The cramped, twisting downhill tunnel finally widened. It turned a sharp corner and ended in a lantern-lit opening. In a huddle, the three intruders peeped around its last shadowy corner. Groundspider had done it: he had steered them right to the gallery floor.

Moonshadow grinned. This tunnel’s mouth afforded a view of the debris field below The Sifter and more! To his left, further along the gallery, he could finally see the interrogation chamber’s door and guards. Snowhawk. They were so close now!

Groundspider made a hand sign to Moonshadow that meant stay right behind me.

Moonshadow nodded and passed the same instruction back to Rikichi. The freelancer nodded with nervous energy. Moonshadow eyed him: now he looked scared.

Not a good sign from the only team member that had been here before!

Keeping in shadow, Groundspider leaned out of the tunnel mouth to check the surrounding area. He signalled that the chamber’s guards were facing away, then darted out into the long, deep shadow that lay against the gallery wall. Moonshadow followed quickly. Rikichi caught up and the three began to creep along, hunched close to the dusty gallery floor. Weaving in and out of scattered rocks, they headed for the stretch of shadowed wall that lay directly opposite the guards.

‘Look, there are larger fallen boulders ahead, good cover,’ Groundspider whispered. Moonshadow nodded.

Suddenly voices echoed through the gallery, from somewhere beyond the chamber door. The two guards turned at the sound of it.

Further ahead, figures took shape. Moonshadow counted six fit-looking youths; Fuma trainees carrying archery equipment and bokken. He tensed. Once past that guarded door, the group would pass them, and far too closely for comfort.

‘They’ll see us,’ he muttered. ‘If they head on by, shadow or not, they’ll –’

Groundspider’s hand glided to his back-mounted sword. ‘No choice, then.’

Grit crunched under the feet of the approaching six. Each one appeared strong.

Moonshadow’s eyes lit up. ‘There is a choice,’ he whispered. ‘The rock cloak.’

Groundspider gave a single, subtle nod and together they deployed their cloaks, just as they had in the garden before Badger and the Order’s animal warriors.

As Moonshadow drew the camouflaging fabric over himself, he heard the Fuma trainees reach the chamber door and exchange pleasantries with its guards. In just moments they would come striding past, perfectly in line with him.

What if the two odd rocks here in the shadows caught someone’s eye?

‘Hope these things really work,’ he heard Groundspider murmur.

Exactly, Moonshadow thought. He almost gasped. What about Rikichi? He had no cloak! Would his purple-blue night suit hide him in this shadow at such close range? There was still time to warn the freelancer to get behind a big rock or quickly go back.

Turning smoothly, Moonshadow peeked out from under the hem of his cloak.

The breath froze in his mouth. Rikichi was gone. He rotated back, keeping low, twitching his cloak into shape. Sweat ran down his spine. Had his movement been noticed? The crunch of sandals on grit grew louder. They were just paces away now.

‘Look,’ one of the passing trainees called out. ‘Those two rocks … there …’

Groundspider heard it too. ‘Not yet,’ he whispered. ‘Wait for my order.’

Folded up inside his cloak, motionless and barely breathing, Moonshadow listened with desperate concentration.

‘What now?’ One of the Fuma apprentices demanded. ‘I’m worn out, let’s go get washed up. I don’t care about your rocks.’

‘These are rocks we should all care about.’ The youth who had first spoken sounded suspicious and very sure of himself. ‘Just yesterday, these two were not here.’

The detractor grumbled under his breath, then said, ‘Let’s say I agree. So what?’

Moonshadow steadied his breathing. Any moment, battle would commence –

‘So there’s been another rock fall in a so-called stable area,’ the observant Fuma said. ‘And I’m going to report it to the watch officer. Don’t you care about safety?’

‘No,’ one of his colleagues put in, ‘and neither do you. You’re trying to impress!’

Bickering half-heartedly, the group turned and drifted away down the gallery.

Moonshadow and Groundspider flipped their cloaks and refolded and stowed them, helping one another to reset the back pouches.

Groundspider leaned in close. ‘Rikichi?’ Moonshadow shrugged and watched the big shinobi scowl with dark suspicion. ‘Let’s hope,’ Groundspider murmured, ‘it’s just cowardice and he’s hiding back in that tunnel shaking like a bamboo leaf in a storm. We’ll look for him on our way back. No time now for more delays.’

