The Masque of Mandragora

Part One

[TARDIS corridor]

SARAH: Where are we now?
DOCTOR: The TARDIS, where else?
SARAH: I know we're in the TARDIS, I just don't know this bit.
DOCTOR: I'll give you a guided tour someday.

(Sarah stops to look through an open doorway into a room which looks like an elegant Georgian drawing room, with a pair of Wellington boots by the door.)

SARAH: What's in there?
DOCTOR: Boot cupboard. Not very interesting.
SARAH: Boot cupboard? It's enormous!

(They keep walking.)

DOCTOR: Oh, I've seen bigger boot cupboards.
SARAH: Just how big is the TARDIS?
DOCTOR: Well, how big's big? Relative dimensions, you see. No constant.
SARAH: That's not an answer.
DOCTOR: How big are you at the moment?
SARAH: Five four, just, and that's still not an answer.
DOCTOR: Listen, listen. There are no measurements in infinity. You humans have got such limited little minds. I don't know why I like you so much.
SARAH: Because you have such good taste.
DOCTOR: That's true, that's very true.

[Wooden console room]

SARAH: Oh, this looks good.
DOCTOR: What?
SARAH: Hey.
DOCTOR: Yes, yes, it is good. Do you know, this is the second control room. You know, I could run the TARDIS just as easily from here as I could from the old one. Come to think of it, this was the old one.

(He blows the dust off a frilly shirt on a suit hangar. )

SARAH: That looks like a shaving mirror.
DOCTOR: Yes, it is.

(Sarah finds a descant recorder and starts playing 'British Grenadiers' on it. The Doctor opens the wooden shutters on the small console and switches on the power, lighting up the wood and brass room fully. Then he activates a viewscreen in the panelled wall.)

DOCTOR: Ah ha.
SARAH: What? What's that?

(A blue swirly thing on the viewscreen looks like it is sucking stars into itself.)

DOCTOR: It's the Mandragora Helix. I thought we'd avoided it.
SARAH: Oh. What's the Mandragora Helix?
DOCTOR: It's a spiral of pure energy that radiates outwards in ways no one understands, though at its centre there's a controlling intelligence.
SARAH: Intelligence?
DOCTOR: Yes.
SARAH: We're heading straight for it.
DOCTOR: Yes, it does seem more active than usual. Let's hope we can counter-magnetise enough to resist the pull.
SARAH: Is it living?
DOCTOR: It's living, all right, but that's all anyone

(Werp, jolt!)

SARAH: Oh! Something has hit us, Doctor!
DOCTOR: We'll just have to push on and hope we come out the other side.
SARAH: Oh, it's inside my head!
DOCTOR: Concentrate, Sarah.
SARAH: On what?
DOCTOR: Anything, anything. Say the alphabet backwards. Come on. Z, Y, X
SARAH: W, U, V, T, S

(The TARDIS is distorted as it is sucked into the middle of the swirly thing. It all solidifies into a series of concentric circles of crystals, and the TARDIS appears again in the middle.)

SARAH: F, E, D
DOCTOR: C, B, A. It's all over, it's all over. Any ill effects?
SARAH: No, I don't think so. Are we there?
DOCTOR: Where?
SARAH: Where we're going.
DOCTOR: I don't know. The Astrosextant rectifier has gone out of phase. I'll just go out and have a look. Not you, me. You stay there.

(The Doctor goes up a short flight of stairs that lead to the main doors.)

[Helix]

(The Doctor has to step down onto an invisible hard surface in the middle of the ring of giant crystals.)

DOCTOR: Hmm. Bigger than my boot cupboard.
ECHO: Bigger than my boot cupboard.

(Sarah steps down out of the TARDIS.)

SARAH: I see what you mean about relative dimensions.
DOCTOR: Yes. I thought I told you to stay inside.
SARAH: What's that noise?
DOCTOR: What noise?

(Something red is approaching very quickly.)

DOCTOR: Come on, quick! Get down.

(The Doctor pulls Sarah behind the TARDIS as the red projectile whizzes past.)

DOCTOR: Come on, let's get out of here.
SARAH: What was it?
DOCTOR: Helix energy. It could have been very nasty.
SARAH: What do you mean, could have been very nasty? It was. My ears
DOCTOR: Will you stop whittering.

(The Doctor pushes Sarah back into the TARDIS and they dematerialise. Something laughs demoniacally as they go.)

[Woodland path]

(A group of rustics pulling a cart of hay are waylaid by armed men on horseback. They try to scatter but the men are killed and the hay is burned. A richly dressed noble arrives with his bodyguard in shining armour.)

FEDERICO: Leave a few alive, Captain, to tell the others how insurrection is dealt with.

[San Martino]

(The noble rides through the gateway into Clough Williams-Ellis' Italianate masterpiece at Portmerion, Wales. Number 2's dome is unmistakable ahead of us.)

SOLDIER: Make way for Count Federico.

[Duke's bed chamber]

(A priest blesses the body of an old man and leaves. Two young men approach the bedside. The older bears a remarkable resemblance to Henry VII.)

MARCO: He was a good man, Giuliano. A just and noble ruler.

(Everyone say Hi! to Tim Pigott-Smith.)

GIULIANO: Heironymous, you foretold my father's death. How?
HEIRONYMOUS: Everything is foretold by the stars. I am just a humble astrologer. I only interpret their meaning.
GIULIANO: The exact day, the very hour. It's not possible.

(Count Federico enters.)

HEIRONYMOUS: When Mars comes into conjunction with Saturn in the seventh layer, in the House of the Ram, and the moon is full grown, death comes to great ones. So it is decreed.
GIULIANO: I don't believe it.
HEIRONYMOUS: Many do not believe it, but the decrees of fate will be obeyed. We have no choice.

(Heironymous makes a small obeisance and leaves.)

GIULIANO: I'm sorry you couldn't be present at my father's deathbed, Uncle.
FEDERICO: I came as quickly as I could. There were important matters of state to attend to.
GIULIANO: I see. I'm sorry, I thought you were out enjoying some sport.
FEDERICO: There was some trouble among the peasants in the villages. They needed a lesson.
GIULIANO: Isn't that your sport, Uncle?

(The death knell tolls as Federico leaves.)

MARCO: You're upset now, my lord, but don't anger your uncle. Not at this time.
GIULIANO: If I don't speak the truth, Marco, who will?
MARCO: You're alone now, Giuliano. Your uncle is strong and ruthless.
GIULIANO: You're forgetting, Marco. I am Duke now, and I want to rule over a land where there is no tyranny, no lies, no blind ignorance and superstition like that old fool who preaches about the stars. We make our own lives, Marco, not the stars.
MARCO: Nevertheless, it is most remarkable. Your father was in good health. To die so suddenly. And he did predict it, exactly.

[Hieronymous' chamber]

(The astrologer is mixing a potion.)

FEDERICO: Oh, he angers me. The last obstacle between myself and the dukedom.
HIERONYMOUS: Your nephew Giuliano?
FEDERICO: How soon?
HIERONYMOUS: You must be patient.
FEDERICO: I've been patient. Now it is almost within my grasp.
HIERONYMOUS: Nevertheless, so many deaths in so short a time, all so suddenly.
FEDERICO: You said yourself it was written in the stars. Don't say you're doubting your own predictions?
HIERONYMOUS: Giuliano has a sharp mind. He may suspect.
FEDERICO: All the more reason to act quickly. One day, two days at the most. The poison is still ready? Well, what's wrong?
HIERONYMOUS: These last few weeks, as the summer solstice approaches, I have been feeling
FEDERICO: Feeling what?
HIERONYMOUS: As if my powers were growing. As if I had been chosen to be granted visions of the future.
FEDERICO: Ha! So many correct predictions have gone to your head.
HIERONYMOUS: The stars will not be mocked!
FEDERICO: And neither will I! Cast your horoscope, Hieronymous. The young Duke Giuliano will die in two day's time. I will do the rest.

(The demoniac laughter is here, too.)

[Woodland]

(The TARDIS materialises without disturbing the birdsong. The Doctor and Sarah step out into the greenery.)

DOCTOR: Strange. Forced landing.
SARAH: You mean you weren't in control?
DOCTOR: Not that time. I didn't touch a thing. Promise.
SARAH: Oh, it's very pleasant. Nice, warm.
DOCTOR: Maybe that's why I stopped using the old control room.
SARAH: Doctor, there's some fantastic oranges over here!
DOCTOR: Helix forcefields must have distorted the coordinates.

(Sarah goes to pick an orange and start eating it, then wanders off, watched by three hooded figures. The Doctor picks up a small broken glass jug.)

DOCTOR: We've landed on Earth. Glass technology indicates Mediterranean area. Late fifteenth century. Not a very pleasant time. Sarah? Sarah? Sarah?

(The hooded figures are slowly carrying Sarah's unconscious body away.)

DOCTOR: Stop.

