(First half here.)
21. (Village square. DOCTOR crosses it purposefully. He tries to go in Church, but finds the doors are locked. He pushes against them, to no avail. He steps back, looking up at it. He looks round to see MEABH is standing near him. The archetypal “bonnie lass”, she may or may not resemble the young blonde Nina Nesbitt, and carries a fairy-tale-style wicker basket.)
MEABH (sultry): Hello there.
DOCTOR (awkwardly): Oh. Hello.
MEABH: I’m Meabh.
DOCTOR: I see.
MEABH: It’s very nice t’ meet yer.
DOCTOR: Oh… well… yes. I mean, likewise.
MEABH (enthusiastically): D’yer think?
DOCTOR (airily): Well… you know…
MEABH: I was away to the woods to gather some wild mushrooms. But I’d rather no’ go on me own. Perhaps you’d like t’ come with me?
DOCTOR: There aren’t any.
MEABH (taken aback): Wha’?
DOCTOR: Woods. There aren’t any round here. Just open heathland. The soil would be too acidic for trees to grow. Though low shrubs...
MEABH (interrupting): Well… would y’ like to take a walk with me anyway?
DOCTOR (evasively): Well I’d like to, yes, but… bit busy right now, you know.
MEABH (clearly put out): Busy? Doin’ wha’?
DOCTOR: Oh, there’s… things and... stuff. To do. Time waits for no man. Anyway, if you’d excuse me I’d better be off.
(DOCTOR walks off. MEABH remains, looks displeased.)
22. (Around corner from square, DOCTOR goes to Church window. Wooden shutters are closed. He looks round, picks up a big stone and then strikes them until they go in. He climbs in through window.)
23. (DOCTOR lands inside Church. He looks round. It clearly hasn’t been used in years, the pews not lined up but piled. He goes up to pulpit, and finds an old leather-bound book beneath it. He blows the heavy dust from it, opens book and starts to examine spidery old-fashioned handwriting.)
24. (DOCTOR and ISOBEL’S room. ISOBEL is wearing the traditional dress. She admires herself in it in the mirror, while humming the tune. DOCTOR rushes in, purposefully.)
DOCTOR (quickly): Isobel…
ISOBEL: There you are at long last. Look, tell me, what d’ you think?
(ISOBEL twirls in dress before him, and waits excitedly for his response.)
ISOBEL (excited): You’re no’ gonna ask where I got it? Oh ye’d never guess, I’ll have to tell yer. It was once Cameron’s mother’s. He gave it t’ me, an’ it fits! Look how well it fits!
DOCTOR (seriously): I see. Isobel, listen…
(ISOBEL has gone back to watching her every turn in the mirror. DOCTOR continues, not noticing.)
DOCTOR: I went in the Church. It’s never used, which was strange in itself, don’t you think? But I found the parish records. The birth date of everyone here. And there’s not a single one less than two hundred years ago.
ISOBEL: Och, you’d see shadow where’s nae even any sun. People take on the name o’ their parents in these parts. They keep t’ tradition.
DOCTOR: This village, was it even on your map?
ISOBEL: And why would I be lookin’ for it on the map when we’re already here?
DOCTOR: Okay, what about its name? Remember it?
ISOBEL (uninterested): No.
DOCTOR: Mierlach Anam. Know what that is in Gaelic? “Soul thieves”. Why would it be called that?
ISOBEL: How would I know such a thing? My parents were lowlands folk. It was Scots they spoke.
DOCTOR: And the skeleton in the cave? With the magic signs?
ISOBEL: So there was. Some miles from here, as I recall.
DOCTOR (getting desperate): Well... what about the weather? We’re right up in the highlands. And the sun’s been out the whole time.
(ISOBEL pauses.)
ISOBEL: Okay, I’ll grant yer that one’s a bit unusual.
(ISOBEL looks perturbed for a second, then a more reassuring idea strikes her.)
ISOBEL: But then, if there’s danger here, your stick thing would be bleepin’. It’s no’ made a sound.
