KRONOS - ...or he'll die.
 

 
KRONOS - [beat; with implied danger] I do mean everything.
 

 
KRONOS - And I thought you valued patience.
 

 
SILAS - Keep laughing, I'll send you back there headless.
 

 
CASPIAN - [to Kronos re Silas] Then you tell him he's an idiot.

KRONOS - Why? For dreaming? For knowing in his heart what we were? What we still are.
 

 
[He takes Caspian's hand in his, takes Silas' hand in his other hand. Brings them together. Silas and Caspian clasp hands.]
 

 
KRONOS - With this.

[Kronos opens a small insulated container. With a pair of tongs he removes a vial.]

KRONOS - [re the vial] An ounce of this in a city's water supply and in two days, a hundred die. A week later, a thousand... a month later a million.
 

 
[MacLeod doesn't answer her.]

MACLEOD - I'll get us a room.

[MacLeod turns back to the front desk.]
 

 
KRONOS - [liking it] The city is dead.
 

 
SILAS - We were meant for battle, men like us. In an age of warlords, we were kings.
 

 
METHOS - We'll kill a hundred, then a thousand, then a million. Until Kronos gets what he wants. [beat] He'll destroy half the world and rule the rest.

SILAS - We will rule. We four.
 

 
METHOS - She told you we burned her village, slaughtered her people.

MACLEOD - And took her prisoner.

[Methos waits for MacLeod to continue. When MacLeod doesn't, he turns back to MacLeod. When it's clear MacLeod doesn't have anything further to add, Methos shakes his head sadly.]
 

 
[Methos's face is inscrutable.]

METHOS - She had much to learn.
 

[The pavilion is similar in size and design to Methos' pavilion, but it's in disorder. Skins and various pieces of booty are scattered helter-skelter throughout the pavilion. Cassandra is thrust inside. Kronos stands over her.]

KRONOS - Show me again what you've learned...

[Kronos begins to open his shirt. Cassandra shrinks back into a corner of the pavilion, terrified.]

CASSANDRA - No more. I'd rather die.

KRONOS - A little death is always at the heart of passion.

[Kronos grabs Cassandra and pulls her close into him. She lashes out at him, striking him hard across the face. Without flinching, he throws her to the ground. He approaches her again. She puts up her hands in supplication.]

CASSANDRA - Please, don't hurt me.

[Kronos steps back and begins to untie the sash that holds up his trousers.]

KRONOS - Smart girl.

[Kronos smiles. Cassandra moves closer, places her hands on his hips, unties the sash. Rather than just remove his trousers, she takes her time, moving her hands over his lower abdomen, teasingly seductive.]
 

 
METHOS - Yes. Perhaps I do. [beat] What if I told you--
 

 
METHOS - The fountain at the Place du Vogue. At three. [beat] There won't be many people there this time of night.
 

 
KRONOS - What are you thinking now? How you're going to get out of here to tell MacLeod? [beat] You're not. Look around. This place is your whole world now, Methos.

METHOS - You mistake me.

KRONOS - Try to leave, and the minute I sense you're gone, she dies.

METHOS - Why would I care?

[But he can't keep the rage and frustration out of his eyes.]

KRONOS - You can't out-think me, Methos, and you can't out-fight me. And you sure as hell can't kill me.

METHOS - [murmurs] You think so.

KRONOS - You had your shot and you couldn't take it.

[TRANSITION TO:]

[Methos looks at a dead Greek as Kronos rifles the body of another.]

KRONOS - Methos the scholar? That's a good one, brother.

[Kronos laughs incredulously, but Methos is serious.]

METHOS - I'm serious. It's what I want to do. Study and learn.

KRONOS - What for? What have you got to learn?

METHOS - Most everything, it seems. About the world. About myself. About who we are.

KRONOS - I can tell you who we are.

METHOS - [dry] Can you?

KRONOS - I'm Kronos. I always have been, and I always will be. And you're just like me. We are who we are, and that's more than enough.

METHOS - Not for me. Those who don't learn from their mistakes, repeat them.

KRONOS - We don't make mistakes. We make history. [drains his goblet of wine] Pour me another drink and have one yourself. You're getting too damned serious for your own good. You're turning into a Greek.

[Methos pours Kronos more wine, and in a life-defining moment, slips in some poison from a ring.]

