The Tharians soon reached the junction where they’d have to leave the giant moon trog tunnel, and they looked back at it one last time before leaving it behind. “Hard to believe that people capable of a feat of engineering like this are afraid of the degenerate inhabitants of a half destroyed city,” mused Thomas thoughtfully.

     “Yeah,” agreed Shaun. “Pacifism is a nice idea, but unfortunately this is the real world we’re living in.” Diana gave him an annoyed look, and the soldier led the way on before she could answer him with a piece of pious morality.

     Carefully following the path laid down on the map, they followed the tunnel for a couple of hundred yards, turned left at a junction, followed the steeply sloping tunnel downwards and turned right at the next intersection. This took them to the most unusually shaped cave they'd seen so far. It was circular in cross section, thirty yards wide at the widest point, but was a hundred yards from top and bottom where it tapered to sharp points, like the inside of a huge spindle. It was full of lush vegetation growing in the light of twenty or so fibre optic lights, and half a dozen more tunnels ran away from it from points along its sides.

     “What an unusual shape,” said Jerry thoughtfully. “I wonder why they dug a cave this shape.”

     “Must have had some specialised function once,” muttered Thomas. “The shape’s much too regular to be just chance.”

     “I don’t like it,” declared Lirenna unhappily.

     “Why not?” asked Thomas.

     “I don’t know,” replied the demi shae. “It just doesn’t feel right somehow. And the birds aren’t singing. Did you notice that?”

     She was right, they realised. The cheerful sound of birdsong was entirely absent here. The cave was eerily silent, and instincts that had saved their lives many times in the Overgreen Forest prompted the two soldiers to become extra alert, scanning the cave for any sign of a threat.

     “I think maybe we should get out of here as quickly as possible,” said Shaun, unslinging his bow from across his back and fitting an arrow. “I don’t...”

     He was interrupted by a volley of arrows flying out of the concealing shrubbery, hitting them with terrifying accuracy and stopped only by their glass ceramic plate mail armour. Without it, Thomas, Jerry and Lirenna would certainly have been killed, the arrows bouncing squarely off their chests, and Matthew would have been badly injured by an arrow that was deflected from his upper thigh. As it was, though, the only one who suffered any injury was Diana as an arrow glanced off her skull just above the ear, opening a flap of skin and half stunning her.

     Shaun shot an arrow back into the foliage, but had no way of knowing if he’d hit anything. He forgot to take the reaction into account, however, and was left tumbling end over end in the air, grasping at the leaves and branches around him to steady himself. “Ambush!” he shouted. “Look out!”

     It was a moment or two before their ambushers attacked again, as if they were surprised that their first attack had had so little effect. Then more arrows came flying at the Tharians, bouncing off their armour again as they struggled to raise their hoods. Thomas grabbed Diana by the arm and pulled her down into the shelter of a large elder bush. “Are you okay?” he asked anxiously, but she could only touch the wound on her head and stare at the blood on her fingers in dazed bewilderment.

     Seeing that their arrows weren’t having much effect, the Konnens left their hiding places and leapt through the air at them, drawing their swords. Shaun shot another arrow, missing Glabbro by a hairsbreadth, and Thomas fumbled for a pinch of sand for his sleep spell before remembering he’d run out. He cursed and cast a volley of firebolts instead, aiming at the huge and menacing figure of Rakkus.

     The head guard flinched and threw his hands out in front of him in a pure reflex action as if he could ward them off, but the bolts of magical fire swerved around them to hit him squarely in the chest. They exploded against his steel breastplate with a shower of sparks and enough of their energy got through to make him cry out in agony, but his strengthened armour absorbed enough of the force that they did him little real harm. As soon as he was over the shock he glared at the wizard in triumph, delighted by his look of horror at how little effect his spell had had, and then Rakkus’s sword swung in a deadly arc, slicing into Thomas's side just under his arm with such force that the plates of glass ceramic were driven through their cotton underlay and deep into his skin.

     The wizard was thrown across to the other side of the cave by the impact, and he landed half stunned in a patch of bracken. He had just enough presence of mind to grab hold of the foliage to stop himself bouncing off again, and looked fearfully across at Rakkus, expecting him to be chasing after him to finish him off. The huge head guard had turned his attention to Shaun and Matthew, though, evidently assuming that no-one could have survived such a blow.

     Then he noticed for the first time that the Konnens had split into two groups, with Rakkus himself and four others in one group, the one that had shot the arrows at them, while four others were creeping up on the Tharians from behind, having lain hidden until now in a small side tunnel. “Shaun!” he called out, ignoring the pain in his side. “Behind you!”

     Rakkus heard the shout as well and stared across at Thomas in surprise. “Still alive?” he cried in disbelief. “What does it take to kill ‘em? Barnatt, Harrol, get ‘im!” The two Konnens obeyed instantly, kicking their way through the air towards the injured wizard.

