Original subtitles

(dramatic music)

- Look upon my face, for I am known to all of you.

Here is a story of my eternal work.

It is a story of all ages,

those dark and forgotten,

and those still to come.

Behold the subtle working of my talents

and pray that I may never turn my interest upon you.

(evil laughter)

(eerie music)

- [Professor] So you've come back, eh?

After seven years, you've come back.

- Time has little meaning in Tibet.

Did my call startle you?

- [Professor] No, I've been expecting it for seven years.

- All of your old students return, don't they, Professor?

Even the ones you've failed.

- Particularly the ones I fail,

they always want to prove me wrong.

And now you.

You want to startle me and the entire world, eh?

- And I might do just that.

With your help.

- When you called me, I said I would listen, not help.

As for this spectacular idea of yours,

it's nothing but Sunday supplement nonsense.

- I mean to invade the depths of the mind.

That is not nonsense.

- Excuse me, did I say nonsense?

I mean idiocy.

- Don't condemn me without a try, Professor.

If I succeed, we will see history unfold itself

through the eyes of the subject.

And I know it can be done, I've seen it,

in the desert huts of the Shamans of Casa.

- And where will you find a subject weak and impressionable

enough to arrive in the required depth of trance?

- Diana.

- [Professor] What's her full name?

- [Quintus] Who knows?

She calls herself Diana Love.

- [Professor] Don't be afraid, my dear.

No one's going to hurt you.

- I'm not afraid of you or anybody else.

- We'll be with you in a moment, Diana.

- [Professor] Where did you find her?

- [Quintus] What does it matter?

- [Professor] You took her off the street tonight?

You unmitigated fool.

- [Quintus] Am I?

Her type is the most easily influenced

to basic character groups and almost devoid of willpower.

That's why I chose one of her class.

- [Professor] Has she agreed to this?

- I'm paying her well.

Although I daresay, she has no idea what I'm paying her for.

- I will not help you, Quintus.

- Then I'll do it alone without your help.

Don't you want to protect her, Professor, from me?

- It'll take too long.

Weeks.

- 48 hours.

- Impossible.

- Instead of repeated sessions,

I'll keep her under the full two days.

I won't even wake her up to eat.

Instead, I'll direct all her needs within the trance.

- That could prove fatal.

- No, not with you watching, doctor.

- I see I have no choice in the matter.

- We'll be remembered for this.

- I hope it will not be as murderers.

- [Diana] Say, how much longer am I gonna have to stay

in this crummy joint?

- Two days, perhaps longer.

- Do you have to do all that?

- Take it easy, Diana.

Are you subject to fainting spells?

Do you have any difficulty getting up in the morning?

(Diana chuckling)

- I don't.

I get up in the afternoon, but it's easy.

- I think you'll live.

- I don't think I want to be hypnotized.

- You're being paid $500.

I think it might be better if you took off

that heavy bracelet.

- No thanks.

I'll just keep it, if you don't mind.

- Very well.

(eerie music)

Do you see my hand?

There is no end to my hand, is there?

You can always take another turn.

Around the knuckle.

Over the finger.

It's like riding a tiny roller coaster, isn't it?

Yes.

You're riding.

First slowly, then faster.

Around.

And around.

And around.

Silent.

Silent.

Silent.

And the silence is deeper, and deeper, like a well,

like a deep, deep well,

like falling, falling

into a deep, deep sleep.

We are in a dark silence, and we breathe as one.

We are one.

When I touch you, we will be one.

When I touch you, you will sleep.

- A profound sleep.

- And barely under the surface.

No telling how many fathoms deeper we'll have to sink into

that murky mind of hers

before she wakes into another time, another place.

You are a child unborn.

It is soft and warm and dark.

Now you are going back.

You are going back farther.

Going back.

Going back.

It is another time.

It is another time.

Farther.

(pencil snapping)

- What are you doing?

She can't possibly hear you.

- No...

I am nowhere, but I exist.

- You may speak.

Do you hear me?

- Oui.

- What do you see?

(Diana speaking foreign language)

Well, it's happened.

- You've broken into the past.

- Yes.

Yes I have.

Now the real work will begin.

- What more is there to do?

- So you were French once?

And of nobility?

You see it all too dimly, don't you, Diana?

Too dimly.

Well my dear, you will find that there are other times,

and other lives.

Soon you will find one that I may visit.

- You've told her nothing, you asked her nothing.

- Watch carefully.

It's started, she's going.

(chain rattling)

- How fares the witch?

Do you fear me, sorceress?

Why, Gobbo's the gentlest jailer

ever to gouge a prisoner's eye.

- Keep thee from me!

- Certainly not, hell hag.

