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Part One
(drn: 32'12")
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28 October, 1589: the vicious Pieter Stubbe is sentenced to a gruesome death in the town of Cologne for murders he committed in the form of a wolf. Centuries later, on the other side of the world, the young Rosa Cayman records a diary entry as a letter to her late grandfather; she should have laid him in a canoe and pushed him down the river, but there is no river any more. The men from the mission want to send her to the city, but she must stay here and prove herself. Her test will be difficult; there are wolves howling beyond the ranch house, or perhaps it’s more than that. The future is coming for Rosa, and it’s got teeth.
The wealthy Ileana de Santos has always visited Rio de Janeiro for Carnaval with her husband, and though she never enjoyed it she’s returned this year to honour her late husband’s memory. She would much prefer not to be here; her son Victor is ill and does not seem to be getting any better, whatever Dr Hayashi might say, and her admirers Kanu Choudhry and Anton Lichtfuss continue to circle her heels, sending her flowers and other unwanted tokens of appreciation. But when her servant Inez finds a rank, rotten package leaking blood at their doorway, Ileana realises that she has another admirer, one she thought she’d left behind long ago. The horribly familiar voice on the automated greeting card confirms her darkest fears, and she warns Inez that they will all have to leave Rio at once, before the darkness catches up to them.
The Doctor and Turlough have come to Rio for the Carnaval as well. Turlough is looking forward to the party, but is disgusted to learn that the beaches are no longer tourist spots; they have become shantytowns, filled with native Indians who were displaced from their homes when the ecosystem collapsed and the Amazon rainforest became the Amazon Desert. Turlough spends the last of his money on a foul-tasting burger and inadvisedly tosses the rank remains to a nearby mongrel. As he and the Doctor descend from Corcovado into the city, they stray from the path -- and realise too late that the dog following Turlough has been joined by others. Soon they’re under attack from a pack of feral dogs, but just as the pack closes in on them, a distant howl echoes across the city, and the dogs bolt in terror. The Doctor takes the opportunity to return to the main streets, but refuses to tell Turlough what just happened, saying only that Turlough really doesn’t want to know.
Ileana tries to calm her struggling, snarling son, while Hayashi administers drugs which will keep him unconscious for their journey. Hayashi still doesn’t understand the necessity of this trip, and warns Ileana that she risks making her son’s condition worse if she moves him in the middle of his treatment. Ileana’s suitor, Herr Lichtfuss, wishes to punish the “cutclaw” Hayashi’s for his insolence, but Ileana warns Lichtfuss to treat Hayashi and his assistant Juro with respect. As they prepare to leave, they too hear the howl echoing across the city; the Grey One is marking his territory. Even the ocean is no barrier to the darkness which has pursued Ileana. Lichtfuss proudly, and foolishly, vows to stand against it and protect her, but she knows that the Grey One will have grown even more powerful since she last saw him. Her only concern is her son, and despite Lichtfuss’ contempt for the cutclaws, she knows that she has no choice but to place her trust in Hayashi. Lichtfuss must obey her; the old world is dead, but she is still their leader.
Turlough and the Doctor are deep in the crowds in the heart of the parade, surrounded by men and women wearing computer-enhanced bird and animal masks and little else. The Doctor becomes particularly embarrassed when a scantily-clad female dancer tries to seduce him into the dance, and the amused Turlough eggs him on. But at that moment a wave of terror sweeps through the crowd, and even Turlough feels the fear pushing him back from a hover-limo as it creeps through the crowds. Curious, the Doctor follows the limo, leaving Turlough behind -- and Turlough feels an even worse chill as a tall man in a wolf mask passes by. At least, he assumes that it’s a mask, but what big eyes the fellow has... The amused wolf-man asks Turlough for food, but then dismisses him as a common jackal, of little importance. Once there was a forest here, before the cutclaws tore it down; now the wolves are on the run, but they run quickly, and they never lose a scent. Turlough had better not stray from the path... As the wolf-man departs, the Doctor returns; he couldn’t see through the limo’s tinted windows, but he’s fascinated by the mass auto-suggestion or basic instinctive fear which drove the crowds back. And why was the hover-limo passing through the crowds in any case when the traffic lanes are thirty feet overhead? The limo was heading towards the train station where they left the TARDIS, and the Doctor and Turlough decide that they’d better get there first...