(They obey. One of the figures approaches the Doctor then raises his arms. The Doctor grabs an arm and throws the man onto his back.)

DOCTOR: Now put the girl down. Gently.
(Sarah is lowered to the ground then the Doctor is hit over the head with a large stone. The TARDIS door opens and the red Helix energy sneaks out into the countryside. After a while, the Doctor wakes. The men and Sarah are gone.
By a pond, a peasant is cutting and stacking reeds. The Doctor runs up to a drystone wall and is about to call to him when the Helix energy whirs into view. It touches down on the water, making it boil then heads for the peasant. His scythe bursts into flames and he is thrown backwards. Then silence. The Doctor goes over to the corpse which now has a lot of turquoise on it.)
DOCTOR: Mandragora energy. And I brought it here. It got into the TARDIS.

[Giuliano's chamber]

(Marco is cleaning his sword when the young Duke sighs and sits at his desk.)

MARCO: What is it?
GIULIANO: Well, there's this man in Florence who claims that by arranging ground glasses in a certain order, it's possible to see the Moon and the stars as large as your hand.
MARCO: Is that a good thing?
GIULIANO: Well of course it's a good thing. That way we can learn more about them, understand their mystery.
MARCO: What is there to know about the stars except how they move in the heavens, and we've known that for hundreds of years.
GIULIANO: That's the whole point, Marco. Perhaps the stars don't move as we think they move. That's what this man in Florence is saying. Maybe the stars don't move at all. Maybe it's we who move.

(Federico enters with Hieronymous.)

GIULIANO: It is customary to knock before entering a room, Uncle.
FEDERICO: I'm sorry, Giuliano, but there's bad news.
GIULIANO: Why? What's happened?
FEDERICO: Tell him.
HIERONYMOUS: Sire, forgive me, it is not of my doing, but this morning I was casting a horoscope
GIULIANO: I've told you often enough, I don't believe in horoscopes.
HIERONYMOUS: I only wish I too could not believe, but it was there too plainly to be ignored.
GIULIANO: What was there? My death?
HIERONYMOUS: Please, my lord, do not take these things lightly. I beg you not to leave the palace, take no risks of any kind.
GIULIANO: I've no intention of sacrificing my life to some old superstitious nonsense.
FEDERICO: Remember your father? He too scoffed.
GIULIANO: Oh, yes. I remember my father. His death remains a mystery, but of one thing I am certain. It was nothing to do with the stars.

(Federico gestures Hieronymous to leave, and he does.)

GIULIANO: How are the troubles with the peasants, Uncle?
FEDERICO: We think they are being stirred by spies sent by our enemies, but we shall catch them and make them pay for it.

(Federico makes a deep bow and leaves.)

[Woodland path]

(The Doctor comes across three men and two women sitting by the path, muttering.)

DOCTOR: Excuse me. I'm a traveller around here. I'm a stranger in these parts, and I was wondering if you'd seen a girl. She'd be about

(A group of four horsemen come round the corner and the peasants flee.)

DOCTOR: She's a friend of mine. She'd be about five foot four and a half.
ROSSINI: (Federico's Captain) Who are you?
DOCTOR: I'm a traveller.
ROSSINI: From where?
DOCTOR: Have you seen a young girl, about five foot
ROSSINI: Silence!
DOCTOR: Probably with orange juice on her chin.

(Rossini draws his sword and the Doctor shuts up.)

ROSSINI: Your life is in peril. Produce your documents.

(The Doctor puts his orange on the sword tip while he searches his pockets. He produces a football fan's rattle and gives it a whirl. The horses don't like it. He grabs one's reins and tips off its rider, then mounts and rides off.)

ROSSINI: After him! Don't let him go!

(The chase is brief. The locals surround the Doctor and knock him off the horse.)

[Temple]

(Stone pillars and an altar raised up on three steps. Sarah is brought in blindfolded.)

SARAH: Come on, this is ridiculous! Where are you taking me? Who are you? Say something?

(A man seated at above head height stands.)

PRIEST: Release her.

(Sarah pulls off the blindfold herself.)

PRIEST: Where was she found?
MONK: On the slopes of the hill of sorrows.
PRIEST: At what hour?
MONK: At the noon hour.
PRIEST: Exactly as it was foretold. A maiden fair of face and sturdy of body.
SARAH: You can forget the flattery. What do you lot want?
PRIEST: It is written that some are conscious of the purpose for which they are chosen. Others are as innocent lambs.
SARAH: Sorry?
PRIEST: My child, the purity of your sacrifice renders it doubly welcome to the mighty Demnos, god of the twin realms of moontide and solstice.
SARAH: Sacrifice? Now just a minute.
PRIEST: Let her be prepared to receive the sacred blade.

(Sarah is dragged away.)

[Throne room]

(Federico wins a chess game, to the applause of his courtiers. Rossini and his men bring in the Doctor.)

ROSSINI: This is the man, sire.
FEDERICO: I hear you led my ruffians quite a dance.
DOCTOR: Oh, just a short gallop. It's good for the liver.
FEDERICO: What is your name?
DOCTOR: Huh? Er, Doctor.
FEDERICO: Where do you come from? You wear strange garments.
DOCTOR: Around. Around.
FEDERICO: You're already tall enough, Doctor. You will answer my questions civilly and promptly or your body will be lengthened on the rack.
DOCTOR: Please don't threaten me, Count. I've come here to help you.
ROSSINI: Sire, let me punish this insolent dog.
FEDERICO: Wait. The fellow interests me. How can you help me?
DOCTOR: A wave of energy has been released, Count. It's part of the Mandragora Helix. It could do untold damage. And I must take it back to the stars.

(Everyone laughs.)

DOCTOR: Please. Please. Please. Please listen. Listen, please. I realise that must sound very strange to you. Let me put it this way. A ball of heavenly fire has come down to Earth. It could consume everything in its path. It could destroy the world.
ROSSINI: His mind is afflicted, sire. It's the fall from the horse.
FEDERICO: He professes sorcery. There is no gold for you in San Martino. My seer Hieronymous is the finest in the land.
DOCTOR: Ask your seer Hieronymous if he's ever seen an energy wave.
FEDERICO: Do you tell the future?
DOCTOR: Sometimes.
FEDERICO: Can you tell mine?
DOCTOR: No.
FEDERICO: Why not?
DOCTOR: Because you don't have a future unless you listen to me.
FEDERICO: Send Heironymous here.

(Rossini leaves.)

FEDERICO: If you are making sport with us, Doctor, we shall make sport with your body. Be warned.

[San Martino]

SOLDIER: Hurry, hurry. The curfew.

(The ball of energy appears and melts his sword before turning him into a burnt wreck.)

[Throne room]

HIERONYMOUS: Now, answer me this. What does it signify when Venus is in opposition to Saturn and a great shadow passes over the Moon?
DOCTOR: This is all a great waste of time.
FEDERICO: Answer him.
DOCTOR: Well, it depends, doesn't it.
HIERONYMOUS: On what?
DOCTOR: On whether the Moon is made of cheese, on whether the cock crows three times before dawn, and twelve hens lay addled eggs.
HEIRONYMOUS: What school of philosophy is that?
DOCTOR: I can easily teach him. All it requires is a colourful imagination and a glib tongue.
FEDERICO: And you, Doctor, have a mocking tongue. Prepare the execution.
DOCTOR: But you haven't listened to a word I've said!

(As the Doctor is dragged away.)

GIULIANO: Who is that man?
FEDERICO: A spy.

(Federico leaves.)

GIULIANO: A most uncommon spy.

[Temple]

(Sarah is unchained from the wall and made to wear a white robe.)

SARAH: No! No!
PRIEST: You are blessed, my child. Few have the honour of serving the mighty Demnos so totally. When the Moon rises over the southern obelisk, your hour of glory will have come. Cup.

(An acolyte hand the priest a steaming goblet, which he puts to Sarah's lips.)

[Town square]

(Federico comes out onto the balcony as the drummer plays and the hooded headsman stands waiting patiently with his sword. The Doctor is lead out and made to kneel in front of him. Federico gives the signal. The headsman lifts the long blade above his head and prepares to swing.)

Part Two

[Town square]

DOCTOR: Excuse me, excuse me. I like to look my best on these occasions.

(The Doctor removes his long scarf, and uses it as a whip to knock the headsman's feet from under him. The Doctor runs and jumps onto the back of a horse which already has a rider.)

FEDERICO: Fools! Stop him!

(The Doctor pushes the rider out of the saddle and gallops away before the pikesmen and other foot soldiers can get close.)

FEDERICO: After him! Don't let him go!

[San Martino]

(Out of sight of his pursuers, the Doctor dismounts and sends the horse on its way with a slap on the rump. Then he leaps over a balustrade and runs down some steps and past the front of a building where two men are with the body of the gate guard.)

GUARD 1: Hey, fellow!

(The Doctor runs on.)

