[...]... Lord And I shall have the players call the entertainment, The Defeat of Saladin, the Sparrow of the East!”’ The three men’s laughter echoed through the wood and the man who had been trying to bend the clasp of the jewel-studded gold belt, Sir William de Tornebu, put his work aside and joined in the merriment, until they heard the and of footsteps through the bushes Branches were thrust aside and a... cap, shaded his eyes and followed the battle eagerly He watched as the birds circled, darted, joined and fell apart, noting a feather shoot away from the smaller of the two fighters and drift to the ground listlessly Then the prey took flight and darted down into the trees, closely followed by the hawk, and both hunter and hunted disappeared The man let his hand fall to his side and glanced at a companion... Not just watching them happen.’ The Doctor stood up and walked over to the central control column He stared down at the dials and switches for a few seconds and then turned to face them ‘We are doing something We are learning Why do people kill each other, steal from each other; rob, slander, hurt and destroy? Why do thousands upon thousands of young men hurl themselves at one another on a field of... looked at the soldier beside him, their faces close together ‘Alive, do you understand?’ he muttered viciously The soldier licked his lips and nodded ‘Then get my men placed well, and when I move tell them they are all to show themselves Now go!’ The man with the scar pushed at the soldier rough,y, watched him squirm back the way he had come then turned his attentions to the unsuspecting men in the little... to them at that particular moment, and it’s doubtful if they even realized it gave them the key to where they were on Earth and the period of its history All they did know was that the sound was the beginning of danger, of trouble ‘Saladin!’ The one word pierced out of the silence and hung around them in the short silence that followed Barbara glanced quickly at the man beside her ‘That wasn’t either... you calling, was it?’ they heard the Doctor say from the other side of the ring of bushes Ian took hold of Barbara’s hand as other cries and shouts began to ring out from the forest and the sharp ring of metal striking metal ‘We’ll get back to the ship,’ said Ian They were just moving back to the safety of the bushes when a man came running through the trees, a curved sword in his hand He wore metal helmet... still, then.’ Ian rolled so that the soldier lay on top of him and the Doctor stepped nearer and brought the stone down on top of his head sharply The soldier groaned and rolled away Ian picked himself up, and Vicki helped him to brush the dirt and leaves from his clothes ‘Thanks very much,’ he said, sarcastically The Doctor suddenly pitched the stone away from him and hurried his two friends into the. .. himself that the wounded man was on the road to recovery and could withstand the uncomfortable journey to Jaffa Their reception there was immediate and popular Dressed in the clothes – which the Doctor insisted he had only ‘borrowed’ – from Ben Daheer’s shop, Ian now wore a simple hunting habit, soft leather breeches and calf-length boots, and a russet-coloured tunic belted at the waist The Doctor wore... reward you.’ He turned and walked out of the shop, leaving Ben Daheer with his temptation and his fear The story of how the Doctor acquired clothes for himself, Ian and Vicki, and what had transpired between the shopkeeper and the mysterious Genoese merchant enlivened the difficult affair of transporting the wounded knight, Sir William de Tornebu, from the little forest to Jaffa The Doctor found, on his... of silk The man had an arrogance about him, a proud set to his head, and a pair of black eyes which gave the Doctor a cursory glance, and then dismissed him ‘Serve your other client,’ murmured the Doctor, and I will search for what I want’ Ben Daheer bowed and moved away The Doctor waited until both backs were turned to him, then bent down on his knees and scuttled under the table beside the door, . Only Ian and Barbara, kidnapped by the Doctor from their lives in the England of the 1960s and now his close friends, knew the real aching sadness the loss of Susan meant to the old man, and it. thought the Doctor might have stepped straight out of the drawings of the famous magazines of the period, The Strand or Vanity Fair. And as Ian marvelled (for about the thousandth time!) at the Doctor s. world of the future enmeshed them, they knew their destinies were bound up in each other - the one sure thing, fixed and unalterable, in the ever-changing life with the Doctor. The question