DOCTOR (impatiently): I don’t know, I don’t know why it hasn’t. But something’s wrong here. Very wrong. I know it!
ISOBEL (rounding angrily on DOCTOR): Oh you know things now, do you Doctor? Doctor, I took to callin’ you that, did I not? Because you’re not really very sure what your own name is, are yer? The truth is you’re no’ well and needed me t’ look after yer. Not that you’d know it from the thanks I’ve been getting. I think you’d have me trudgin’ round the British isles after you, on some fool quest or other. An’ none o’ this fits your wee plan. But, despite what you’ve been thinkin’, you’re no’ my keeper. I make my own way. I think I’ll be off now. In search o’ better company.
(ISOBEL starts to storm out the room.)
DOCTOR (to her back): Ask Cameron why they never use the Church.
ISOBEL (not looking round): I’ll be askin’ him what I choose.
(ISOBEL slams door behind her.)
25. (MEABH crosses village, looking carefully around her. She goes behind one cottage. CAMERON is already there. They break into a low-voiced but animated conversation.)
MEABH: You had the easy catch, so I see. No more t’ do than stand there as the wench flung he’self at yer like she’d never seen man before. Me, I got the coldest fish o’ the loch.
CAMERON: Keep tryin’.
MEABH (despairing): To what end? The man’s a stone! I’d as well plunge me arm in th’ winter stream t’ warm it!
CAMERON: You know what’s at stake here. Just as much as me. Harvest time is nearly here.
(Pause)
MEABH (dourly): Aye, it is. (pleading) But what if it canna be done?
CAMERON (reassuringly): Think of all the times you’ve done this before. There’s no’ been a heart yet you couldnae bend towards ye’. Come now, give me some o’ that winnin’ smile.
(Crossly, MEABH gives him a grimace-grin. Then breaks out a sweet smile.)
CAMERON: That’s the one. You’d be meltin’ my heart too. If I still had one.
(MEABH’s smile immediately becomes a scowl.)
MEABH: Don’t joke about it. There’s nothin’ less funny.
CAMERON: Yer right. Sorry.
(DOCTOR is shown to be standing behind nearby cottage, eavesdropping. He moves off.)
26. (Heathland, at the base of a path going uphill. CAMERON sees ISOBEL approaching. He holds up his hand in greeting, bandaged in cloth, and smiles broadly.)
CAMERON: I’m a mended man.
ISOBEL (smiling back): You’re an old crabbit, is what you are.
(CAMERON affects considering this.)
CAMERON: Harsh. But true. Am I forgiven then?
ISOBEL (playfully): You are not. I’ll be milkin’ this for all it’s worth.
CAMERON: I consider m’self suitably reprimanded. Well, shall we?
(CAMERON gestures up the path.)
27. (Top of hill. CAMERON holds ISOBEL’S hand to help her over style. She crosses, and they continue holding hands as they look out over the expansive view.)
ISOBEL: It’s a grand sight, right enough.
CAMERON: Glad to hear it passes muster.
ISOBEL (looking around): So where would be the next village to yours?
CAMERON (airily): Oh, awhile away I think… (quickly) ...perhaps we should speak o’ bein’ wed.
ISOBEL (mockingly): Well it’s about time you offered t’ make an honest women o’ me. I hope y’ve booked the church already.
CAMERON: Well, I’ve been thinkin’ different to that.
ISOBEL (surprised): What, not to marry in the Church? But that Church o’ yours seems so fine.
CAMERON: From the outside, I’ll give yer. Inside there’s… work needs doin’. Besides, we follow the old ways here. Not for us stuffy Church weddin’s wi’ solemn sermons, starchy collars an’ no dancin’. We marry out here, in God’s country. A handfasting’s our thing.
ISOBEL: A wha’?
CAMERON (excitedly): A handfasting. The couple’s hands are bound together to symbolise the union. Like… (rummages in his pockets, pulls out a handkerchief) … well, something finer than this for the big day, I should hope, but… (wraps the handkerchief around both their hands) ...and so we’re bound together.
