Doctor Who: The Masque of the Mandragora (5 page)

The young man nodded. ‘Count Federico. He has given orders that you be executed immediately you are found. Luckily, a few of the guards are still loyal to their Prince.’ He gave a brief smile.

Sarah felt a sudden sense of relief. ‘And that’s you?’

‘Giuliano, Duke of San Martino.’ The young man bowed politely.

‘And this is my companion, Marco.’

A tall fair-haired young man stepped forward from the back of the room where he had been concealed in the shadows. He bowed stiffly.

‘Tell me more about your uncle,’ said the Doctor.

‘The Count murdered Giuliano’s father,’ interposed Marco with vehemence.

‘Are you certain?’

Giuliano nodded. ‘Certain.’

‘And now he’s plotting to kill Giuliano.’

‘I take it you don’t get on with your uncle,’ smiled the Doctor.

The Prince looked serious. ‘My uncle is a tyrant.’

‘While Giuliano lives Federico can never claim the throne,’ explained Marco.

‘I do not fear so much for myself as for the people,’ continued the young Prince. ‘Were he ever to rule San Martino all knowledge, all attempt at learning would be suppressed.’

The Doctor nodded understandingly. ‘And that’s what he wants? Well Giuliano. if you don’t mind my saying so you look good for at least another fifty years.’

The Prince lowered his eyes. ‘I am to die. Hieronymous has predicted it.’

The Doctor gave a snort of derision. ‘Hieronymous? I shouldn’t take too much notice of him.’

‘I try not to,’ replied the Prince in a level voice. ‘From the way you spoke to him I take it you are a man of science?’ His eyes searched the Doctor’s intelligently.

‘I do dabble a little,’ said the Doctor modestly.

‘Excellent! I crave for contact with men of intellect and understanding.’

The Doctor seemed amused. ‘How flattering! But surely you’ve not gone to all these lengths just to enjoy my company?’

In answer, Giuliano crossed to a screened alcove at the rear of the chamber. ‘There are things I want to show you, Doctor. This—for example.’ He snatched back the screen to reveal a dead body on a pallet. Sarah winced. The body, once one of Federico’s guards, was hideously disfigured with burn marks.

The Doctor stepped back looking grim. ‘Yes Helix Energy. High ionisation. It only has to touch human tissue...’

Giuliano looked puzzled.

‘You’re not talking his language, Doctor,’ interjected Sarah.

‘This man’s body was found by the city gates,’ explained the Prince. ‘The guards are muttering of fire devils. I of course do not accept such superstitions.’

‘Nevertheless?’ enquired the Doctor.

Giuliano frowned. ‘It worries me. Is it possible that something has entered the city—perhaps something conjured up by Hieronymous?’

The Doctor shook his head gravely. ‘Something has certainly entered the city, Giuliano—a malevolent power quite beyond the experience of that old fake. The question is why?’

The Prince still seemed puzzled. ‘I don’t understand...’

The Doctor dug his hands deep into his pockets and began pacing the room. ‘Why here? Why now?’

‘And what has it got to do with the Cult of Demnos?’ piped up Sarah.

‘Exactly,’ exclaimed the Doctor. ‘We seem to have rather a lot of questions. It’s time we started finding a few answers.’

Outside Giuliano’s chamber there were increasing signs of activity. The clank of armour and shuffling footsteps echoed along the palace corridors indicating the search was being intensified, and through the open window came distant yells of guards still hunting the gardens.

Meanwhile Count Federico strode about his chamber like a caged tiger, awaiting news. There was a knock at his door and the scar-faced captain entered and bowed.

‘Well,?’ snarled the Count impatiently. ‘Have you nothing to report?’

‘Only that they have disappeared, sire.’

‘Impossible!’ exploded Federico. He aimed a kick at a nearby footstool.

‘There has been no sign of them since they were last seen in the palace gardens.’

The Count’s face grew black with fury. ‘They must be found! Something about that Doctor disturbs me greatly. I want every corner of the palace searched. Take all the men you need.’ He turned his back on the captain and waved him angrily out of the room.

The captain bowed silently but remained where he stood. ‘Sire.’ he said softly.

Federico’s broad back remained firmly turned. ‘What is it?’

The captain took out a piece of paper from his belt. ‘This list—it was prepared by the Duke Giuliano’s secretary.’