     Meanwhile, Jerry and Lirenna had also tried to shoot firebolts at the Konnens, but with no more success than Thomas. “What’s wrong?” gasped Jerry as the Konnens bore down on them. “Why won’t our spells work?”

     “They're wearing thicker armour,” replied Lirenna as realisation hit her. “They came prepared to fight wizards."

     Jerry swore. "Aim for their heads," he shouted, and aimed his second firebolt spell at the head of a Konnen who was bearing down on him. It was the first time he'd aimed for a specific part of a man's body, and he found himself having to overcome the spell's inbuilt tendency to aim for the upper torso. He could feel the spell resisting him, wanting to aim lower, and he lost valuable seconds as he wrestled with it while the Konnen was getting nearer all the time. Eventually, though, he sensed that the spell would obey him and he pointed his finger and spoke the magic word.

     The Konnen, expecting the bolts to hit his chest and already having seen the spell fail against several of his friends, laughed aloud, but one of the bolts entered his open mouth, exiting through the back of his neck, while the other hit him right between the eyes making the whole top of his head explode in a gory shower of blood and brains.

     "Like that!" shouted Jerry jubilantly.

     The death of one of their fellows made the other Konnens quail with fear, but Rakkus shouted threats at them, promising punishments and torture if the Tharians got away. Thomas and Lirenna used their remaining firebolt spells, aiming for the head and killing several more Konnens, but then they were out of magic and could only swim back to the cover of the tunnel while the remaining Konnens came to realise that the danger was over.

     "Now, you dogs!" shouted Rakkus. "They're just helpless children now. Kill the men and you can have the women. Don't you want to know what shae pussy tastes like?"

     One Konnen did and kicked himself off across the cave towards Lirenna, who shrieked with fear, seeing that her friends were all too preoccupied defending themselves to help her. Thomas called out her name, but there was another Konnen between him and her and he could do nothing but retreat from him, pulling his pitifully small, hand sharpened table knife from his pocket, as if it would be any defence against a sword. Lirenna saw that she was on her own, and if the Konnen had only wanted to kill her it would have been the end of her, but his lust saved her, making him vulnerable to an enchantment, which she just barely had enough magic left to cast.

     “Hey, wait, big fella!” she crooned in her most seductive voice, beginning to unbutton her shirt. “Look what I’ve got.”

     Her words and actions had precisely the desired effect and he tore at her clothes, panting with desire while she spoke the words of the enchantment slowly and precisely, desperate not to make the slightest mistake. “Your friends are attacking us,” she then told him, praying the spell was working. “Help us fight them off.” He obeyed instantly, throwing himself at the man about to attack Thomas.

     Shaun and Matthew, meanwhile, had drawn their swords as five Konnens gathered around them. The light from the optical fibre lights in the cave’s upper surfaces shone eerily on the silver tracery of Shaun’s sword, and Rakkus’s eyes widened when he saw it. “The Runeblade!” he gasped, a worried tone entering his voice. “You’ve got the Runeblade!”

     “Glad you recognise it,” replied the soldier, and he swung the magical weapon at him. The moment their two blades touched, however, sending the two men spinning away from each other, a curiously blank expression came over Shaun’s face, swiftly followed by a scream of animal hatred.

     He looked confused to find himself spinning in the air, several feet above the ground, though, as if he hadn't been swimming in low gravity for several days now. Thomas, staring across at him, could almost believe that the woodsman had been teleported straight there from the surface of Tharia with no explanation for his strange, new environment and he could only watch as his friend flailed around wildly searching for a way to get himself back under control.

     The Konnens, however, had spent years learning how to fight in low gravity. Endless days, weeks and months practising in the tunnels and caverns around Kronosia in preparation for their assault upon the moon trogs, and they put their training to good use. Rakkus had been taken off guard by Shaun’s unexpected attack, but Glabbro grabbed him and helped him get himself back under control, and then the Konnens prepared to dispatch the two Ilandians swiftly and efficiently.

     One of the Konnens swung his sword upwards, so that the impact with Shaun’s body pushed him downwards, anchoring him more firmly to the shrubby ground. The edge of his sword caught the young soldier under the ribs and would have been instantly fatal had it not been for his armour. He stabbed at Shaun again and again, with equal lack of effect, but then he aimed at the woodsman's throat. He drew his sword back, preparing to thrust it forward with lethal force through Shaun's bare adams apple...

     The Konnen who'd been enchanted by Lirenna came to Shaun's rescue, though. "Leave him alone, you dog!" he screamed as he kicked his way over to him. The Konnen about to kill Shaun thought he must have been talking to one of the Tharians and so ignored him until the sword of the enchanted Konnen pierced his neck and he died.

