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Synopsis[]
Duncan MacLeod encounters an Immortal mystic, Cassandra, whom he met as a child in Scotland. Cassandra related a prophecy to the future Immortal, that he would fight and vanquish a great evil. Now, centuries later, the Immortal Roland Kantos is after Cassandra. He has the power to hypnotize people with his voice, and captures MacLeod, intending to kill him once Cassandra is dead. MacLeod eventually defeats Kantos, resistant to his foe's hypnotic voice thanks to ear plugs he utilizes
Plot[]
In a New York office, a man, Roland Kantos, walks by as the others are leaving to see a man sitting at the desk in his shirt sleeves. "I'm looking for a client of yours." The man says that the issue of client confidentiality is a problem. Kantos says her name is Cassandra and begins to describe her, and as he does his voice begins to echo strangely. Andrew looks a little dazed, then shakes it off and continues to refuse.
Kantos: If I wanted, you would open your soul to me. If I wanted, you would cut out your heart for me. You will tell me everything.
And Andrew does. He's shaking, obviously struggling, but he tells Kantos that Cassandra asked him to find Duncan MacLeod, and gives Kantos the address. Then Kantos asks him to get his gun, and shoots him. Andrew's partner runs in when he hears the shot, but Kantos uses The Voice on him to make him drop his own gun, then he tells him there's been a suicide.
Duncan MacLeod walks into the darkened dojo, carrying a bag. He looks around once more, then as he heads for the elevator he feels another immortal. No answer. "I'm Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod."
A woman's voice says, "I know," and she steps out of the shadows. Duncan only then recognizes her as Cassandra. He tells her she hasn't changed, but she says he has.
Flashback Scottish Highlands, 1606[]
Ian MacLeod is talking about a wolf stealing sheep. Says they have to kill it. A young Duncan is listening with a friend of his. One of the men says the wolf comes and goes "like a ghost" from its lair in Donan Wood. Ian says they'll follow it, then, and lay a trap for it. The other men don't like this much, and Ian asks if their afraid of an "overgrown hound." "Things happen there," says one. "There's been talk of a witch since before my grandmother's time." "Aye," says an old man. "She waits for the one born on the Winter Solstice. She will devour him." Ian says it's a wolf, and says they'll start tomorrow morning. Duncan comes up and asks to go along, but Ian says no. Duncan and his friend Robert decide to go to the woods themselves and try to catch the wolf. They start to set a trap, but a white wolf comes on them and they run. Duncan sends Robert back to the village while he tries to hold off the wolf with a stick. Robert runs, and the wolf leaps...Duncan wakes up on a bed, with a wolf-skin beside him. He gets up and looks around at the interior of the cottage, which has a fire with a cauldron hung over it, and stuff hanging from the rafters. Then he hears a strange, echoing humming from outside and goes out to find a woman bathing in the pool outside. She seems to ignore him while she gets out and puts on her clothes, then she comes towards him. She says her name is Cassandra. Duncan asks if she's the witch of Donan Woods, and she says that some say that. She tells him his name, and says she knows because "who else was born on the Winter Solstice?" Duncan says the villagers say she's older than the clan and that she's evil and casts spells. She says she might cast spells, but does she look evil? Duncan says no, she looks beautiful.
Back in the present, the two Immortals talk, then she warns him the Roland Kantos is looking for him. Duncan and Cassandra are sitting on his car by the shore. Duncan says he went back into the forest a hundred times looking for her, but never found her. Cassandra says she knew he was immortal, and that he would be the one to fulfill "the prophecy." Duncan says he left prophecy behind with the witches and the faeries. She then tells him of a prophesy which tells of a Highland foundling, born on the Winter Solstice, who passes through darkness into light and survives to challenge the voice of death. Duncan doesn't buy it, but Cassandra tells him she's waited centuries for the time to be right. Duncan asks if Kantos is part of it, and she says yes, that he's always right behind her. They sense another Immortal then, and Kantos appears on the rocks above him. Duncan goes to fight him despite Cassandra saying they should leave, that Duncan can't win. "Your confidence is overwhelming. Kantos tells him he's been looking for him for a long time, that he almost had him at one point except that the witch made sure he was nowhere to be found.
Flashback, Scottish Highlands, 1606.[]
Kantos rides up to the village. Ian is telling Mary that they've searched everywhere. The old man says the witch has Duncan. Robert returns then and tells them about the wood and the wolf, and the men leave to search. Just then Kantos comes up and tells them that he's looking for his lost son, who was taken from him 13 years ago, maybe sold or left as a foundling. Says he'll know him when he sees him. Ian says there are no foundlings in the village. Kantos says he'll find him however long it takes, and rides off. In Cassandra’s layer, Duncan is asleep in Cassandra's house. He says he's had a dream of being grown, of leading the clan, and admits that he also saw Cassandra and him together. She kisses him, then a cock crows. Duncan says he must go, but she tells him there's an enemy waiting, that one day he'll have to fight him. Duncan says she really is a witch, and Cassandra responds by reminding him of the story of Connor, telling him that "some stories are true." She hears the voices of the men searching, and says he must go. But as he leaves, she asks him if it was true that he wasn't afraid when the wolf came for him.