You have lost your powers as tomorrow,

you shall lose your head upon the chopping block.

- My head?

I shall lose my head?

- Has your brain recoiled from it and forgotten?

Aye, you shall lose it, and it will roll like a melon,

and they'll be clutching it to your bosom

when they bury you at the crossroads,

a stake through your black heart.

- Yes, I remember.

They said I was a witch.

That's a lie, a terrible lie, I'm not a witch!

You must believe me!

- But I believe it.

Look on me.

Am I not ugly?

Am I not the rancid bottom from a fetid swamp?

But witches love ugliness more than beauty, so love me,

and make thy final night a pleasure--

- Nay!

- [Diana] Don't back away.

- What voice is that I hear?

- [Diana] It's me, it's you, both of us.

- Do not pretend.

- Help me!

- I would if thou would keep still.

- [Diana] Do just as I say.

I'm inside of you.

Maybe I won't be able to talk to you for long.

- I will listen.

- To whom do you speak, demoness?

- [Diana] Pretend to make love to him.

- I could not!

- Show my thy friend.

- [Diana] You must, to save yourself, you must.

- Very well.

- Then it's a madness.

- No madness, dear Gobbo.

It's just that I have consulted with my sister spirits,

and they find thee comely, as-as indeed, so do I.

- I am right.

You could embrace us, why?

- [Diana] Use the chain.

(chain rattling)

(Gobbo groaning)

Hurry, get his keys.

- Yes, spirit of mine self.

- [Diana] I can't talk anymore.

I'm going deeper inside of you...

I can't remember my own time...

My own, my name...

- [Quintus] She's running.

- [Professor] In her mind, yes.

- No, no, somewhere.

She's running.

(dramatic music)

- [Gobbo] The witch has escaped!

The witch has escaped!

(bell tolling)

(cat screeching)

(Helene screaming)

♪ Sing a song of graveyards

♪ An acre full of germs

♪ Four in 20 landlords

♪ Dinner for the worms

♪ When the box was planted

♪ The worms began to sing

♪ Isn't that a dainty dish to set before a thing ♪

(hoofbeats pounding)

- [Smolkin] A good night, sir knight.

- [Knight] What is thy name, gravedigger?

- I am the fool Smolkin,

bewitched and robbed of all his senses.

- The witch Helene has escaped from the Tower of Death.

Have you seen her?

- Helene?

The damsel they say did bewitch me?

Nay.

Nay, I have not seen her.

- What is in thy hearse?

- None but the lonely corpse I take to bury.

For his own good, he'd best be dead.

- [Knight] Open thy wagon.

(loud pounding)

- [Smolkin] Oh, he's still home, but he'll not answer.

- The law says that all coffins must be sealed.

Nail it fast before thy hearse turns another wheel.

- Aye, aye, I'll make a fine package.

(loud hammering)

- [Knight] Three witches must be decapitated by dawn.

Helene is the third.

Keep thy watch, gravedigger.

- Mine eyes shall grow stalks.

Good night, sir knight.

♪ Three witches have heads, but they'll sever them all ♪

♪ The head of Helene is the third that must fall ♪

♪ All the king's horses and all the king's men ♪

♪ Can't put the witches together again ♪

(dramatic music)

- Pendragon.

(cat yowling)

Pendragon.

- Livia?

What brings you to the depths of the wood?

- [Livia] Sorrow.

What brings thee?

- All the shire knows I seek the proof

of Helene's innocence.

- Would you climb the very walls of the Tower?

- If I found no other course, yes.

- Would that I had a love as great as thine.

Where do you journey this night?

- To the cemetery.

I must speak with the digger Smolkin.

They convicted Helene of bewitching him.

I believe it not.

- Nor I.

Go, seek poor Smolkin, and bring the proof to free thy love.

- Thank you, Livia.

Good night.

Take care.

'Tis the eve of the Witch's Sabbath.

(cat meowing)

- The needle of my compass swings to north.

His whimpering Helene I put in prison for the ax to kiss.

Next, we'll meet Pendragon at his tavern home.

'Ere this night is done, I'll have his heart,

or else I'll have his soul.

(Helene gasping)

- Whoa.

Whoa.

How art, dirt keeper?

I would have a room for my moldering friend.

- Are you the digger Smolkin?

- I have been told that I am Smolkin,

but I am mad, so cannot be sure of anything.

- You are bewitched?

- Terribly.

- Well tell me Smolkin, I must know.

Was it Helene who did it to you?

Helene who must suffer death by thy enchantment?

- Being enchanted, I have no way of knowing.

They say the enchantment has destroyed my reason.

Without reason, there is no memory.

So it must follow that I do not remember

who it was bewitched me.

