Title: Necessary Ends, Part Three of Four

Author: Emma

Characters: Canonical Torchwood Three members… sort of.

Rating: Some chapters definitely not safe for work.

Disclaimer: Oh, please. If I owned them, would I let some of those idiots write the scripts? And if I were making any money off them, would I be where they could find me?

Summary: An old, old friend helps Jack and Ianto in a quest to defeat an angry wraith…

Author’s Note: For those of you counting, this is They Keep Killing Suzie

Author’s Note: Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste their death but once. Of all the wonders that I have yet heard, It seems to me the most strange that men should fear; Seeing that Death, a necessary end, will come when it will come. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
Author’s Note:Gwrtheyrn is Vortigern's Welsh name here

            Ianto stood just inside the front door of the Doctor’s cottage, keeping a straight face by sheer force of will. He was damned if he was going to give this stranger any advantages, although he had to admit the man had been as welcoming towards him as he had been towards Jack.

            “Come on, Ianto, you’re disappointing the Doctor,” Jack teased. “You’re not reading your lines properly.”

            “My lines? Oh.” He put on an overdone air of astonishment. “Good God, it’s bigger on the inside!”

            The Doctor laughed. “This one is a match for you, Jack. Come and sit. I’ll make us some tea.”

            “Ah… have you taken cookery classes since the last time we met?”

            “Jack, you wound me.”  The Doctor ushered them into a large, rather ramshackle kitchen. “Come, sit.”

            Ianto selected a chair that allowed him to study the room beyond. It was huge, about four times as large as the cottage looked from the outside. At one end there was a fireplace that could probably roast a whole sheep with space left over for baking bread. A few ratty sofas had been pulled around it for conversation. Above the fireplace a painting showed the battle between Gwrtheyrn’s dragons. At the other end an area resembled a mad scientist’s lab. Several doors led into the interior of the cottage, promising even more hidden spaces.

            “This isn’t a social visit, Doctor,” Jack said as he slid into the chair next to Ianto. “One of my people has been captured by a wraith.”

            “Tell me.”

            While Jack spoke, Ianto watched the Doctor. He seemed to be a youngish man but there was great age and sorrow in his eyes. Those eyes saw everything, even some things you wished they didn’t. Now they were focused on Jack, and Ianto had the uneasy feeling that they saw right through to Jack’s soul.

            “Where is the glove now?” was the first thing the Doctor said once Jack had finished.

            “In our secure archives,” Jack answered.

            “Good. Keep it there until the next one surfaces. They can’t be destroyed unless they are together.”

            “You mean there’s another one of those things around?” Jack said.

            “That’s the thing about gloves, Jack.” The Doctor said with a grim smile. “They come in pairs. But if we’re lucky the other one is deep in a marsh somewhere.”

            “You recognize them.”

            “Oh, yes. My great-uncle had them made. My uncle kept them here until his death. His killer took them.” The staccato sentences made his listeners shiver. “She didn’t have them on her when I caught up with her.”

            “I’ll keep that in mind.” Jack said. “But can you help me now, Doc?”

            “I think I can… Drat. I forgot the tea…”

            “Never mind the tea. Gwen could be dead by now.”

            “Oh, no. Miss Costello wants to see you suffer, Jack. She won’t kill your little soldier until you’re there to see her die.”

            He led them to the laboratory area. Opening a gigantic armoire, he nearly shoved his whole body into it as he rummaged around. He emerged holding a box. He put it on the table and pulled off the cover.

            “Here.” He handed Jack a metal wand resembling a small flute. “You’ll need this to disrupt the field.”

            “What field?”

            “If Miss Costello was using the glove to kill as well as in the more orthodox manner, there’s going to be a magical field of some sort connecting them. It’s probably what’s making her so much more powerful than an average wraith. If you disrupt the field the shock caused by the loss of power may make her vulnerable for a few minutes. That’s your window of opportunity. Do you remember how to use it?”

            “Yes.” Jack took it. “Thank you, Doctor.”

