Episode 1272

Aired: Tuesday May 11, 1971

After a replay of Monday's closing scene and the titles, we are back in Petofi's cell as James Storm grabs Roxanne and tells her to "Stay quiet, my dear. If you want to get out of here alive, you will have to trust Petofi." Roxanne is confused, until Thayer David cries out "Roxanne! He is me! He has stolen my body somehow! The ring! Take off the ring!" Hearing this, James Storm knocks Thayer David down hard, and Roxanne screams. As she starts to run out of the cell, she suddenly faces an angry King Leonard and several large gypsies.

Storm/Petofi and Roxanne are in a different cell, being held by the gypsies. Roxanne pleads with King Leonard that her fiancee is not who he seems, but the gypsies ignore her, telling her that they "cannot trust two people who are full of lies." They are then marched outside, to be shown that they "have come here for nothing." Outside, Thayer David is tied to a pole above a pyre. Several gypsies stand around with lit torches. Storm/Petofi looks upon this with some interest, as Thayer David screams for Roxanne to help him somehow. King Leonard announces that whatever secrets of immortality Petofi had will now "die along with him" as he signals the gypsies and they light the pyre. Thayer David screams as he is consumed by the flames. Roxanne looks away in a mixture of screams and tears, but Storm/Petofi watches with a small grin.

Storm/Petofi and Roxanne are back in a cell together, with the gypsies undoing their chains. Storm/Petofi starts to try to talk his way out with King Leonard, apologizing for breaking into Petofi's cell and trying to "obtain secrets that he has no right to." He offers apologies in return for being let go, and the gypsies ignore him. "What will it take? Money? Wealth? Perhaps the woman! Name your price!" he says in frustration, but the gypsies ignore him. Roxanne is horrified at his last suggestion, to say the least. King Leonard summons a gypsy in who is carrying an ornate wooden box. King Leonard looks at Storm/Petofi and Roxanne and says "You came here in search of immortality. And you shall have it. But you shall have it in a form that you will not be pleased with." The gypsies leave the box and exit the cell. Roxanne looks at Storm/Petofi and angrily says "What are you anyway? You have killed my fiancee!" Storm/Petofi says "My dear, we have greater things to worry about now. We must not open that box." Roxanne snarls "No, YOU must not!" as she walks over to the box and opens the lid. Storm/Petofi steps back a moment, but then Roxanne says "There's nothing in it!" and laughs at him. But then, slowly getting louder, we hear the squealing and squeaking of.... the two bats that come flying out of the box, biting both Storm/Petofi and Roxanne in the neck as they scream in terror.

Back at Collinwood, Anderson/Petofi is telling Quentin this story, finishing with "When I awoke this time, I was in the woods hundreds of miles away. I discovered I had been held prisoner by the gypsies for thirteen years, for the year was 1910. Roxanne was gone. I was made a prisoner of the eternal night, the punishment meted out by the gypsies to one they thought was a naive and stupid man in search of Petofi's secrets." "If only they had known you were Petofi," says Quentin, "they might have put you up on that burning pyre and done the world a favor!" Anderson/Petofi sneers and answers "I did you a great favor, Quentin. I told you many of the things you will need to know in the future." Anderson/Petofi takes a step towards Quentin, but Quentin steps back. Anderson/Petofi waves his hands, and all the doors and windows in the room shut tight. "And now I need to touch you, Quentin..." he says as he gets nearer and nearer to Quentin , who is backed up against the drawing room doors, "with the hand of Petofi...."