DOCTOR WHO? : THE SHADOWBORN HEIR

CHAPTER 2 — THE WHISPERING VEINS

Wind slammed the infirmary windows, rattling the glass like someone was trying to break in. Jake paced the length of the metal floor, running both hands through his hair hard enough to hurt.

“That woman… who the hell was she?” he muttered.

The shadows still clung to his fingers like soot. He kept rubbing them together, hoping the darkness would fall off like dirt. It didn’t. The door burst open again.

The soldier from earlier, Corwin, a wiry man with bandaged wrists, stumbled back inside. “Foreman! Commander Rask said to guard” He froze mid-sentence, staring at Jake’s hands. “Sir… your fingers are… smoking?”

Jake jerked them behind his back. “No they’re not.”

Corwin blinked, leaned closer. “They are literally smoking.”

“They’re not.”

“They are.”

Jake exhaled sharply. “Fine. Maybe a little.”

Corwin swallowed, looking like he was trying to decide whether to run or kneel. “Sir… is this normal healing practice?”

Jake laughed, short, strained. “Do I look normal to you?”

Corwin’s mouth opened. Closed. “I… don’t know how to answer that without dying.”

Before Jake could respond, a scream split the hallway. Jake flinched. “What now?”

Corwin grabbed his sleeve. “It’s the plague man in quarantine! Commander Rask said he’s ripping his nails out trying to claw something out of his bloodstream!”

Jake’s eyes widened. “His bloodstream?”

“Yes!” Corwin stammered. “He keeps shouting that something is crawling under his skin!”

Jake’s heart sank. He knew that symptom. He didn’t want to. He ran. Corwin followed close behind, boots pounding on metal grates, the smell of mildew and blood thickening as they approached the quarantine chamber.

Two soldiers held the door shut from the outside. “Is anyone inside with him?” Jake demanded.

One soldier shook his head violently. “Hell no! He tried to bite us through the bars!”

From behind the metal door came the unmistakable sound of someone thrashing violently against restraints. “LET ME OUT! GET IT OUT OF ME!”

Jake’s stomach twisted. He pushed past the soldiers. “Open it.”

They recoiled. “Sir—no—you don’t know what he has”

“I do,” Jake said, louder than he meant to. “Now open it.”

The soldiers exchanged terrified looks. Corwin cleared his throat. “Do what he says.”

The quarantine door groaned open. The smell hit Jake first: copper and rot. The patient, an older man with bloodied fingernails, was strapped to a bed, his muscles spasming beneath his skin like snakes writhing inside him.

Jake inhaled sharply. Silver life threads flickered beneath the man’s flesh, dim, cracked, fraying. And wrapped around them were… things. Shadow serpents, tightening their coils.

Jake’s vision wavered. Corwin whispered, “What do you see?”

Jake clenched his jaw. “Something I don’t want to.”

The patient screamed again, thrashing. “Get it OUT! GET IT OUT!”

Jake hesitated only a heartbeat, then moved fast. He seized the man’s wrist, ignoring the way the shadows flared aggressively as if trying to bite him. “Jake!” Corwin yelped. “What are you”

“Hold him down,” Jake ordered.

Corwin struggled but obeyed. The patient shook violently. “Kill me! Please, kill me!”

Jake leaned over him. “You’re not dying today.”

He pressed two fingers to the man’s forearm. A shockwave tore through his senses. Jake gasped as the world dimmed again, then sharpened, then expanded. The shadow coils reared back, hissing. One lunged.

Jake jerked his hand away with a cry. “No—no—stay back”

Corwin froze. “Jake, who are you talking to?!”

Jake ignored him. He steadied his hand. Forced it back onto the patient’s arm. The shadows hissed louder, shifting, twisting, And a voice whispered inside Jake’s skull. “Heir… why do you resist us?”

Jake’s heart slammed against his ribs. His breath broke. He whispered, barely audible, “Please… don’t do this…”

The shadows surged. Jake’s hand moved on its own. A swirl of dark light spiraled from his fingertips, slicing through the shadow coils like invisible blades. They screeched soundlessly, dissolving into smoke.

The patient gasped, his breathing easing, the tension in his limbs fading. Jake focused desperately, tearing away the final coil. When it snapped, the man collapsed into unconsciousness. Silence fell.

