It was only by taking his eyes off the carnage that he saw the rockfall.

Without hesitation, he jumped onto the next ledge, and watched, slightly awestruck, as rocks crashed through the stone step on which he had been standing.

Wherever he was, he couldn't pause for a moment.

Looking around, he realised that he would have to scramble across some more ledges before he reached a safe height at which he could drop to the ground. Taking another look at the landscape, he set off.

***

The Ice Lord had seen combat on thirty-seven different missions, both on Mars and on worlds under the Martian Reign. With his trusty sword to hand, he had defended his life from countless unworthy opponents, and he valued his experiences as his greatest strategic asset.

But sometimes plans are not enough. As he dodged the charge of the Sontaran, he rather rued the hidebound nature of his training.

Here was a creature of war, but not nobility. A base savage, an affront to the civil culture he had grown to understand on Mars. A beast he would not waste time on, in ordinary circumstances.

But war was no ordinary circumstance, and here in this mysterious wasteland, war was the only prerogative. And this Sontaran was more than adept in the ways of war.

He raised his sword, and it clashed harshly against the Sontaran hatchet.

If he was to survive against this brute, he would have to fight harder than he could remember ever having to do. But he was a Martian, and he would succeed for the honour of his race.

***

Jeldo shrugged. If someone was trying to kill him, then he would have to be on his guard all the time.

He had shinned up a tree, hoping to gain some thinking time as he assessed what he was doing here, and who he might have upset so much.

The landscape was a brutal clash of desert and forest, and his instinct suggested it was too random to actually be random. Someone, somewhere, had actually built this, rather than it growing organically.

Was that same someone also out to kill him?

He heard a noise, and looked around in dead earnest, but could see no-one.

***

Wherever he was, he was a long way from the safety of the Sense-Sphere.

The sky above contained none of the familiar signs he recognised, and that suggested he was in another part of the galaxy altogether. Had the humans brought him here?

Rapidly, he took stock. He had no weapon, and no link back to the First Elder. He could be the only Sensorite in this place.

In that case, he argued, he would use his intelligence to devise a way out. Thus resolved, he walked out of the cave, braving the harsh atmosphere of the land outside.

The very next thing he saw was a brutish creature charging towards him with a crude, yet unmistakably sharp, stick.

***

The odd-looking creature that had walked out the cave was like no species Jeldo had come across before. Though bipedal, and presumably intelligent, it seemed as lost in this madness as he was.

The beast who had attacked the cave-dweller was altogether more comfortable, and set about smashing its victim with a hearty freedom.

Jeldo sat safe in his tree (so he hoped), unwilling to intervene. It was only by taking a clinical detachment that he felt he could live with himself for standing by whilst a harmless alien got bludgeoned to death by a raving monster.

When it came down to it, he knew that the satisfaction he would get from going to the assistance of someone who clearly needed it was far outweighed by the reality that he would be next in line for a bludgeoning.

All he could safely do was wait until the beast had gone, and hope that it wouldn't turn its attention towards him next.

The thought remained that maybe this was the presence that he had felt watching him before. If so, he was currently doomed.

So he watched, nervous, to see what the beast would do next.

***

The Sontaran lunged with a typical savage fury, knocking the sword from his opponent's hands.

Now unprotected, it was a matter of simply closing the kill.

As he raised his arm, preparing to swing the blood-hatchet down, he drew breath to give the Sontaran battle-cry.

It was his last breath. He toppled forward, realising in his precious final moments, that he had been attacked from behind.

***

The beast swayed to and fro, looking around. It seemed lost, and somehow to have dropped all ferocity. For all the world, it could have been a wild wolf, loose from the pack, worrying for home. Or somesuch - Jeldo hadn't been hot on analogies, especially after brutal episodes like the one before.

Could he take a chance on jumping down? Would this creature react differently to him, would it welcome a wise ally?

A branch broke away in his hand, and he almost lost his balance.

The beast heard the noise straightaway, and looked straight at him. It was a frightening eye contact.

As it launched itself towards him, he mentally compiled a brief list of options to avoid rapidly impending death.

With its arms only a few feet away, he decided there was only one option making itself preferable.

So, he fell backwards.

***

The Martian regarded the newcomer with a wary gratitude. Though it had been saved from death, there was no telling what this saviour's agenda might be.