GUARD 1: You say there was no thunderbolt?
GUARD 2: Nothing. He was found just beyond the gate.
GUARD 1: The Duke must be told of this.

(The Doctor runs into the market square and hides behind a display of fabrics. His pursuers go in the opposite direction. He comes out of hiding and they or others catch up to him. He runs down another flight of steep steps.)

[Temple]

(The Brothers of Demnos wear stylised human faces with wide open mouths as they circle the altar, chanting and holding silver bowls.)

MONK: Demnos, Demnos, Demnos. Adeus, O Demnos.

(A red cushion and an ornate dagger are placed on the altar, then the white flower petals in the bowls are thrown over it.)

[San Martino]

(The Count's men have lost the Doctor at the bottom of the hill.)

GIOVANNI: I swear he came in here, and there's no way out. Here, are we chasing a phantom?
SOLDIER: Or a worshipper of Demnos. Those devils know a hundred secret ways under the city.
GIOVANNI: A passage? Quick, then, let's find the trick.
SOLDIER: No, I ain't going in there, Giovanni. Not for all the gold in Rome. I know men who've tried. They've never been seen again.

[Temple]

(The Doctor makes his way through the passages as Sarah is brought out and led to the altar. She lies down, staring at the ceiling as the Brother takes the dagger.)

PRIEST: Demnos, Demnos, Demnos. Adeus, O Demnos.

(The Doctor hides as a purple robed figure in a bearded gold mask passes by. He follows and sees the man open a secret door in the stonework and go through. Meanwhile, the Brothers are making obeisance to the sacrificial maiden. The Priest gives the dagger to the Masked Man, who then stands at Sarah's head and raises the blade high. Sarah is quietly slid away into the arms of the Doctor, where she wakes, and the blade stabs down into the stone of the altar.)

MASKED MAN: Seize them!

(Just before they can get through the secret door, the crypt goes dark and the red energy bolt appears.)

DOCTOR: The Mandragora Helix has come home to roost.
MASKED MAN: Brothers, our prayers are answered! Our temple is restored.

(The Doctor and Sarah sneak away.)

[Giuliano's chamber]

(The turquoise body of the dead guard has been brought to the Duke's palace.)

GIULIANO: No, it's not a fire demon. Such things are pure superstition.
GUARD 1: What is it, Sire?
GIULIANO: I don't know. His skin, such a strange colour.
GUARD 1: I still think it could be a fire demon, Sire. I once heard of a case in Florence
GIULIANO: Yes, all right. You'd better get back to your duties.
GUARD 1: Sire.

(The guard captain leaves, and Marco enters.)

MARCO: The orders have been given.
GIULIANO: Good. He was found at the city gates, Marco. What do you make of it, old friend?

[San Martino]

(Sarah and the Doctor have got to the end of the passageway, and are nearly outside. Night has fallen.)

SARAH: We've made it.
DOCTOR: Stay there a minute.

(The Doctor checks up a flight of steps.)

DOCTOR: Some soldiers up there. No. We'll just have to wait till they've gone.

(Sarah holds up the sacrificial robe she was wearing.)

SARAH: See that? I was almost sacrificed to the great god Demnos.
DOCTOR: Yes, I know. Particularly nasty Roman sect, supposed to have died out in the third century.
SARAH: But I thought you said just now we were in the fifteenth?
DOCTOR: We are, and the cult of Demnos is still very much alive.
SARAH: So what was going on back there in the temple?
DOCTOR: Sub-thermal recombination of ionised plasma.
SARAH: Oh, simple. I should have thought of that.
DOCTOR: When we landed on Earth, we brought back with us part of the Mandragora Helix. I don't know how it got in the TARDIS, and now it's here in this temple.
SARAH: But why?
DOCTOR: Coincidence? I wonder what the Mandragora Helix is up to?
SARAH: Conquest? Invasion? They want to take over Earth and fill it with old Roman temples
DOCTOR: No. Helix intelligences don't have a physical existence in the way you know it. They don't need Earth. They want
SARAH: What?
DOCTOR: (sotto) There's something behind us. I can feel it in my bones.

(A pair of pikesmen have found them. The Doctor can feel the point of the pike.)

[Temple]

PRIEST: It is a dream of two thousand years come true. Look!

(A red light settles over the altar.)

MASKED MAN: Kneel, Brothers.

(The Priest goes to embrace the red light.)

MANDRAGORA [OC]: You have been chosen for powers undreamed of. Through us, you will become supreme ruler of Earth. Do you understand us?
MASKED MAN: Understand.
MANDRAGORA [OC]: Only you must stand in this spot. Any other mortal who dares stand where you stand now will be destroyed. You, and you alone will carry out our will on Earth.

(The red light vanishes and the place returns to normal.)

MASKED MAN: It is complete. Go! Now!

(The Brothers process out. The Priest bows to the Masked Man as he walks slowly to the secret door and out into the passageway where he takes off the mask to reveal himself as Hieronymous, the Duke's astrologer.)

HIERONYMOUS: Powers undreamed of. Supreme ruler of the Earth.

[Giuliano's chamber]

DOCTOR: Stop poking me with that pike!
GIULIANO: My apologies that you were roughly handled.
DOCTOR: Apologies?
GIULIANO: But speed was essential, for my uncle has men searching everywhere for you.
DOCTOR: Who's your uncle?
GIULIANO: Count Federico.
DOCTOR: Oh, yes, yes, we've met.
MARCO: He has given order that you're to be executed immediately you're found. Luckily a few of the guards are still loyal to the Prince.
SARAH: That's you?
GIULIANO: Giuliano, Duke of San Martino, and my companion Marco.
DOCTOR: Tell me more about this Federico.
MARCO: He murdered Giuliano's father.
GIULIANO: Marco
DOCTOR: Are you sure of that?
GIULIANO: Certain.
MARCO: Just as we're now certain that he's plotting to kill Giuliano.
DOCTOR: I take it you don't get on with your uncle.
GIULIANO: Doctor, my uncle is a tyrant.
MARCO: While Giuliano lives, Federico can never claim the throne.

(The Doctor sits at Giuliano's desk and looks at his books.)

GIULIANO: I don't fear so much for myself as for the people. Were he ever to rule San Martino, all knowledge, all attempt at learning, would be suppressed.
DOCTOR: This is intensely interesting. I don't think that Sarah and I are going to be able to help you. You see, we're just passing through. How did you know my name?
GIULIANO: I was present when Hieronymous questioned you. From the way you spoke to him, I take it that you, like me, are a man of science.
DOCTOR: Oh, I do dabble a bit.
GIULIANO: Oh, excellent. Some wine, Marco. I crave for contact with men of intellect and understanding.
DOCTOR: You're too kind. But that isn't the only reason you brought us here.
GIULIANO: No. There's something I want you to see.
DOCTOR: Show us.

(Giuliano takes the Doctor to a curtained alcove containing the dead guard.)

GIULIANO: This man's body was found at the city gates.
DOCTOR: Helix energy. High ionisation that has only to touch human tissue to destroy it utterly.
GIULIANO: Helix energy?
SARAH: You're not talking his language, Doctor.
GIULIANO: The guards are muttering about fire devils. I, of course, do not believe in such superstition.
DOCTOR: No, of course not. Nevertheless
GIULIANO: Nevertheless, it does worry me.

(They return to the main part of the chamber, where Marco is pouring wine into goblets.)

GIULIANO: Is it possible, do you think, that something's entered the city? Something perhaps conjured up by Hieronymous?
DOCTOR: Something's certainly entered the city, Giuliano. Some malevolent power quite beyond the understanding of that old fraud Hieronymous. The question is, why?
GIULIANO: I don't understand.
DOCTOR: Why here? Why now?
SARAH: Yes, and what's it got to do with that cult of Demnos?
DOCTOR: We seem to have an awful lot of questions. It's about time we started finding some answers.

[Palace corridor]

ROSSINI: Sire.
FEDERICO: Well, what have you to report?
ROSSINI: They've disappeared.
FEDERICO: Impossible.
ROSSINI: There's been no sign of them since they were last seen in the palace garden.
FEDERICO: They must be found. Something about that Doctor disturbs me greatly. Take all the men you need. Search every corner of the palace.
ROSSINI: Sire.
FEDERICO: Well?

(Rossini holds out a small scroll.)

FEDERICO: What is it?
ROSSINI: A list prepared by the Duke Giuliano's secretary.
FEDERICO: Where did you get it?
ROSSINI: You have many friends, my lord.

(Federico takes the list and reads it.)

FEDERICO: The King of Naples, Duke of Milan, Duke of Padua, Doge of Venice, Signora of Florence. Very impressive.
ROSSINI: They are the rulers who have accepted Giuliano's invitation and are coming to San Martino.
FEDERICO: To celebrate his accession to the dukedom. The arrogant puppy!

[Hieronymous' chamber]

HIERONYMOUS: The entire Earth, mine.