            “Mind you, you’ll have to bring it back.” The Doctor grinned cheekily. “And I’ll even make you tea.”

            “Doctor…”

            The Doctor put his hand on Jack’s shoulder, deeply serious. “I was wrong, Jack. I was furious at you for choosing something I thought was beneath you, and I said the worst thing I could think of.” He was suddenly his cheerful self again. “You know me, I’m overprotective.”

            Jack’s eyes were glistening. “Yes. You are.”

            “And now for you, Mr. Jones.”

            “Me?” Ianto was infuriated to hear his voice squeak. “What about me?”

            “Ynys Afalau gave you a gift, so I think I should give you one also.” He reached into the box again and pulled out a medallion on a thick gold chain. “Bend your head.”

            Ianto found himself unable to disobey. The large chain fell on to his shoulders. He looked up at Jack to find him staring at him in utter shock, which was transformed into a wide grin. Puzzled, he picked up the medallion and looked at it. It showed a red dragon couchant under an oak tree, its head turned to face the viewer. One of its paws rested on a sword. Next to it was an overturned goblet. It took him a while to work out the symbols, but when he did, he looked at the Doctor in shock.

            “I can’t take this.” He tried to remove it, but found he couldn’t. “Please…”

            “The island chose you and the medallion confirms it,” The Doctor said. “Details can be worked out later. That’s where the devil is, you know. Always in the details. Now, you should be on your way. Jack, you can use the Falcon’s Road if you need to. I cleared it last winter. No, don’t say goodbye. You know how I feel about that.”

            Ianto hesitated for a moment. “Doctor, what was your great-uncle’s name?”

            The Doctor grinned. “Emrys Wledig.”

            Ianto bowed his head briefly then turned to follow Jack. They walked back towards the shore, which Ianto was startled to realize they now could see from the garden gate. The coracle was where they had left it. They paddled it back towards the island, using a slightly different route to avoid the current. As they reached the overhang, Ianto heard Jack swear.

            “Pull up,” he said. “we can’t go back this way.”

            “Why?” Ianto asked.

            “Can you see the light?” Ianto followed Jack’s pointing finger. A flickering greenish-yellow light burned on the beach in the cavern under the Hub. “Andy and I worked out a series of signals a long time ago. That means stay away.”

            “Now what?”

            “The Falcon’s Road, God help us.” He turned the coracle to face back towards the river.  “Come on, paddle. We need to catch the current.”

            It took them only a few seconds. As the coracle picked up speed, they stopped paddling and let the current do the work. Ianto noticed that there was no widening of the river; he looked for the crack on the cliff that led to the Doctor’s cottage but he couldn’t find it. Then his attention was caught by the rumbling noise growing in the distance. The sound grew louder and louder and finally Ianto could see what was making it. The river ended in a massive waterfall, so large that the falling water rose upwards again in massive clouds of mist.

            “Hang on!” Jack shouted.

            The coracle shot off the edge, but, to Ianto’s amazement, did not drop. They found themselves traveling through the mist clouds. As they came out on the other side, it was suddenly night. Ianto looked down and saw there was no river below; he could see land, and it was land he recognized, even in the dark. He looked at Jack and found him grinning wildly, looking for all the world like a kid on a rollercoaster.

            Suddenly the coracle dropped straight down. Ianto yelped as he felt his arse leave the seat. He hung on to the edge. The coracle splashed into one of the darker corners of Roath Basin, and Ianto came crashing down onto the seat.

            “Are you all right, Ianto?”

            “Sore behind. Slight loss of dignity.” Ianto considered the situation briefly. “I’m fine. Now what?”

            “Now we go to the Hub.”

            He pulled the small flute out of his coat pocket. He gave it a couple of twists, and the thing started to emit a bright blue light. Jack moved it in a complicated pattern while reciting something under his breath in a language Ianto did not recognize. As the pattern repeated again and again, an opening appeared in mid-air, and Ianto found himself looking into the Archives.

            “Let’s go. I think it’s time to meet up with Suzie.”