Musical Statues

‘Games must follow the rules, hmm? Well, if they must, they must. But I have a request. A music request! “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star!” ’
The Celestial Toymaker looked as though he thought the Doctor had lost his mind. So did Steven.
But Dodo suddenly got it! She grabbed fiddle and bow from the gypsy violinist, and began to frantically scrape out the only tune she knew. All the dolls took a step towards them.
‘We’re playing Musical Statues again!’ declared the Doctor. ‘And when the music stops –’ obediently (and relieved) Dodo stopped playing – ‘all the players must stop moving!’
All the dolls froze, and the Doctor cried, ‘Dodo, Steven, run!’
The three of them fled through the frozen figures, and through the children on the floor, which were now revealed to be nothing more than floppy ragdolls of cotton and thread.
‘This is not Musical Statues! This is still Murder in the Dark!’ they heard the Toymaker yelling at his creatures as they dashed through the huge wooden door. ‘Get after them!’
But the Doctor, Steven and Dodo were already on the path. The jack-o’-lanterns were still lit and they hurriedly retraced their steps away from the mansion towards the TARDIS.
‘How did we get away?’ said Dodo when they stood in safety at last. ‘Did we win the game? I thought the Toymaker destroyed his world and everything in it if he was beaten.’
‘We won Murder in the Dark,’ said the Doctor. ‘I rightly identified the killer – the Toymaker himself. But starting a new game confused things for long enough to let us get away.’

***

Murder in the Dark, Tales of Terror