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‘Excellent!’ grinned Volta, noting the couple's odd attire, ’A Turkish officer and his wench. Take them!’
‘Now, wait one moment!’ snapped the Doctor, ‘Tell me, if I were a Turkish officer, what would we two be doing walking around in the Carpathians by ourselves?’
 That made sense. But then, who were they?
‘As it happens,’ continued the Doctor, ‘I am an officer - in the Wallachian army! I am Count Doctor, and this my young niece. We were captured by Turks near Giurgiu, and managed to escape with the help of one of your spies who advised us to come north to Trigoviste for safety and assistance.’
So the Sultan's men had crossed the Danube? Volta eyed the pair up and down. They did not resemble Turks. The girl was very fair. Germans, perhaps? Volta remained suspicious - in all of Romania, he had never heard of 'Count Doctor' before.
‘I will take you to my Lord and Master. He will decide,’ he said, ushering a soldier to help the 'Count' and his niece onto a horse.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
 ithin a short while, they were riding through the town towards the dark castle that dominated the landscape.
‘Doctor...?’ asked Jo timidly; she was aware of the stares from the townsfolk, and that she had not understood a word that the Doctor had said to the Captain.
‘Where are we? What's going to happen to us?’
‘I'm sorry, Jo. Let me explain,’ he replied over his shoulder, ‘I've managed to persuade them that we are not their enemy…’ (Jo could have been forgiven for thinking otherwise), ‘...in fact, I've told them we are of noble blood. They're taking us to see the local Count-fellow now.’
‘Oh great! He won't recognise us and then we'll be in even deeper trouble,’ she moaned, her face a pretty tale of woe.
‘Actually, I don't want to worry you, Jo…’ (which probably meant that he was about to), ‘...but, if my history is correct, then the local Count should go by the title Vlad Tepees of Wallachia!’
‘Oh yes? And who would he be then?’ Jo was puzzled - she had never heard the name in her history books at school, although...the Doctor seemed to think it quite important’
‘Vlad, the Impaler Jo!’ he replied, turning to look kindly into his bemused assistant's face, ‘Count Dracula’ He allowed the sinister name to roll majestically from his tongue. Fear washed through Jo as she recalled the connotations which that name had held in the twentieth-century, and the ugly black bulk of a castle loomed ever nearer.
‘But I thought that was only in films?’ she protested.
‘Well, old 'fang-face' wasn't really a vampire, Jo. But there was an element of the horrific in his treatment of prisoners-his nickname, 'the Impaler', tells us that. But look, don't worry, Jo, I'll get us out of this. We always manage. In fact, I'm rather looking forward to meeting him at last!’
The Doctor's smile was wasted as the sinking sun, pierced by the craggy mountain-peaks, dripped blood-red on the horizon.
Very soon, Volta was leading them by torch along a long, dark corridor in the castle. When the reached a tall and heavy wooden door, they stopped. About to knock, Volta was silenced by a calm and regal voice from within.
‘Bid my friends enter, and be you gone,’ said the voice.
The heavy door swung silently open, and the time-travellers walked through, before them sat a domineering figure, clad in strangely rich garments. His eyes glinted and sparkled as he sipped from a chalice of wine. A cruel grin formed; his teeth clenched; a greying beard completing the sinister picture.
‘Oohh,’ sighed Jo, relieved to see a familiar face, ‘I think I preferred Bella Lugosi!’
‘No,’ chuckled the Doctor, ‘Not exactly Peter Cushing, is he Jo?’
‘And neither are you, Doctor...anymore,’ The Master smiled with a sardonic air.
‘You will join me in a toast, my friends?’ He rose from his throne.
‘No really, old chap. We must be of to Metebelis Three, and you know I don't drink and drive’ The Doctor nodded to his old enemy, and motioned to Jo to go ahead of him as he walked towards the door.
 
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the dragons apostle page2
