Sergeant Malthus launched himself forwards, sinking his fingers into the soft flesh of the k'thellid as it began to fuse with his wife's head. Skin split and rivulets of white ichor began to seep from its wounds as a psychic scream echoed through every mind in the room.
"You'll kill her, Malthus." Doctor Tavic took the sergeant by the wrists, desperately pulling him free. "You have to trust me."
"Trust?" The sergeant raised his blood-soaked hands to his face. The milky-white liquid ran down his arms and onto his sleeves. "Melosa and I trusted you for centuries."
"And did I ever betray that trust?"
"Once," said Malthus, looking into his hands. They felt… different. They tingled. A sense of power surged through him. He turned them, balling them into fists. There was a faint golden glow beneath the sticky mess that covered them. "Now."
His right fist crashed into the doctor's jaw, sending Tavic flying into one of the slabs. A second blow quickly followed before the sergeant pinned him to the table.
"Mal…thus..." Tavic struggled to speak, "… stop … something's happening."
The entire room had filled with an eerie glow. Not from the light vents, but within the air itself. Tendrils of light were winding around the room, seeking out the fallen. Malthus, Tavic, Erkal and Melosa.
Malthus let the doctor go. Looking at his glowing hands again before turning back to his wife's body, he could see that it was also drawing down wisps of light from the atmosphere. Where Melosa's head had been, the k'thellid's wounds were visibly healing, and pulsating golden threads coursed through its veins.
It looked as if it were feeding.
Reaching down, the sergeant took the cephalopod in his hands and tugged, trying to prise the creature away from his wife. In doing so, he exposed the point where their bodies met, and could see that the fusion was complete. They had become one.
He let go, feeling Erkal's hand upon his shoulder.
"This is our worst nightmare," said the councillor. He appeared to be taller and stronger than before. "Well, Tavic," he drew himself upright, turning to the doctor, "are you satisfied?"
"I explained," said the doctor, wiping blood from his nose and rubbing at his tender neck, "she'll be alright."
"And this stuff?" The sergeant held his hands up as the last tendrils of golden energy suffused them. "What is it?"
K9 trundled forwards as the doctor started to shrug. "Spectral analysis indicates high levels of artron radiation," he announced, his head tracking the flow of energy. "The pattern of movement is consistent with psychotronic manipulation."
"He means it's being moved by a mind," said Erkal, in response to the sergeant's quizzical expression. "The question," he turned back to Tavic, "is whose mind?"
The doctor looked as puzzled by this new turn of events as the others. He examined his own flesh as the glow subsided, closing his eyes to explore the new sensations in his body. There was something there. A presence buried deep inside the light. It was distant… alien.
"It's K'thannid," he said at last.
"K'thannid?" Erkal's face fell. He was horrified. "You mean he's free?"
With a roar of anger, Malthus lunged again, crashing into Tavic before raining blows down on the doctor. As the two men fell struggling to the floor, Erkal reached for a sharp implement resting on the doctor's table. He then turned towards Melosa.
"Please desist from this course of action." K9 said as he interposed himself between the librarian and Melosa's body.
"I'm sorry, K9," said Erkal, raising the blade. "This has got to be done."
Without further warning, K9 unleashed a blast of ruby energy at the councillor. Surprisingly, it stopped short of hitting the old man, scattering harmlessly away from its target. The little dog concluded that the artron energy infusion had allowed his attack to be turned away by sheer force of will.
Despite being startled by his newfound ability, Erkal immediately followed through with a gesture of his open hand. A moment later K9 found himself pushed backwards by a wave of invisible force. Unable to oppose the force, he spun on his axis before crashing sideways into one of the room's walls.
Unhindered, the librarian returned his attention to Melosa, and plunged the surgeon's knife downwards.
Romana examined the small silver sphere that now rested comfortably in the palm of her hand. Beyond the distorted reflection that returned her stare was power beyond imagining. Power to build an empire. Power to rule with an iron fist. The greatest TARDIS ever built. The largest fleet ever constructed.
Too much power.
She squeezed the sphere, feeling the cold bite of the metal, before slipping it into the pocket of her body suit before turning her attention to the view screen.
