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DOCTOR WHO
THE MASQUE OF MANDRAGORA
Written by
Louis Marks
Part Two
(Overlap from the walk to the place of execution)
[EXT. Town square]
DOCTOR: (holding out his hand on the sword's back-swing) Excuse me, excuse me. I like to look my best on these occasions.
(He removes his scarf, then strikes out with it at the EXECUTIONER's feet. The man falls as a grinning DOCTOR runs toward us. The DOCTOR jumps onto a horse.)
FEDERICO: Fools! Stop him!
(The DOCTOR pushes the horse's existing rider, in front of him, off, and the horse leaves the scene as the pikemen and others give chase.)
FEDERICO: After him! Don't let him go!
[EXT. Road]
(Now around a corner from his pursuers, the DOCTOR dismounts and gives the horse a slap on the rump, encouraging it to continue on its way. It does so as he jumps over a balustrade and thence out of sight. He crouches down, then runs down some steps amid the greenery and passes a building where two GUARDS stand.)
GUARD 1: Hey, fellow!
(We see the body of the gate guard beside the two men.)
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 through an alley, not far in front of his pursuers. Entering the market square, he slows, looks about, and hides behind a display of hanging fabrics. The men following him check in a different direction. The DOCTOR peers out from amidst the fabrics, smiles, and emerges from the side of the display. He starts walking off, notices that he has been spotted, sets off at a faster pace, and is soon running down another set of steps. He secretes himself behind these.)
[INT. Temple]
(Led by a MONK carrying an open book, the black-robed and gloved figures, now joined by several more, circle the altar. Their hoods are up, and on their faces are masks, grey-gold in this light, with sneering-zombie-style wide-open mouths. They stop and each hold up a silver bowl.)
MONK: Demnos, Demnos, Demnos. (the others kneel) Adeus, O Demnos.
(We see a red cushion, with an ornate-handled dagger atop it, be set on the altar. Then white flower petals, from the bowls, are thrown onto the altar, on and near the cushion.)
[EXT. San Martino]
(A SOLDIER stands at the bottom of the hill. GIOVANNI runs up some steps from a doorway. The Doctor is nowhere in sight.)
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. (He makes to leave.)
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.
[INT. Temple]
(The DOCTOR quietly slips through the passages.
Meanwhile, a rather more placid SARAH walks slowly toward the altar. Guided by a couple of MONKS, she lies supine. One MONK holds out the cushion, and the PRIEST, still wearing the cross medallion from earlier, lifts the dagger from it. Holding it before him, he ascends the steps to the altar.)
PRIEST: Demnos, Demnos, Demnos. Adeus, O Demnos.
(The dagger gleams in the candlelight.
We see that the DOCTOR is still making his way through the passages when he suddenly dashes out of the path, just before a figure in a purple robe, whose mask sports a beard and who is wearing a medallion, slowly descends the steps and walks through the passage toward us. The DOCTOR follows at a distance. The purple-robed figure pushes open a door in the stone wall and passes through. The door closes again, and the DOCTOR comes up short. In thought, he touches the stonework.
Back in the crypt, the MONKS perform a gesture of raising their hands above the altar, backing away, and repeating. The PRIEST holds the dagger handle out to the purple-robed man, who takes it and, holding it before him, rises to beside SARAH's head. He takes the hilt in his hands and raises the dagger. While the eyes are on him, SARAH's body slides down the altar, to where the DOCTOR takes her in his arms as she wakes. The blade comes down into the altar a moment later.)
PURPLE-ROBED MAN: Seize them!
(As SARAH and the DOCTOR reach the secret door in the stone from this side, something apparently extinguishes the candles, and the red ball of energy slowly descends toward the altar.)
DOCTOR: (quietly) The Mandragora Helix has come home to roost.
PURPLE-ROBED MAN: (turning to face the others in the red light from above) Brothers, our prayers are answered! Our temple is restored.
(The door closes behind the DOCTOR and SARAH.)
[INT. Giuliano's chamber]
(We look at the dead guard's turquoise-and-green-tinted corpse.)
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. (He bows and leaves.)
MARCO: (entering and approaching from behind as GIULIANO continues contemplating the body) The orders have been given.
GIULIANO: Good. He was found at the city gates, Marco. What do you make of it, old friend?
[EXT. San Martino]
(SARAH and the DOCTOR are heading for the exit.)
SARAH: We've made it.
DOCTOR: Stay there a minute. (He quietly heads up the semi-ruined stone steps toward the outside, where men are on patrol.)
DOCTOR: Some soldiers up there. (holding her back) No. We'll just have to wait till they've gone.
(SARAH holds up the sacrificial gown she'd been 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 about it. They don't need Earth. They want...
SARAH: What?
DOCTOR: (sotto) There's something behind us. I can feel it in my bones.
(In the entryway stand two PIKESMEN, and the DOCTOR finds the end of a pike poking into said bones.)
[INT. Temple]
PRIEST: It is a dream of two thousand years come true! (as a yellowish-red light bathes the altar) Look!
PURPLE-ROBED MAN: Kneel, Brothers.
(They do so, and he steps forward to the column of light, raising his arms.)