- Do you jest with me, gravedigger?

- Again, I cannot say.

I am mad, so therefore cannot tell a jest from a joust.

- I have much to do this night.

I don't think thou art is mad as all say.

Stir up thy brain, Smolkin.

I'll be back to ask more of you.

- Ah, well.

Back to work.

♪ Hickory dickory horse

♪ my guest is dead of course

♪ The clock struck two

♪ He's turning blue

♪ With little or no remorse

(Helene sobbing)

(wood squeaking)

- Soft girl, soft.

Thou art safe.

A grisly monster closed you in this box.

'Twas I.

- Help me, for God's sake, help me!

- Aye, that I will, though my entangled brain

could bring thee more harm than help.

Do I know thee?

- No.

- [Smolkin] Yes, yes, I do.

Thou art Helene, who cast a spell on me.

- Spell?

Nay, not I!

If you are Smolkin, then you know we have never met before.

- If I am Smolkin.

Come out of this rot,

and tell me what I may do.

- Oh, I beg you!

Hide me, please!

Get me to a place that I may stay the night.

At 12, the Witch's Sabbath will occur.

At dawn, they will execute the three witches

condemned by law.

Oh if I may but live to see the sunrise,

I shall have a whole year to prove my innocence.

- Aye, aye, the Witch's Sabbath.

It will be held this very night

here in mine own cherished cemetery.

Go, into the mutton cart.

I'll take thee to a place where none save Satan himself

might find thee.

Lie still, old man.

I'll make thy bed when I return.

(cat meowing)

(eerie music)

- Good evening, Livia.

Welcome to the Gabriel's Horn.

- Join me Scroop, and rest thy meaty burden.

I see thou art prepared.

Cornflowers, wolfbane, chicken bones.

- Snakes, frogs and amulets.

No witch will pass my door this night.

Here's garlic.

Best protection of all.

If there is one who can handle witches

and the imps that serve them,

it's Scroop of the Gabriel's Horn.

- [Livia] We can't all be clever.

- Scroop, bring some ale.

- Rest thy corpulence.

I'll take the ale.

(dramatic music)

- Thank you, Scroop.

You can leave the ale on the table.

Is that him come with the charts to prisoner quarters?

- No, I am not she.

- Forgive the look on my face, Livia.

For a moment, I-- - Be not ashamed of love.

- [Pendragon] My thanks for bringing the ale.

- Your drink could bring but only half

the forgetfulness you seek.

- [Pendragon] And what of the other half?

- Look to me for it.

- [Pendragon] I can only presume that you have

by that release some violence that has inflamed thee.

- For years, I would not bring the truth of it

before thee now if,

if thy Helene were not as good as dead.

- [Pendragon] As good as dead is not dead, Livia.

- With the first light of morning, she will be lost to you.

Our spirits may despair, Pendragon,

but dare those spirits tie the hands of flesh.

- [Pendragon] Do not tempt me.

- I do not tempt.

I give.

(dramatic music)

- Whoa.

Whoa.

♪ Merry, merry, more to bury

♪ How does my garden grow

♪ With marble stones and ankle bones ♪

♪ And relatives all in a row

- Where have you brought me?

- To the deepest part of the forest.

Go you through the brambles 'til you see a light.

There you will find a house and hearth.

- A house?

Will I be safe there?

- A madman can't be sure of that,

no more than whether you bewitched me or did not.

♪ Hey diddle diddle, the rat and the fiddle ♪

♪ The corpse jumped over his tomb ♪

♪ The murderer laughed to see such a sight ♪

♪ As he strangled a girl in the gloom, gloom, gloom, gloom ♪

(frog croaking)

(Helene screaming)

♪ Strangled a girl in the gloom ♪

(frantic pounding)

(Helene screaming)

(Diana sobbing)

- Enough of this!

I demand you bring her out of it now!

- No, Professor.

I don't know what's being done to her right now,

but the shock of returning might kill her.

- We may already have done that.

- Come inside, my dear.

(eerie music)

- These are the designs of the prison towers in the past.

- There is still some contact.

Her lips are moving.

- But there's no speech.

She may be this way until the end of her life.

- Which one?

(dramatic music)

(Meg cackling)

- 'Tis a fine brew.

Near finished.

- [Helene] What will you do with me?

- Who knows, my child?

Perhaps I'll turn thee into an owl

to catch mice for my cauldron.

- Then thou art a witch?

- Find one that will say Meg Maud is not a witch,

and I'll churn butter out of blood!

I know thee, Helene.

Smolkin is my friend.

How did thou escape?

- [Helene] A voice that was mine self in ages yet to come,

it did show me the way to loose my bonds.

