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things out with Her Majesty.’
Ortron smiled. ‘There is no need to trouble the Queen,
Doctor. I shall deal with you myself!’
He cast incense onto the lamps that burned on the altar
and their flames leaped high.
High Priest now, rather than Chancellor, Ortron bowed
to the great statue of Aggedor. ‘Oh mighty Aggedor, make
known thy will! How shall we punish those who have
offended against thee?’
The flames from the altar lamps illuminated the savage
face of Aggedor with a lurid glow, so that the features
seemed to writhe and snarl.
‘Well, what did he say?’ asked the Doctor interestedly.
‘You have blasphemed against Aggedor, and by Aggedor
shall you both be punished.’
‘Both? That’s a bit much, Sarah hasn’t done anything.’
‘She shares your guilt, and she shall share your
punishment. Prepare the pit!’
Ortron stepped back, and temple guards came to heave
upon the altar. They pushed it slowly aside revealing the
mouth of the black pit beneath.
Alpha Centauri had been unable to gain entrance to the
temple to help Sarah. Now he was in the throne room,
pleading her cause to the Queen. ‘Believe me, Your
Majesty,’ he concluded, ‘Chancellor Ortron has totally
misinterpreted the facts.’
Thalira considered. ‘Engineer Eckersley, do you
confirm the Ambassador’s story?’
Eckersley fingered the bump at the back of his head.
‘I’m afraid I can’t confirm anything, Your Majesty. I got
thumped on the head, and by the time I came round, it was
all over.’
Alpha Centauri turned to him in surprise. ‘But you do
know that Sarah is not in league with the rebels.’
As usual, Eckersley was reluctant to stick his neck out.
‘Seems pretty unlikely. Still, we know very little about her.
You were forced to open the door because of the girl—it
could all have been a put-up job.’
‘The whole idea is absurd,’ said Alpha Centauri
vehemently. ‘I assure Your Majesty that the girl was Ettis’s
prisoner, his hostage, not his accomplice.’
‘I am prepared to trust your judgement, Ambassador,’
said Thalira slowly. ‘But what I believe is of little
importance: Ortron is High Priest as well as Chancellor. In
the precincts of the temple his power is absolute. There is
nothing I can do.’
‘But your Majesty,’ protested Alpha Centauri, ‘whatever
your traditions, can you not overrule them in the name of
mercy and justice? After all you are the Queen!’
‘A Queen who is treated as a child,’ said Thalira angrily.
Alpha Centauri bowed. ‘Many things are changing on
Peladon, Your Majesty. Perhaps this too is a thing that
should change?’
Thalira rose to her feet. ‘We shall go to the temple.’
The entrance to the pit was fully revealed by now. It gaped,
dark and sinister, in the spot where the altar had stood.
‘Cast them in!’ ordered Ortron.
Guards seized the Doctor and Sarah, rushed them
forwards, and thrust them over the edge of the pit. Arms
and legs flailing, they fell down into darkness.
As the royal party approached the temple doors, guards
stepped forward, barring their way with crossed pikes.
Thalira’s eyes flashed with anger. ‘I am the Queen! No
doors are barred to me. Stand aside!’ She strode
determinedly forward and the astonished guards fell back.
Thalira
marched
determinedly
into
the
temple.
‘Chancellor Ortron, where is the alien girl? We demand
that you release her!’
‘You are too late, Your Majesty. The Doctor and the girl
have gone to face the judgement of Aggedor!’
Ortron stepped aside and pointed to the sinister
darkness of the pit.
Fortunately for the Doctor and Sarah, the pit was not so
deep as it looked, and after a relatively short fall, they
thudded onto a stone floor strewn thickly with straw.
The Doctor picked himself up. ‘Sarah, are you all right?’
There was a groan from just beside him. ‘Well, I’m
bruised, but I don’t think anything’s broken.’
There was an arched doorway in the bottom of the pit,
leading to what looked like a large dungeon.
‘What are they going to do with us?’ asked Sarah. ‘Just
leave us here?’
‘I think there’s a little more to it than that.’
‘And what’s that smell? Sort of musky—like the lion
house at the zoo . . .’
Sarah broke off, realising what she was saying.
There was a low, coughing roar, and something stirred
in the darkness of the dungeon.
‘There’s something down here with us, Doctor,’
whispered Sarah. ‘Something very large—and it’s alive.’
‘I know,’ said the Doctor quietly. ‘Don’t move!’
He took a torch from his pocket and shone the beam
around the dungeon.
As the light reached the far corner, there was an angry
snarl. Rearing up in the darkness was the terrifying form of
Aggedor—not a stone statue, or a ghostly manifestation,
but the living beast.
Aggedor roared again and shambled towards them.
5
The Wrath of Aggedor
Eyes blazing with anger, Thalira confronted Ortron.
‘Remove the Doctor and his friend from the pit at once,
Ortron. We command it.’
A savage roar echoed out of the darkness. Ortron smiled
and stroked his beard. ‘Too late, Your Majesty. By now
they have already paid the penalty for their crimes.’
Sarah shrank back against the side of the pit, while the
Doctor spoke soothingly to Aggedor, in the hope of
calming the great beast. They had met once before, when
Aggedor had been used by the High Priest Hepesh in an
attempt to prevent Peladon joining the Federation. It was
incredible that the great beast had survived so long. It was
even bigger now, its movements a little stiff, the fierce
muzzle streaked with grey, but it was still a mighty and
terrifying monster, capable of killing him with one blow of
the razor-clawed paw.
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