"And hurry back, Lakis, I have an errand for you."
"Yes, Lady." Lakis led Jo from the room.
Hippias said mockingly. "Are there no errands for me to run? A flower, perhaps, a token of love for some lordling of the Court? But no, it would be dead before it was delivered."
"You are impertinent, Hippias. Remember, I am Galleia, Queen of Atlantis, daughter of Kings wife to King Dalios. Have a care!"
Hippias bowed his head. "Your pardon, I took you for another. I knew a Galleia once, you see, a woman not the Queen. A sweet and loving lady, I took you for her.
Please, do forgive me."
Galleia bit her lip in anger, then turned and sat down, her back to Hippias. "You may leave me now."
Hippias bowed. "I thank you, Lady."
He strode from the room just as Lakis reappeared.
Galleia summoned her. "Lakis, come here at once. Come closer."
"Lady?"
"Go to the Master. Go to him quietly when no-one is near and say to him one word."
"What word, Lady?"
"Kronos. "
"Kronos!" said Dalios unhappily. "Kronos ... Kronos ... Kronos ... I am the last alive who knows knows, who remembers with a fear to twist the guts. And these fools would have me bring him back."
The Doctor said, "But why didn"t you destroy the Crystal?"
"We tried," said Dalios sadly. "We merely split the smaller crystal from it. It cannot be destroyed."
"Of course, just like the TARDIS," muttered the Doctor. He looked up. "The Great Crystal has its being outside time. Only its appearance is here."
"You are a philosopher, friend Doctor."
"If wisdom is to seek the truth, I am."
"Then help me, Doctor," pleaded Dalios. "Help me to find a way to stop this evil man.
Help me to save Atlantis from destruction."
The Master marched arrogantly into the Queen"s chamber and stared about him.
"Where is she?"
"If you will please wait, Lord," begged Lakis.
He was already turning away. "The Master waits for no-one. I shall return when the Queen is ready to speak to me."
Galleia appeared in the inner doorway. She looked at the Master with the sleepy, wide-eyed stare of the cat in her arms. "Please stay," she said calmly. She put down the cat, which strolled lazily from the room, and sat on the couch. "Lakis, serve wine for this Lord - and then go. See to the needs of our other guest."
With trembling hands, Lakis poured wine and hurried thankfully away.
The Master sat on the couch, close to the Queen, and gazed in her eyes. In his deep, mellow voice he said, "You are beautiful, O Queen!"
Galicia purred, like one of her own cats.
Lakis reached the next room just as Jo appeared in her new court dress, a simple Grecian-style gown. With her hair redressed in Atlantean-style ringlets, Jo looked even more attractive, and certainly more sophisticated, than usual.
She surveyed herself in the mirror with approval. "Wow, what a fantastic dress! Do you reckon it"ll get mum"s approval?"
Lakis stared at her. "Mum? Do you mean Queen Galleia?"
"That"s right. Let"s go and give her a preview."
Lakis held her back. "No, I"m sorry. She does not wish to be disturbed, The Lord Master is with her. They speak of the sacred mysteries."
"Kronos and all that?"
"It is forbidden -" began Lakis.
"But that is is what they"re on about?" what they"re on about?"
"Yes."
"Right," said Jo determinedly, and headed for the connecting door.
Again Lakis stopped her. "No! You mustn"t go in. You mustn"t !"
"Listen," said Jo rea.s.suringly. "I"ll be as quiet as - you have mice here?"
Lakis nodded.
"I"ll be as quiet as an Atlantean mouse!"
Gently she opened the door, and stood listening the low voices that came from the couch in the centre of the room.
The Master and Queen Galleia were rapidly coming an understanding.
"You are a man who knows what he wants, Lord Master."
"And takes it," said the Master arrogantly.
"You want the Crystal."
"And I am going to have it."
"Not without my consent." There was an edge to Galleia"s voice.
The Master said smoothly. "Of course not. Yet I am confident that you will give it."
It would have been simple enough for the Master to hypnotise Queen Galleia.
Already under his influence she would have shown none of the resistance of Dalios.
But somehow it was more amusing, more satisfying to his enormous vanity, to dominate her by the sheer power of his personality.
"Why should I help you?" asked Galleia.
"For the sake of Atlantis, Lady. Would you not see her restored to her former glory - rich, powerful, mighty amongst the nations of the world? Who would not wish to be ruler of such a mighty country?"
