Evelyn was fairly used to being a bird. She didn't really relish being the animal for the most part because flying was actually a fairly laborious task. But it was convenient, as it was provably faster going from place to place in the sky. She'd had a fair amount of practice as this was her most used travel method for getting to Italy in the first place.
What she wasn't used to was being chased by a bird about three times her size with the intelligence of a human inside a palace. That was new, and it wasn't proving easy.
Though Guilio caught up to her it became obvious almost instantly that she was the quickest out of the pair, and perhaps also the the more agile. Being in the confines of the palace had made it difficult to avoid the eagle and at every turn he was catching up to her.
She was tempted to drop the vile so it would smash into a million tiny pieces and let that be the end of it. But the Doctor had the chance to do that, and he didn't. She trusted that there was a reason for it.
She knew it would be a while yet before either of them were tired and she wasn't sure how long she could keep him stalled for, or even for what reason.
So swept up in these thoughts, Evelyn hadn't even noticed that the eagle had stopped following her. She looked down, causing further distraction, when the Doctor and Amy jogged into the room peering upwards.
Amy threw a pointed finger at the ceiling. 'Look out!'
Evelyn only had the time to twist her head around and see the massive bird descend on her like nightfall. Its talons' easily grasped the smaller bird, squeezing her too tight to even give a thought of changing into a new form.
'Got you!' he sneered with an eagle screech as Evelyn tried arduously to get out of his grasp.
He continued hovering in the air as he shifted the falcon to his left foot, digging his sharp talon's of his right foot into her own, prying the poison out.
Guilio heard a high pitched buzzing only a moment before he felt something like a strong static shock in his feet. He made a quick screech of pain as his talons sprung open, releasing both Evelyn and the poison.
The Doctor sheathed his sonic screwdriver quickly and frantically readied his hands for the falling objects. He couldn't tell if Evelyn was conscious or not, but she was making no effort to fly or shift.
'Amy, catch her!' he ordered, and Amy gave him a worried nod. Her perception was never the best with sports; she couldn't bump a volleyball to save her life.
She picked up parts of her quilted dress and draped them in front of her haphazardly with as many ruffles as she could make. Evelyn managed to open her wings at the last moment, letting her glide into Amy's skirts with a graceful finesse.
At the same time the Doctor had a somewhat less graceful experience, catching the vile but skidding on the ground like he'd been sliding into home plate. He clutched his prize gingerly and hopped onto two feet with a quaint and somewhat victorious laugh.
Amy smirked as Evelyn managed to stand up in the gatherings of her dress. She looked around frantically, obviously disoriented.
'Behind you, duck!' she shouted, spreading out her wings with emphasis.
The Doctor took her word for it and nimbly hit the floor just in time to see the eagle fly past and a few feathers he left behind.
'That's obviously an eagle!' shouted the Doctor as he picked himself up and glanced at Amy to see he'd earned himself a look he could only describe as appalled.
'Really? Right now?' she exclaimed. 'The most annoying, overused joke in the worl- ah!'
The eagle's talons made a grab for her hair in what seemed to be pure frustration, ripping out a fair amount from the red-head.
'Oi! Over here, Feathers,' shouted the Doctor, waving his hands wildly in the air. 'I've got what you want, remember?'
The eagle screeched as it flew towards the Doctor, who had already begun to run quickly out of the room. Amy rubbed at her head. After allowing a moment or two to nurse it, she realised that Evelyn was on the ground, her grey wings sprawled out over the floor.
Amy gasped. 'Are you alright?'
'I'm fine,' she said sputtering. 'He just squeezed me a bit too tight.'
Amy bent down and gently scooped the bird gently into her arms, cradling her like a baby in the crook of her elbow. She ran them after the Doctor as quick as her legs would go.
They came to a hallway with many rooms, and for a moment Amy thought she may have lost them. But then there was the clear sound of snarl, and she started running again.
The source of the noise had come from a fair sized room that had cabinets of expensive-looking silverware lining the wall. There also seemed to be a tea table, but it had since been knocked over and its chairs were sprawled among the room. But the most concerning sight in the room was the Doctor, his period clothes ripped at the arm and being backed into a corner by a scruffy grey wolf. He was facing the opposite direction, but judging by the snarls and growls, Amy had a good picture of his teeth being bared.
'Look, why not change back into a human and we can talk this out rationally,' implored the Doctor. 'Not like people are always rational but I mean, they try!'
Guilio obviously was over talking and continued to snarl, abandoning any trace of human emotion for the time being and letting animal instinct take over.
