The Voice continued the ritual chant. "Who will challenge the Mara?
Who will pluck the Great Crystal of knowledge from between the Mara"s jaws and set us free?"
(Lady Tanha leaned over and whispered, "Lon?" Ambril shook his head.
"Not yet, my Lady.") "For the second time I ask," bellowed the Voice. "Who will challenge the Mara?"
Another rattling of castanets.
"For the third and final time!"
Ambril tapped Lon on the shoulder.
Lon rose to his feet. "I will!"
There was wild applause from the spectators.
"Bring the Stranger forward," commanded the Voice.
Lon strode from the dais, an impressive figure in his white-and-gold toga, and the helmet with its great jewelled sunburst. Two red-robed cat-faced Attendant Demons took him by the arms and pulled him to stand before the Ceremonial Snake.
"You dare to challenge the Power of the Mara?" boomed the Voice.
"I do."
"And in whose name do you do so?"
"In the Federation"s name, and in my own."
Yet another burst of applause.
"First let the Stranger prove his worthiness," commanded the Voice.
"Prepare him for the Test!"
Lon drew the gauntlet from one arm - the unmarked one - and the Demons pushed back his sleeve. He held out his arm.
"Stranger, are you ready to face the triple temptation?"
"I am ready."
"The first temptation is Fear. I offer you fear, in a handful of dust."
An Attendant Demon came forward, bearing a human skull filled with dust. It poured the dust in a fine stream over Lon"s outstretched hand.
Lon made the ritual response in which Ambril had coached him before the Ceremony. "I do not fear. I spread my fingers and the dust trickles away." Lon suited the action to the words. "I know that whilst I live, my hand is clean, my eyes are bright. That is enough."
There was more applause.
"I claim the right to strike the first blow."
"Stranger, you have earned it."
Lon struck the Ceremonial Snake a token blow on its papier-mache head.
The Doctor and his two companions heard the chanting and the applause as they climbed down the last few feet of the path.
Chela jumped down. The Doctor followed, and turned to Nyssa. "Come on, jump!"
He reached out and took her arm, half-lifting her down.
"Thank you," said Nyssa stiffly. "But it wasn"t necessary."
They hurried into the Cave.
The Voice boomed, "Are you ready for the second temptation?"
"I am ready."
The second temptation is to Despair. I offer you despair in a withered branch."
A Demon thrust a withered branch into Lon"s hand.
"I do not despair. I turn my hand, the branch drops to the ground." Lon let the branch fall. "I know the sap will rise again, the roots will sprout.
That is enough."
The onlookers clapped again.
Lon said, "I claim the right to strike the second blow."
"Stranger, you have earned it."
Lon gave the Ceremonial Snake a second token blow.
The Doctor and his two companions heard the applause as they hurried down the access tunnel.
"The ceremony must have started," said Chela.
The Doctor nodded. "Just so long as it hasn"t finished!"
"Doctor, look!" Nyssa pointed down the tunnel.
A ma.s.sive figure was striding purposefully towards them. It was one of the Federation bodyguards. It was obvious that he had recognised them as fugitives.
"The third and final temptation is to succ.u.mb to Greed. Stranger, you must look into the Crystal." The voice indicated the Crystal - a lump of coloured gla.s.s - in the mouth of the Ceremonial Snake. "Look into the Crystal without greed for knowledge. I offer you greed, in the hidden depths."
By now Lon was weary of the Ceremony. Shaking off the Demons he reached out to take the fake crystal. There was a murmur from the onlookers, and Ambril hurried forward. "No, my Lord, you must not touch it yet."
There was a whole complicated ritual of questions and answers still to be gone through.
Lon pushed Ambril aside. "Why mustn"t I touch it?"
The Voice attempted to resume the ritual. "Beware, Stranger. The Crystal of Knowledge has hidden depths."
"What do you mean? Hidden depths! Show them to me. It"s just a fake.
Your whole Ceremony is a fake. Look!" Lon reached up and s.n.a.t.c.hed the chunk of gla.s.s from the Snake"s jaws.
There were more horrified mutterings from the crowd. The sacred ritual, unchanged for five hundred years, was being profaned.
Lon held the mock crystal high. "It"s nothing. It"s just gla.s.s." He dashed it to the ground and it shattered on the rocky floor.
The Doctor and Nyssa separated. The guard moved closer.
As he drew his sword to strike, the Doctor sprang forwards, grabbing the man"s arm and thrusting the sword aside.
Nyssa ran to help him.
Unfortunately the bodyguard was more than a match for both of them.