(Meg cackling)

- Thy bonds?

In ages yet to come?

This is not the sort of magic that Satan has given to me.

- Then thou art a witch.

- I was at thy trial.

I heard the witness Livia swear

that she did see thee cast the spell on Smolkin.

One last ingredient for my brew.

One raven's strand of maiden virtue.

- [Helene] Then thou does not mean to kill me?

- They have named thee witch.

If I am a witch, the same as thee,

should not sister help sister?

- [Helene] Aye, aye, that is true.

We witches must stand together.

(Meg cackling)

- Good, well said, Helene.

Perhaps I'll give thee thy hid.

Stay here, little witch, and bar the door to all but me.

(Meg cackling)

I have some conjuring to do.

(knocking)

- Now there's a fine face to see on such a fine night.

- Let me in, Scroop.

Soldiers been here?

Helene has escaped.

- Escaped?

No, there have been no soldiers.

Pentagon is upstairs, with the maiden Livia.

- Livia?

Call him down.

- [Scroop] How, Pendragon!

A guest!

- Say nothing to Livia.

She must not learn of this.

- [Scroop] This is Meg Maud.

She has news of great import for thee.

- [Meg] Ask nothing.

Get thee with all haste to my cottage in the marsh.

It is just beyond the hillock

where they hang the highwayman.

- What say thee? - Ask nothing!

Ride as though thy horse had wings!

(cat meowing)

(knocking)

- [Livia] The door's unlatched.

Pray, enter.

- What be thy business with Pendragon, witch?

- I think that I shall marry him.

(Meg laughing)

- He would not have thee with thy gullet stuffed with gold.

- You called me witch.

No woman, man or, or creature like yourself

has dared to call me that and--

- Lived to see another witch?

- We know one the other well.

- One day, thy mother did bear a female child,

and on another day, she did sell her soul to Satan

and become his bird of prey.

One day, my mother bore a female child,

and she did grow aged and deformed.

And on another day, she cheated Satan, learned his tricks,

and yet retained her soul.

I am thy match, witch.

But I am not thy kind.

- I know it well.

You will make me a fine opponent.

(Diana gasping)

- Take here, stop it!

I know thy magic better than thyself.

(eerie music)

(knocking)

- If someone is here, open!

Helene!

- Pendragon is gone.

You are here, why?

- To warn him of an evil thing named Livia.

Come to rip his breast and eat his heart.

- I'll invite thee to the feast.

- I know thee.

For an imp.

- No longer am I afraid.

- It is still night, Helene.

The one deadly night.

Where's Meg?

- The witch?

Oh, she thinks I am the same as she.

I fooled her.

(Pendragon chuckling)

- You couldn't fool a child in his cradle.

She is the one sent me here to find you.

- I'm glad of that.

And yet, Pendragon, this place, 'tis unhealthy.

- Well come, then.

I'll take you to the tavern.

Scroop is a good friend.

He'll help watch over you.

Come on.

- So you would enchant Pendragon as you did poor Smolkin.

We shall see, my dear.

- So we shall.

Helene lives but a few more hours, then Pendragon is mine.

- I'll take that challenge.

Mark you this, Pendragon shall be free of thee forever,

and what's more, the maid condemned

shall live beyond this night

and live to see thee to thy death.

- 'Tis a wager then, my twisted copy of a wizardess.

Try every trick you know, I'll vanquish thee.

And I'll do it in my sleep.

- Sleep not while I'm awake.

Thy sleep is coming in the sulferous pit!

(eerie music)

- Let us now fly to Smolkin's churchyard,

and there prepare the tables of earth

for the banquet of the Sabbath.

♪ Oh mother basket, open the casket ♪

♪ To fetch a poor dog a bone

♪ To take what she tried, but the corpse sadly cried ♪

- Be off ghoul, and leave me alone.

- Good evening, Smolkin.

- Ah, 'tis Livia the witch.

Welcome to my flesh farm.

- Disturb me not, lummox.

I must hasten to sweep these wandering ghosts

back to their earthen homes

before the Witch's Sabbath begins.

- Oh?

And are you to be the queen of sorcery

at the revelry tonight, Livia?

- Aye, and stand at Lucifer's right hand.

- 'Tis said the queen must bring to Satan's hand

one freshly severed head as proof

that she is true to his black trust.

- The head.

I'd near forgotten.

Let's say I cut yours off?

- The head of a madman isn't much of a head at all.

The devil might feel slighted if you brought him

less than the best.

A pity.

Thou must seek elsewhere.

- I must hurry home to see how fare my charge.

(knocking)

You should not have brought her here.

The night is filled with soldiers.

- We saw them.

