gate of the town. Once they got to the edge, Shaka stopped and said goodbye, as Ezio and Humbert left the town. Shaka quickly turned away, so that no other Huns would notice, but he walked straight into Captain Groutroster.
“Gotcha,” Captain Groutroster growled nastily.


Georgia, Conner and Poliakin were sitting in Poliakin’s small house, around a table, where the sword was lying. Poliakin had taken it back inside, as Georgia and Conner realised that if they touched it, it would fly into the sky again.

“But you just found it?” Georgia asked, “That’s very interesting, I wonder why somebody would leave a sword there?”
“Maybe it was a bit heavy,” Conner shrugged.
“Did you dig it up?” Georgia asked.
“I may have done, I was just digging and there it was, on the ground,” Poliakin replied, “I have seen much, but never a sword like that.”
“It is kind of rare isn’t it,” Georgia commented.

“These lions, did they appear about the time you found the sword?” Conner asked.
“Yes, why?” Poliakin answered.
“Maybe the two things are connected, maybe the lions are trying to find the sword,” Conner explained.
“Or maybe they’re just hungry,” Georgia pointed out.
“But those lions aren’t from Earth,” Conner replied.
“I think they’re from Nayrak,” Georgia commented.
“Where’s Nayrak?” Conner asked.
“It’s a planet in the Nytroki system,” Georgia replied knowingly.
“How do you know that?” Conner questioned exasperated.
“I don’t know, I don’t know how I knew that,” Georgia muttered, “What’s happening to me?”
“You have been acting weird,” Conner commented.
“If I had my sonic screwdriver I’d know what was going on,” Georgia replied, “I must have left it in my other suit.”
“Georgia, the Doctor has it, and you never wear suits,” Conner said.
“I’m the Doctor, no I‘m not, I’m Poliakin,” Georgia said.
“I’m Poliakin,” Poliakin replied.
“So you are, then... I’m Georgia, I’m Georgia, I am,” Georgia said, breathing heavily, “What’s happening to me?”
“I don’t know,” Conner replied slightly scared.


The Doctor yawned and looked up as Captain Groutroster dragged Shaka into Attila’s main hall, where Attila and the Doctor were listening to Attila’s private blacksmith.
“Sir, this man has been fraternizing with the enemy,” Captain Groutroster announced.
“Which enemy is this then?” the Doctor asked.
“The locals,” Captain Groutroster growled, “He was talking to one of them.”
“That’s not offensive,” Attila replied.
“But I heard them talking about a secret rebellion,” Captain Groutroster roared.
“What?” Attila said through gritted teeth. He snatched up his sword and pointed it at Shaka’s neck.

“Is there a rebellion going on, what is going on?” Attila shouted at Shaka.
“No,” Shaka said quickly.
“Leave him alone...” the Doctor began.
“You do not tell me what to do,” Attila roared at the Doctor, “Go to your room!”
“My room is sort of my TARDIS, so if you can tell me where that is...” the Doctor replied.
“That is a weapon, which I will not have you use!” Attila interrupted, “You shall never see that box again, now leave!” The Doctor reluctantly left the room, and decided to head towards the area that Attila had forbidden him to go.

“Now, Shaka, what’s this rebellion?” Attila asked.
“Nothing,” Shaka whined.
“Captain, what did you hear?” Attila growled.
“Very little, I saw them walking towards the gate with another Hun soldier, Ezio, he’s a local, and another local,” Captain Groutroster explained.
“How do you know they are rebelling then?” Attila roared.
“Well... I can tell, I’ve treated with rebels before, they were sneaking out, and that soldier was deserting his post,” Captain Groutroster replied, “And I definitely overheard the word rebellion and the woman.”
“Well, is there a rebel group?” Attila asked Shaka shoving him onto the hard, stone floor.
“No, I said there wasn’t...” Shaka muttered.
“TELL THE TRUTH!” Attila shouted at Shaka, smacking him on the head.
“Alright, yes, but that’s all your getting out of me,” Shaka hissed.
“Guards!” Attila yelled, and two of his guards rushed over to him, “Pick up that vermin and throw him in the den!” His guards nodded and pulled a screaming Shaka away.

“Sir, is there anything you want me to do?” Captain Groutroster asked.
“Kill every soldier from the local area, any of them could be working in the rebellion,” Attila ordered, “And find my other Captains and Generals, I want to meet with them all.”


Vasray double-checked what he had just found and then he got up and hastened towards the door. He ran down the corridor and into General Nay’s control room.
“What?” General Nay snapped.
“A signal was let off by something in this vector,” Vasray replied, typing something into General Nay’s computer, so a picture of the area appeared on the screen. Vasray pointed at an area of fields.
“That’s near where we think the sword was left,” General Nay said.
“That’s right, this signal, I think it was a call from the sword, telling us where it is,” Vasray explained.
“It’s beginning to get dark, that’s when the lions hunt at their best,” General Nay muttered, “Go to the trainer, get him to talk to Lok...”


The Doctor crept past a sleeping Hun guard and into the corridor beyond. Attila had got his guards to take two people into some kind of pit or den, which seemed to be in the area where Attila had forbidden the Doctor from going.
“Just get through here...” the Doctor muttered to himself, as he opened a door into an empty room. The whole room was empty apart from a circular shaped door in the wall. The Doctor crept over to the door and found that it was locked. He took out his sonic screwdriver and opened the door. He found that the door opened onto thin air, and that anyone who stepped through the door would fall into the pit below.

“That’s where the pit is...” the Doctor breathed. The pit was lit by several flaming torches and against the torches the Doctor could see large demonic lions with glowing eyes walking around the pit. Strangely there were no skeletons in the pit. There were also several tunnels leading off the pit, which seemed to lead beneath the town.

Suddenly, the Doctor heard screaming and he realised that Shaka was being dragged towards the pit. He stepped away from the door and was about to lock it when two guards dragging Shaka burst into the room. One of them elbowed the Doctor, sending him to the ground.
“Wait a minute!” the Doctor exclaimed.
“Doctor, please help me!” Shaka yelled, as a guard yanked the door to the pit open and the other threw Shaka into it. The guards grabbed the Doctor, who began to protest immediately.
“I’m Attila’s magician! You have to obey me!” the Doctor exclaimed.
“We only obey Attila, sorry,” the guards said in unison, “And we know what you are.” Together they pushed the Doctor into the pit and slammed the door. The Doctor picked himself up from the dirt floor, to find himself surrounded by lions and Shaka being dragged off, dead, by a large lion with a silver mane.
“Oh dear...” the Doctor commented.


TO BE CONTINUED