(Federico enters.)

HIERONYMOUS: I did not say enter.
FEDERICO: In this palace I come and go as I please.
HEIRONYMOUS: This is my private room.
FEDERICO: Whatever room you have here it is because I allow you to have it. Do not get above yourself. I've warned you before, Hieronymous.
HEIRONYMOUS: I have studying to do. Is there something urgent you want?
FEDERICO: Yes, there is something urgent. I cannot wait till Mars or Saturn or whatever other nonsense it was you said.
HIERONYMOUS: It is not nonsense.
FEDERICO: Giuliano must die tonight. He's called a gathering of all the philosophers and scholars in Italy, with their patrons. With all those important people here, he'll be able to establish his power in this state for good.
HIERONYMOUS: So?
FEDERICO: So he will be harder to get rid of. Giuliano must die.
HIERONYMOUS: It cannot be.
FEDERICO: Why not? You still have the poison? You will announce some new finding. You will say that some new conjunction has come to light. You'll find a way. Sudden death.
HIERONYMOUS: You're asking me to invent a horoscope?
FEDERICO: Ha! Isn't that what you always do?
HIERONYMOUS: Do you know what it is you're mocking? Do you know what power is held by the celestial bodies? They are not at our beck and call.
FEDERICO: I am telling you to help me as you did before. Giuliano must die before tomorrow night. You do understand?

[Temple]

(Hieronymous has donned his full Demnos regalia and is standing in the column of red light.)

HIERONYMOUS: Masters, hear me.
MANDRAGORA [OC]: Speak, Earthling.
HIERONYMOUS: Masters, there are those here who would mock my purpose. To overcome them and do your will, I must have greater powers.
MANDRAGORA [OC]: You have the powers, Hieronymous.
HIERONYMOUS: Away from this place I am a man among others. One sword thrust would destroy me. How could so feeble a creature rule your domain?
MANDRAGORA [OC]: We have promised you powers beyond all men, Hieronymous, but the time is not yet. Until then, carry our trust discreetly.
PRIEST: Hieronymous.

(The light disappears. Hieronymous removes his mask and sits on the altar steps.)

PRIEST: Master, you speak to the voices of Demnos as though, as
HIERONYMOUS: Go on.
PRIEST: As though this were not the first time.
HIERONYMOUS: What think you brought me to San Martino? Many years ago, in another place, the voice of Demnos told me how my life would be. Told me I had been chosen because of my special powers. Ruler over all the Earth. From that night until now, I have waited.
PRIEST: And now at last your faith has been rewarded.
HIERONYMOUS: For years, the wise fools, the scholars of the new knowledge, have jeered and scoffed at me. The old duke tolerated me but did not believe. Count Federico despises me. The young duke considers me of no consequence. But they will learn their mistake, priest. They will learn their mistake as they die.

[Giuliano's chamber]

(Morning, and Sarah and Giuliano are eating bread and fruit while a page stands by with a flagon of wine.)

GIULIANO: But spirits from the heavens, Doctor. A wheel of fire? I thought you were a man of science.
DOCTOR: Giuliano, it isn't easy to explain the concept of Helix energy, either sub or super-thermal ionisation in your mediaeval vocabulary.
SARAH: Oh, I think you're doing a great job so far.
DOCTOR: Thank you.
SARAH: I do. But I still don't understand why these spirits have appeared here in the fifteenth century.
GIULIANO: And why in San Martino?
DOCTOR: Well, perhaps because the worshippers of Demnos provided a ready-made power base. And what better place than fifteenth century Italy?
SARAH: Yes, but why the fifteenth century?
DOCTOR: Because it's the period between the dark ages of superstition and the dawn of a new reason.
SARAH: You mean they could gain control of Earth now through an ancient religion?
DOCTOR: Yes. Oh, yes. Giuliano, that temple must be destroyed.
GIULIANO: But the place is in ruins now, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Those ruins are the focal point for enormous forces. The Helix energy has penetrated every stone. Is there some way I could get there without being seen?
GIULIANO: Yes. Yes, I'll show you.
DOCTOR: Just tell me. It's better if I go alone.
GIULIANO: Oh no, Doctor, it's too dangerous.

(Giuliano takes two swords from a chest and gives one to the Doctor.)

GIULIANO: We'll take the back staircase.
DOCTOR: Just as far as the temple entrance. No further.

[San Martino ruins]

(Giuliano leads the Doctor and Sarah down a flight of steps below a statue of Atlas holding the globe on his back. A young guard spots them and runs back to report. Giuliano leads them down a slope to an area with a few broken columns litter the ground.)

SARAH: It is just a ruin.
DOCTOR: From this point on, I must go on alone. You stay here.

(The Doctor walks along a path to a doorway in a stone wall.)

[Federico's chamber]

(Federico is being shaved when Rossini enters.)

ROSSINI: Sire, they've been seen again, making their way towards the ruined temple. They're with the Duke Giuliano.
FEDERICO: The Duke is with them? Are you certain?
ROSSINI: Otherwise the men would have seized them at once.
FEDERICO: The ruined temple, you say?
ROSSINI: In that direction.
FEDERICO: Excellent. A chance to solve both my problems in one blow. It'll seem like a sacrifice. A human sacrifice to the gods. Our hands will be guiltless.
ROSSINI: A sacrifice, yes. The evil pagans who worship Demnos.
FEDERICO: Get your men quickly, Rossini. I will lead them myself.

(The Doctor can sense something as he circles the altar, sword drawn. There is a buzzing noise, and he puts his hands to his head in pain.)

[San Martino ruins]

(Sarah is passing the time throwing stones into a pool.)

GIULIANO: I have this theory, you see, that the world is really a sphere.
SARAH: Well, go on.
GIULIANO: It's not only me. Other scientists are coming to the same conclusion that the world can't possibly be flat because the

(Someone stands on a dead twig.)

SARAH: What was that?
GIULIANO: Nothing. You see, it's obvious when you come to think about it.

(More noise and they look up to see Federico and his men are blocking the paths.)

FEDERICO: Death to Giuliano!
SARAH: Doctor! Doctor! Doctor!

(Sarah runs to the underground entrance as Giuliano draws his sword to defend himself against impossible odds.)

[Catacombs]

SARAH: Doctor! Doctor! Argh!

(Sarah is grabbed by a masked Brother.)

PRIEST: Demnos will not be cheated of his pleasure, little one.
Part Three

[Catacombs]

SARAH: Doctor! Doctor!

[San Martino ruins]

(In the temple, the noise stops, then a series of painted walls appear to block the Doctor's progress. Mandragora laughs and the Doctor leaves by the secret door. Outside, Giuliano is holding off Federico's men one at a time on the path to the catacombs.)

GIULIANO: Go on, for you'll need an army to do your work.
FEDERICO: Oh, you craven-gutted curs. He's but one man.

(The Doctor runs out of the catacombs.)

DOCTOR: You can't count, Count.
FEDERICO: Take the sorcerer too. A gold piece to the first that splits him.

(The Doctor proves himself as good a swordsman as Giuliano, without actually hurting anyone, and drives the soldiers back when Giuliano is injured in the left shoulder. Then robed figures appear with quarterstaffs.)

FEDERICO: Brethren.
ROSSINI: They're coming out of the ground like rats, sire.
FEDERICO: Back! Back to the palace!

(The Doctor helps Giuliano into the catacombs as the Brethren deal with the slower soldiers.)

[Catacombs]

DOCTOR: That was lucky. The Brethren ran right past. Where's Sarah?
GIULIANO: She came down here. You mean you've not seen her?
DOCTOR: What? You mean she's wandering around in these catacombs? Let's have a look at this shoulder.
GIULIANO: You've not spent all your life at books, Doctor. You just saved my life.
DOCTOR: This should staunch the blood. You know, the finest swordsman I ever saw was a captain in Cleopatra's bodyguard. He showed me a few points. That's it. I don't know that Florence Nightingale would approve this little lash-up.
GIULIANO: Did you find the temple, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Oh, yes. Helix energy is still there, all right. Played some very nasty tricks.

[Temple]

(Everyone is masked.)

PRIEST: It is an omen. The mighty Demnos has returned his victim to us. She who is the chosen sacrifice.
HIERONYMOUS: This one assists the foreign sorcerer. She may yet assist him to his death before her hour of glory.
PRIEST: Master, the great blade of our god thirsts for blood.
HIERONYMOUS: Patience. Before this night ends, Priest, there will be blood in plenty. That I promise.
PRIEST: We of the Brethren bow to your command, Master.
HIERONYMOUS: Then mind her well, so that she may not struggle and cry out. Bring her to my chamber.

[Federico's chamber]

(The Count is bathing a graze on his cheek. Outside, trumpeters sound a fanfare.)

ROSSINI: The Duke of Milan, sire.
FEDERICO: I heard. Get that muck out of here. Bring me clean linen. Hurry, you oaf!