Galleia considered this alluring prospect and went straight to the point. "No harm must come to Dalios." In her way she loved the old man, though more as a father than a husband.
"Why should it? He will reign for many long years, the beloved ruler of a happy and prosperous people."
"And you-"
The Master sighed theatrically. "Purely because of Lord Dalios"s great age, it might be well if he were relieved of the more onerous burdens of kingship. The reins of power should be in stronger hands - such as yours, Lady Queen."
He placed a black gloved hand over jewelled fingers. After a moment, she covered hand with her other one. "And yours?"
"It would be my pleasure to serve you ... course, when the end comes for Lord Dalios, as it must come for all men, then perhaps..." Again the Master sighed The conquest of Galleia was complete. Crystal shall be yours," she breathed . . .
. . . but not so quietly that the listening Jo didn"t hear. She strained her ears to catch the Master"s next words. "And where is the Great Crystal?"
"Deep in the earth, beneath the temple. Dalios has a key - and so has Krasis."
"Then Krasis shall take me there!"
"I wish it were as simple as that. No-one can get near, save Dalios himself. It is certain death, even to try."
"But what is the danger?"
"The Guardian!"
"Yes, but who is this Guardian?" asked the Doctor.
King Dalios sighed. "A beast, a man, you may take your choice. Once he was my good friend, a fellow Councillor. He was a great athlete, and just as I longed for the wisdom the years alone can bring, he craved great strength, the strength of the bull, and a long life in which to use it."
"A harmless enough ambition, I would have thought!"
"And so should I," said Dalios sadly. "And Kronos granted his wish, as he granted mine. But in his sport, Kronos gave my friend not only the strength but the head of a bull. And so he has remained, past five hundred years and more."
The Doctor recognised the origin of an old legend. "The Minotaur," he whispered. "I"m sorry, go on!"
"There is little more to tell. He determined that no-one else should suffer as he has suffered. Until the last day of his life, for which he longs so ardently, he will guard the Crystal. No-one can approach it. Even to try is certain death!"
"Well, Krasis," said the Master mockingly. "Would like to volunteer?"
"No, Lord no!" sobbed Krasis. He had been summoned by the Queen for an urgent conference.
Queen Galleia said thoughtfully, "Then perhaps we should send someone down who is skilled with the sword. One who longs with all his heart to seize the Crystal - and whose death would be of little account."
"Who, Lady?" asked Krasis.
"One who will listen to you, Krasis. The Lord Hippias of course."
Jo, who was still eavesdropping on the conversation, heard a horrified gasp from behind her and slipped back into the anteroom.
Lakis was frantic with fear. "What can we do? What can we do?"
"Tell the Doctor, that"s what. Take me to the King!"
"I dare not, Lady Jo."
"Would you rather let this Hippias face the creature?"
Lakis shook her head. "Quickly then."
They slipped away.
Lakis led Jo down endless corridors until they came to the entrance to the King"s quarters. A trident-bearing guard barred their way. "Halt!"
"Take us to the King," demanded Jo.
Crito, the Chief Councillor, stepped from the shadows "The King is not to be disturbed."
"But it"s a matter of life and death," protested Jo. Crito smiled.
"It could be indeed - yours!"
Jo was about to argue further, when Lakis pulled her aside.
"Be careful - the Lord Crito is no friend to Hippias."
"Oh, for Pete"s sake," said Jo impatiently. These palace politics were a great nuisance, she thought. Suddenly Lakis pulled her deeper into the shadows.
Hippias and Krasis were coming along corridor, deep in conversation. Hippias was carrying a sword.
"They must be going for the Crystal," whispered Jo. "I"ll follow them. You try to get in to tell the Doctor and the King what"s happening." Gathering up her long skirts, Jo hurried away.
She followed the two men along the gloomy torchlit corridors of the palace, and across to the adjoining temple. She followed them through the secret door behind the altar of Poseidon, and through the maze of tunnels below the temple. The winding steps and tunnels led lower, lower, until the two men rounded a bend and disappeared from view.
Jo hurried on, rounded the bend herself, and found herself at the top of a steep flight of steps. At the bottom she saw Hippias, sword in hand, stepping through a door set into the rock wall. She heard an angry bellow.
"No, Hippias!" called Jo. She rushed down the steps to call him back. But as she reached the bottom, Krasis appeared from the shadows and thrust her through the still-open door, slamming it closed behind her.