The Curse of Fenric 1989 7​M Season 26 Story 158

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The Younger Futhark Runes - both long branch (Danish) and short-twig ...


Crypt]

(Below the main body of the church, Doctor Judson is making notes of some runes carved into the crypt wall. Nurse Crane holds a lantern for him.)
WAINWRIGHT: Here we are, Doctor. This is the crypt.
JUDSON: Ah, Doctor. What do you make of these, then, hmm?
DOCTOR: Fascinating. Ace, look at this.
ACE: They look like Viking carvings.
DOCTOR: Viking rune stones. Ninth century, yes?
JUDSON: Ah, you evidently know more than I do.
DOCTOR: Well, it's the alphabet. The later Vikings used a sixteen character alphabet.
JUDSON: Don't tell me. The Ultima machine can break the most sophisticated Nazi ciphers. Some ninth century scribbling shouldn't be much of a problem.
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[Outside Saint Jude's church]
DOCTOR: Well, either that, or they'd been at the communion wine when they'd put up the headstone. Joseph Sundvik. He must be one of the descendants of the original Viking settlers.
ACE: Look at the last one. She only lived thirteen days, poor little thing. (Mary Ellen Millington) You don't suppose it was that Viking curse, do you?
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[Maidens Point]
(They go part way down the slope to pick up the oilskin package and its contents.)
DOCTOR: Not ordinary tourists. Not English, anyway.
ACE: Germans? German spies?
DOCTOR: Look at the lettering.
ACE: Greek?
DOCTOR: Russian.
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[Church vestry]
DOCTOR: (reads) We hope to return to the North Way, carrying home the oriental treasures from the Silk Lands in the east, but the dark curse follows our dragon ship.

[Underwater]

DOCTOR [OC]: Black fog turned day into night, and the fingers of death reached out from the waters to reclaim the treasure we have stolen.

[Crypt]

DOCTOR [OC]: I carve these stones in memory of Asmund, Grimvald, Torkal, Halfdan, brave Viking warriors slain by the curse.

[Church vestry]

DOCTOR: We sought haven in Northumbria, and took refuge at a place called Maidens' Bay, but the curse of the treasure has followed us to this place. Maidens Bay?
WAINWRIGHT: That's Maidens Point.
DOCTOR: But I've just left Ace there.
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ACE: Yep, but I'm here now, aren't I? What've you got there Professor?
DOCTOR: It's a translation of the Viking inscriptions. Look. And there's something I've just noticed.
ACE: What's that?
DOCTOR: Look. We hope to return to the North Way, carrying home the oriental treasure. Now, listen to this.
(The Doctor takes out Sorin's secret orders.)
DOCTOR: Vozravschayetes ve Norwegious sakrovisichem.
ACE: I only did French O level.
DOCTOR: We return to Norway, the North Way, bearing the treasure. Now, let's see how Doctor Judson is getting along, shall we?
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[Judson's office]

(Nurse Crane is knitting when the Doctor knocks and enters.)
.DOCTOR: Doctor Judson? Something here that might interest you.
JUDSON: What's that then?
DOCTOR: A nineteenth century translation of the Viking inscriptions, courtesy of Mister Wainwright's grandfather.
JUDSON: Really? (reads) Night is the time of the evil curse, and no man is safe alone. This is invaluable! The waters are most dangerous.

[Maidens Point]

JUDSON [OC]: The dark evil lies waiting in the sea. It has followed the treasure we stole.
(Prozorov picks up the piece of metal.)
JUDSON [OC]: We cannot see it, but we know it is there, beneath the surface, beyond seeing, but it is there.
(Prozorov throws it into the water, where a clawed hand catches it.)
JUDSON [OC]: And one by one, our crew is being killed.
...
DOCTOR: We know more than you think. Vozravschayetes ve Norwegious sakrovischem.
ACE: Return to Norway with the treasure.
JUDSON: (reads) I am the only one left alive now. I raise these stones to my wife Astrid. May she forgive my sins. The day grows dark, and I sense the evil curse rising from the sea.

[Underwater]

(A claw caresses the dragon head.)
JUDSON [OC]: I know now what the Curse of Fenric seeks. The treasures from the Silk Lands in the east.

[Crypt]

(A red hot light burns new runes into a blank stone between the arches.)
JUDSON [OC]: I've heard the treasures whisper in my dreams. I've heard the magic words that will release great powers. I shall bury the treasures for ever. Tonight, I shall die, and the words die with me.
...
[Crypt]

ACE: Can you hear noises from behind the walls?
DOCTOR: Can't hear a thing.
ACE: I definitely heard them.
DOCTOR: Ace, come here. Look at that. What do you notice?
ACE: This one's a slightly different alphabet to the rest.
DOCTOR: Yes?
ACE: And, we, it uses fewer characters.
DOCTOR: And?
ACE: And, that means it's older than all the rest.
DOCTOR: And?
ACE: And er, I don't know.
DOCTOR: And it wasn't here this morning.
ACE: Oh yeah. Hang about, these inscriptions are a thousand years old.
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[Collection room]

(A small pipe in the wall drips green liquid into a tank.)
MILLINGTON: Behold, the end of the war.
DOCTOR: So, this is what brought you here. A natural source of lethal poisons.
ACE: The Curse of Fenric.
MILLINGTON: Once the Nazis see what our planes are dropping on their cities
ACE: But you can't!
MILLINGTON: It'll mean the end of the war. Save hundreds of thousands of lives.
DOCTOR: More horrible than the Well of Hvergelmir.
MILLINGTON: What did you say?
DOCTOR: The Well of Hvergelmir, deep beneath the ground where broods of serpents spew their venom over the roots of the Great Ash Tree.
MILLINGTON: The Great Ash Tree. The soul of all the Earth.
ACE: Professor?
DOCTOR: Shush.
MILLINGTON: We have seen it, Doctor. You and I. We have seen hell. Come, I'll show you it all.
ACE: What's he on about?
DOCTOR: Norse mythology. It seems that I've persuaded him that I'm on his side.
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[Decrypt room]
MILLINGTON: The time is now. The chains of Fenric are shattered. The gods have lost the final battle.
ACE: We're too late. It's him!
MILLINGTON: The dead men's ship has slipped its moorings, and the Great Ash itself trembles to its roots. Fenric!
(Judson stands up behind the Doctor and opens his glowing green eyes.)
JUDSON: We play the contest again, Time Lord.
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