(The servant retreats.)

FEDERICO: That fox-faced old blowhard the Doge will be here within the hour. His advanced riders are carousing in the taverns even now.
ROSSINI: What's to be done? He must be greeted.
FEDERICO: That fat clown of a chancellor can do it. Say I've been stricken by an ague. Before night comes, Rossini, you and I have work to do.
ROSSINI: I have a score of men searching for the Duke. He's not returned to the palace.
FEDERICO: We must search the city. He's skulking in some stinking hovel. Oh no, I've gone too far now. Before sunrise, I want to see Giuliano's liver fed to the dogs.

[Catacombs]

DOCTOR: All right?
GIULIANO: Yes, thank you, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Good. Let's go and see what happened to Sarah.
GIULIANO: Oh, not through there.
DOCTOR: What?
GIULIANO: Those catacombs are endless.
DOCTOR: Giuliano, you're not afraid, are you?
GIULIANO: Afraid? Oh, no.
DOCTOR: That's funny. Most people would be. Come on.

[Hieronymous' chamber]

(Sarah lies unconscious, bound and gagged, on a bed. Hieronymous is mixing a potion.)

PRIEST: Why did you allow our Brethren to save the young prince, Master?
HIERONYMOUS: His life may yet have value.
PRIEST: But he is no more in the eye of Demnos than any other unbeliever.
HIERONYMOUS: Giuliano's appointment with death is already written. Not Count Federico nor any other mortal must anticipate the mighty Demnos.
PRIEST: Even so, I fear the Count will now bring all his soldiers against us.
HIERONYMOUS: Faith, Brother. You have seen the sign of Demnos?
PRIEST: The miracle, as it is written in the prophecies?
HIERONYMOUS: Then let the word be spread throughout the city. Guard the sacred temple. The great god's dwelling place must not be defiled by unbelievers in these last hours. Now go, hurry.

(The Priest leaves. Hieronymous puts a stopper in the bottle of potion and goes over to Sarah, who is waking up.)

HIERONYMOUS: Do not resist, child. The aroma is sweet.

(He puts a few drops on her gag.)

[Catacombs]

(The Doctor leads Giuliano to the secret entrance, and lights a torch from the candle nearby.)

DOCTOR: This way.
GIULIANO: Doctor!
DOCTOR: The ancients who built this place knew a thing or two. Come on.

(The Doctor enters the temple with sword drawn. Giuliano carries the torch.)

[Hieronymous' chamber]

(Hieronymous is hypnotising Sarah, using a spinning multi-pointed star on a chain.)

HIERONYMOUS: Now, child, who do you serve?
SARAH: I serve you.
HIERONYMOUS: And the Doctor?
SARAH: The Doctor is a sorcerer.
HIERONYMOUS: And?
SARAH: The Doctor is evil, and must be destroyed.
HIERONYMOUS: All this you will forget. All but your purpose. When you're standing close and the Doctor suspects nothing, you will strike him down. One scratch will be sufficient. The hand of a friend is a subtle but certain weapon.

(Hieronymous gives Sarah a three inch needle with an ornate head like the masks the Brothers wear.)

HIERONYMOUS: Now, we must return you to the Doctor's side. How glad he will be to see his young companion.

[Federico's chamber]

(The servant is putting Federico's boots on him.)

FEDERICO: Well?
ROSSINI: Nothing, sire.
FEDERICO: Inept clod. What were my orders?
ROSSINI: We have searched everywhere.
FEDERICO: Get out.

(Federico kicks the servant.)

FEDERICO: I warn you, Rossini, fail me and you will breakfast on burning coals.
ROSSINI: Sire, we can only think that he has taken to the catacombs.
FEDERICO: Catacombs.
ROSSINI: A thousand men might search those galleries for a month, sire, and still find nothing. They say there are places where the bat droppings are twice the height of a man.
FEDERICO: They say. They say! The truth of the matter, Rossini, is that you have no stomach for the task.
ROSSINI: If it is your wish, sire, I will take the entire guard down there and begin the search immediately.
FEDERICO: No. No, it is true. If he's gone down into the warren, he'll be harder to find than a flea in a beggar's robes. But he must come out or die like a sewer rat.
ROSSINI: And when he does, we must be ready for him.
FEDERICO: Of course you will, dung head. But more than that, we are going to prove that the Duke Giuliano is a secret devotee of the cult of Demnos.

[Catacombs]

(Sarah is sitting up against a stone wall.)

DOCTOR: Sarah! Oh, Sarah.
GIULIANO: Is she all right?
SARAH: Where am I?
DOCTOR: I think so.
GIULIANO: Her eyes, they're very strange.
DOCTOR: What happened?
SARAH: The Brethren, two of them. I can't remember.
GIULIANO: Why would they leave her here?
DOCTOR: I don't know. Perhaps they're planning to come back for her. You know, this leads under the palace.
GIULIANO: How do you know that, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Well, the first time I saw the leader of the cult, he was walking this way. He probably comes this way regularly. You know something? I don't think the Mandragora intelligence hijacked the TARDIS and brought us here by accident. There must already be someone here who's sympathetic to its influence. Possibly there's been some tenuous influence for centuries.
SARAH: Doctor, give me a hand.
DOCTOR: What?

(Giuliano helps Sarah stand up.)

DOCTOR: Salvatore ambulando.
SARAH: What?
GIULIANO: It's Latin. The question is solved by walking.
SARAH: Latin? I don't even speak Italian. Hey, I never thought of that before. How is it I can understand you?
DOCTOR: Don't you worry about it. I'll explain it later. Come on.
SARAH: All right.

[Giuliano's chamber]

(Marco is waiting when there is a knock on the door.)

GUARD [OC]: Open. Open in the name of the Duke Giuliano.

(Marco opens the door, and Federico's men rush in and disarm him, then drag him away.)

[Dungeons]

(The Doctor spots guards ahead in the passage and blows out the torch.)

DOCTOR: Anywhere we know?
GIULIANO: Yes. We're in the palace dungeons.
DOCTOR: Oh, excellent.
GIULIANO: My father once spoke of a secret passage.
DOCTOR: Let's go.

[Federico's chamber]

FEDERICO: Hieronymous.
HIERONYMOUS: You will forgive me for not rising, Count.
FEDERICO: Only the dead fail to stand in my presence. However, your lack of courtesy is easily corrected.

(Federico draws a dagger, and Hieronymous stands.)

HIERONYMOUS: My lord, spare an old servant. It is only out of my love for you. I am numb with fear for your life.
FEDERICO: But your numbness has passed, I see. You're a fake, Hieronymous. A fraud, a charlatan, a marketplace soothsayer. You and I both know the truth of this, so just remember your place, Court Astrologer. That way you may also keep your head.
HIERONYMOUS: But, my lord, I bring you a warning.
FEDERICO: Go on.
HIERONYMOUS: Intrigues are brewing. Plots are being prepared. You are in great danger.
FEDERICO: The only plots, Hieronymous, are mine, and they are going well.
HIERONYMOUS: It is written that a blow will be struck against you here, in the palace. You must bring your guards here to protect your noble person.
FEDERICO: You try my patience, Hieronymous. You can no more tell the stars than you can tell my chamber pot. Go. Get out of my sight!
HIERONYMOUS: Very well, sire. But before Mars sinks to rest, the blow will fall and your life will be forfeit. So it is written.

[Giuliano's chamber]

DOCTOR: I'd say you've had visitors.
GIULIANO: Marco. My uncle's men must have taken him.
DOCTOR: There's nothing you can do on your own, Giuliano.
GIULIANO: But he's my friend, my loyal friend.
DOCTOR: Listen, listen. Listen, there are other considerations besides your uncle and his petty ambitions.
GIULIANO: Petty? They are far from petty, Doctor. I've called a gathering of scholars here to celebrate my accession to the dukedom. My uncle will do everything in his power to stop our meeting.
DOCTOR: Who's coming?
GIULIANO: The most learned men of all Italy. Scholars, artists, men of the new sciences.
DOCTOR: Is Leonardo da Vinci coming?
GIULIANO: And his patron, the Duke of Milan.
DOCTOR: If anything should happen to those men, they'd be thrown back into a new dark age.

(Sarah tries to get close to the Doctor, but)

DOCTOR: You two stay here.
SARAH: Where are you going?
DOCTOR: I have an idea who the leader of the Brethren is.
GIULIANO: Be careful, Doctor. The soldiers are everywhere.
DOCTOR: Don't worry about me. I'm not likely to miss Leonardo da Vinci.

[Dungeons]

(Rossini comes out of a cell where a man is crying out in pain.)

