And then Gunnar reached forth and took the stem of the huge torch high up in his hands and bowed his back. The lamp rocked upon its pedestal and then came crashing forward. Its fuel spilled down and caught fire as it fell. Flames leaped up and lashed out at the Lorens. The fierce flames drove the attackers farther back. But in falling, the great lamp careened and half of its liquid had splashed across the entrance to the tunnel. It caught fire. Gunnar gasped as it struck him. Then he strode forward, like a dwarf-king advancing from Hell. A thrown knife caught him in the chest. Gunnar took another step, and another knife caught him below the throat. He stood there, trying to go on, and a mace thudded against his temple. Gunnar reeled back into the flames. CHAPTER 17 A deadening quiet fell over the huge room where Maya's and Ato's little armies were making their last stand. The flames were dying out in the tunnels and on the stairway. They fed more fuel to the fires and waited. Maya was at Odin's side now. They clung together. Jack Odin kissed her and swore that they would never be parted again. "Until death--" Maya said and raised her lips to his. He shivered. It was a promise and an assurance that might be kept too soon. The fires could not burn much longer. Grim Hagen's power over the Lorens might be questioned after the havoc that had been wreaked in the city above. But Hagen and his white-skinned soldiers could still fight. And Grim Hagen's hate was hotter than the fires that were now dying out in the tunnels. Ato joined them. He had proven himself a general. Outnumbered all the way, he had broken Grim Hagen's lines time and again during that awful night. "I think we had better wait behind the barricades and make our last stand upon the balcony," he said. "We can't defend five entrances at the same time." Odin agreed. "Some of Maya's people are unarmed. We still have a few of the Lorens who joined us. They are good fighters. Better than the Lorens who are with Grim Hagen. Apparently, he drew his following from the weakest among them." "Aye," Val the Loren agreed. He had fought near Ato's side all through the night, and his lean left hand was rubbing two deep cuts across his chest. "They have already had enough. But they have asked the wild things of the moss-country to dine with them, and now they can't get rid of their guests. If Grim Hagen and his soldiers should die, they would give up in a minute." "Are your men still armed, Val?" Odin asked. "Aye. They know to hang on to their weapons." "Not all of Maya's people are," Odin said. "I don't like the idea of the children and old men fighting." "Children and old men have fought before," Ato answered simply. "If this should be the last time, then the battle would be worth the blood. Anyway, I have set them to fashioning lances and staves from wood that we saved from the fires." They waited. All the troops and all the weapons were moved behind the barricade.