The dense crowds slow the limo’s progress, but Ileana and her followers eventually reach the station to find that Jorge has programmed their journey into Ileana’s private monorail. Ileana informs him that there will be no need to wait for Mr Choudhry. As she and her entourage head for the train, bearing the sleeping Victor on a gurney, they are brought up short by an unearthly scent, like the space between the lightning and the thunder, or the most ancient of forests. Shaking off the sensation, they head for the train, realising that they’ve been seen by the Doctor; however, Turlough is havin trouble perceiving the group. Despite Turlough’s misgivings, the Doctor walks straight through a security barrier to investigate the private monorail, which bears the crest of the de Santos family. Ileana catches his odd scent again as he approaches, and is fascinated despite herself; but she’s not fascinated enough to stop the train for him, and he has little choice but to watch in frustration as it pulls away. An automated security drone then arrives to arrest him and Turlough, but as it tries to drag them away to immigration, a shape like a great grey wolf smashes past them, destroying the drone and bounding down the tracks in pursuit of the monorail. The Doctor rushes back to the TARDIS with Turlough, determined to warn the strangers of the threat pursuing them.
Hayashi warns Ileana that Victor is growing weaker, which means that his dark side is growing stronger. Hayashi fears that it may be impossible to find a cure, especially now that they are in danger from something Ileana will not name. Lichtfuss, Inez and Jorge also demand answers from her; suspecting that the stranger at the train station was a rival for his affections, the jealous Lichtfuss vows to lay the man’s skin at Ileana’s feet. Ileana, infuriated by his childish games, shows them the real danger they face; the Grey One leaves gifts as well, and the package left by her door that morning contains Mr Choudhry’s head, which has been severed with one bite. This is why they have left Rio, and why Ileana has called the council to meet at the ranch house -- but as the train accelerates, Ileana’s vid-phone begins to ring, and the caller ID indicates that the call isn’t coming from the ranch. They are still being pursued...
Back in the TARDIS, Turlough demands answers of the Doctor, but he’s too busy working out the exact co-ordinates for a short jump. To Turlough’s horror, the Doctor materialises above the northbound monorail tracks, right on the edge of the desert; when the train arrives, he will move in time but not space, thus materialising aboard the train. But this will require precise timing, and Turlough begins to panic as the Doctor engages the dematerialisation circuits mere moments before a devastating collision with the oncoming train...
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Part Two
(drn: 32'41")
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The moon is rising out in the desert. Rosa has walked a long way to find the shining silver path, and she can hear an angry roar in the distance, the sound of the future coming for her. It’ll find her when it’s hungry. Until then, scared as she is, she can do nothing but sit and wait for it to arrive...
The Doctor has judged his short hop perfectly, and materialised in the rear baggage cart of the train. But in another sense he may be too late. Hayashi has convinced Ileana to let him keep Victor anaesthetised until they reach their destination, but when he returns to the carriage where he left his assistant watching over Victor, there is no sign of Juro -- and Victor has woken and snapped through his restraints. Hayashi barely escapes with his life, but Ileana doesn’t believe him when he claims her son has devoured Juro. Inez is the first to catch the new scent on the train -- the scent of wild celery, the smell of the stranger from the station. Ileana begins to panic, convinced that the Grey One is here, on the train, and that he has kidnapped her son.
The train is fully automated and has few passengers, and the Doctor and Turlough thus meet no-one until they reach the food gallery -- where they find the mauled body of an Asian man hung with the rest of the meat. In the corner the severed head of a wolf-like creature has been placed in a gift-wrapped box. Jorge and Lichtfuss then arrive; they were sent to look for Victor, but have found something far more interesting to play with. Only the Doctor can see them; they play with Turlough’s perceptions as they did in Rio, and as the Doctor protests in vain, they generate fear in Turlough’s mind and nearly drive him to leap off the train. At the last moment, a wolf-like creature rushes through the carriage, and Jorge and Lichtfuss break off their game to pursue it. They lose their quarry, but Lichtfuss recognised Victor -- and whatever Ileana may wish to believe, Lichtfuss knows Victor’s the one who chewed up Hayashi’s assistant. Ileana can’t stifle Victor’s natural instincts forever, nor her own; and Lichtfuss fears that the Grey One has come not for Victor, but for Ileana. It’s said that the Grey One is ancient and cunning, the master of shapes and delusions; perhaps this strange Doctor is the Grey One himself. In any case, Lichtfuss has a rival for his affections...