It was tall, and wearing a fine raiment, more suited to afternoon tea at a high palace somewhere. The creature was bipedal, but unmasked, with hairs protruding from many points on its face.

From his brief knowledge of other Solar races, he knew it had to be a Draconian.

"He will not trouble uss any further." The Draconian offered the Martian his hand, and since he could see that the other hand was also empty, the Martian decided to take a chance, and accepted it.

Now standing, the Martian bowed. "My name is Vilkyr. In the name of Tuburr, I am in your debt."

"Ah, a Martian! I finally get to meet one of you. I am Draluss, a noble of Draconia."

Vilkyr shook Dralus' hand. "Are you asss lossst here asss I am?"

"Yess! I have been ssearching for otherss, but you and thiss... creature are the firsst I have encountered."

"Will you accept my company in your sssearch?"

Dralus smiled handsomely. "Why, a ssplendid idea. Come, we musst move sswiftly." He beckoned with a gentle flex of a hand as he turned to walk off.

They left the Sontaran where he had fallen.

***

Jeldo took solace from the likelihood that if he had bothered to study techniques for safe falls, he would probably have been dead now anyway.

As it was, he had a precious few moments before the beast pulled itself through the branches of the tree and leapt down towards him.

He turned, scrambling to his feet, and running along the gully, hoping to find somewhere he could hope to hide out, or even some form of weapon he could use in his defence.

The angry grunt he could hear from behind suggested that his pursuer was now even more frenzied, and still on his trail.

***

"Tell me, Dralusss, do you recognissse thessse ssskiesss?"

"No. That wass one of the firsst thingss I noticed when I began to look around. None of thosse planetss corresspond to the Draconian galaxy. I confesss I have little practical knowledge of sstarchartss beyond that of my own homeworld. Asstro-navigation wass never my sstrongpoint." He smiled, in a self-deprecating gesture.

"I underssstand. The Martian Sssolar Sssyssstem isss basssic enough to remember, but I wasss alwaysss more interesssted in fighting. It isss alwaysss the way."

"Yess. It would help if any of thesse rockss ssuggested a pattern, or the ssignss of a ssettlement. Thiss musst be a dessert."

"Let uss hope we find ssomeone elsse before we need to find water, then."

The two warriors ploughed on.

***

Things were looking bad.

As he ran around the corner, Jeldo realised that the rest of the ledge had crumbled away down the side of the cliff. He would need to find an alternative quickly, before the beast caught him up.

But as he turned, he knew he was too late.

The beast stood, sensing victory. Its lungs heaved and Jeldo wondered where he had seen the creature before. Close to, its almost neanderthal skull fitted the pattern of a savage beast, but its clothing pointed to some rudimentary intelligence. What was he missing?

Before he could consider any further, the beast leapt at him.

***

Dralus suddenly stopped. "Did you hear that?"

Vilkyr strained, noticing the palpable thud of his own bloodstream. "It sssoundsss like a fight!"

"Come, we may be able to help!"

Aches momentarily forgotten, the Draconian and the Martian sprang into action, running towards the brief sounds of combat.

***

The secret would be to keep those claws away from his throat. Jeldo held onto the beast's wrists for all he was worth.

They rolled back and forth on the cliff edge. The beast seemed blinded to all reason or logic, and was purely driven by blood-lust. Jeldo, was concerned only with safety and preservation.

But he felt his strength being pushed too far, and he wondered quite what he could do to escape.

One answer presented itself, although it was not one he favoured.

As he looked in the eyes of the beast, he decided he had no other choice.

With the last of his strength, he rolled towards the cliff edge.

***

"Up there!"

Dralus stopped, following the line of Vilkyr's arm. There were two people scrabbling by the edge of a cliff.

And as they watched, the two combatants rolled over, and plummetted to the ground.

***

As they fell through the air, Jeldo held onto the beast in a grim bearhug, hoping that gravity would do its work.

To his surprise, their fall was delayed at the last moment, and he saw two green men swaying under the weight they had just tried to catch. Frantically, he loosed his grip, and noted with relief that the beast was stunned.

"Thank you," he said, then paused as he took in his rescuers.

A Draconian and an Ice Warrior.

"Stay back!" Suddenly things seemed to become clear. "What game are you playing?"