FEDERICO: Scarlatti is enjoying his work?
ROSSINI: He's a craftsman.
FEDERICO: Nonetheless, these cries. I would prefer not to rouse the entire palace. Has he weakened yet?
ROSSINI: He is a stubborn ape, sire.
FEDERICO: I'll have a word with him myself. Sometimes the voice of reason is more effective than the burning iron. I have a task for you, Rossini.
ROSSINI: My lord.
FEDERICO: The astrologer Hieronymous. It appears he's moving against me. He's forecast my death.
ROSSINI: My lord!
FEDERICO: Don't be alarmed. He plucks these lies out of the sky. But I want the old spider out of the city tonight.
ROSSINI: Banished, sire?
FEDERICO: Throw him out, and all his rubbish with him.
(Federico enters the cell, where Marco is chained up on the wall.
Meanwhile, Sarah follows the Doctor along marbled palace corridors, poisoned needle at the ready. The Doctor knows she is there.)

[Cell]

FEDERICO: A simple confession, my young friend.
MARCO: Never.
FEDERICO: Come, Marco. You're of noble birth, a man of intelligence. Use your intelligence and save yourself pain.
MARCO: I shall not lie against the Duke. You can kill me first.
FEDERICO: No, but we may kill you afterwards. Scarlatti's enthusiasm is such that not all survive his attentions.
MARCO: You devils!
FEDERICO: Come now, Marco. Confess that Giuliano is a follower of Demnos and I will reward you well. Come, man, what is your answer?

(Marco spits in Federico's face.)

FEDERICO: You insolent fool. Now you will truly learn what suffering is.

[Hieronymous' chamber]

(Hieronymous throws an orange ball into a steaming cauldron, and there is a flash!)

DOCTOR: Good evening.
HIERONYMOUS: You! What are you?
DOCTOR: It's time you and I had a little talk, Hieronymous.
HIERONYMOUS: Keep back. Keep away from me!
DOCTOR: Not sure of yourself? Influence comes and goes? I suppose that must be very worrying.

(Sarah enters quietly. The Doctor looks at Hieronymous' golden mask on a table.)

HIERONYMOUS: Were you sent from the stars?
DOCTOR: Oh, you could say that, yes.
HIERONYMOUS: They told me, the voices, that I would be joined by another. Give me the proof that you are the one.
DOCTOR: Fascinating. Predeluvian sandstone with a complex circuit of base metal fused into it.
HIERONYMOUS: You defile the sacred image of Demnos! Destroy him now!

(The Doctor turns to see Sarah, smiling, needle at the ready.)

DOCTOR: Hello, Sarah. Poisoned needle? Drop it.
HIERONYMOUS: Strike him down!

(The Doctor grabs Sarah's arm.)

DOCTOR: Oh, you don't want to hurt me, Sarah. I'm your friend, remember? Your best friend. Drop it.

(Sarah drops the needle.)

SARAH: Doctor!

(Hieronymous stabs at the Doctor with a dagger.)

HIERONYMOUS: The curse of Demnos on you, sorcerer!
DOCTOR: You're getting a bit old for this, Hieronymous.

(The Doctor kicks the dagger out of Hieronymous' hand as Rossini and his guards enter to grab him.)

SARAH: No!
ROSSINI: Stop him! Don't let him get away!

(Guards go after Hieronymous.)

SARAH: Doctor!

(Giuliano picks up his sword and leaves his chamber. Two guards spot him in the corridor and grab him.)

[Throne room]

FEDERICO: Giuliano. Is he dead?
ROSSINI: No, sire. He's in the dungeons with the other prisoners.
FEDERICO: Then it is finished, Rossini. The Duke and his troublemakers will be dead and buried before cock crow.
ROSSINI: There is only Hieronymous, but he won't evade capture for long.
FEDERICO: There is nothing now that will stop me.

[Cell]

(Marco hangs unconscious on the wall.)

SARAH: I'm trying to remember what happened to me, but I can't. There's just nothing.

(The Doctor and Sarah are also chained up. Two guards are on duty.)

DOCTOR: Drug induced hypnosis. Hieronymous is an old slyboots.
SARAH: And I really tried to kill you?
DOCTOR: You only did what you were ordered. What I expected.
SARAH: But how did you know I'd been drugged?
DOCTOR: Well, I've taken you to some strange places before and you've never asked how you understood the local language. It's a Time Lord's gift I allow you to share. But tonight when you asked me how you understood Italian, I realised your mind had been taken over.
SARAH: Poor Marco.

(Giuliano is thrown into the cell.)

GIULIANO: Doctor! Sarah!
DOCTOR: See to Marco.
GIULIANO: Marco, what have they done to you?
MARCO: They made me speak against you. They forced me to say.
GIULIANO: Say what?
FEDERICO: That you, dear nephew, and this dog of a sorcerer, are in league to revive the blasphemous cult of Demnos.
GIULIANO: You stinking butcher!
ROSSINI: My lord! All over the city, they're coming out of every street.
FEDERICO: The Brethren. They're moving towards the temple.

[Temple]

(Hieronymous has gathered the believers.)

HIERONYMOUS: Great god Demnos, we are ready to receive you into ourselves. If we are worthy of your mighty presence, show yourself.

(The red light envelopes Hieronymous, and energy bounces off the altar. His gloves smoke. He gestures to a Brother, who gets up and joins hands with him across the altar. The energy enters him too.)

[Cell]

FEDERICO: I've waited a long time for this moment, sorcerer. There is nothing now that will stop me from becoming Duke.
DOCTOR: Count Federico, can't you understand? I'm not interested in your political ambitions. Your enemies are not here in this dungeon. They're in the temple. It isn't Giuliano you have to fear, it's Hieronymous.
FEDERICO: Ha! That fake.
DOCTOR: That fake is the leader of the Brethren.
FEDERICO: What?
DOCTOR: Yes. And he's possessed of extraordinary powers. Helix energy.
ROSSINI: It's a trick, sire.
FEDERICO: How do I know you're telling the truth?
DOCTOR: You don't. But if Hieronymous isn't stopped, I promise you, there'll be no dukedom for you or anyone else to rule over after tonight.
FEDERICO: I'll see for myself, and you will come with me. Unchain him.
ROSSINI: Don't trust him, my lord.
FEDERICO: I don't have to trust him. Keep these three here as hostages. If I'm not back within the hour, you know what to do. I'll take two of your best men.

[Temple]

(One by one, more Brethren are given the energy. Federico and the Doctor enter dressed in black robes.)

DOCTOR: Whatever you do, Count, don't go near him.
FEDERICO: Do I need your advice? When I give the signal, seize him.

(The last of the Brethren have been energised. Federico walks forward.)

FEDERICO: Hieronymous!

(Still in the red light, Hieronymous turns. Federico steps up and rips off his mask.)

FEDERICO: You traitor!

(But there is no face under the mask, just a glowing light. Hieronymous takes his mask as Federico backs away, then zaps the Count.)

Part Four

[Temple]

(Federico is turned into a pile of ash.)

HIERONYMOUS: So shall perish all our Earthly enemies. Surround me with a helix of powers, brothers, and none shall overcome us. All has happened as was foretold down the centuries. The waiting, the prayers, the sacrifices. Now, at last, the empire of Mandragora will encompass the Earth, for Demnos is only the servant of Mandragora, and Mandragora is a mighty master of all things. Let the power flood into you, brothers. Tomorrow night we shall witness the last prophecy. As it is written, Mandragora shall swallow the Moon!

(The Doctor, who has been masquerading as a Brother, slips away.)

HIERONYMOUS: Then shall we strike.

[Cell]

(Rossini enters.)

ROSSINI: It is time. Count Federico ordered the execution of these traitors at the end of an hour.
SARAH: If he didn't return.
ROSSINI: Neither he, nor the sorcerer, nor any of their party have returned from the temple.
SARAH: You mean it's an hour already? Doesn't time fly when you're enjoying yourself.
ROSSINI: Take them down.
GIULIANO: Stay, fellow. Rossini, you call us traitors, but lay one hand on your prince and it's you who are the traitor.
ROSSINI: I follow the Count.
MARCO: You follow a murderer and a tyrant. It is to the Duke Giuliano you owe allegiance.
ROSSINI: Enough! Take them down. The execution block grows dry.
MARCO: Infamous filth!
GIULIANO: You call yourselves soldiers? Are we to die without a priest?
SARAH: Or even a hearty breakfast?

(A hooded figure has entered.)

DOCTOR: No priest available. Will a Brother do?
ROSSINI: What have you done with the Count, sorcerer?
DOCTOR: Your Count is dead.
GIULIANO: Dead? My uncle?
DOCTOR: Yes, in the temple ruins.
GIULIANO: How did he die?
DOCTOR: Let's say Hieronymous gave him a blank look.
ROSSINI: Seize him. Seize him!
DOCTOR: Rossini, you don't have any authority to give orders any more. Giuliano is the lawful ruler.
GIULIANO: You men, are you with your prince?

(The guards draw their swords against Rossini, who wisely kneels and offers his weapon to Giuliano.)

