Falls the Shadow (38 page)

‘I think he already knows,’ the Doctor replied. ‘And he’s abdicated.’

They walked together to the TARDIS.

The grey man, the man of many colours, stood in the Cruakh, singing to his city. His song had no words, no tune, no rhythm, no sound. The song was the trembling of his throat, the tiny movements of his lips.

Hear me stones of the city. I remove your burden from you. Become mere stones again, become dust. Go in peace.

Cathedral was gone. He smiled ruefully.

He raised his head and turned to the old world he had inherited, to the Earth and beyond, to the cosmos.

He slipped into it, onto soil, onto a path winding through a wood. It was a lonely path, as good as any other. The grey man tasted the air and found it fine. He stepped into the crisp November night, following the forest track, following his whims, beneath a sky full of stars.

First published in Great Britain in 1994 by
Doctor Who Books
an imprint of Virgin Publishing Ltd
332 Ladbroke Grove
London W10 5AH

Copyright © Daniel O’Mahony 1994

The right of Daniel O’Mahony to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.

‘Doctor Who’ series copyright © British Broadcasting Corporation 1994

Cover illustration by Kevin Jenkins

ISBN 0 426 20427 1

Phototypeset by Intype, London

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Cox & Wyman Ltd, Reading, Berks

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.