It is safer here.

- What if they search my place?

- Hide in my room, Helene, and try to rest.

I must find Smolkin.

If I'm not back within the hour,

get thee to Meg Maud's and wait me there.

(Diana gasping)

- Who are you?

- I am Helene.

- What is your time?

- It is the night of the Witch's Sabbath.

In the second year of the reign of King Mark.

- What is it that you fear?

- I fear death.

- Death by what means, and why?

- Death by the headsman's ax.

At dawn I shall be executed wrongly as a witch,

if they find me here at the tavern, or at Meg Maud's.

- You're not imprisoned?

- I was imprisoned in the Tower of Death,

until the voice of Diana Love freed me.

- Oh! - What is it?

- Her past, we've altered it.

- The implications are-- - Pendragon?

Pendragon?

Pendragon...

- She's away from us again.

Quintus. - What?

- There's a bruise on her forearm.

It wasn't there before.

- Then the regression is physical as well as mental.

If I could...

No.

No, not for years.

- [Professor] What are you talking about?

- According to certain priests in Nepal, I could follow her.

- Follow her?

- Yes.

Never mind.

Check her over.

(eerie music)

- I meet thee everywhere.

- I thought you would be tearing down the tower wall.

- No need.

Helene is free.

Smolkin, saddle the horse.

- Pendragon, wait!

- What is it, Livia?

- 'Tis sad that I must be the one to bear such dark news,

but I have lately learned Helene escaped

but to be taken again.

- Taken?

Nay, it cannot be, I've but left in my room.

- 'Tis true.

Look in the glass.

(eerie music)

(hoofbeats pounding)

She is at Scroop's tavern.

Take wings.

- Hold fast to her head, old warty Meg.

Smolkin is coming.

- The hour is done.

Come, we must return to my cottage.

- Nay, he will be here soon, I know it.

- He knows the sand has run its course

and will go to my place instead of this.

Come!

(dramatic music)

- Downstairs.

Scroop, where is she?

- Meg Maud?

She's gone some time.

- Not the hag, I speak of Helene.

- Helene, the witch?

(chuckles) She'd never get by the charms upon my door.

I thought she was at the Tower?

- She has escaped and roams the countryside.

Take care, Scroop, take care.

She's mad and crafty.

- I shall take care indeed.

No one can say that Scroop is one to lose his head.

- Scroop is a liar, and a head is needed for the Sabbath.

(Scroop screaming)

A goblet for my pearl.

(Helene gasping) - Oaf!

We try to preserve her life,

and you would frighten her out of it.

Why are you here, Smolkin?

- All the land is busy tonight and I am busy too.

I've come to tell you of those who travel in the night.

- Speak with sanity, fool!

- Livia and her imp are flying up and down the night

intent on murdering this elf in spite of dying.

- Into the house.

Who else is traveling tonight?

- No one else except Pendragon,

who I think has gone to lay a siege upon the Tower of Death.

(Helene gasping)

(Pendragon and Gobbo struggling and grunting)

(Gobbo groaning)

- It can't be done Quintus, never.

- I've seen it in Nepal.

- Oh, the work of charlatans.

The rational mind can accept just so much.

- I'm going to do it, Professor.

- Even if you could do it, you can't leave her now.

If you don't awaken her before dawn,

she'll die in the past.

- No, she's escaped in the past.

If she does not die where and when she really did

in the unchanged past, she'll die now.

She'll live none of her future lives.

- How do you know when she died?

- We sent Diana.

Diana freed Helene, who was to have died at dawn.

Her entire destiny's been thrown out of balance.

- You-- - I must learn everything.

- You can't do it, Quintus.

- I'm going to do it.

I'll need a cardiograph.

- Now look, I won't tolerate-- - I'll get it myself.

(eerie music)

- [Livia] Pendragon, where do you go in such dejection?

- To visit Meg Maud.

I could not free Helene from the Tower.

Now all is lost, Livia.

- Then I must help thee save her.

- Help me?

How?

You could not split the tower stones.

- Perhaps I could.

I could not tell you before but...

Now because I love thee, because I must help thee,

I am a witch.

- A witch?

- I know you must loathe me for it,

so I held my tongue until the day I could hold thy heart.

Now I know you have loved Helene too much to think of me

or any other in the land.

- Witch!

- I would not hurt thee for the very throne of Hades.

I will use my powers to release Helene.

- How would you free her?

- By witchcraft and black magic.

'Tis the only way.

- If witchcraft be the only out, I'll take it.

Whatever the cost.

- Then thou must sell thy soul.

- [Pendragon] What?

- There is but one anywhere who can help you now.

That is the devil, and he claims a price.