Federico span round and snatched the list. ‘To the King of Naples?’ he read aloud, ‘... the Duke of Milan... the Duke of Padua... the Doge of Venice... Signoria of Florence...’ His expression grew more enraged by each name.

‘They are the rulers who have accepted Giuliano’s invitation and are coming to San Martino,’ explained the captain in a servile tone.

A look of contempt appeared on the Count’s ugly face. ‘To celebrate his accession to the Dukedom. The arrogant puppy!’ He screwed up the list in his hand, hurled it against the wall and stormed out of the chamber.

Moments later there was a sharp rat-a-tat at Hieronymous’s door and Federico strode in. Hieronymous looked up in surprise from a pile of ancient charts he was studying.

‘I did not say enter,’ he said curtly. His face wore a cool and reserved expression unlike his normal obsequious manner.

‘What?’ Federico seemed momentarily taken aback.

‘I wish to be left alone,’ snapped the old soothsayer and returned to his charts.

‘In this palace, astrologer, I come and go as I please,’ growled Federico.

‘This is my private room.’

The Count’s eyes narrowed and he leant forward threateningly. ‘Whatever room you have here is because I allow it. I’ve warned you before, Hieronymous, do not get above yourself.’

Hieronymous said nothing for a moment then responded in a more conciliatory fashion. ‘I have studying to do. But if there is something urgent you want?’

‘Yes, it is urgent!’ shouted Federico, then realising he might be overheard lowered his voice. ‘We cannot wait until Mars or Saturn or whatever other nonsense it was you said—Giuliano must die at once.’ He fixed Hieronymous with a penetrating stare.

‘It is not nonsense.’ retorted the astrologer.

Federico continued unheeding. ‘He’s called a gathering here of all the leading scholars and philosophers in Italy and their patrons.’

Hieronymous looked up sharply. ‘Gathering?’

Federico nodded impatiently. ‘Don’t you see what it means? With all those important people here, at his invitation, he will establish his power in the state for good.’

‘So?’

Federico banged his fist down on Hieronymous’s charts. ‘So it will be harder to get rid of him!’ He paused for breath. ‘He must die. Tonight! ‘

Hieronymous drew himself up to his full height and shook his head solemnly. ‘It cannot be.’

‘Why not? I have the poison.’ Federico scowled. ‘I want you to announce that you have made a new finding,’ he waved his arm airily, ‘some new conjunction has come to light. You’ll think of. something.’ He pressed his face close to Hieronymous. ‘Sudden death!’

Hieronymous withdrew. ‘You’re asking me to invent a horoscope.’

‘That’s what you always do,’ snapped the Count.

A look of hurt appeared on the soothsayer’s visage. ‘Do you know what it is you are mocking?’ He raised his voice. ‘Do you know what power is held by the celestial bodies? They are not at our beck and call.’

Federico took hold of Hieronymous by the shoulders and shook him violently. ‘I’m asking you to help me. as you did before.’ His voice grew menacing. ‘Giuliano must die tonight! Do you understand?’ He bellowed in the soothsayer’s ears, ‘Tonight! ‘

‘Spirit from the heavens? I thought you were a man of science, Doctor.’

The speaker was Giuliano and his handsome features wore a vexed expression. He was now alone with the Doctor and Sarah having dispatched Marco to keep unwelcome visitors at bay.

The Doctor, who had been pacing up and down all this time expounding theories, suddenly stopped and smiled.

‘It’s rather hard to explain the concept of Helix energy—either sub-or super-thermal ionisation—in a medieval vocabulary.’

‘I think you’re doing a great job,’ interposed Sarah, picking at a bunch of grapes on the table in front of her. ‘But you haven’t explained why these spirits are appearing in romantic old fifteenth-century Italy, have you?’ She popped a grape in her mouth.

‘Perhaps because the worshippers of Demnos offer a ready made power-base,’ replied the Doctor suddenly attracted by the idea. ‘And what better time than the fifteenth century? The time between the dark ages of superstition and the dawn of Reason.’

Sarah frowned. ‘You mean if they can gain control of Earth now... through an ancient religion...?’

‘That could be the plan.’ The Doctor turned excitedly to the young Prince. ‘Giuliano, that temple must be destroyed!’

‘But only ruins stand there now, Doctor.’

