The Queen and the Rose

Chapter 19

Rose opened her mouth to protest just as she felt Khat's hands close around her arms from behind.  Aui grabbed the Doctor, and as he struggled to get away, Rose herself started to feel a bit hopeless.  She felt the blood pounding in her ears and tried to calm herself, trying to wrench her arms from Khat's grasp.

"Bring Isi forward," Surbia said coldly, and immediately her guards lurched forward and grabbed Isi roughly, dragging her to fall at Surbia and Horus Ba's feet.  Rose felt incredibly proud of the other girl, who held her head high and stared straight at the Queen.

"You are a traitor," the Queen said.

"I am a liberator," Isi bit back. 

Surbia let out a humorless laugh.  "And you think that helping these fools would solve anything for you?"

"You're an oppressor, and a sorceress," Isi replied bravely, "And I will not be manipulated by you and your witchcraft any longer."

"Is that so?" Surbia hummed and glanced around, as though looking for a solution.  "Kill her."

"No!" Rose lunged forward, almost taking Khat down with her.

Surbia looked up at Rose, shocked.  "And you've already developed a friendship with this one?"  She scoffed, "That woman is the only reason I couldn't have the Doctor."

"There were other reasons," The Doctor piped up from where he stood.

She shot him a glance.  "Nevertheless, this woman should be punished for what she's done."

"Banish her," the Doctor said, "Send her away with us.  We travel the galaxies, you'd never see her again."

Rose could hear the panic in the Doctor's voice.  She knew his plan was not to take Isi gallivanting through time and space.  He was going to want to take her somewhere she could be safe and have no chance of running into Surbia ever again.  Rose found herself wanting to fight for that as well, wanting Isi safe.  

"I'll also never see her again if I kill her," Surbia responded.

"You forget that she is the Queen, and not her, or you, or anyone else," Horus Ba said calmly.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes.  "I'd keep your mouth shut, sir.  You're supposed to be dead."

Horus Ba only got comfortable in his seat and smirked before throwing a wink at Rose.  She immediately felt disgusting under his scrutiny and wanted to run as far as she could.  To counter the feeling, she looked over at the Doctor, who was nothing short of gazing at her.  He nodded, as though he knew what she was thinking, and she turned back to face the Pharaoh and Queen, feeling stronger. 

"I've made my decision," Surbia said flippantly, "Isi dies."

The heaviness that fell over the room didn't escape the Doctor and Rose as both of them tried to figure out a way out of this.  The Doctor couldn't reach his sonic, not from the way he was being held.  He squirmed in Aui's grasp and wondered at her strength. She must've been enhanced by Surbia's magic somehow, and he couldn't break her grip.  

Isi didn't make a sound, kept her focus on the Queen defiantly, even as she was held captive.  She didn't lower her head, and somewhere, she must have known that her defiance, her rebellion agaisnt the Queen, would start this.  How long she had been planning it, Rose didn't know, but she knew that the hinge must've been on the Doctor and Rose remembering their pasts.  

She'd been so quiet, and that was why.  She'd wanted to save them, she'd wanted to save all of them.  It wasn't fair, and as long as she could, Rose wasn't going to stand for it.  She went nearly wild, pulling forward, trying to dislodge herself from Khat's hands, with no success.  She felt the gold pulsing through her again, this time knowing clearly what it was, and let it overtake her as much as it wanted.