Part 2 (2/2)

'It's a real place then?'

'Oh yes,' said the Doctor definitely. 'What's more, I would guess that it's somewhere very close to us.'

The entrance of the Cave of the Snake was set into a low rocky hill on the outskirts of the oldest part of the city. The rock round the cave mouth had been carved into an elaborate snake's head, and, just as in Tegan's dream, the entrance of the cave formed the mouth of the snake. A flight of time-eroded stone steps led up to the gaping black hole.

'This,' said Ambril, 'is the entrance to the cave system itself.'

Tanha nodded, remembering. 'I had forgotten how impressive it is.'

Ambril looked pleased.

Lon, as usual, looked profoundly bored.

Emerging from the TARDIS, the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan found themselves beside some empty booths in a quiet corner of the market-place. Tegan gazed calmly about her, looking rather as if she were sleepwalking.

The Doctor closed the TARDIS door behind them. 'Now, remember Nyssa, Tegan is experiencing total exclusion of all outside sound. You must be her ears.'

Nyssa nodded. 'But surely she can't dream now? She's awake.'

'Dreams are occurring in the mind all the time,' said the Doctor solemnly. 'Come on, we must hurry!'

By now, Ambril and his party had climbed the steps and were standing just inside the entrance to the cave.

They were in semi-darkness, though lights gleamed deeper in the caves.

Lon yelled into the darkness. 'h.e.l.lo!' His voice echoed around the cave.

'h.e.l.lo-o-o.'

Ambril winced. 'The cave system itself is a natural geological formation, worn out of the solid rock over hundreds of thousands of years by a now-vanished underground river.'

'h.e.l.lo!' yelled Lon again. Again there came the echo. 'h.e.l.lo-o-o.'

'Lon!' said Tanha reprovingly. She smiled apologetically at Ambril.

Ambril sighed and continued. 'The Chamber of the Mara is the largest natural cavern thus formed. Many of the most important archaeological finds -'

Lon was staring round the vast shadowy cave, 'Big isn't it?' he interrupted.

'Beg pardon, my Lord?'

'This place. It's big.'

'Yes, I suppose it is,' said Ambril patiently.

'h.e.l.lo!' yelled Lon once again.

'h.e.l.lo-o-o . . .' came the echoes.

Ambril sighed.

The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan threaded their way through the bustling market. Nyssa and the Doctor looked round eagerly, taking in the noisy colourful scene. To Tegan in her silent world things were very different.

She felt trapped in a meaningless confusion, filled with eerily-mouthing faces that made no sound. She could see the Doctor talking animatedly to a man at a nearby stall, and she saw the man pointing down one of the narrow side streets. The Doctor came back towards them.

'What did he say, Doctor?' asked Nyssa.

'I was right, it seems. There's a cave system at the edge of town, and the entrance fits the description exactly. It's this way.'

The Doctor led them towards the caves, uncertain what they would find there. One thing was certain. Only by finding and confronting the Mara once again, could he free Tegan's mind from the evil within.

3

Voice of the Mara

Still in his role of guide, Ambril ushered his party down the steeply sloping tunnel that led into the caves.

The entire cave system had been converted into a kind of rambling underground museum, with particularly interesting areas discreetly illuminated.

Ambril paused before one such section, a huge area of cave wall divided into separate panels, each panel covered with faded figures and symbols. Little stick-man figures were scattered about the panels, and it was noticeable that dotted energy lines from their heads came together in a diagrammed crystal which filled most of the last-but-one panel. The last panel of all was blank, as if the remains of the picture had been deliberately sc.r.a.ped away.

Ambril looked lovingly at the mural. 'This wall, known as the Pictogram, const.i.tutes an invaluable record of the Sumaran era. Of course, academic interpretations of the precise meaning differ considerably.

However, paying scrupulous attention to detail, and not allowing our imagination to run away with us, we can form the glimmering of an idea as to what these pictograms may mean . . .'

Ambril droned on and Tanha listened with her unvarying politeness.

Lon said abruptly. 'What about the Legend?'

Interrupted in mid lecture, Ambril blinked at him.

'The Legend, my Lord?'

'The Legend of the Return. Do you have an opinion?'

'Yes, my Lord, I'm rather afraid I do.'

'Well?''

Ambril drew himself up. 'The Legend of the Return is nonsense. Pure, superst.i.tious nonsense invented by the people, simply to give themselves something with which to frighten their children. It has no basis, neither speculative nor proved, in historical fact!'

From the bottom of the long flight of steps, the Doctor stared up at the Cave of the Snake in admiration.

'Extraordinary, isn't it?'

<script>