The Queen and the Rose

Chapter 8

He seemed to be keeping Rose as close as possible, just in case an unseen force would try to pull the two of them apart.  She couldn't blame him, that could often be the case and she really, really didn't want it to be. 

The Queen watched them as they approached.  "Doctor," She purred softly, running the backs of her fingers along his cheek.  He pulled his head away from her, nearly knocking into Rose, and glared down at the Queen.  "What are you playing at?" He asked sharply.

"Horus Ba was a great King, a Pharaoh to rule the ages," Queen Surbia continued as though the Doctor hadn't asked her a question.  Or perhaps, this was her answer.  She turned and ran her fingertips lightly over the sarcophagus, her servants scurrying to the sides as she did so.  

"What are you doing?" The Doctor demanded.  "What's going on?"

Queen Surbia let out a light, tinkling laugh.  "He was a great King."

"Queen Surbia," his voice was in warning now. 

"Shouldn't all great rulers be given a second chance?" She replied.  "Should not all great rulers be given another millennium to rule?"

Rose's mind was whirring, but she managed to latch on a bit of what she knew about Egyptian culture and mythology.  "But any ruler is ruling in the afterlife.  You can't take them from that, it's where they belong now, where all their servants are, their belongings."

The Doctor squeezed her hand, telling her in no words that she did something correct.   He nodded next to her.  "Exactly.  What would you do with the wrath of that ruler?"

Queen Surbia got to her knees on top of the sarcophagus, taking a moment to gain her balance.  "If the ruler was to be your lover, the ruler would not object."

"You can't."

"And why not?" 

"Everything, my Queen, whether you believe it or not, is set in time.  You were born when you were born and you will die when you die.  And the same goes for our friend Horus Ba over there."  The Doctor jerked his chin to under where she was perched.  "You won't be taking any ruler as your lover, unless their living."

"I read through you," Surbia leaned so she was on her hands and knees, leaning ever so slightly towards the Doctor.  "You are a Lord.  You are living."

"I'm not here to be your lover," the Doctor said firmly.   

Surbia's lips curled into a wry smile.  "You have jealousy for Horus Ba, yet you will not take me-?"  She hummed in the back of her throat.  "Perhaps our great king will be the lover to your friend."

"No," Rose said quickly, "No, I don't think I need a lover just now."

The Queen gave her a disbelieving look.  "Every woman wants a lover.  You cannot tell me that there has never been someone that you want."

Rose colored deeply and lowered her gaze to the stone floor.  She felt the heat of the Doctor's curious gaze on her and chose to ignore it.  She didn't know what would happen if she didn't ignore it, after all.  

"Now, you can have someone you will have.  A king, no less.  I don't want to rule, I want to be a sorceress, and now I am."  She slid off of the sarcophagus.  "Take her!" She shouted, and without warning, her servants darting out from all sides, Isi grabbing Rose's arms and tugging them behind her back, Khat with her arms wrapped around her legs and Aui standing as a guard to keep her from moving, or getting anywhere near the Doctor. 

"What are you doing?" Rose tried to fight, but the girls had too strong of a grip on her.

"Let her go," the Doctor commanded.  The muscle in his jaw was tight, a dimple forming, his eyes locked on Surbia. 

The Queen walked up to him and ran her hand from the outside of his shoulder to the inside, and down to his chest.  The Doctor seemed to be concentrating intently, but not on the situation that was before him.  

"Why can't I move?" He asked lowly, "I can't move."

Surbia leaned forward to press a light kiss to his neck, and Rose fought a little more at the sight.

"You're paralyzed.  Not permanent, but permanent enough.  I will raise the King, you will not stop me, and I will take you in whichever way I please."

"Rose stays safe.  No matter what you do to me, if you kill me, torture me, or otherwise, Rose.  Stays.  Safe."

The Queen's lips curled into another smirk.  "Oh, worry not, Rose will be pleased as well."

"No thank you!" Rose shouted from her position.

The Queen backed away from the Doctor and started running her fingers along the sarcophagus, murmuring words that the TARDIS wouldn't translate but Rose thought they sounded distinctly evil.  She didn't appreciate the lustful glances the Queen was throwing the Doctor.

"Doctor!" Rose shouted, squirming in the arms of the servants.  

"I'm trying, Rose, I can't seem to fight it off, I can't move at all."

The Queen's words grew louder and louder, and she backed away suddenly, waves of what looked gold and shimmery shooting up from the edges of the sarcophagus.  The sound of someone crying out shook the whole room, and Rose cried out as her arm was pulled in a way that hurt her.  

"Rose!" The Doctor sounded panic, "Rose, please talk to me, what are they doing?"

"My arm, it's just my arm, it's nothing."

"Behold, the new, and old, Pharaoh of Egypt!" The Queen threw her arms into the air and the sounds of the gold rushing and the man inside the sarcophagus screaming silenced all at once, and the layers of the sarcophagus he had been in cracked open.