"This doesn't look good," she said. Only the shadow of the planet's exterior remained visible. Like the Temperlost and Pengallia's fleet, there was no longer any sign of K'thannid.
Beside her, Teyamat had taken an interest in the view screen controls, adjusting the image to show a different perspective.
"It looks better from in here than it does out there," she said. Outside the TARDIS, the view screen showed that the Doctor was encircled by a mix of monks, vigilantes and k'thellid. "He's surrounded."
"Those are his favourite odds," said Romana dismissively, reaching for the imaging control, tuning in an image of the sky above Mount Madronal. "I'm more worried about what's happening with K'thannid."
The last energies of the K'thellid Archon were coalescing into a gaseous form that floated in the middle of the sky. It looked like a cluster of golden clouds were drifting over the mountain, taking on a shape that vaguely resembled the god's physical form.
"I don't know how," said Teyamat, shaking her head, "but I think he's kept whatever word he gave the Doctor."
"I'm not sure that he's in control," said Romana. "Even if their biodata is compatible, why would he willingly give his power to his enemies? It doesn't make sense."
"It's what Pengallia wanted, Romana. It's her will that matters here, not K'thannid's."
"Her will. Of course that's…" she was interrupted as a growling, howling sound cut into her thoughts "…what?"
"It's the hounds," said Teyamat. Vervix, Varnax and Vulpix sat in a semi-circle around the console, their smoky heads pointed upwards as they bayed loudly. "They're sensing something. The TARDIS… look."
The time rotor was moving. It slowly twisted and juddered as its familiar blue-white light gave way to a cloudier, darker hue.
"Not again," said Romana, flicking at switches and turning dials in an effort to stop the process. She sighed with frustration as black streaks of energy flickered and danced around the central column. "Get away from it, Teyamat."
An eruption of black energy burst upwards from the time rotor, gushing upwards into the hexagonal distributor panel set into the ceiling. Dancing like black lightning, it caused the roundels in the walls to dim, and the ambient light that filled the console room began to stutter erratically.
"What is it?"
"I don't know," said Romana, keeping her hands well away from the arcs of energy that jumped across and between the ships controls. "Whatever it is, it's being drawn from deep inside the TARDIS."
"Look." Teyamat was pointing to the view screen. Dark clouds were gathering between K'thannid and the mountain top. "It's the power of the carnifex."
"Never mind that," said Romana, keeping her attention fixed on the central console, "get down!" Diving across the room, she tackled Teyamat, pulling her across the floor to find cover behind the Doctor's high-backed chair. Moments later, the time rotor exploded.
The Doctor could see again.
Pengallia's tomb was alive with dancing lights, clouding the Doctor's vision like a swarm of fireflies. After a few moments his virgin eyes acclimatised themselves to the chaos that surrounded him. At the centre of this chaos were two figures.
First, there was Protector K'thellid, the telltale shimmering of its skin confirming who was responsible for his returning sight. And power.
Second, Aldus. Like his enemy, the former sheriff was also shimmering as his body absorbed the power radiated by the great golden god in the sky.
Like Aldus, many of the Honour Guard and the Monks of Madronal were glowing with K'thannid's power. Unlike Aldus, they had listened to the Doctor. They were showing restraint. Awaiting orders.
Grinning wildly, Aldus chose to ignore the Doctor's warning. Reaching out with his thoughts, he could think of only one objective. To kill the protector and all of his loathsome kindred.
He reached out to make contact with the protector's mind first, planning to smash his way smashing through its flimsy mental barriers and make it burn.
Instead, it was his own mind that burned.
The Doctor's eyes had clouded over, becoming black as pitch in response to the former sheriff's attack. Screaming, the Doctor looked skywards as a dark halo enveloped him, and twin bolts of black energy were unleashed from his eyes.
In an instant Aldus was gone. At the merest lick of dark energy his body had erupted, exploding in a cloud of hot black ash which filled the chamber.
"Doctor!" Through the settling soot and the dancing lights, the abbot ran forwards, catching the time lord as he slumped forwards. "What's happening?"
As the priest took his weight, the Doctor tried to push him away. "Keep back, Gesar," he said, turning his dark eyes towards the protector. "The carnifex power has returned."