As the Doctor tries to calm the shaken Turlough, Inez arrives and invites them to speak with her mistress. Ileana is as fascinated by the Doctor as Hayashi is suspicious and jealous to see another doctor apparently muscling in on his territory. The Doctor claims to have come to warn them of a great grey wolf pursuing the train, and when Ileana claims that her invalid son has disappeared, the Doctor tells her of the body in the meat gallery -- and of the creature which lured away Jorge and Lichtfuss, a creature like a wolf yet which walked upright like a man. A creature with small brown hairs, like the hairs on Victor’s bed... He offers his help, but Ileana and Hayashi are still suspicious of him, and Ileana sends everyone away while she considers the Doctor’s offer. But the vid-link rings again, and this time, alone, she answers it. As she feared, it is Pieter Stubbe, who mocks her tame demeanour and reminds her of their wild past together, chasing sledges through the snow, a world away from this desert. She has lost one suitor already, and no matter how fast she runs, her shadow will always run faster...
Lichtfuss questions Inez about the Doctor and about Ileana’s feelings for him. When he loses his temper and slaps Inez, she loses her temper as well and claims that Ileana told her the Doctor was worth more than the whole de Santos empire. Jealous, and dismissing the stories of the “Grey One” as fairy tales, Lichtfuss vows to regain Ileana’s favours by restoring her son to her; and to do that, he needs bait. He and Jorge thus set off in search of Turlough, who has just spotted something through the window; he only caught a glimpse in the moonlight, but it looked like a large grey wolf, running faster than the train. And the train is going over 200 miles per hour. The Doctor goes to warn Ileana, leaving Turlough alone -- or so he thinks. Jorge and Lichtfuss are hiding in plain sight, and after toying with Turlough for a moment they allow him to see them. They’ve been watching him, and they know that he has the potential to see a lot more -- if only he will let himself.
Out in the desert, Rosa records another message to her dead grandfather. The wind is sharp and the moon is strong, and Rosa is alone by the silver path -- or so she thinks until a deep voice speaks to her from the shadows, begging for a bite of food. She knows better, and pulls out the knife her grandfather gave her; forged from silver from the mines beneath the desert, it will take a bite out of the wolf before the wolf bites her. The amused wolf-king retreats, but warns her not to stray from the silver path. Once he’s out of earshot, Stubbe uses the vid-link to contact his spy on the train -- Dr Hayashi, whom Stubbe has bribed to keep him updated. Hayashi tells Stubbe of Victor’s escape and the strangers’ arrival, but Stubbe doesn’t care that Ileana seems taken with this new Doctor. Once Stubbe is back, Ileana will only have eyes for him, and he’ll leave his rivals’ carcases for the dogs...
The Doctor warns Ileana of the danger, but realises that she still doesn’t fully trust him. She does confess that she and her son are part wolf; but unlike her fellows, she regards the darkness within her as a curse. Her husband helped her to hold the shadows back, but Victor rebelled -- and now that his human father is dead, he has given in to the wolf completely, and cannot change back. And now, once more, she is being stalked by Pieter Stubbe, the ancient wolf-man who saved her from Napoleon’s forces in Imperial Russia, and showed her the darkness within her. However far she flees from the shadow, it will always be in pursuit -- and the Doctor fears that it might reach her destination ahead of her...
Despite Turlough’s fears, Jorge and Lichtfuss seem quite friendly now. They offer him drinks, and assure him that they just want to know more about him and the Doctor. They can tell that he feels as much contempt for ordinary humans as they. Turlough has always felt superior, and as soon as he’s tipsy enough not to resist, Lichtfuss and Jorge urge him to look into the mirror -- not at himself, but through himself, to the shadow behind him. What does he want to see? More importantly, what doesn’t he want to see? Turlough is horrified but fixated by the sight; his own darkness is behind him, and once he’s seen it he can’t look away. Inez arrives, and is furious to find that Lichtfuss and Jorge are playing games with Turlough once more, but it’s too late; Turlough has seen his own shadow, and it’s pushing its way in front of him. Terrified by what’s happening to him, Turlough flees in panic as Lichtfuss and Jorge howl with laughter.