METHOS - Thank you.

[Methos hands him the wine. Kronos drains it.]

KRONOS - [a slow warning tone] Just be careful you don't forget what you really are.

METHOS - I never forget what I am. The more I learn, the more aware I become. [He stands.]

KRONOS - Where do you think you're going?

METHOS - That's what I've been trying to tell you. [a long beat] I'm finished riding with you.

KRONOS - The hell you are! Sit down! [Methos doesn't.] Don't make me say it again.

METHOS - You don't need me.

KRONOS - There are four Horsemen. There always will be.

METHOS - Find another to take my place.

KRONOS - Impossible. We four are brothers. The blood we spill binds us, only blood can separate us. [Methos doesn't move.] [pleasant] Don't you understand, Methos? The only way to leave the Horseman... [cold] Is by leaving your head.

METHOS - [shakes his head sadly] I was afraid you might see it that way.

[Kronos stands and draws his sword, making ready to force Methos into a fight. Methos draws his sword, steps back.]

KRONOS - Fight me, and don't think you'll live to learn anything from it. [As Kronos steps forward, he wavers on his feet, vision blurring, swordarm dropping.] The wine...

METHOS - A little something I came across in my studies. That potion would kill most people. [beat] It will stop even you.

[Kronos makes one last effort, but the drugged wine takes hold, sending convulsions through Kronos. He falls to the ground, out cold. Methos moves to Kronos' side, stands over him, deep in thought for a long beat, sword gripped firmly in his hands--]

[Methos is pounding in the hinges on the grate that covers the well from which we saw Kronos escape at the beginning of the previous episode.]

KRONOS - Traitor! Coward! Fight me! [grabs at Methos through the bars]

METHOS - Why would I do that? I've already beaten you.

KRONOS - The hell you have! Your head is mine! Your life is mine!

[Methos makes no answer -- just slams the massive bolt home.]

[TRANSITION TO:]

[The massive, ancient, rusted bolt that held Kronos in his prison. He tosses the bolt onto the table in front of Methos.]

KRONOS - So you had your thousand years of study, while I had a thousand years of crusts of bread flung to me by the priests you left.

[Kronos' tone is pleasant, but the undercurrent is dangerous.]

 
METHOS - You're not MacLeod.

KRONOS - [laughs] He's known you a few years. I've known you a thousand times as long. [moves closer] [beat] I knew you'd send MacLeod to the fountain. And you knew I knew. [beat] So I did what you expected. I went and got the witch while she was unprotected.

METHOS - [beat] Then you do know me better than I know myself.

KRONOS - Of course I do. Your plan was perfect. Your plans always are.

METHOS - Then there's nothing left to do but kill MacLeod before he comes after me.

[Methos turns to go. Kronos stops him.]

KRONOS - Don't worry, my friend. MacLeod won't live long enough to seek revenge on the friend who betrayed him.
 

 
CASSANDRA - Untie me, you'll see how much I remember. I'll take your head with my bare hands. You, then Kronos.

METHOS - Then you're stronger than I am. [beat] I had my chance at Kronos, andcouldn't strike.

CASSANDRA - [hisses at him] I'll strike.

METHOS - Whatever. [beat] Love me or hate me, it doesn't matter now. It's Kronos who has the power.

CASSANDRA - Because you give it to him. Like always.
 

 
SILAS - [beat] I found this.

[He holds out Caspian's SWORD. Kronos looks at it a beat, then takes it.

KRONOS - I will mourn him. [devastated]
 

 
MACLEOD - [to Methos] You set me up.

KRONOS - He's the master. [beat] What do you say, MacLeod? Your life for hers? I promise I'll take good care of her.

MACLEOD - I think she'd rather be dead.

KRONOS - [grins] Your call.
 

 
KRONOS - Methos understands what you don't. He knows what I am.

MACLEOD - What you were, Kronos. Your time is done.

KRONOS - You still don't understand, do you? I am the end of time.
 

[Methos seems to be getting the upper hand. Then both Methos and Silas react to an O.S. battle yell.]

[MacLeod drives Kronos from the chateau. Rage and frustration is clearly getting the better of Kronos. With a battle-yell similar to Caspian's:]

KRONOS - I am the apocalypse!