For thy soul, he'll free Helene.

- I'll do it.

- We'll join the Sabbath soon.

First Pendragon, give to me thy gift of one embrace,

no more, to warm the chill upon this witch's heart.

Oh, forgive me if this chill brings out

the wildness of my blood.

- It will be necessary for you to put me through

four rapid stages of hypnosis.

Auto suggestion on my part will help speed the process.

- I don't approve of this Quintus,

acting as your accomplice.

- Watch the dials on the machine, Professor.

When Diana's brainwaves blend with mine

and become one, stop.

You will know it is in effect.

- No two brains can merge totally and move freely

on the same wavelength, it's impossible.

- Please, Professor, we must hurry.

The time here probably matches the time then,

which means we're close to midnight.

The time of all the Witch's Sabbaths.

- All right.

Then relax, Quintus.

Look into my eyes.

We're both after the same thing.

Sleep.

You're asleep.

Total, complete sleep.

A profound sleep.

- Halt.

The hour of 12 descends.

Take you each a separate road.

If the witch you see, kill it, but tarry not.

(eerie music)

(Knight shouting)

- Why must you venture to that unholy rite?

- If I am to know what tricks are in store for thee,

I must go to Smolkin's field and view the games.

I'll be discreet and keep myself well hid.

This lout here will guard you, aye, Smolkin?

- Pray guard thy soul, Meg Maud.

When first we met this night, I thought thee a witch.

Now I love thee as an angel.

- Stay by my hearth, and listen not to voices in the night.

- Take care.

(eerie music)

- How soon will-will Satan come?

- He's already here.

In some wisp of slinking fog.

He'll show his form when all the beggars have arrived.

- Sir knight, I beg thy protection.

- I cannot protect you, I've got troubles of my own.

Wait!

Do you know the way to a place called Meg Maud's?

- Nay, I seek but one place, home.

We're too near to the Sabbath ground.

- The Witch's Sabbath?

Where is it?

- Only a madman went to such a place!

Thy lance would bend-- - Where?

- Left to where the path forks, under the ruined churchyard.

(eerie music)

- The time has come.

Stay.

I must call him there, the author of the profane.

(bell tolling)

Wait the emperor of hell.

Prince of Darkness,

author of evil,

archenemy of heaven,

Satan, I bid thee welcome to the Witch's Sabbath.

(ominous music) (fire roaring)

- Welcome, folk of judgment.

You have come to pledge your service to thy righteous lord.

And for thy names upon my book,

you shall have wealth and food and safety all thy lives

from ill or want.

Such is my boon.

To prove this be not evil, dark or sad affair,

pray, give my people song and dance and gaiety.

Bid the dancers appear!

(eerie music)

Let the sellers come and speak.

- They call me leper and unclean,

and banished me to forest and swamp.

- [Satan] Your sign, leper, and be clean.

- Never have I looked upon so depraved an act.

- We shall go to him now and soon complete the business.

- I doubt I can do it.

- Would you save Helene?

- Satan, my-my life's been full of slavery and toil.

Would I could have had the better things in life?

- [Satan] Sign.

- Hail, divinity.

I would speak with thee.

- I will hear thee, Livia.

- Here is Pendragon, long beloved of Helene

who waits in the Tower of Death

and must lose her head at dawn.

(Satan chuckling)

- And this man would have her freed?

- Aye, even at the cost of my soul.

- Sign, and she is thine forevermore.

- Pendragon, wait.

Would you sign without a try at bargaining?

- I know you.

- You do, devil.

Satan.

I hardly think so.

- So, Quintus, you have slipped at last the bonds of time.

I knew you'd dabble in my art one day.

- Your interest flatters me, sir.

Don't sell, Pendragon, rent him your soul,

say for a month if he will let her off.

- What say thee, a month?

- Nay!

He's a fool and madman.

Do not listen to him, sign the book.

- I'll hear him and his sanity.

What say thee to a month?

- I say thee off.

What is a month, when I can have thy life and all beyond?

Sign, and for all eternity, hence the woman remains encaged.

- What's the use of this talk?

I'll sign.

- Don't do it, Pendragon.

If I promise you that she will go free,

will you come with me now and forget the book?

- Yes, I'll come.

But if your words are false, I must return and sign.

- Agreed.

- Do you know of some place called Meg Maud's?

- Aye, 'tis but a short way.

- [Pendragon] Lead me there.

(dramatic music)

- Come!

(Satan laughing)

- Meg Maud, how good to have thee back.

- I came directly through the marsh

so that none might see and precede me.

- What fun was had at the Witch's Sabbath tonight?

- Pendragon fights to free thee from the Tower.

He nearly sold his soul, but was prevented by a knight.