MARCO: Take him to the block, sire.
GIULIANO: No, Marco. Take him away. His fate will be decided later.

(The guards leave with Rossini.)

MARCO: The evil is ended. At last you can rule without fear.
DOCTOR: Wrong, Marco, wrong. The evil's only just beginning. Hieronymous and the Brethren remain
MARCO: Then destroy them!
GIULIANO: What do you think, Doctor?
MARCO: You're the prince, the men will rally to you. Lead them to the temple and win your inheritance, sire.
DOCTOR: Shush, Marco, Marco. Giuliano, if you go near that temple, you go to your death.
GIULIANO: Then what do you suggest?
DOCTOR: The Brothers are still absorbing power. Gather together all the men you can, carpenters, stonemasons, soldiers, and block every entrance to the palace. Turn it into a fortress. Because when the Brethren attack, you're going to need one.
GIULIANO: I'll explain it all, Marco. We'll see to it at once.

(Giuliano and Marco leave.)

SARAH: Barricades aren't going to be enough to stop those Brethren.
DOCTOR: Anything to give us time. I need time to think. Anyway, his power isn't complete yet.
SARAH: What do you mean?
DOCTOR: Well, so far

[Dungeons]

DOCTOR: The only helix energy is what we brought with us.
SARAH: You mean there's more to come?
DOCTOR: Yes, tomorrow night, when Mandragora swallows the Moon.
SARAH: Listen, I came here with you, remember?

[Corridor]

SARAH: You don't have to use that fifteenth century doubletalk with me. I speaka da pretty good Inglish.
DOCTOR: I'm just telling you what he told me.
SARAH: Who?
DOCTOR: Hieronymous. (sotto) When Mandragora swallows the Moon, that's when they'll strike.
SARAH: I know, but what does it mean.

[Giuliano's chamber]

(The Doctor picks up a telescope from the windowsill.)

DOCTOR: Yes, just about adequate. Pity, another fifty years we could have used Galileo's.
SARAH: Where are you going now?

[Throne room]

(Lots of hammering sounds off camera.)

GIULIANO: Quickly, men, they're needed at the west gate.

(Two guards carry a large timber through the room.)

MARCO: Sire.
GIULIANO: Marco, what is it?
MARCO: It's begun.
GIULIANO: What's begun?
MARCO: The Brethren. They're driving people from the town.
GIULIANO: Are you sure of this?
MARCO: Those who refuse to leave are being destroyed by bolts of fire. They've brought the forces of darkness out of those devilish catacombs.
GIULIANO: So, we're isolated now. Just the few of us left in this palace.
MARCO: Some of whom are the most precious heads in all Europe.
GIULIANO: Do they know what we face?
MARCO: I think they have some fear that all is not well. Their personal guards keep close. And the King of Naples asked the reason for all the noise. I sent back word it was in preparation for the masque.
GIULIANO: The masque! I'd forgotten the day. Marco, it must be cancelled.
MARCO: Would you explain to your peers that your accession cannot be celebrated because of a pagan uprising?
GIULIANO: The masque cannot be held, Marco. It's too dangerous.
MARCO: I have seen our defences, sire. This palace could be held against an army and the Brothers are not an army, they're a fanatical rabble.
GIULIANO: Who can kill with bolts of fire.
MARCO: Simple trickery. Hieronymous was always a cunning old fox. And do not forget, my Lord, we have weapons of our own.

(Giuliano sits on the throne for the first time.)

GIULIANO: I don't know, Marco.
MARCO: Giuliano, you're the ruler now, the leader. If you're seen to falter at the first challenge, you may lose everything. There are eyes watching you. There are those who will go from here saying that the Duke of San Martino is weak, ready to be toppled. Better trust to your guards and hold the masque as though all was normal.
GIULIANO: Oh, you speak sense as always, dear Marco. But all is not normal, you and I both know it. I'll seek the Doctor's advice. Where is he?
MARCO: In Hieronymous' room. He's been there since this morning. But what he does there, I know not.

[Hieronymous' chamber]

(The Doctor is looking through the telescope.)

DOCTOR: Astrolabe, Sarah.
SARAH: Hmm?
DOCTOR: Astrolabe.
SARAH: What?
DOCTOR: Medieval sextant. Come on.
SARAH: All right. What are you trying to do?
DOCTOR: I'm trying to make this thing work exactly. Roughly won't do at all. Unfortunately, the alidade's almost a whole degree out. Compensate for error and convert to the Copernican system.

(The Doctor uses a quill and parchment to note his readings.)

DOCTOR: Seventeen from sixty.
SARAH: Forty three.

(The Doctor continues working and Sarah returns to a book. A few moments later - )

DOCTOR: I've got it.
SARAH: Well?
DOCTOR: Forty three minutes and eight seconds past nine.
SARAH: What?
DOCTOR: Mandragora swallows the Moon. In other words, a lunar eclipse.
SARAH: And that's when the Brethren will attack.
DOCTOR: Yes. More important, it's when all this could become man's only science.
SARAH: Astrology? You mean when Mars in in the House of the Ram and all that nonsense?
DOCTOR: Nonsense? It isn't nonsense, miss. Just you remember what Hieronymous did to you. Mandragora doesn't conquer in the physical sense. It dominates and controls by Helix energy, astral force. It takes away from man the only thing worth having.
SARAH: Which is?
DOCTOR: Well, a sense of purpose, what else? The ability granted to every intelligent species to shape its own destiny. Once let Mandragora gain control, and man's ambition wouldn't stretch beyond the next meal. It'll turn you into sheep. Idle, mindless, useless sheep.
SARAH: Yes, all right. All right, I'm convinced. But what can we do?

(The Doctor closes his eyes and bows his head. Giuliano knocks and enter.)

GIULIANO: Doctor, I must speak
SARAH: Shush. It's all right, he's only thinking.
GIULIANO: Thinking?

(The Doctor snores.)

SARAH: I think.
GIULIANO: I wanted to ask his advice.
DOCTOR: All or nothing. I'll have to risk it.
GIULIANO: Doctor
DOCTOR: Hello, it's nice to see you. Listen, if it's ionised plasma, it's molecular and by now must be spread pretty thinly among Hieronymous and the Brethren. Exhaust it. Exhaust it, that's the answer.
GIULIANO: Doctor, I have a question.

(The Doctor slaps the guard's breast plate.)

DOCTOR: Could you get me one of these and a length of wire?
GIULIANO: What, wire?
DOCTOR: Yes, wire. It must be at least a hundred and fifty years since wire-drawing machines were invented. There must be some about the place?
GIULIANO: Well, if you spoke to the palace armourer
DOCTOR: Good idea, I'll do that. What was your question?
GIULIANO: I wanted to ask you about the masque tonight. Everything's arranged, but it could still be cancelled if you
DOCTOR: You're going to hold a dance?
GIULIANO: Well, only if you don't think it's too dangerous.
DOCTOR: Dangerous? My dear Duke, you've got lots of guests to entertain. Of course you must hold a hop. Sarah will love it. Ask her.
SARAH: Oh yes, just my scene.
DOCTOR: And Giuliano, save me a costume. I love a knees-up.

[Temple]

(Hieronymous sits on the throne now.)

PRIEST: The town is empty, great one. Not a living creature larger than a cat remains within the walls.
HIERONYMOUS: It is well. The hour approaches fast.
PRIEST: What is your plan, great one?
HIERONYMOUS: The plan of Mandragora. I am but a vessel for those who hold dominion over the cosmos.
PRIEST: The mighty sky gods. What would they have us do, Master?
HIERONYMOUS: This time and place were well chosen. Assembled in the palace are many scholars, many rulers and nobles. Tonight they are to be destroyed. All of them. In this way shall be established the power and supremacy of those masters we serve.
PRIEST: The Duke has deployed many soldiers. All the entrances to the palace are fortified and heavily guarded, Master.
HIERONYMOUS: There is still an entrance they know nothing of. Bring me ten of the Brethren. I will take them to the place. Tonight there is a masque in the Duke's honour. We will provide the entertainers.

[Giuliano's chamber]

(The armourer is fitting the Doctor with a breastplate.)

DOCTOR: Good. Now the coat. I don't want this to show. Thank you.

(Sarah enters with several costumes in her arms.)

DOCTOR: How do I look?
SARAH: Putting on weight, are you? What's that in aid of?
DOCTOR: A little plan. Leave the wire.

(The armourer leaves.)

SARAH: Giuliano sent you these to choose from.
DOCTOR: That looks as if it would be very becoming, eh?
SARAH: Well, I think it's ridiculous talking about fancy dress. I mean, we're in such terrible danger.

(The Doctor puts on a lion's head mask.)

SARAH: Oh, stop being so silly.
DOCTOR: Remember the French at Agincourt.
SARAH: But they lost. You know, the worse the situation, the worse your jokes get.

(The Doctor takes off the mask.)