‘Those ruins are a focal point for enormous forces,’ exclaimed the Doctor. ‘The Helix Energy has penetrated every stone.’ He moved towards the door. ‘Is there a way I can get to the temple without being seen?’

Guiliano nodded, impressed by the Doctor’s conviction and sense of urgency. ‘I’ll show you myself.’

‘No. It’s better if I go alone.’

The Prince shook his head. ‘It’s too dangerous.’ The Doctor hesitated, looked at Sarah. They could not risk being caught again.

‘All right,’ he said. ‘As far as the temple, but no further.’

Giuliano crossed to a large wooden chest and took out a couple of swords.

‘Here! ‘ He threw one to the Doctor who caught it expertly, and executed a series of clever flourishes.

‘If I’d known we were coming I’d have practised my épée,’ he exclaimed with a twinkle in his eye. Sarah grinned.

‘We’ll take the back staircase,’ explained Giuliano. He opened the door warily and, satisfied that none of Federico’s guards were lurking in the shadows, led them quickly away.

Moments later the three of them emerged from a rear door of the palace, crossed a series of small cobbled courtyards, and disappeared into the welcoming cover of the gardens.

It was nearly dawn. A slight dew lay on the grass dampening their clothes as they brushed through. The young Prince led them down a maze of hidden pathways until the palace was left far behind. There was no sign of search parties and they made rapid progress. At one point the Doctor thought they passed the secret entrance he had discovered earlier, but Giuliano did not pause. The gardens lacked any reliable landmarks and various paths and grottoes were deceptively similar.

After about twenty minutes the track grew steep and rocky then suddenly dropped down beside a small stream. On the far side a woody bluff rose up a hundred feet or so, its side covered with bushes and thick overhanging trees. Giuliano guided them on stepping stones across the stream, and up to the face of the rocky mount.

Scattered about the foot were large lumps of masonry, ancient broken pillars of Greek or Roman design. They had been there for centuries probably, covered with thick moss and trailing vines.

‘This is it,’ said Giuliano. He pulled back one of the bushes to reveal a hidden entrance running into the hillside.

The Doctor peered into the forbidding gloom, then turned and addressed the other two. ‘From this point on I must go alone.’

Giuliano was about to protest but Sarah held his arm and shook her head. This was a matter for the Doctor. She had come to recognise times when it was best not to interfere—when the Doctor seemed guided by inner forces not fully understandable to humans. This was one of those occasions.

The Doctor gripped his sword firmly and without a further word disappeared into the dark tunnel.

From a hidden cache on the other side of the stream a helmeted figure watched quietly as Sarah and Giuliano retreated to the cover of a ruined column. He was dressed in the scarlet and yellow livery of Federico’s bodyguard. He waited a few moments until satisfied they were not going to leave, then slipped away furtively through the trees in the direction of the palace.

Federico was prowling his chamber like a fretful insomniac when there was a perfunctory knock at the door and the captain burst in, breathless.

‘Sire, they’ve been seen. They’re with the Duke Giuliano at the ruined temple.’

Federico’s tired eyes opened wide with surprise. ‘The Duke is with them? Are you certain?’

The captain nodded vehemently. ‘Otherwise the men would have seized them at once.’

Federico ceased his prowling and an evil smile flickered across his saturnine features. ‘The ruined temple, you say?’

‘In that direction.’

The Count weighed this information carefully. The outlines of a devious stratagem began to formulate in his head.

‘Excellent, excellent,’ he whispered at last. ‘A chance to solve all my problems in one blow.’

The captain nervously fingered the scar on his cheek, unsure of his master’s meaning.

‘It will appear like a sacrifice,’ continued the Count. relishing the scenario in his mind’s eye. ‘A human sacrifice to the gods. Our hands will be guiltless.’ He hugged himself with delight at the prospect.

Admiration and awe dawned on the captain’s face as he grasped the drift of Federico’s plan. ‘A sacrifice... yes... the evil pagans who worship Demnos...’

‘Get your men quickly!’ commanded Federico and he snapped his fingers for a valet to bring his cloak. ‘I will lead them myself.’

The Doctor felt his way carefully along the darkened tunnel. There was no torchlight here, unlike the other parts of the catacombs and in ten minutes he had travelled no further than a hundred yards.