ISOBEL: I see. Well… that just leaves the question o’ when.
CAMERON: There’s the morrer. (catches himself) Sorry, that’s foolish o’ me. Too soon…
ISOBEL: And why not the morrer?
CAMERON: D’ yer think so? Well… folk will show surprise. But if we’re both agreed...
ISOBEL: We are.
(They embrace.)
ISOBEL (still in embrace): What’s this work, that needs doin’ in the church?
CAMERON (airily): Oh… all sorts…
28. (Dawn over village.)
29. (Inside ISOBEL and DOCTOR’S cottage. ISOBEL sleeping soundly in her bed. Shadow falls across her. It’s revealed to be the DOCTOR, up and ready, backpack on back. Silently, he leaves.)
30. (View over Highlands, with a higher sun.)
31. (In cottage. ISOBEL wakes. She hears a clamour of voices from outside. She goes to window, pushes shutter open and looks out. We see past her into town square, which is milling with people, an agitated bustle. As before, they’re all male. CAMERON and LACHLAN stand talking in the centre, quite intently but inaudibly at this distance.)
32. (ISOBEL, now dressed, comes out of cottage door. People still mill about but she makes directly for CAMERON and LACHLAN, camera following her. They become audible but, intent on what they’re saying, don’t see her approach.)
CAMERON (crossly): And was no watch bein’ kept? After Stuart...
LACHLAN: There was so. How he got past, that we nae know.
CAMERON: Seems clear to me someone was off foolin’.
LACHLAN: Any notion where he’d take to?
(CAMERON thinks hard.)
CAMERON: The cleft in the rock. By the iron engine road. The woman said they sheltered there the first night.
LACHLAN: We’ll try there…
(ISOBEL has by now almost reached them. LACHLAN spots her.)
LACHLAN (to CAMERON): Watch out now.
ISOBEL (concerned): What’s all this?
CAMERON: It’s that friend of yours. He’s… (breaks off)
ISOBEL: He’s what?
CAMERON: Gone.
ISOBEL: Gone? Where?
CAMERON: That’s just what we aim t’ find out. Did he say anythin’ amiss?
ISOBEL: Well, we argued… I spoke sharply to him, I’d have to say that. He’s no’ been well, y’ know.
CAMERON (nodding): The moors can be treacherous, I’ll no’ lie to yer. But..(brightening) …we know the ways around here. We’ll find him.
ISOBEL: I’ll come wi’ yer.
CAMERON: No, you stay here. Where it’s safe.
ISOBEL: I’ll stick wi’ you. I’ll no go wanderin’ off as well.
CAMERON: There’s too much risk. I canna allow it.
ISOBEL (becoming angry): “Allow it?” This man’s under my care, and I’ll go look for him if I say so.
CAMERON (furious): Zounds, woman, can you no’ do as you’re bid? I’m tellin’ ye’ clear enough. Stay here.
(ISOBEL seems conflicted over how to respond.)
ISOBEL (meekly): If yer say so.
CAMERON (quickly): Besides, you’d best stay here in case he returns.
ISOBEL: Aye, that’s true.
33. (Cottage. ISOBEL sits alone, on her bed, twitchily frustrated.)
ISOBEL: This is me. Sittin’ at home twiddlin’ me thumbs when important work is to be done. Aye, this is so me.
(CAMERON enters, looking sombre.)
ISOBEL (hopeful): Is he found?
CAMERON: He’s not.
(CAMERON sits down in a chair, dejected.)
CAMERON: We searched all over. High and low.
ISOBEL: I keep thinkin’ how… he could be out there somewhere, lyin’ injured.
CAMERON: I know. And we’ll go out again, I promise. But we’ve had to call the search off f’ now.
ISOBEL (taken aback): Call it off? What for?
CAMERON (indignant): Have y’ forgot? This is the day we’re to be wed.
ISOBEL: I have not! And so we will. But right now we need to…
CAMERON (crossly): It’s arranged, woman. High noon today. Do y’ not know what it means to be man and wife? It means y’ have duties.