Ileana and the Doctor return to Hayashi’s carriage, and nearly catch him communicating with Stubbe; however, he signs off in time, and claims to have been reporting Juro’s death to his faculty. Ileana orders him to accept the Doctor as his new assistant, and he resentfully agrees to do so. At that moment there is a snarl from the window -- Victor is hanging onto the outside of the train, and he smashes through the window and enters the cabin. Despite the Doctor’s warnings, Hayashi inches towards his tranquiliser gun as Ileana tries to calm down her ravenous son. Just as it seems she’s getting through to him, Turlough bursts in, seeking the Doctor -- but he sees Victor first, and fears that the shadow he’s fleeing has gotten ahead of him. In his terror he leaps from the train through the broken window, and Hayashi uses the distraction to shoot Victor. The Doctor, fearing for Turlough’s life, urges Ileana to stop the train, but her reason has given way to her instinct; in the confusion, all she knows is that her son has been shot, and as the terrified Hayashi tries to explain that it was just a tranquiliser dart, the grieving Ileana begins to change. In her rage, she’ll kill them all...
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Part Three
(drn: 35'51")
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The Doctor calms Ileana down, and demands that she stop the train so he can find Turlough. She can’t do so, as its programme is automated, but she points out that it’s already slowing down as they near their destination. It is not safe for the Doctor to go out alone, as more of her kind are coming to meet them; however, she promises to send someone after Turlough, and begs the Doctor to stay and help her son. He reluctantly agrees to do so. As he and Hayashi leave, Lichtfuss confronts Ileana; he had been listening at the door all along, hoping she would give in to her dark side and destroy the Doctor and Hayashi herself. Ileana realises that Lichtfuss is jealous of the Doctor, and warns him to stand down, but he in turns warns that the others may not listen to her.
Turlough has survived his fall from the train, and as he flees from his own shadow, he runs straight into a ‘dillo trap which Rosa has set to catch food. At first she is amused and somewhat contemptuous of the European she’s caught, and she refuses to show him the way to the mission house; she’s got a date with the future, and she’s not moving from this spot. But when Turlough tells her that he’s fallen from the train, she is furious with herself; she has been waiting for that train for two days, but was so put off by her enconter with the wolf-king that she missed it. This is her initiation rite; the rest of her tribe went to the city when the creek dried up, and she’s just put her grandpa under the rocks, which makes her the last of the tribe. Turlough suggests that she prove herself by helping a European “yerp-boy” lost in the desert, and, amused, she takes him back to her camp. He fears that he may be the wolf she’s waiting for, but she just laughs; the wolf she’s seen is big enough to bite the moon, and angry that the forest had gone. He didn’t know that Rosa carries the forest with her. All the spirits are alive in her head; she is the jaguar maiden, the spirit of the forest -- the real one, not the watered-down version from the sat-vid broadcasts. She even has a jaguar pelt, one of the warm animal skins the elders used to wrap themselves in when the world was young. And Turlough is cold right down to the heart, or so they say; so she invites him to join her under the pelt, until the moon goes down and the sun comes up.
The Doctor is concerned for the missing Turlough, and Hayashi understands his fear; as far as Hayashi is concerned, the wolf-people are vicious monsters, and he only serves Ileana for the glory and opportunity of studying creatures unknown to science. The Doctor is disturbed by the direction of Hayashi’s research; he’s giving Victor far too much medication, and seems to be mapping Victor’s genomic sequence. Hayashi admits that he’s trying to find a way to rid the world of these monsters -- and although the Doctor clearly disapproves, he can’t turn on Hayashi for fear that Hayashi will turn the werewolves against Turlough.