Now you are safe, Helene, and may sleep 'til morning lifts

the blanket of fear.

No acts shall touch thee now.

- This is Meg Maud's?

- Go in, she's waiting.

(eerie music)

(knocking)

- [Pendragon] Helene!

- Does that creature belong to you?

- He is my imp.

We witches each have one, you know?

(pounding)

- Young fools.

The heat of their lips burns the caution from their hearts.

- Well, Meg, 'tis a cold night.

- Aye, and the rascals are young.

Look to the doors and windows.

- [Pendragon] So you have again escaped?

- Nay, I've been here all the time.

- But Livia said...

Yes, Livia.

A knight brought me here this time.

Oddly he spoke, oddly he looked on me,

piercingly deep as though his eyes were knives.

- Tell me, what did he look like?

- Dark, rumpled hair, scar on his cheek.

Tall with the aspect of master written upon his brow.

- Where is he now?

- If he is not gone, 10 cubits from this door.

Do you know this man?

- It is he.

- What has he done to thee?

- I know not.

Some torture that my brain does conceal from me.

Nor may I speak his name.

This much, I do know.

Be he man or monster, demon or saint,

his heart doth hunger for the death of me.

- She is beset.

- Nay, nay, 'tis more.

This is a well too deep for any here to plumb.

She has forgotten some foul sorcery this man has wrought.

Now you must flee.

- I'll take her to the tavern.

- The inn's a roost for bats.

The head that burned tonight was Scroop's.

Smolkin here will hide thee in the wood.

Swift now and warm her 'til the dawn.

(eerie music)

- Hi-yah.

- What is this?

This talisman contains the hour?

- Keeps it prisoner.

Look.

Can you do this?

- Thou has stretched the very night.

Turn backward time with thine own hand.

Thou art master of it.

(Quintus chuckling)

- Let's go inside.

- A bit of holy water helps to chop unholy skull.

(loud grinding)

(knocking)

Who's there?

- [Quintus] A friend of Helene.

- Do you come from present time, from past,

or epochs yet to come?

- [Quintus] From the future.

- You keep odd company. (cat yowling)

(Quintus laughing)

- She's a cat, and to think, I never believed in witches.

- Nor I in men who stroll about the rooms of time.

- Well said, Mother.

Are Diana...

Helene and her friend in the back?

- They've gone, I've sent them far to hide.

To keep that child from those eager eyes of thine.

Here, drink.

The night is long.

What is the color of the heart that can at will send back

an innocent girl from future life to die a grisly death

for the second time?

(Quintus sighing)

- Be calm, old woman.

At dawn, she will live and die,

no matter what we may do.

- I do not like riddles.

Tell what you mean and speak clearly.

The mouse!

Is she?

(Quintus laughing)

You have caught her?

Raise the cup and I'll make mashed weremouse for my brew.

- Hold on, you can't use that big hatchet

on something so puny.

She can't get out.

- Hmm, perhaps she can.

(Meg cackling)

She's good sport to have her caged.

Welcome, Livia.

I see you are in thy cups!

(Meg laughing)

(frantic pounding)

♪ Jack Sprat could eat no fat

♪ His wife could eat no lean

♪ And so betwixt the two of them ♪

♪ They lick the coffin clean

- I must know of your part in her death.

- I transported the mental being of a girl

from the 20th century back through her memory

to the physical being that she was at this time.

She was condemned, but her mind of the future

gave her a way to escape.

This means that Diana from my time changed something

that had happened centuries before she was born.

All that happens in the past

affects all that happens in the future.

- 'Tis madness.

Speak on.

- Looking back from my time,

Helene is already dead by that ax,

but now she is free, unnaturally.

If she dies at dawn, her stream flows on,

and she will live all her future lives,

but if she escapes, she will live a full lifetime now,

and then die forever.

Diana Love and all the lives

Helene would have lived will end.

That is, they will never be born at all.

(frantic pounding)

- So you are right.

Life is her death, and death is her life.

Horrible!

Horrible choice!

- It's a choice only she can make.

- She is too young and innocent to make so cruel a decision.

You are the beast who has caused it all.

You must make the choice.

- I can do nothing now.

You want me to end the trance?

That would save Helene, true, but at dawn,

Diana would die and disappear completely from the earth.

I am not a cruel man, but I can't help being fascinated.

Whichever way it goes,

I'll have known the most intriguing drama of my life.

And frankly, I don't much care which course she takes.

(Meg screaming)

(Quintus groaning)

- Holy water!

Holy water!

(imp screaming)

Quickly to the wood, where Smolkin hides,

and offer Helene thy grisly choice.