Matthew, meanwhile, was also being hit by Konnen swords, resulting only in minor cuts and bruises where the glass ceramic plates were pressed into his skin, but then Andricus caught his ankle, pulling him down again, and his sword arm was held firmly by another Konnen while a third prepared to run him through.

     “No!” roared Rakkus, however. “He’s wearing some kind of armour! Go for his throat! Here, let me!”

     Matthew screamed and struggled as his arms were pulled behind his back and the huge head guard carefully aimed the tip of his sword.

     The wizards watched in helpless terror, all their magic used up. The enchanted Konnen was fighting another Konnen, but his opponent was a far superior fighter and the wizards gave a sigh of despair as the enchanted man was quickly killed. His opponent also suffered an injury, though, and he kicked himself away from the fighting to stop the blood that was jetting from his slashed wrist.

     Shaun, meanwhile, was only just managing to grab hold of a long runner of bramble to get himself back under control and Diana was still in a half dazed state, not quite sure what was going on. Matthew knew that none of his friends could save him and was about to start begging for mercy when help came from an unexpected source. Andricus drew back his sword and lopped off Rakkus’s head with a single, well aimed blow.

     For a moment the other Konnens were too stunned with shock to do more than stare in disbelief and Andricus, who knew he’d outlawed himself by his actions, acted swiftly, killing the man holding Matthew. The young soldier decided not to question his luck and struck at one of the others, mimicking their tactics so as not to be sent flying off into the air. Then he disabled another, only failing to kill him because swinging his sword upwards went against all his training and experience and he didn’t quite get it right.

     Stunned and shocked by the sudden reversal of their fortunes, the remaining Konnens turned and fled, but Andricus remained, a dazed look on his face as if he couldn't believe what he'd done He nervously turned to face the two Ilandian soldiers, therefore, and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything Shaun, mad and screaming in insane rage, leapt upon him, swinging the Runeblade and slicing through his steel breastplate as though it were made of paper. A spray of blood gushed from his chest, and with a savage, tearful cry Shaun moved in to deliver the killing blow. “This one’s for Megan!” he screamed. “Die, you bloody beast!”

     “No Shaun!” cried Matthew. “He saved our lives!”

     Shaun ignored him, though. He seemed to have forgotten that the other Tharians even existed, and Matthew had to throw himself at him to stop him. “Shaun, stop it!” he shouted. “What’s got into you?”

     Andricus cowered fearfully, trying to stop the heavy bleeding from the wound in his chest as the two brothers struggled. “Let go of me, Carum!” gasped Shaun. “Let me get him!”

     “He saved our lives!” protested Matthew. “He saved me!”

     “Remember what they did to our families!” cried Shaun however. “Your wife, Carum! Remember what they did to Elma!”

     “Who?” asked Matthew in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

     “He’s possessed!” said Lirenna as she buttoned up her shirt. “Something’s taken possession of him!”

     “The sword!” cried Thomas in realisation. “I knew there was something funny about it! Matt, try to get that sword away from him!”

     Matthew obeyed, but as he changed his grip on his brother, Shaun managed to throw him free, sending him tumbling across to the other side of the cave. “Now you’ll pay, beast!” he sobbed as he aimed himself at Andricus again and prepared to throw himself across the cave at him. “Death’s too good for you!”

     Again he was stopped, however. This time by Diana. She’d recovered some of her senses, seen what was happening and kicked herself over to grab his sword arm as it began to descend. “Shaun!” she commanded sternly. “Stop this at once!”

     Shaun began to throw her off as well, but then he saw her face and stared in stunned disbelief. “Tania?” he said in pure bewilderment. “Tania?”

     “No, my name’s Diana,” replied the cleric. “I’m your sister. Remember?”

     “My sisters are dead,” said Shaun, however. “You can’t be Tania! It’s a trick! Who could be so cruel as to play a trick like this on me?”

     “My name is Diana,” repeated the cleric. “Your name is Shaun.” She held his face in her hands and looked straight into his eyes, calling upon all the power of Caroli to break the evil spell. “Remember yourself!” she commanded. “Remember who you really are!”

     Gradually, his grief and madness faded away as the curse was broken, and Shaun looked around in confusion. “What’s going on?” he asked.

     Matthew and Diana laughed in relief, and Thomas gently prised his fingers from the hilt of the Runeblade, taking it from him before it could cause any further trouble. “A cursed sword,” he muttered in distaste. “It must contain the soul of one of its former owners.”

     “No wonder they kept it safely locked in their treasure rooms,” said Lirenna.

     “Yeah,” agreed Jerry. “We were wrong. They knew it was magical all along. They kept it safely locked up because they knew it was cursed. No wonder Rakkus was so surprised to see it in Shaun’s hands.”