The Doctor realised it would only be a matter of moments before he broke free. And if he got a chance to use that sword . . .
Suddenly Chela leaped out of the shadows and delivered a chopping blow at the bulging muscle at the back of the man"s neck. The guard slumped to the ground.
The Doctor gave Chela a reproving look. "You left that a bit late! Come on, hurry!"
They ran towards the Chamber of the Mara.
"This whole Ceremony is a fake," shouted Lon. "A childish farce, created by a civilisation that has gone soft. Today I bring real knowledge and real power." Lon crossed over to Ambril, reaching out for the chest that held the real Great Crystal. "Give it to me."
"My Lord, no . . ."
"Give me the Great Crystal."
Lady Tanha put her hand on the chest. "Lon, please!
What"s wrong with you?"
"Mother, let go!" snarled Lon. He stripped off his other gauntlet, revealing the Mara snake sign on his arm.
Lady Tanha stared at it appalled. "Lon! What is that?"
Thrusting her aside, Lon s.n.a.t.c.hed the chest, opened it, and took out the Great Crystal - the real one. He turned, strode over to the carving of the Great Snake, and raised his voice commandingly. "Now, listen to me, all of you. I hold in my hands the Great Crystal. The Great Crystal that was removed from the socket here by my ancestor, when the Mara was banished to the Dark Places of the Inside. Now, after five hundred years the Mara has returned. It is fitting that I should be the one to restore the Great Crystal to its rightful place."
Lon reached out and pressed the snake design on his arm against a section of the wall. The door to the secret chamber swung open - and Tegan appeared.
There was a gasp of terror from the crowd. Around Tegan"s arm was coiled an enormous, writhing snake.
Lon held up the Crystal to the socket and Tegan hissed, "Go on. Do it now!"
He was about to thrust the Great Crystal into the socket when the Doctor"s voice rang out. "No. No, you mustn"t."
But he was too late.
Lon reached up and thrust the Crystal into place. For a moment time seemed frozen. Then there came a low roaring, hissing sound, that filled the ears and numbed the mind. Energy lines flared brightly in the, wall, carrying a surge of power to Tegan, and the Snake that encased her arm. People were screaming, falling to the ground, covering their ears, but nothing could shut out that terrible sound.
Tegan emerged from the doorway, Dugdale stumbling behind her. She held out her arm, and the snake dropped to the ground. It began to grow. The eyes of the crowd were riveted on the living Snake, hypnotised by its evil presence. The Doctor saw that even Chela and Nyssa were in its grip.
He raised his voice. "No," he shouted. "Don"t look. You must not look.
The Mara is feeding off the fear and the panic. It needs your fear, your belief. You must not believe what you are seeing. The Great Crystal is absorbing the belief and creating the Mara. Don"t look! Reach into yourself and find the still point!"
It was no use.
Chela, Nyssa, the dignitaries, the spectators -n.o.body was in a state to heed the Doctor"s words. It is doubtful if they were even heard.
The Snake was colossal now, towering over the crowd.
Tegan gazed up at it. To the Doctor"s horror she seemed to blur into it, to be absorbed, swallowed, so that her face looked out from between the slavering jaws. Everyone in the great cave was under the sway of the Mara. Everyone believed in its reality, its invincible power.
Everyone but the Doctor.
The colossal Snake pulsed and blurred for a moment. Tegan spoke in the Mara voice, from out of the jaws of the snake. "What is happening?
Who dares to interrupt the Becoming? Who does not believe?"
The Doctor moved slowly forward, looking not at the Mara but at the crystal around his neck.
"Submit? roared the Mara. "All minds must submit. Look at me. You must look at me. You cannot resist, it is impossible."
Still staring into the glowing crystal, the Doctor advanced.
"Stop him," screamed the Mara. "He must be destroyed."
Zombie-like, Lon and Dugdale moved to intercept the Doctor.
Suddenly Tegan spoke in her own, natural voice. "Doctor, help me," she pleaded. "What"s happening to me? Please, look at me Doctor! I need your help."
For a moment the Doctor was deceived. Then he realised this wasn"t the real Tegan, but a trick of the Mara, the Father of Lies.
The Doctor felt as if invisible hands were trying to twist his head to force him to look at Tegan, but he gazed steadfastly into the crystal.
"No!" he shouted. "I will not submit!"
The deep pulsing roar swelled to unbearable force and the Doctor could feel the anger of the Mara battering against his mind. For a moment he faltered, then the wise old face of Dojjen appeared in the crystal. His eyes opened and he gazed placidly at the Doctor.
"The still point," said the voice in the Doctor"s head. "Find the still point."