The train pulls in to an empty station, and to Ileana’s horror nobody answers when she phones the ranch house. A wolf howls in the distance; just as the Doctor had feared, the shadow has beaten Ileana to her destination. The Doctor and Hayashi carry Victor to the hover-van, and the Doctor then tries to give the werewolves the slip and set off in search of Turlough. Lichtfuss prevents him from leaving, but Ileana, knowing that the Doctor is concerned for his friend, sends Lichtfuss to find Turlough. Despite Hayashi’s objections, she decides that the Doctor should ride with her and Victor so she can keep an eye on him. Meanwhile, Lichtfuss runs through the dark, wondering whether Ileana chose him for his tracking skills -- or because she wants him out of the way so she and the Doctor can be alone. But then howls rise around him; his people are here, and his promises to Ileana are forgotten as he greets his brethren.
The future isn’t what Rosa imagined -- she wasn’t expecting to find a new boyfriend, certainly not a “yerpi-boy,” and the sky is burning in the distance, as if something big is on fire. Turlough finds her recording another diary entry for her dead grandfather, and sympathises for her loss. He remembers the forests on his home, the trees three times as tall as any on Earth. But when he realises that Rosa is really starting to like him, he pulls back; there’s a darkness inside him, and he doesn’t want her to trust him and get hurt because of it. It suddenly goes quiet, and as the wolves start to howl in the shadows, Turlough panics, thinking that his dark side has caught up to him at last. But Rosa knows that this is her fight, and vows to protect him. The wolves surround them, but this is no pack, just a group of lone wolves who attack individually; and Rosa is the jaguar maiden, with a claw of silver and the spirits of the forest in her. She slashes out, killing one of the attacking wolves, and when he dies she and Turlough see that he is a man. Before the others can attack again, there comes another howl -- deeper and darker, the howl of the wolf-king whom Rosa saw earlier. Her wrist-com plays back the wolf-king’s taunts, and Turlough recognises the voice; that’s the grey wolf from the Carnaval, the one who warned Turlough he’d be waiting around the next corner. Convinced that it’s after him, Turlough flees to lure it away from Rosa, taking her silver knife with him. But the darkness swallows him up, and Rosa is left defenseless...
The desert has swallowed the path between the train station and the de Santos ranch, and it is taking longer to get there than Ileana would like. The Doctor decides not to give Victor the medication Hayashi had prescribed, as he doesn’t want Victor dependent on drugs. He wonders why they aren’t airborne, and Ileana explains that her people are creatures of earth and water who cannot leave the ground; this is why the hover-limo had to pass through the crowds in Rio. She sees that the Doctor understands more than he’s saying, and realises that he’s older than he looks. She may need his help to face Stubbe, who is centuries old and always hungry, always hunting, always angry. Victor snarls as he wakes from his drugged sleep, and Ileana calms him by telling him his favourite fable -- the tale of the old wolf woman who let the dying wolf of Winter into her home, and cared for him while Summer ruled the forest. As Victor stirs, he speaks for the first time, and the Doctor realises that it’s not the drugs which are curing him -- it’s the lack of them. Before he can elaborate, there is an explosion from up ahead; the ranch was already afire, and now it’s gone up completely.
Ileana and her escort arrive to find that the ranch which Federico built for her has been blown away. It appears that Stubbe has arrived ahead of her, and the furious Ileana turns on Hayashi, accusing him of betraying her; how else could Stubbe have gotten her vid-link code, and how could he have known where she was going? There is movement in the dancing shadows, as the wolves come out; all those whom Ileana had called are here, but now they’re listening to someone else. Lichtfuss drops the dazed Rosa before Ileana as a gift, to prove his devotion to her, and when the Doctor urgently asks after Turlough, Lichtfuss mocks his show of concern and challenges him to fight for Ileana. The Doctor warns him that there are greater threats to his people, and is proven right when Pieter Stubbe finally emerges from the shadows to claim Ileana as his own again. He too has brought a present for her; he regurgitates Turlough, who tasted foul and stuck in his throat. Lichtfuss challenges this new rival, and Stubbe mockingly asks him to come closer and repeat his challenge. Lichtfuss foolishly does so -- and Stubbe strikes him dead with a single blow.