Jake staggered backward, stumbling into the wall. His vision blurred, his heart racing uncontrollably. Corwin stared at him like he was seeing a ghost. “Jake… your hands… the shadows, they’re listening to you.”

Jake’s voice cracked. “I don’t want them to.”

He sank to his knees, shaking. Corwin knelt beside him. “Sir… what are you?”

Jake shook his head slowly. “I’m… not sure. But whatever it is? I’m scared of it.”

Before Corwin could answer, boots thundered down the hall. Commander Rask appeared in the doorway, glare sharp enough to cut steel. “What,” Rask growled, “did you just do?”

Jake didn’t move. Corwin rose quickly. “Commander, Foreman saved the man. Again.”

Rask ignored him. His eyes locked on Jake, cold and suspicious. “Foreman. Look at me.”

Jake forced himself to lift his head. Rask’s gaze dropped to Jake’s hands, still faintly trailing wisps of shadow.

Rask cursed under his breath. “I knew it.”

“Knew what?” Jake rasped.

“That the capital didn’t exile you because you were incompetent.” Rask stepped closer, voice low. “They exiled you because you’re dangerous.”

Jake flinched. “I’m not”

“You are,” Rask cut in. “And if you think I’m letting some shadow-cursed healer bring doom on my fortress”

He reached for his sword.

Corwin stepped between them. “Commander, wait!”

“Move,” Rask snapped.

“No!” Corwin said louder. “Sir, Foreman saved two men tonight! Without him we’d already have a pile of bodies”

Rask’s face twisted. “And without him, we wouldn’t have this plague mutating!”

Jake froze. “Mutating?” he whispered. “The plague is… changing?”

Rask glared. “You tell me. Ever since you walked in here, the sickness acts like it has a mind. People see things. Hear things. Go mad faster.”

Jake’s breath caught. Because the shadows had spoken to him. Recognized him. Called him Heir. Something in him trembled. Rask pointed his sword at Jake’s throat.

“You’re going in chains,” he said coldly. “Until I figure out what you are.”

Jake’s pulse surged. “Commander, don’t do this”

“Shut up.” Rask stepped closer. “Corwin, restrain him.”

Corwin froze. “Sir, with respect”

“That’s an order!”

Corwin didn’t move. Rask’s eyes flared with anger. “Fine. I’ll do it myself.”

He grabbed a pair of iron cuffs. Jake stumbled back. “Please, don’t”

The shadows on his hands pulsed, sensing danger. Rask lunged. Jake panicked. “STOP!”

A burst of shadow erupted from Jake’s palms, an involuntary flare of power that slammed into Rask like a physical blow. The commander crashed into the wall with a grunt.

Corwin gasped. “Jake, what did you just”

“I didn’t mean to!” Jake backed up wildly. “I didn’t, Rask, I’m sorry”

Rask rose slowly, fury in his eyes. “You,” he growled, “are a monster.”

Jake felt something inside him break. He turned, and ran. Through the hallways, past the flickering lights, past the shattered quarantine door, out into the storm.

Rain hit him like needles. Wind tore at his clothes. He ran until his lungs burned. Until the fortress lights were only faint yellow dots behind him.

He reached the edge of the borderland swamp where the world faded into black mist. Jake bent forward, bracing his hands on his knees, panting hard. “I’m losing control,” he whispered.

The shadows around his fingers stirred, curling like restless animals. And from the darkness ahead, a shape emerged. Tall. Hooded. Silent.

The same woman who visited him in the infirmary. Jake’s breath hitched. “You again ?”

She stepped closer, rain sliding off her coat like the water refused to touch her. “You have one night,” she said softly, “before the commander decides to execute you.”

Jake straightened slowly. “Why are you following me?”

“I’m not following you.” Her eyes glinted. “I’m waiting.”

“For what?”

“For you to stop pretending you’re human.”

Jake’s chest tightened painfully. “I am human.”

“No,” she whispered. “You’re Shadowborn.”

Jake shook his head violently. “That’s impossible.”

She reached out and touched the shadows on his hand. They reacted instantly, curling toward her like greeting an old friend. Jake froze. Her voice was a whisper of thunder.

“Jake Foreman… your blood is waking up.”

“And the kingdom will kill you for it.”

Jake’s breath stuttered. “Why?” he asked.

She smiled, slow and knowing. “Because you,” she said, “are the last heir to a dead throne.”

The wind screamed. The shadows tightened around Jake’s wrists. And everything he thought he knew shattered.