Doctor Who_ Curse of Peladon - Brian Hayles [29]
Grun, asked the Doctor quietly, ‘what is it?’
Grun looked at him and grunted his fear. Again, the sound rang out, nearer this time. With a bellow of dismay, Grun broke away from the Doctor and ran. Within seconds, he was lost to sight in the gloomy shadows of an unlit side tunnel. The Doctor’s voice echoed after him.
‘Grun! Wait!’ It was no use. Grun had vanished. The Doctor was completely alone.
The Doctor stood quite still, carefully taking in his bearings and listening keenly for any further sounds of what must be Aggedor. This explanation fitted with what he had already been told about the death of Torbis. It would also account for Grun’s desperate fear. Only a so-called ghostly being could terrify a man like Grun to that extent—and, perversely, made the Doctor all the more determined to see the apparition for himself. He wondered if this was the reason for Grun leading him to this secret place—to meet Aggedor and suffer the same dreadful fate as Torbis. But why, if Grun was leading the Doctor to Aggedor, did the warrior bolt in terror? Was there something yet more terrible in store which Grun had not foreseen? There was only one way to find out. His eyes glinting with determination, the Doctor moved forward. Aggedor permitting, he would know the answers very soon.
The tunnel had now become a shallow staircase, turning in a broad spiral higher and higher. The torches here, more ornate and worked in a rarer metal, were in better condition than those in the lower tunnels. The Doctor moved slowly forward, careful of ambush or a trap. If the Pels were anything like Earthlings of the fifteenth century, they’d be certain to think up something clever-and unpleasant ! But the journey ended safely in a blank stone wall similar to the one previously encountered by the Doctor and Jo. Casually, he looked for and found the wall torch that controlled the secret door. It opened and he went through.
Immediately, he knew that he had come to a very special place.
He had entered the inner sanctum of a temple dedicated to the Royal Beast. As the secret door closed after him, the Doctor took in the eerie majesty of the great statue, the acrid tang of the incense smoke, and the weird music of unseen instruments. For a long moment, he stood before the statue, admiring the workmanship and engineering of the massive replica. It was comparable to the huge statues of the Egyptian pharaohs. In the hazy light, it was difficult to see just what it was carved from. He moved closer to examine and touch. He had barely passed the simple stone altar, and laid his hand on the granite of the statue, when a sharp voice, distorted by the acoustics of the temple walls, rang out accusingly.
‘Sacrilege! An unholy intruder!’
The Doctor spun about, and saw his accusers jewelled finger pointing accusingly. It was Hepesh.
‘Grun’, he shouted jubilantly, ‘seize him!’
From a shadowed doorway on the far side of the altar, Grun strode forward, sword in hand. He had been waiting, realised the Doctor. This was the trap. He turned to Hepesh to explain but one glance at his face told the Doctor that he could expect no mercy there. The triumph in his voice told the Doctor more than the formal horror of his words. Hepesh had not merely sprung the trap; he had planned it. The brain behind the curse of Aggedor was that of the High Priest, not an alien. But speculation was useless without proof; and the Doctor was Grun’s prisoner.
The Doctor saw at a glance that Grun was in an induced trance. The sword in his hand was no ornament—any sign of resistance and it would be used, ruthlessly. The Doctor had no intention of presenting Hepesh with a convenient excuse for killing him. It would be better not to struggle. He spread his hands, showing that he was unarmed.
‘Hepesh’, said the Doctor, ‘there has been a terrible mistake.
Let me explain!’
But Hepesh was