(cat meowing)

(eerie music)

- 'Tis good Meg Maud, the mother of the toads.

- Nay, keep him from me! (cat yowling)

- Keep thy place, malignancy.

Stand back and draw thy claws.

- I smell eight quarts of human blood

that will soon enrich the grasses here.

(Satan laughing)

- Ah, we have exalted company.

Quintus, come sit by me and view the mask

from a higher place.

Thou art the author of the piece,

and Satan is the critic.

Come, lest the players cheapen to start.

- [Meg] Go, coward, leave the play to us.

- These mysteries twirl about my head, but tell me nothing.

And yet I feel I'm the cause of it all.

- Nay, not the cause, Helene.

The victim.

If there be someone here with vital speech to tell,

let them give tongue, or scurry to his cave.

- I shall give tongue.

Pendragon, hear me out, and check the fury

that must rise in thee 'til I have finished.

Thy herbalism has its stamp upon thy heart and soul, Helene,

and you are doomed to feel its tearing fangs.

You are entranced.

This is your choice.

Death now, life after.

Life now, death ever after.

- Nay, nay, it cannot be!

Why must I die?

I'll not, I say, I'll not!

- Heed not.

We'll find a finer life.

- Go.

Meet the ax, you'll have a hundred lives to live.

- Quintus and I do bid thee stay.

We will observe the future bend and split

then change with gay confusion.

- Would it were I, this dismal time brings only weal and woe

to Smolkin and his poor enchanted ilk.

- Who is Diana?

What form of woman is she?

- Base and devoid of virtue.

A wanton woman of the streets.

- Pray, die Helene.

Wake and be a wretched trollop.

- Methinks it would be better to escape this age of misery.

- Helene, stay with me.

- Take the ax.

- Let the dawn slip by, and live.

- Go, the time runs out!

(Satan laughing) - Stay, Helene!

- Go!

- Stay!

- Run!

- Stop!

(Helene sobbing)

Tell me no more.

My brain has not the strength to weigh so many wills.

On this madness, I've come to understand one thing.

If I die at my appointed time this dawn,

then I shall live again and again throughout uncounted ages.

But if I live this lifetime now,

those future lives can never be.

You...

You have my beloved Pendragon, my love with all my being.

I must have help.

But it can come from none of thee.

I find that I am one,

and yet, dozens more beyond that veil of death.

These shall be the judges of my destiny.

Bring them to me.

(dramatic music)

- [Woman] I am a poetess.

Give me life.

- [Woman] I am a mother, give me life.

- [Woman] I am a dancer, give me life.

- [Woman] I'm happy, give me life.

- [Diana] I am Diana.

The wasted years of my past are done

because I've lived in you.

The love and piety that fills your heart has cleansed mine.

Oh, I beg you, don't murder me

and all the others you've heard.

- Farewell, my darling.

- Helene, wait!

- [Meg] Stay, do not follow her!

Smolkin!

- Would you care to make a wager, friend?

The sun against the ax.

- [Pendragon] Helene, wait!

- Cease the chase, Pendragon.

Let what's ended end, she knows her way.

Oh, I'll give thee all the love thy heart can stand.

- To love?

Thy putrid love is what murdered her!

Die, witch! (Livia groaning)

(people chattering loudly) - Lousy witch!

Away.

Away with her!

(people laughing)

Away with her!

(ax thudding)

(woman screaming) (people gasping)

- [Man] Lousy witch!

(woman screaming)

- No, no!

No!

(people laughing)

No!

(woman screaming)

(ax thudding) (people gasping)

(eerie music)

(ax thudding)

- Diana?

- I was on time, wasn't I?

- Can you ever forgive us?

- Forgive you?

Of course I can, both of you.

Living as Helene was a nightmare,

and yet somehow through the horror of it all,

I-I felt warm and human.

She gave up so much for me.

It's as though she left me a whole new life,

fresh and clean.

That's why I can forgive you,

and why I can't hate Quintus.

- I can't hate him either.

I'm too filled with horror.

All I have left is pity.

(dramatic music)

- 'Tis finished, eh, magician?

- All but my journey home.

- Oh?

Did you mean to travel back?

Alas, I bare you tidings.

Thy voyage to this age was down a long, long road,

that tied Diana to Helene.

It was a road from living mind to living mind.

One person.

But now Helene is dead.

Her mind shut off and quit.

(Satan chuckling)

No longer is there any road for thee to take.

(Satan laughing)

I fear the joke's on thee, my brilliant friend.

Here, you are fixed.

So make a local life what comfort, sport and joy thou may.

And when thy present years are done,

I'll come a-calling on thee.

Fare thee well.

(Satan laughing) (dramatic music)

(drums beating)