ISOBEL: O’ course I know that. But…
(Gradual close-up of ISOBEL, so we end up only seeing her distraught face, CAMERON’s voice coming from off.)
CAMERON: I’m not sure that you do. You seem full o’ foreign ways. In fact, let this be the test o’ it. You’ll marry me today, as I say, or not at all.
ISOBEL: I can’t believe what you’re sayin’. I can’t even think of this while the Doctor’s...
CAMERON: So y’ want to be married, but in the same breath y’ say it’s no’ me your husband you’re thinkin’ o’. Is that right?
(Pause)
ISOBEL (meekly): No, no, you’re right. I’m sorry. I was bein’ selfish. The weddin’ should go ahead. As you will it.
34. (Village square. CAMERON and ISOBEL stand side-by-side before OLD MAN. All villagers stand around them.)
OLD MAN (loudly, public speaking voice): Now, with all here to witness, let ye be fastened.
(CAMERON takes out a bright red ribbon. He and ISOBEL hold their hands out alongside one another. The OLD MAN ties the ribbon round their hands and lower forearms. CAMERON smiles to ISOBEL. She smiles a slightly forced smile back.)
OLD MAN: It’s done. They are as one.
(Villagers cheer.)
OLD MAN: Now, do all ye assembled support this union o’ man and wife, and affirm they should be wed today?
VILLAGERS (chanting as one): We do.
OLD MAN (quietly, to the couple): We need to go through this next bit. It’s nothin’ t’ fear. (loudly again) Does any person here have reason why this union should not occur this day?
(Silence.)
OLD MAN: Then I proclaim...
VOICE FROM OFF: I do.
(Consternation among the Villagers, everyone looking around.)
VILLAGER (pointing): Up there!
(THE DOCTOR is standing on the Church roof, by the bell tower.)
ISOBEL (pleased): Doctor, we were lookin’ all over for yer!
DOCTOR (calmly): I know, I heard.
ISOBEL: We were so worried an’… what are y’ doin’ up there, anyhow?
DOCTOR: Saying this wedding can’t go ahead. (beat) Aren’t you going to ask why?
CAMERON: Ach, the man’s wrong in the head! You said so yourself! We should take no notice o’ him.
ISOBEL (looking straight at DOCTOR): Okay then, tell me. Why?
DOCTOR: Well it’s a funny arrangement, first of all. Why not a Church wedding? I always liked a nice Church wedding. And there’s a nice church around… (looks around, then down) … that’s it, right here.
CAMERON (scoffing): And what is t’ you how we’re wed? (To Villagers) This is no lawful impediment. Just idle jealousy, tryin’ to spoil a good woman’s weddin’ day.
DOCTOR: Well, it seems a waste of a good church to me. But have it your way if you want. Surely, though, we can have a few bells.
CAMERON (urgently): No!
(CAMERON moves forwards, but is held back by being handfastened to ISOBEL. The DOCTOR pushes against the bells. They start pealing.)
CAMERON (to other villagers): Don’t just stand there, y’ fools!
(The pealing grows louder. It starts to echo and transform into harsh electronic sounds, something like Stockhausen’s Cosmic Pulses’. The villagers all start to collapse in pain, hands over their ears. As the echo sounds start, the figures start to motion blur. Colour drains from everything, becoming shades of grey. ISOBEL looks at her hand, still fastened to CAMERON’S. His has become dark and shrivelled. She looks to him but, though still handfastened, he’s slunk down and turned away from her.)
CAMERON (agonised): Don’t look at me! Don’t look at me! For the love of God, please don’t look at me.
ISOBEL: Cameron, what is this? Wha’ve you done?
CAMERON (agonised): Stop th’ ringin’.
ISOBEL: No. Tell me what you’ve done.
CAMERON (through pain): Our village was dyin’. Everyone around us already packed and gone. We alone left. We were desperate. So we… made a deal. A deal wi’ things. Things we should never have dealt with.
ISOBEL: What things?
CAMERON: I won’t speak of them, I’ll never speak of them!
ISOBEL: What deal?
