The Last Days (short story)

Summary
The TARDIS crew are split up and find themselves on opposite sides of the walls of Masada. While the Doctor and Susan infiltrate the Roman camp and set themselves up as influential Roman citizens and military advisors, the Jewish rebels in the fort tend to the wounded Barbara and Ian helps them to fight off their oppressors. Barbara recovers just in time for the last days of the siege, but Ian refuses to accept that it will all end in tragedy until the Romans begin burning down the walls of the fort. The Jews' leader, Eleazar, announces that rather than allow themselves to be captured they shall all take their own lives, and Ian is appalled when Barbara informs him that this is exactly what did happen -- archaeologists have reconstructed it exactly. And it only makes sense, considering that the men would otherwise face agonising death by crucifixion while the women and children would be sold as slaves if they were lucky. Ian fakes Barbara's death and joins the surviving lieutenants as they draw lots to see who will survive to kill the rest of them. Ian's name is drawn and he is forced to stand by with his sword while the other lieutenants impale themselves on it. Eleazar then reveals that he knows Barbara isn't dead, and that he rigged the drawing to ensure Ian would survive; their sacrifice means nothing if it isn't freely given, and he has no wish to rob Ian of the hope which Ian had given to them all in the last days. Eleazar kills himself, and when the Romans finally enter Masada, all but two of the women are dead, and the Doctor is able to convince the furious Flavius Silva that Ian and Barbara are his spies and must therefore be spared.

Characters

 * First Doctor
 * Susan
 * Ian Chesterton
 * Barbara Wright
 * Eleazar ben Jair
 * Flavius Silva

Continuity
to be added

Timeline

 * The Last Days occurs after ST: The Thief of Sherwood
 * The Last Days occurs before PDA: The Witch Hunters