DOCTOR: I think I'll settle for the lion.
SARAH: Things are bad, aren't they?
DOCTOR: Yes.
SARAH: Very bad?
DOCTOR: Desperately bad, but we can only do our best and hope. You coming?
SARAH: Yep.

(They pick up the wire and the lion costume and leave.)

[Throne room]

(Three masked and caped figures are sitting at the end of the room.)

DOCTOR: Marco, is Leonardo among that lot?
MARCO: Those are the entertainers.
DOCTOR: I don't think I'm ever going to meet Leonardo. Will you open up the dungeon entrance, please?
MARCO: I'll see to it at once, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Thank you. Sarah? I want you to stay here and keep an eye on this lot.
SARAH: What? What for?
DOCTOR: A Time Lord has to do what a Time Lord has to do. Besides, you're not equipped.
SARAH: But you said it was dangerous.
DOCTOR: Did I? Oh, yes.
SARAH: Well, is it dangerous?
DOCTOR: Well, only if I guess wrong, and then it's fatal.
SARAH: Oh! Look, I wish you'd stop giving me flip answers.
DOCTOR: All right, listen. Negatively charged high energy particles follow magnetic lines of force, yes?
SARAH: Yes.
DOCTOR: Therefore, if I've guessed correctly about the nature of Helix energy, I should be able to drain it off.
SARAH: But what if you've guessed wrong?
DOCTOR: When did I ever guess wrong about anything?
SARAH: (sotto) Lots of times.

[Temple]

PRIEST: The masque has begun. Shall I order our brothers to surround the palace, Master?
HIERONYMOUS: Yes. Kill all who try to escape.
PRIEST: The others are inside.
HIERONYMOUS: Concealed from prying eyes. They await only my signal.
PRIEST: Glory to Demnos.
HIERONYMOUS: And to Mandragora.

(They leave. A lion's head, and then the Doctor's head, appear from behind the throne dais. The Doctor goes over to the altar, unwinding the wire.)

[Throne room]

(A jester is doing a series of backward and forward flips for the group of ladies and lords. Giuliano sits on his throne.)

MARCO: Sire.
GIULIANO: Marco, what is it?
MARCO: I've had a report from the guards. The Brethren.
GIULIANO: What of them?
MARCO: They're all around the palace. It's as though they're waiting for something.
GIULIANO: What could it be? A signal?
MARCO: Perhaps. They're just standing silently, in the shadows.
GIULIANO: Is Hieronymous with them?
MARCO: He's not been seen, my lord.
GIULIANO: I don't like it, Marco. Even our guests sense that something's wrong.

(The jester moves on to fire eating and juggling.)

MARCO: It'll be a very good night, sire. Our walls are thick and solid, and our guards well trained. A match for any in the land. At least we have your uncle to thank for that.
GIULIANO: So you think we have nothing to fear?
MARCO: I think by dawn Hieronymous and his followers will have realised their mistake, and they will leave San Martino to search for easier pickings elsewhere. If needs be, sire, we can hold out here for a month. And long before that, the armies of neighbouring states will have come to our aid.

(Sarah, dressed in a golden gown, approaches and curtsies.)

SARAH: (sotto) Have you seen the Doctor?
GIULIANO: No.
SARAH: What's keeping him? He's been gone for ages.
MARCO: It was gone eight of the evening when I told the guard.
SARAH: All this waiting, not knowing what's happening to him. It's worse than being with him.

(A masked man bows to Sarah.)

SARAH: Oh, me?

(Sarah is lead to the head of the three couples about to dance.)

[Temple]

(The Doctor has put wire around the altar, and is nailing it into the earth floor. Then he sits on the altar, gets out his yoyo and waits, but not for long.)

HIERONYMOUS: You profane the sacred stone.
DOCTOR: Hello, there. Had a hard day in the catacombs, have you?
HIERONYMOUS: You profane the sacred stone!
DOCTOR: Oh, come off it, Hieronymous. You know who I am. You can drop all that bosh about sacred stones and profanity. Just be your natural horrid self.
HIERONYMOUS: Why have you come here, Time Lord?
DOCTOR: Would you believe it? I had no choice.
HIERONYMOUS: Had it not been you, there would have been other travellers drawn into Mandragora Helix. Earth had to be possessed. Unchecked, man's curiosity might lead him away from this planet until ultimately the galaxy might not contain him, and we of Mandragora will not allow a rival power within our domain.
DOCTOR: Well, you see, that's a great pity because I can't allow you to interfere with Earth's progress.
HIERONYMOUS: You arrogant dolt! How dare you oppose the might of Mandragora!
DOCTOR: It's part of a Time Lord's job to insist on justice for all species.
HIERONYMOUS: Then you will be swept aside like the dirt that you are. Die, Doctor.

(The Doctor is thrown back by the zap of energy.)

DOCTOR: Time Lords don't die that easily, Hieronymous.
HIERONYMOUS: I shall crush you!

(Another zap, and another.)

HIERONYMOUS: Now die. Now!

(A further zap to the breastplate, and the Doctor takes longer to get up this time. The energy glow behind Hieronymous' mask begins to dim.)

DOCTOR: Come on, Hieronymous. You can do better than that. Come on, Heironymous.
HIERONYMOUS: Mandragora, help me!
DOCTOR: Come on.

[Throne room]

(Sarah is starting to get the hang of this formal 'country' dancing.)

SARAH: No sign of the Doctor?
GIULIANO: Not yet.
SARAH: Well something must have happened to him.
GIULIANO: Maybe he's hear already, wearing his costume.
SARAH: No, he'd have let us know. Doctor!

(A figure in a lion mask has entered behind the throne. Sarah goes over to him.)

SARAH: Doctor, what happened? Where've you been? Oh, stop playing the fool and tell me what happened? Doctor? It is you?

(The figure takes off the lion mask, to reveal no face, but a ball of energy. She runs. That is the signal for the Brothers to cast aside their cloaks. The whole room is lit with red light and people are struck down with energy bolts. Then another figure in purple robe and wearing Hieronymous' mask enters.)

HEIRONYMOUS: Stop! Stop, brothers. The final sacrifice must be made in our temple. Bring the victims of Mandragora down.
GIULIANO: The Brethren. We've been tricked, betrayed!
FIGURE: Silence! Take them below.

[Temple]

(Bound together with ropes, the survivors watch through a hole in the wall as a shadow falls across the Moon.)

SARAH: The eclipse! Look, it's beginning.
HIERONYMOUS: Now Mandragora swallows the Moon. Now, as it was written, the power of Mandragora will flood the Earth. Mandragora, we your servants welcome you. Bestow your power upon us that we may rule over the whole of your dominion.

(The Brethren place their hands on the altar, and Helix energy appears above them. There is a zapping noise, and the figures collapse, then the red light dissipates to reveal a circle of empty cloaks and masks on the floor. Heironymous walks up to the altar, removes his mask and turns around.)

SARAH: Doctor!
DOCTOR: Well, I thought that was rather clever. (Hieronymous) A case of energy squared. It puts Mandragora back to square one. (normal) Well, don't just stand there, I'm in the market for congratulations. (Hieronymous) I wouldn't even say no to a salami sandwich.

[Woodland]

DOCTOR: Goodbye, Giuliano.
GIULIANO: Goodbye, Doctor.
DOCTOR: This is lovely salami. Thank you.
GIULIANO: Oh, it's we who should thank you. Won't you reconsider?
DOCTOR: I'm already committed, sorry.
GIULIANO: There's so much we could learn from you.
DOCTOR: It'll all come in time. Keep an open mind. That's the secret.
SARAH: Goodbye, Giuliano.
DOCTOR: Come on, Sarah.

(Giuliano kisses Sarah's hand.)

SARAH: Oh! Coming. Hey, thanks for inviting me to the ball. Smashing.

(Sarah and the Doctor walk along a path.)

SARAH: Hey, what did you think of Leonardo?
DOCTOR: Leonardo? Leonardo who?
SARAH: Leonardo da Vinci.
DOCTOR: Oh, that Leonardo. No, I didn't get to see him. Good thing, too.
SARAH: Oh? Why?
DOCTOR: Well, his submarine design wasn't exactly practical, you know.

(They reach the TARDIS. Giuliano has followed, and waves to Sarah, who waves back.)

SARAH: Oh, poor Giuliano. He looked so wistful.
DOCTOR: Yes.
SARAH: Will he have any more trouble from Mandragora?
DOCTOR: No, he won't, but the Earth will. Their constellation will be in position to try again in about five hundred years.
SARAH: Five hundred years. That takes us to just about the end of the twentieth century.
DOCTOR: That's right. Now that was an interesting century.
SARAH: What do you mean, was?
DOCTOR: Come on.

(They go into the TARDIS, and Giuliano watches it dematerialise.)

Transcript originally provided by Chrissie. Adapted by TARDIS.guide. The transcripts are for educational and entertainment purposes only. All other copyrights property of their respective holders.

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