Doctor Who: The Masque of the Mandragora Read Online Free PDF

because the next thing the two of them could be heard cursing and grunting as they climbed back up the steep slope.
    The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief and considered his next move. The pikeman’s talk about the worshippers of Demnos had aroused his curiosity. They sounded very much like the hooded brothers who had kidnapped Sarah. If he had stumbled upon an entrance to their meeting place then he might well be able to find her. He set off cautiously down the narrow stone steps and into the thickening gloom of the catacombs.
    He had not gone very far when a sixth sense alerted him to danger. A few feet ahead lay an intersection with another passage and down it he could hear footsteps approaching. He pressed himself back into a niche in the rock-wall.
    The footsteps grew nearer and finally a figure in long purple robes appeared out of the darkness. It stopped at the junction of the two passageways and, facing the blank wall, stretched out its arms and pressed the stonework. From where he was hiding the Doctor could only glimpse the outline of the figure but he felt sure it was wearing a head-mask of some kind. There was a rumble and where the figure had pushed the rock-face a section of it now slid aside. The figure stepped through and the entrance closed behind him.
    The Doctor waited several moments then emerged from his niche and approached the rock-face. Carefully he explored the blank wall with the tips of his fingers until he discovered a small indentation. He pressed, the same rumbling noise occurred, and the wall slid aside to reveal a further passage beyond. The Doctor tiptoed through and the secret door swung to behind him.
    In a quiet ante-room in the palace Giuliano was examining the body of the sentry killed outside the city gates. A guardsman looked on, fearful and wide-eyed.
    â€˜No it is not a fire demon.’ said the Prince reassuringly, ‘such things are pure superstition.’
    â€˜Then what is it, sire?’
    â€˜His skin is such a strange colour. I’ve not seen a corpse like this before.’ He frowned, genuinely puzzled, then covered the body with a sheet. ‘Poor man.’
    â€˜We thought...’ mentioned the guardsman, ‘... with your interest in the new learning...’
    The Prince put up his hand. ‘You did well to bring him to me. But the new learning does not always have answers. It means only that we must throw away old beliefs like witchcraft, sorcery and demons and trust our own intelligence.’
    â€˜I still think it could be a fine demon, sire. I once heard of a case in Florence...’
    The Prince smiled at him. ‘All right. You may return to your duties.’
    The guard bowed low and left the room. A moment later Marco entered.
    â€˜No further news, my lord.’ He stopped as he caught sight of the body on the couch.
    â€˜He was found at the city gate, Marco.’
    He lead his companion to the couch and pulled back the sheet. ‘What do you make of it. old friend?’
    Marco winced at the sight and he looked questioningly at his young master.
    Robed in white and looking deathly pale Sarah lay unconscious on the sacrificial altar. Around her a hundred hooded figures whirled like dervishes in a mounting frenzy of religious fervour. As they danced around their victim their grotesque masks seemed to come alive in the flickering torchlight, like ghouls awakened from the dead.
    The ritual continued for several minutes. Then the brothers dropped to the floor and knelt towards the altar. The High Priest appeared at one end of the chamber and made his way slowly to the head of the altar. Grasping the sacrificial blade which lay on the cushion by Sarah’s head he turned and displayed it to the kneeling throng. A response of feverish excitement rang around the chamber. A second figure cloaked in purple robes and wearing a mask carved from pure gold emerged from a small hidden entrance near