Amy, acting on her own instinct, set Evelyn to the side on a cabinet and immediately threw her arms into the air to gain the Doctor's attraction, who immediately caught her silent message.
'Batter up!' he shouted, throwing the vile into the air so suddenly that the wolf's desperate tries to snap at it were many seconds overdue.
With a graceful hop she caught her second flying object air today, which was more than she thought she was capable. But she couldn't allow herself a moment for a pat on the back as she bolted fervently out of the room.
Amy began to backtrack the way she had gone, if only for the sake of knowing that it wouldn't end in a dead end. But she had another target in mind: the sword. Hopefully the Doctor and Evelyn would catch up before the wolf did and help her play keep away, but she couldn't count on it.
She raced through the hallways and only when she heard the tell-tale running of a four legged creature did she realise it was possible for herself to go faster.
Amy skidded to a halt the moment she passed the threshold of the room, immediately scanning for the fallen weapon. She made a quick note of Francesco still lying in the corner of the corner of the room, but her eyes darted past him to see the sword only a few metres away.
She barely had a moment to think of getting it before she was knocked over on to her face by what felt to her like a fuzzy boulder. Considering it would be somewhat strange to morph into that, she assumed that's what it would feel like if a wolf rammed into you.
She picked her head off the ground cautiously and saw the wolf turn around in what looked like confusion, eyes darting around the room, giving her impression he didn't actually mean to run her over.
But whether it was intentional or not didn't seem to matter as he curled his lips upward in a ghastly snarl, showing her his bared teeth. They were somewhat more threatening than she'd imagined earlier.
'We're coming Amy!' she heard the Doctor shout, sounding just a little too far away for her liking.
If she made a good enough leap, she thought, she could make it to the sword.
Her eyes betrayed her. Her hunter glanced behind himself, and suddenly leapt onto the sword, his massive paws skidding over the metal object as he steadied himself.
Amy scrambled to get up, tripping over her dress in the process but managing to keep hold of the vile. When she finally got on her own to feet, cold metal touched her throat.
'Give it to me,' snarled Guilio through Cardinal Ferdinando's mouth, seeming to find his voice in human form. She stayed silent from the shock and he pressed the pointed tip into her neck. 'I'd rather not kill you. You have so much potential as a time traveller, but I will...'
'Amy!' the Doctor shouted, calling attention to his and Evelyn's frenzied entrance to the room.
'Oh, hey Doctor,' she said with a casual wave from her awkward stance against the wall.
'Don't move!' shouted Guilio when Evelyn made a step forward. She was human again.
'Fine,' Evelyn said petulantly, stopping in her tracks. 'Just put the sword down.'
'I will, as soon as she gives me the vile.'
'I won't!'
'Amy, give it to him,' said the Doctor, with a strange mixture of non-chalance, annoyance, and solemnity in his voice.
'What?'
'Just do it Amy, it's not worth your safety,' he said, a little too matter of factly.
She looked at the Doctor. He wasn't angry. But he was definitely being stern. Simply determined to have her do what he said. Sometimes she thought she needed to double check the Doctor's judgement, but this wasn't one of those times.
Begrudgingly still, she dropped the vile in Guilio's open palm and he clutched it firmly.
He dropped the sword to his side for only a moment before dropping it completely, as if he'd forgotten it was there and began walking towards Francesco as if on auto-pilot. A smirk formed on his face as he walked, starting to undo to the cork stopper of the vile.
Amy strode towards the Doctor and Evelyn who were making their way to the centre of the room, but instead of just meeting her half way the Doctor walked briskly past her and straight to Guilio. Sticking his hand in his pocket as if it was just a casual meeting he tapped Guilio on the shoulder.
'Excuse me,' said the Doctor as Guilio turned around. 'But before you do that I was wondering if you'd fancy a drink? You look a little sick.'
Guilio looked more puzzled than annoyed, at least until the Doctor flung a jar full of liquid into his face. Then he seemed puzzled, annoyed, and angry, all on the same level.
'What are you doing?' he sneered, roughly rubbing clear his face but the gooey substance was proving difficult. 'What is this?'
'Ah yes, you want to know the recipe. Well that is onion, eggs, a beet, ginger root and just a tiniest smidgen of salt. Which, when combined, makes a lovely incubator for the virus mono-morphia.'
'What in the bloody blazes is mono-morphia?'
There was a sudden thud and swoosh as the doors ripped open, followed by a swarm of guards and finally, the real Cardinal Ferdinando.