The Halls of Sacrifice (comic story)

Part One
The TARDIS lands underground on an alien planet with super-heated water. The Doctor detects the heated water with his sonic screwdriver. As soon as he turns it on, a swarm of bat-like creatures swarm down and fly straight at the Doctor. A short, hooded figure beckons the Doctor into a cave. The Doctor follows him in. The Doctor turns off the sonic screwdriver and the bat creatures stop their chase.

The hooded figure reveals himself as Kaze. He tells the Doctor that the bat creatures are called Shrikes and they feast on electronic energy. Kaze takes the Doctor to his village. He tells them that the people have been reduced to using wind power to escape the shrikes. Kaze takes the Doctor to the Halls of Sacrifice and introduces the Doctor to the village leader, Genji. Genji tells the Doctor it is called the halls of sacrifice as every year a pair are chosen to train to defend against the Shrikes.

Kaze tells the Doctor that when there is little electronic energy, the Shrikes turn to eating the people of the village. Kaze says his grandfather was sucked dry by them. In revenge Kaze signs up to be chosen to become a warrior. The choosing begins and two are picked. Neither is Kaze. The Doctor ponders why the ones not chosen are not heading back to the village. He follows them to find himself, Kaze and the rest who were not picked thrown over a cliff!

Part Two
The Doctor realises they are in an anti-gravity chute. They float down gently and land with no pain.

Genji enters and reveals that this is where the tribe's ship is. He tells the Doctor the ship crashed when Shrikes attacked and the ones not chosen as warriors were sent down the chute to be scientists and work on repairing the ship so the tribe can leave. The Shrikes are kept from attacking the ship by a wall of fire surrounding it.

Meanwhile Shrikes surround the TARDIS. Kaze and Genji use the sonic screwdriver to lure them away while the Doctor uses the TARDIS to boost the ship's power. He returns to pick up Kaze and Genji. The ship blasts off with all the villagers on board. The Doctor ejects some TARDIS rooms full of electronic rubbish to feed the Shrikes for a long time.

Characters

 * Tenth Doctor
 * Kaze
 * Genji

Original print details

 * Publication with page count and closing captions


 * 1) DWA 50 (6 pages) OH NO! WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO KAZE AND THE DOCTOR? FIND OUT NEXT ISSUE!
 * 2) DWA 51 (6 pages) A NEW STORY STARTS NEXT WEEK!

Continuity

 * In DW:  Castrovalva the the Fifth Doctor also had to eject part of the TARDIS.

Timeline

 * This story takes place after DWA: Hot Metal
 * This story takes place before DWA: The Old Kings of Skarab