As the wolves mill about in confusion, the Doctor gets the retching Turlough to safety on the van. Turlough gives him the silver knife and hides on the van while the Doctor confronts Stubbe; he will not let innocents die, not even Hayashi, who’s been keeping Victor drugged so he can use him as a guinea pig in order to find a “cure” for lycanthropy. Ileana’s people have an age-old culture of their own, and the Doctor will not be a party to genocide. Stubbs mocks both the Doctor and Hayashi; he is older than any of them, and all wolves are his progeny just as all humans are his cattle. The Doctor stands up to him, refusing to let his greed and hunger destroy Ileana’s people -- but he hasn’t thought things through. Before the entire wolf pack, the Doctor has challenged Stubbe on Ileana’s behalf, and before he realises what she’s doing, Ileana accepts him as her champion -- and if he proves worthy, she’ll take him as her husband.
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Part Four
(drn: 36'17")
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The Doctor makes a reluctant bridegroom, but he still has enough wit to remind Stubbe that he couldn’t swallow Turlough, and that the Doctor is no more human than his friend. Stubbe, irritated, turns back to Ileana, promising to restore the forest the cutclaws have taken from them. Turlough is then forced out of the van by Victor, who has recovered and is seeking his mother. At last Stubbe can turn his attention to Hayashi, who has left it too late to slip away and can no longer resist Stubbe’s mesmeric influence. Ileana can’t resist either, and doesn’t want to; Hayashi betrayed her trust and nearly killed her son. Inez and Jorge have already given in, and as the Doctor protests, Stubbe calls on him too to show his dark side. To Turlough’s horror, even the Doctor begins to succumb to his shadow. Hayashi flees from the monsters in terror as the Doctor struggles to resist, and Stubbe allows Hayashi a head start before the pack sets off in pursuit. The Doctor nearly gives in to his own darkness, but Turlough calls him back to himself. They have to get out of here as fast as possible, for the Doctor isn’t ready to confront Stubbe yet -- and as he and Turlough drag the dazed Rosa into the van, they hear Hayashi’s final screams in the distance.
In the van, Rosa angrily demands her knife back, and Turlough claims that he only took it to protect her; it’s just as well, for the Doctor realises that it was the taste of silver which stuck in Stubbe’s throat and prevented him from swallowing Turlough whole. Knowing that the werewolves have no stomach for heights, the Doctor takes the hover-van up to 120 feet to fly back to the train and the TARDIS, but Stubbe is leading the pack back to the train already, apparently having dismissed the Doctor as a threat. The wolves thus reach the train first, and set off back to Rio; Stubbe had promised to lay whole cities at Ileana’s feet, and that’s just what he’s about to do. The Doctor may have no choice but to crash the hover-van into the train to stop them, but at the last moment, the rear carriage breaks away; Ileana, realising that the blue box is somehow important to the Doctor, has uncoupled the carriage to return it to him, risking her own life to give the Doctor the opportunity to stop Stubbe.
Like most other people, Rosa is stunned by the size of the TARDIS interior; it’s full of light and there are moons on the walls, and she realises that perhaps there are spirits other than those of the forest. Turlough wonders if the TARDIS, like the forest in Rosa’s head, runs on the power of imagination. In any case, they’ve all got a date with the future, the Doctor more than any of them. Turlough is surprised when the embarrassed Doctor actually comes to him for advice, apparently under the impression that Turlough’s relationship with Rosa can teach him how to deal with Ileana. The Doctor has travelled with many women before, but they’ve always been friends; this is unexplored territory to him. Whatever their mutual feelings, he knows he must stand by her and against Stubbe; Rio is in a carnival frenzy, and the arrival of a train full of hungry werewolves, led by the most ancient and evil of the lot, can only spell trouble.
The TARDIS materialises in Rio too late; the streets are deserted, but for abandoned cars which seem to have crashed into each other. There’s something burning in the distance, and all of the emergency services are down. The mountainous buildings are too much for Rosa to bear, and the atmosphere of oppression pressing down from above the city makes it worse. Wolves howl in the distance as the panic-stricken Rosa tries and fails to contact the other members of her tribe on the vid-link. The Doctor drags her and Turlough indoors as a wolf pack herds a crowd of mindless humans along the street, all subdued by the force of Stubbe’s will. Turlough follows them to see where they’re going, and the Doctor takes the opportunity to ask Rosa about the spirits in her head. They are always on the move, but they’re willing to wait, and the Doctor advises her to keep them under control, lest they become as greedy as Pieter Stubbe.