"Game? What are you talking about?"

"Don't come the innocent with me, Dragon! I've been brought here against my will, but I'm not going to play your game anymore!"

"You are missstaken, human. We are all prisssoners here." Vilkyr was affronted at the attack on his ally, though a small doubt did creep in.

"Thank you, Vilkyr. I asssure you, human, we do not know why we have all been brought here. We ssaw your sstruggle with thiss Ogron-"

"Ogron! That's it, I knew I'd seen him somewhere before! It was during that skirmish before the Dalek raid! Ogrons in league with Dragons!"

Dralus' face went a very pale green indeed. "There have no collaboration between the noble Draconians, and these savages! Never!"

Jeldo was having none of this. "We heard the stories in the mess. Raids on our colonies, raids by you! And you shifted the blame onto this rabble-"

***

Possibly offended by being discussed in less than glowing terms, the Ogron stirred, and looked up. The human was still standing, somehow, though he was sure he had ripped him to pieces. No matter, he would not make the same mistake again.

He looked at the others. One was a green-skinned creature he did not know, but the other was familiar from a speech given by a tribal chieftain many moons ago. The Dracon was an enemy. Probably the other was some kind of Dracon mutant.

They must all die.

***

"Human, you mussst lisssten! We mussst work together, or we will die here!"

"If anyone is going to die, it won't be me!" So saying, Jeldo launched himself at Vilkyr, catching the Martian by surprise. They fell to the ground, in a desperate power struggle.

Dralus moved to intervene, but then he realised there was someone watching. He turned - just as the Ogron leaped up and began to claw at the Draconian's face.

***

For moments, the two battles played out:

-Jeldo, geared up for a fight after his earlier struggle with the Ogron, was able to neutralise Vilkyr's attack, and with grim triumph, dashed the Martian's head into a large rock. The satisfaction of feeling the blood on his face was almost too much for Jeldo, and he paused, blinded to what he had done.

-Dralus was wary of being dealt a fatal blow by the Ogron, and used the skills he had been taught as a young Draconian, dodging this way and that, always causing the foe to expend more energy than it needed. Finally, he tricked the Ogron into making one final rage-fuelled assault, and Dralus sent it spinning into the cliff, where it met its grisly end.

***

Weary, Jeldo and Dralus left their victims, and moved to face each other.

"You... killed Vilkyr?" Dralus could scarcely believe that the Martian he had rescued and formed a war bond with, was lying in a bloody, undignified heap on the ground beneath.

"Yeah... but I'll spare you, Dragon! You'll make a fine hostage, maybe buy my way out of this hellhole..." Jeldo looked at the land around, trying to imagine a way out.

Dralus shook his head at the human's barbaric ignorance. He was a noble, and deserved more respect than to be used as a bargaining counter. Not that there was any Draconian court here to bargain with, anyway. The human must have gone mad.

He looked down at Vilkyr. The Martian mask concealed much of the face, so he could not even close his dead ally's eyes. But he could do one thing. He could avenge him.

"Human!"

Jeldo turned back, just in time to see Dralus lunge at him, arms outstretched. He felt the weight as the Draconian pushed him down, and then they were back into the full frenzy of the fight.

Jeldo, blinded by hatred, determined to find an escape from this mad land, albeit by equally mad means.

Dralus, blinded by vengeance, the need to salve the spirit of his fallen comrade.

They fought in the dirt, each gaining an advantage on the other, but only ever briefly. Only ever for a few moments.

Finally, they paused. Each looked around, grabbing a hefty chunk of free stone, a weapon, to aid their fight, to provide the killing blow.

As they ran at each other, both remained sure they would win.

***

On the widescreen, the human and the Draconian struck each other with their rocks, each landing the decisive blow in perfect synchronisation. They fell to the ground, almost in a timeless embrace.

Both were dead.

"Well, that was exciting, wasn't it? Now, who placed a bet on that result, I wonder? Anyone?"

The other Time Lords in the room sneered, most tore up their betting slips. Then the lights were raised, and they began chatting about the spectacle they had just witnessed.

"Typical - a draw! Who books these acts, that's what I want to know-"

"Damn thing's a fix-"

"Who's in the next-"

"I'll give you odds of-"

The screen faded out.