Dragon Hunt

 

A distressed Salvatore Landucci hires Mac to help him find his brother Adriano who went off in search of a cursed silver statuette of the mythical Mesopotamian dragon Humbaba. Leo is able to solve the substitution cipher, the only clue to the dragon's whereabouts. Mac is quickly ditched by Salvatore in favor of Leo who of course ignores Mac's suspicions that he is not all he appears to be. Off they go to the piazza to find out which way the shadow of a statue points at 3 hours to noon. 

Leo calculating where the statue's shadow will fall

They follow the subsequent trail of clues to a well outside of Florence and Leo is lowered down to investigate. Sure enough, the silver dragon Humbaba is safely nestled in a niche and Leo sends it up the rope to Salvatore's eagerly waiting hands. Of course, having gotten hold of his long-awaited prize Salvatore pulls up the rope and runs away, leaving Leo trapped in the well. He is excessively annoyed to find that Adriano is trapped in the well too and was tricked in the same way. He seems to have spent his time underground eating beetles and raving about what a genius he is. 

Unable to solve the clues, Mac tries finding Humbaba in a more traditional way

Meanwhile, Mac is disgruntled at his usurpation and he sets out to prove that he can find the dragon just as well as Leo. He and Tom misinterpret the clues and land up in the Medici palace which is on high alert following an attempted assassination of the Duke of Florence. Naturally, the botched attempt is the work of Piero who blames it on Milanese plotters. 

 Mac and Tom evade the guards at the palace and catch sight of Salvatore. When they confront him on the whereabouts of Leo, he bursts into tears and claims the curse has killed Leo and his brother Adriano. Mac is instantly suspicious and quickly concocts a tale of a second dragon, realizing that only Leo can follow the clues and it will be easier to tail the greedy Salvatore. 

Fool me twice: Leo and Adriano abandoned in the well

Salvatore hotfoots it back to the well to take possession of the second dragon allowing Mac and Tom rescue Leo from the well. The three leave the two brothers to argue over the dragon which begins to glow eerily (It's cursed!). Back at the Medici palace Piero at last manages to dispatch his cousin by poisoning him and pretending that he died of his wounds. It is noteworthy that after almost two series of plotting and planning, Piero has at last killed off the Duke. However, the Duke's last words hint that his long-lost son and heir Rocco is not quite so dead as everyone believes. I'd bet my nonexistent DVD of series one that he will likely show up in the next episode to step into the power vacuum and derail Piero's ambitions once again.

"At last my evil plans have come to fruition!"