"Carnifex?" The abbot was genuinely shocked. "How did your eyes…" before he finished his question, Gesar knew. He had seen time reversed before, and followed the Doctor's gaze back to the protector. "You did this?"
The protector remained silent. As the Doctor's eyes cleared again, he could see that everyone had backed away from him. Everyone except Gesar and the protector.
"Keep away from me, all of you," he said. "If you use your new powers this…" he gestured towards the ashes that were once the sheriff "… this is what will happen. Don't think at me. Or each other. Any of you. My power feeds on your psychic energy. Aldus thought to do harm, and it just lashed out. I have no control here."
"Listen to him," said Gesar, "he's capable of destroying us all. However powerful we think we may be."
Wisely, nobody moved.
Nobody moved inside the TARDIS either. At the centre of the room a column of impenetrable of darkness projected upwards from the point where the time rotor used to be.
From their vantage point behind the Doctor's high-backed chair, both Romana and Teyamat had heard what happened in the chamber outside. As the cloud created by the explosion thinned, images of Pengallia's tomb were visible again. The criss-crossed light reflected off the settling dust, making shadows of the rooms occupants while a dull aura surrounded the open Well. At the centre of all of this, the Doctor's head and shoulders appeared to be surrounded by a dark halo.
And, Romana noted, his eyes were back in place.
She stood up, hefting the silver sphere in her right hand.
"What are you doing?" Teyamat asked as the time lady strode purposefully back to the central console.
"Sorry about this, Doctor," Romana said, ignoring the crone's inquiry. "I hope you'll thank me for it later." She raised the sphere, mustering all the strength she could to bring it down onto the exposed telepathic circuitry, smashing the ship's link with Gallifrey into tiny pieces.
Seconds later, the pall of dark energy faded and a brilliant burst of silvery blue light flushed it away. This was followed by a groaning noise as the controls shut down and the room sank into dim light.
"That was exciting," said Teyamat, dusting herself down. "What was it?
"I'm not sure," said Romana, examining the console. "It was an autonomic programme. It took control of the ship's telepathic circuits."
"Where did it come from?"
"From Gallifrey."
"See," Teyamat sneered. "The Time Lords are steeped in deviousness."
"They were once," Romana agreed, "but times have changed. It must be a legacy from the old times."
"A bit like us?"
"From the same period, perhaps," Romana said, adding a little too smugly, "but the Time Lords don't fight wars anymore."
"How enlightened of you. It won't last."
"It's lasted two million years so far."
"Ah," the old crone tapped her nose before walking over to join Romana at the battered controls. "That would be down to Pengallia then. She removed all your enemies from history, remember?"
"I remember well enough."
"And then the Doctor came along and unleashed the greatest of all her enemies." She leaned across to flick a switch, changing the perspective on the view screen once more. "Look."
Romana looked, but she could see nothing. "What?"
"The sky," Teyamat urged. "What do you see?"
Romana looked again. "Nothing, I…" she looked harder, but the dimming light made it difficult to see, and then "…he's gone. K'thannid's gone. I don't understand."
Teyamat smiled as Romana tinkered with what were left of the ship's controls. "The time loop's still in place. Where could he have gone?"
"I know exactly where he went," said Teyamat, activating the door control. As she did so, a stream of dancing lights circled the room, spiralling around and around as if looking for someone to latch on to. "Look."
"That's K'thannid?"
"Yes, seeking out those who have the right biodata."
The lights settled around Romana, entering and soaking into her skin.
"Me? Why isn't it affecting you?"
"I haven't regenerated in more than two million years, Romana. I'm a sister, not a time lord. Only those who have k'thellid and Gallifreyan biodata are affected."
"Of course, and the Time Lords all have k'thellid biodata. But that means… when the time loop is opened every time lord in history will get a share of K'thannid's power!"
"Except the Doctor. His biodata must be different."
"Different?" Romana was confused. "Why would it be different?"
"He's a carnifex." Teyamat explained. "Only a time lord of ancient stock can wield such power. If he had k'thellid biodata, his first use of the power would have been suicide."
"And if he ever returns home, his power will kill every time lord in the universe!"