Doctor Who_ Curse of Peladon - Brian Hayles [57]
‘Its alright, old chap,’ insisted the Doctor. ‘There’s no need to get upset. This won’t be as difficult as you think.’ Then he added, under his breath, ‘As long as Aggedor doesn’t have too short a memory.’
But the Doctor could see that Grun wasn’t going to be convinced. Then, as the warrior looked past him, jaw slack with fear, the Doctor knew the decision was no longer in their hands.
At that awful, animal roar, the Doctor turned to find Aggedor only yards away, rearing high above them, claws and tusks gleaming wickedly in the eerie phosphor light of the tunnel. It cried out again, and Grun dropped to his knees. Spreading his palms flat on the ground, the mighty warrior lowered his blood-caked forehead to the dusty earth in abject surrender. The Doctor stood firm.
‘Now, Aggedor...’ he said firmly, but in the crooning voice he had used when he and the monster had last met, ‘you remember me, don’t you?’
The great beast roared even louder, and advanced with a swift, shambling gait. Suddenly it slowed, halted and stood still, fascinated. The Doctor had started the hypno-disc spinning, and its spell was having an almost immediate effect... As the dancing flecks of light spun across the eyes of the monster, it stood swaying and softly purring. The only other sound was the Doctor’s gentle crooning of the Venusian lullaby, its words incomprehensible but its power over the beast complete... Grun, expecting only a hideous death, felt nothing and looked up. First he glanced at the Doctor, and then at the beast which had once been so terrifying, and which was now purring with pleasure. It seemed unbelievable! What was the magic in the toy that the Doctor held?
With Aggedor under control, the Doctor was able to look at his warrior companion. He smiled. Grun, too, was rapidly succumbing to the influence of the spinning disc.
‘Grun!’ the Doctor quietly commanded as he shielded the device from the King’s Champion. ‘Look away. Look at Aggedor!’
The pattern of light cut off from his fascinated eyes, Grun came back to reality, and looked at the Doctor with a new respect. What sort of a being was it who could defeat the greatest of the king’s warriors in single-handed combat and subdue the Royal Beast without even a weapon in his hand? Paying no attention to the beast that had once threatened them, Grun suddenly knelt before the Doctor and placed his cropped head beneath the aliens hand. It was a dedication of the simplest kind, and the Doctor was both moved and pleased. He then insisted, having persuaded Grun to rise, on a more equal dedication, man to man. Extending his open hand, the Doctor clasped Grun’s mighty wrist—and after a moment’s hesitation, the warrior met his grasp with crushing power.
‘I’m not your master, Grun,’ declared the Doctor, ‘but I’d be happy to be your friend. Blood brothers, as you might say.’
They smiled into each other’s eyes, and a gentle roar from Aggedor seemed an apt comment on the Doctor’s words. It also served to remind him of what they must next do.
‘Aggedor is with us, Grun,’ said the Doctor, and Grun, able now to control his fear, nodded in agreement. The Doctor moved to the friendly beast, and stroked its mighty neck. The hypnotic device was slipped back into his pocket, its work now done. ‘You see, Grun, Aggedor isn’t such a terrifying fellow after all. But I think we need him to convince Peladon—and his people—that Hepesh is the evil genius that could wreck their whole future, don’t you?’
Grun nodded again, and gripped his sword, as though hungry for the chance to confront the High Priest. The Doctor smiled, and indicated that he should put down his weapon. ‘I don’t think anybody will argue with us,’ he said, with a nod towards Aggedor. ‘Not with our friend here to accompany us!
But we must move quickly—come!’ And they started off along the tunnel that would take them into the heart of the Citadel of Peladon.
From his seat on the throne, Peladon saw Jo and the aliens enter, following Hepesh. He could make no move to greet