MANDRAGORA [OC]: (in a calm, slightly echoey voice) You have been chosen for powers undreamed of. Through us, you will become supreme ruler of Earth. Do you understand us?
PURPLE-ROBED MAN: I 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 man lowers his hands partially, and the light quickly fades away. He genuflects and turns.)
PURPLE-ROBED MAN: It is complete. Go, now!
(The MONKS head out in an orderly procession, and the PURPLE-ROBED MAN and PRIEST head in the other direction, to the secret door. The PRIEST stops here and bows, rather than passing through. In the passageway, the PURPLE-ROBED MAN removes his mask.)
HIERONYMOUS: Powers undreamed of. Supreme ruler of the Earth. (He smiles.)
[INT. Giuliano's chamber]
DOCTOR: (as he is thrown into the room) Stop poking me with that pike!
GIULIANO: (after SARAH too is thrown into the room) 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 orders that you 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 certain that he's now 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 seats himself at the duke's desk and begins looking through his books and papers.)
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. You know, I don't think that Sarah and I are going to be able to help you. You see, we're just passing th-. How did you know my name?
GIULIANO: I was present when Hieronymous questioned you. (at the desk) 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. (MARCO exits) I crave for contact with men of intellect and understanding.
DOCTOR: You're too kind. But that isn't the only reason you've brought us here.
GIULIANO: No. There's something I want you to see.
DOCTOR: Show us.
(The DOCTOR stands, and GIULIANO leads him, with SARAH following, to a curtained-off alcove.)
GIULIANO: This man's body was found at the city gates.
DOCTOR: (taking a look) 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.
(MARCO is pouring wine as they return from the alcove.)
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: (sitting beside the DOCTOR) 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.
[INT. Palace corridor]
ROSSINI: Sire.
FEDERICO: (who has just walked through a passage and now stops) 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: (turning again and clearly eager to be on his way) Well?
(ROSSINI holds out a scroll.)
FEDERICO: (making no move to take it) 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.)
FEDERICO: (reading) 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. Arrogant puppy! (He walks off.)
[INT. Hieronymous's 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!
HIERONYMOUS: 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.
HIERONYMOUS: I have studying to do. Is there something urgent you want?
FEDERICO: Yes, there is something urgent. It 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 are mocking? Do you know what power is held by the celestial bodies? They are not at our beck and call.
FEDERICO: (slowly) I am telling you to help me as you did before. Giuliano must die before tomorrow night. You do understand?
(HIERONYMOUS bows his head.)
[INT. Temple]
HIERONYMOUS: (in his robes and standing before the column of light) 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: (standing behind him) Hieronymous.
(The light fades away. HIERONYMOUS removes his mask and, as the PRIEST follows after him, sits on the steps at the far side of the altar, holding his mask in his lap.)
PRIEST: (startling him) 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 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. Hah. But they will learn their mistake, priest. They will learn their mistake as they die.
[INT. Giuliano's chamber]
(It is morning now. SARAH and GIULIANO eat while the DOCTOR stands at the window.)
GIULIANO: But spirits from the heavens, Doctor. A wheel of fire? I thought you were a man of science.
DOCTOR: (stepping toward the table) 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. (She takes another bite of bread.)
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! (quietly, at the table again) 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. (He rises.)
DOCTOR: Just tell me. It's better if I go alone.
GIULIANO: Oh no, Doctor, it's too dangerous.
(Beside the door, he removes two swords from a large chest, aided by a PAGE. Handing one to the DOCTOR and with his cloak over his arm, he leads them through the door.)
GIULIANO: We'll take the back staircase.
DOCTOR: Just as far as the temple entrance. No further.
[EXT. San Martino ruins]
(GIULIANO takes the DOCTOR and SARAH down a set of steps, where a GUARD sees them and turns round. The part eventually head down a wooded slope to an area where only a couple of columns, and the bases of others, still stand.)
SARAH: It is just a ruin.
DOCTOR: From this point on, I must go on alone. You stay here.
(SARAH puts her hands on her hips as the DOCTOR heads off. He heads down a leafy path to a stone wall, toward the door in the wall.)
[INT. Federico's chamber]
(Someone is just finishing shaving FEDERICO. 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 walks around the base of the steps to the altar. He has the sword held in front of him. There is a rattling, buzzing sound, which gradually increases in volume. The DOCTOR holds his hands to his head.)
[EXT. San Martino ruins]
(SARAH is idly throwing pebbles into a pool as GIULIANO speaks.)
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-
(A twig snaps.)
SARAH: What was that?
GIULIANO: Nothing. You see, it's obvious when you come to think about it.
(They hear more noises. Looking up the slope, they see FEDERICO and his men arrive in force. SARAH and GIULIANO back away and take stock of the situation.)
FEDERICO: Death to Giuliano!
(The MEN descend the slope, swords drawn.)
SARAH: Doctor! Doctor!
(SARAH leaves GIULIANO's side, running back to the underground entrance.
Meanwhile, GIULIANO draws his sword as the MEN approach at close quarters.)
[INT. Catacombs]
SARAH: (running down the steps into the catacombs) Doctor! Doctor! Doctor!
(She shrieks as a man in a mask grabs hold of her.)
PRIEST: Demnos will not be cheated of his pleasure, little one. (He steps toward her.)
The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl
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