"Rain as in..."
"Water from the sky, yes. It's a good plan, isn't it?" said the Doctor, pleased with himself.
"Can you do that?" asked, Elizabeth. "Make it rain?"
"I'm the Lord of Time," replied the Doctor. "What are a few clouds?"
"That's imposs.."
Jean's words were cut off by the sound of raindrops pattering on the packed earth outside the open doorway.
"You truly are a witch of enormous power," Jean said, awed.
The Doctor made a face.
"That wasn't me. Just coincidence, flash storms. Happened in the medieval ages with the milder climate."
Jenna crossed her arms.
"Ok, that's cool. But can you make it do that on command?" she asked.
"Weeeeeell," the Doctor drawled. "The TARDIS can stimulate cloud formation, and that in turn will make it rain. I'd have to change a few of the settings, but yes, I'd say I can do it on command."
"Show off," muttered Elizabeth.
"So, we make it rain, dousing the dragon, with water and putting out its elemental fire nature," Jean summed up.
"Yeeep," said the Doctor. "All we've got to do is lure it out of his - or her, let's not be gender exclusive - lair, and when it rains the thing will get soaked."
"Thus rendering it impotant since it can no longer use its base materal!" agreed Elizabeth.
"Plus it's electronic, so water would short it out!" enthused Jenna.
Elizabeth grinned.
"Team TARDIS high five!"
She and Jenna shared an enthousiastic high five.
"Team TARDIS? Really?" winced the Doctor.
"We can rethink the name," Jenna replied, still grinning.
"At a later date. Dragon, remember?" Elizabeth said.
Jean took the kettle off the hob, and began to mix it with wine.
"So we must lure the dragon out of its lair? How do we do that?" he asked.
The Doctor held his head in his hands, his fingers raking through his already messy hair so that it stood up at even more improbable angles.
"Dragon, village, alchemist's book. Think brain, think! The Marchampian and the black book, the spells he could do. Why here? Come on brain, think, think think!"
"Is he quite... sane?" asked Jean, concerned.
"I don't think so," Jenna said.
"Shhh," Elizabeth shushed them. "He's thinking."
"Ahah!" the Doctor jumped up and began to place. "So I asked myself, 'why here?' Why this tiny little town in medieval France? What's special abouit this place?" He turned to Jean expectantly. "Well?"
Jean looked puzzled.
"I don't know. We are just a small village."
"Well it must be something, since the Marchampian is going through all this trouble to scare the villagers away from it."
"You're thinking that he wants to make them all leave?"
"It wil certainly make retreaving what he wants easier. There won't be any resistance."
"What about natural materials?" Elizabeth asked. "Ores, minerals, that sort of thing?"
"It's possible," said the Doctor.
"What about precious metals?" Jenna supplied. "Is there gold around here or something?"
"Oh, he wouldn't care about that," The Doctor said dismissively. "On Marchamp gold is as plentiful as rock is here."
"The only thing we have of value is our sacred relic," Jean said. "But why would a dark sorcerer want that? It is made for good, and cannot be used by those who are evil."
The Doctor paused in his pacing.
"Relic?"
Jean nodded.
"The heart of St. Sabastian. It has been housed in our cathedral for centuries."
"Tell me about this relic," said the Doctor.
Jean frowned.
"I have only seen it on high days, and only from far away. It is not brought out very often, and certainly not shown to the likes of me."
"What does it look like?" the Doctor pressed.
"It is a gold and pear orb, covered in jewels. Within is housed the heart of St. Sabastian."
"Ew, his heart?" Jenna said.
"Of course. After he was martyred, his pure heart remained untouched by decay."
"St. Sabastian," said the Doctor thoughtfully. "The only martyr to be martyred twice. They thought they'd killed him, but he was still alive, so they killed him again. Interesting man."
"That's fascinating," cut in Jenna. "But what would the Marchampian want with a heart?"
"There are lots of things he could do with a heart like that. All sorts of alchemic spells call for human bits, but a heart is the most powerful you can use. He must be working on something big. Where did you say this heart was being kept?"
"The cathedral," said Jean.
"As in... within the village," said Jenna. "As in, where the dragon can get us."
The Doctor shook his head.
"There has to be a way to sneak in. We have to get to that heart before he does, or there's no telling what he could do. We'll just have to walk in and hope the dragon doesn't notice us."
"We could go by the tunnels," Jean said suddenly.
Everyone stared at him.
"Pardon?" the Doctor said.
"The tunnels. Under the village. They were built as an escape route, if the village was ever attacked. One entrance comes out right in the cathedral."
"Can you take us to the entrance to these tunnels?"
"I can do better. You will get lost in their depths without a guide." Jean stood up straight and tall.
"You're going to help us? Even though you think we're witches?" Elizabeth asked.
Jean shrugged.
"You might be witches, but if you are trying to stop the dragon that is destroying my village then I will help you." He picked up a sturdy looking staff that had been leaning against the wall, and held it, a determined look on his face.
"Well then," said the Doctor. "No time like the present. Allons-y!"