CAMERON: Let me go, just let me go.
ISOBEL: I shall not. Tell me what deal.
CAMERON: When others came, strangers passin’, we spellbound them. Sped their lives, like fattenin’ calves. We… we made them our food and drink! Their death meant our life. But less came. Less and less. You would have been the last, I think, even if… unfasten me, please unfasten me… let us die.
(ISOBEL squats by CAMERON and tries to face him.)
ISOBEL: Listen, no matter what ye’ve done, no matter what you’ve become, I canna let yer die. Life is to be preserved. I’m a nurse, I took an oath on that.
(CAMERON suddenly looks up, his features sunk into grey shadow on his face.)
CAMERON (angrily): Do y’ not understand, you great foolish she-cow? We only ever needed yer for use. There’s farmers care for their cattle more than I do you. Now cut me loose!
ISOBEL: Whatever the truth o’ that…
CAMERON (interrupting): That’s the truth right there, and there’s no more to be said. So cut me loose, I say!
ISOBEL (pained): To die?
CAMERON: I’ve been a shadow thing, neither in the light nor dark for nigh-on two hundred year. I feared death the whole time. But now it’s before me it feels like nothin’ but a blessin’. Do it!
(ISOBEL goes to reply, then her face sets and she pulls the ribbon loose. CAMERON falls into a heap on the ground, and dissipates. ISOBEL looks up at the DOCTOR.)
ISOBEL: Okay, I think you made yer point.
35. (The village, now a ruin, well mostly collapsed, no roofs on any of the cottages. The sky is bleakly overcast. In the main square, ISOBEL is now back in her regular clothes and packing her rucksack. DOCTOR sits behind her. But she moves stiffly, without looking round at him. Neither speak. Stains on the ground mark where the villagers were.)
ISOBEL: It was like this all along, wasn’t it? No place. Just a ruin. In a rain-dirty valley.
DOCTOR: Yes.
(Pause.)
DCOTOR: You know… what Cameron said to you, back there. He’d become determined to die. He’d have said anything for you to let him go. However hurtful.
(Pause.)
ISOBEL: And is there any reason, even one, to think he cared for me at all?
(Silence.)
ISOBEL: That’ll be silence I’m hearin’, then.
DOCTOR: You shouldn’t…
ISOBEL (very firmly): I should. And I do.
(Pause.)
ISOBEL: Anyway, that’s no’ the thing we have to speak of.
(Pause.)
ISOBEL: It seems yer were right.
DOCTOR (lightly): Perhaps I was.
ISOBEL: I should have listened to you. But I nae did.
DOCTOR: You’d been put under a spell.
ISOBEL: So had we both. Mine took, yours didn’t. (angrily at herself) I knew… knew somethin’ was wrong, as much as you. I saw signs. I just didn’t want ta see them. So I believed what my heart said and not what my eyes and ears told me. I was weak.
DOCTOR: That’s not the way to…
ISOBEL: If you’re wantin’ to go on alone now... that’s somethin’ I’d understand.
DOCTOR: I wouldn’t be here now if not for you. They’d have caught me back on the island.
ISOBEL: That’s no’ answering.
(DOCTOR gets up and shoulders his pack.)
DOCTOR: I want you to come. I can’t imagine doing it without you. So let’s get going.
(ISOBEL looks round at him, scrutinisingly.)
ISOBEL: Are yer sure?
DOCTOR: Completely sure.
ISOBEL: Well… alright then.
(ISOBEL shoulders her backpack, and holds out her hand.)
ISOBEL: Okay, gi’ over the map and let’s find our way out o’ here.
DOCTOR (confused): I had the map?
ISOBEL (wearily): Yes, you had the map.
DOCTOR: You’re sure?
ISOBEL: I am. You asked for it. I gave it to’ yer.
(DOCTOR experimentally pats his pockets. Finding nothing, he unshoulders his pack and starts to rummage through it. ISOBEL watches him, then unshoulders her own pack and wearily sits back down.)
ISOBEL: Well, that’s things back to’ normal then.
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