Duncan: "No."
Cassandra: "And why not?"
Duncan: "Because good must always triumph over evil. Did you not know that?"
Cassandra tells him he need not worry about the wolf anymore. He turns and leaves, looking a little dazed. He walks out the door of the cottage and meets his father almost at once. Ian picks him up and hugs him. The men return to the village.
Back in the present, after exchanging words, Duncan and Kantos fight, and Kantos starts using The Voice on Duncan. He tells him he's tired, that his limbs are weak, that he can barely hold up his sword. Duncan staggers and starts to succumb. Kantos pursues him, still talking, until he has him backed to the edge of the rocks. He brings back his sword for the killing blow, and Cassandra screams with that same weird echo and he staggers back. He recovers and swings again, but Duncan is able to sway back out of reach and falls down onto the rocks below. Cassandra helps him back to the car and they drive away. Kantos makes no move to pursue them, and after they go he collapses tiredly on the rocks. Cassandra and Duncan return to the dojo. Cassandra tells him he has a little time. Duncan asks what Kantos was using, "and don't tell me magic." "Call it what you want. The power of suggestion. A trick." Cassandra tells Duncan. She admits that Kantos was her student, that she taught him the skill. She says Kantos tried to kill her once he'd decided she had no more to teach him, and that she won because she was stronger than he was then. But now he's stronger, which is why she needs Duncan. She says so far the prophecy has come true. Duncan asks how much she knew about his future, if she saw about him being disowned, about Tessa, and why didn't she warn him. Cassandra says she only sees glimpses. Duncan asks if she sees his death, and she says, "I see death."
Duncan: "Whose?"
Cassandra: "I don't know."
Downstairs, Kantos come into the dojo. When they sense him. Duncan wants to stay and fight, but Cassandra uses The Voice to make him come with her. She thinks Kantos has become stronger because he took less time to recover than she'd thought. When Kantos comes up to the dojo, he finds it empty. He looks around, and spots a picture of Duncan and Tessa. He takes it and tears Tessa off, then leaves. Later, Duncan and Cassandra are standing at a cemetery entrance, and Duncan is not happy that she controlled him. Cassandra says he would have killed him. Duncan says no matter what, they're on holy ground and no one can harm them. Cassandra says no one can escape their fate. She then says, "An evil one will come, to vanquish all before him. Only a Highland child, born on the Winter Solstice, who has seen both darkness and light, can stop him. A child, and a man."
Kantos goes to a police station, and uses The Voice to enlist the help of two cops to help him track down Duncan. He shows them the picture, tells them he's armed and dangerous, and says he'll be hiding in a church or a cemetery. Says they must find Duncan and bring him to Kantos. Duncan asks Cassandra to teach him the power, but she says she can't, that the gift was always there with Kantos. Duncan asks what he should use then, and she says to use the prophecy. "If you're the man, then who is the child." Duncan turns his head... and finds himself back in Cassandra's cottage. His younger self is standing there.
Young Duncan: "Who are you?"
Duncan "You. You're the child."
Young Duncan: "I'm no child. I'm a chieftain's son."
...back to the cemetery. Duncan asks if Cassandra did that, and she said she helped. She asked him what he saw, and he says he saw "me as the child."
A policeman approaches from the street. They get the drop and tell Duncan not to move. He starts to run, but more cops show up and grab him. Cassandra says Kantos sent them, that he's using them. Duncan gets free and gets one of the guns and makes the others drop theirs. He asks if Cassandra can do anything about this, and she says no and advises him to run, which he does. He goes down an alley with them in pursuit, then is cut off by a police car at the end. He gets hit by the car and as he's lying there, stunned, the others come up and cuff him and take him off.
Duncan jumps nimbly over loading beds to get away. They fight, and Kantos starts to use his powers again. Duncan begins to weaken, barely resisting Kantos's blows. The fight continues, but Duncan is losing ground. Then, finally, when it seems Kantos is about to win, Duncan springs up, and slashes him across the stomach. Kantos is astounded and he stares in shock. "Impossible," he gasps, then Duncan steps aside and takes his head.
Duncan: "I couldn't hear a word you said."
Duncan pulls the wax out of his ears. The Quickening begins. He snuffs out the candle with his fingers.
Cast[]
Guest cast: Tracy Scoggins (Cassandra), Jeremy Beck (Young Duncan MacLeod), Matthew Walker (Ian MacLeod), Gerard Plunkett (Roland Kantos), Anna Hagan (Mary Macleod), Allan Clow (Neil MacGregor), Deryl Hayes (Andrew Beckmann), Tom Heaton (Old Tom), Ernie Pitts (Cop), Cluny MacPherson (Robert Macleod), Kasper Michaels (Partner)