Turlough finds the public park where the human herds have been caged, but Victor finds him and takes him to Ileana, knowing that his mother wants the Doctor and that Turlough can tell her where he is. The Doctor and Rosa see this, but the Doctor stops Rosa from following; they must deal with Stubbe first. Since werewolves can’t leave the ground, but the sense of oppression seems to be coming from above, the Doctor deduces that Stubbe must be near the statue of Christ on Corcovado, overlooking the city. But before he confronts Stubbe, the Doctor is going to take his followers away. The Doctor leads Rosa back to the TARDIS, and uses a dog whistle which once belonged to a faithful friend to draw the pack to him. When they arrive, he insults and provokes them, putting their hackles up as he accuses them of giving in to Stubbe. They used to be free, to hunt for themselves, but now they follow Stubbe blindly like lapdogs. And Stubbe’s promises are empty; the humans they have herded have no minds of their own, and the wolves will have to tend them like cattle while fighting off the bombs and troops of the outside world. The Doctor and Rosa enter the TARDIS, having given the angry wolf pack something to think about...
Ileana is still trying to resist Stubbe’s will, and it becomes easier when they hear the howls across the city; the Doctor has arrived and the pack is turning on Stubbe. Victor arrives with Turlough, who lashes out at Ileana, insisting that the Doctor will never defend her now that he’s seen what she’s really like. Stubbe, angered by the pack’s defiance, is about to throw Turlough off the mountain when the TARDIS suddenly materialises. Stubbe, shaken, dismisses it as an illusion, but now he knows the Doctor to be a real threat -- a real monster.
The Doctor sends Turlough into the TARDIS and demands that Stubbe release his hold on the wolves and the humans he has taken. Stubbe refuses to do so, but the pack is turning on this king of the ancient forests, and his attention is divided. As he tries to bring the pack under control, Ileana turns to the Doctor; she knows he shares his travels with others, and she could be more to him than just another companion. Stubbe claims that the Doctor will never take her, knowing her darkness; when Stubbe first found her she was hunched in the snow over a frozen body, hungry enough to eat anything. He brought out the wolf in her, but it was there to begin with. To her joy, the Doctor does not judge her -- but the joy is brief, for he cannot take her with him either. Her kind are tied to the earth, and to leave it would kill her -- and though the Doctor doesn’t wish to put it into words, he will not give up his travels, not even for her.
Ileana knows that she’s lost the Doctor forever -- but she still will not give in to Stubbe. The enraged Stubbe lashes out at them both, but before he can kill the Doctor, Rosa dashes out of the TARDIS, the spirits high in her head, ready to act. Her silver knife strikes Stubbe down, and as Ileana flees to safety, the Doctor and Rosa retreat into the TARDIS. Stubbe pursues them, but is shocked by the size of the TARDIS interior. Before he can recover, the Doctor dematerialises -- taking the TARDIS into high Earth orbit and separating Stubbe from his link to the world. He collapses, dying, but does not turn into a human; he is older than humanity, the oldest of all the spirits. He left the forest behind long ago, but it’s still waiting for him, in Rosa’s head. He’s too dangerous to release, but Rosa speaks to him, soothing him as he dies, and showing him the forest in her head. He’s back where he belongs, and he follows the path, calling for Ileana -- seeking companionship, but forever alone. And he’d better not leave the path, for one day, Rosa will be waiting for him.
As soon as Stubbe has stopped breathing, the Doctor returns to Earth. Rosa’s initiation has just begun, but Turlough knows she’ll do well. Rosa and Turlough share a moment before she goes, and by the time he realises that she’s left behind her wrist-com, she’s already gone. She doesn’t need the wrist-com any more, and has left it for him as a keepsake. The wolves have taken Stubbe’s body and returned to their homes; the city is free now. The Doctor says his farewells to Ileana, knowing they must go their separate ways, but Turlough can’t see who he’s talking to. Perhaps Ileana wanted their farewell to be private, if she was there at all. The Doctor takes Turlough back into the TARDIS, and they depart, leaving behind them the city -- and the distant, lonely cry of a wolf howling at the moon.
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| Source: Cameron Dixon |
Continuity Notes:
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The dog whistle the Doctor uses is most likely the one the Fourth Doctor used to call K9 whenever he and Romana ran into trouble and needed K9’s help to rescue them.
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