Together they shuffled on, staying low and in shadow, closing with their target.

All at once they were directly opposite the guarded door.

‘Get ready,’ Groundspider said. ‘We need to rush them before any more traffic appears. It looks like the day’s training just finished, so more apprentices are bound –’

Moonshadow pointed. ‘Bound to come along? Like them …?’ He cursed the small crowd that had just entered the gallery from the west. ‘This time, there’s over twenty.’

Groundspider hung his head for a moment, then turned to Moonshadow with a frustrated expression. ‘We stowed our cloaks too soon. Re-deploy, quick.’

They did, and in nervous silence Moonshadow listened as the group drifted by. This time, nobody noticed the two freshly fallen rocks. A handful of the Fuma apprentices were too busy complaining about their instructor’s harsh attitude. Wisely, they kept their voices low.

Once the group had passed, the duo stowed their cloaks again, and Moonshadow glanced back the way they had come.

‘Still no sign of Rikichi. What if he’s been captured or killed?’ he whispered.

Groundspider eyed him coolly. ‘Maybe he has. Or maybe he’s just busy, rounding up a squad of his real friends the Fuma, before they come looking for us.’

‘If he is Fuma,’ Moonshadow murmured thoughtfully, ‘he must have killed our real freelance supporter before replacing him.’ He gave his head a tiny shake. ‘But the rice code … and knowing so much about Brother Eagle …’

‘That code was old, and could have been cracked. And just because he knew things about Eagle’s hair or personality doesn’t mean his entire story was true. Remember what Badger taught us? The most convincing lies are the ones with a dash of truth in them.’ Groundspider glanced in all directions. ‘And Rikichi sure is convincing.’

‘But if he’s truly of Fuma, then why lead us down here? We come to snatch a prisoner from his people, so he guides us right to her? That makes no sense.’

Groundspider nodded bleakly. ‘It does if he was acting under orders from the Fuma. Orders to get us here so we could be captured too. If that’s the case, you may actually be right about Snowhawk. If she is in fact on our side, then their crafty goal is probably to wind up with three Grey Light agents to interrogate, instead of just one.’

Moonshadow sighed. ‘But what if he’s loyal and just lost his nerve, like you said earlier? Surely, if Rikichi was Fuma, he’d be leading a hunt for us by now.’ He showed the palm of a gauntleted hand. ‘Well, where is it?’

The sounds of fast, sharp footfall made them turn towards the very tunnel they had used to enter the gallery. A figure flashed from it, then another, and another.

Moonshadow groaned. ‘Don’t say anything. I take it all back.’

A single line of Fuma ninja poured from the entry tunnel, dressed in training clothes but carrying steel swords. One man led them, sword brandished, face purposeful.

Rikichi.

Startled by the abrupt commotion, the guards flanking the wooden door bristled, glanced in all directions and raised their spears. One of them realised where Rikichi’s group was heading and started forward, hunching as he peered across the gallery floor and into the shadows at the base of the rock wall opposite his post.

He shuddered, then pointed straight at Groundspider. ‘Intruder!’ he bellowed.

‘Which way?’ Moonshadow’s eyes darted left and right. ‘The wind tunnel?’

‘Not if we want to try for Snowhawk again.’ Groundspider seized his arm. ‘Make for the other wooden door – there, to the east, near the wind tunnel. Pick its lock –’

Rikichi, a line of Fuma at his back, came charging at them. Groundspider vaulted over a boulder, turning in the air. Catching Rikichi by surprise, he struck him hard in the chest with a flying sidekick, sending the double agent reeling backwards to the gallery floor. ‘Go!’ he yelled to Moonshadow, ‘I’ll delay them!’

Moonshadow shoulder-rolled through the darkened field of boulders at the foot of the wall. Rising to his feet, he saw the last Fuma in line notice him and turn to attack. He skipped forward, deftly elbowed the man between the eyes and saw him drop like a rice sack. Moonshadow dashed around the outside of the horde converging on Groundspider.

A group of seven swordsmen, including Rikichi, plus two guards armed with spears! Moonshadow scowled as he ran. The big lout could hold them without getting cut, but not for long. His plan to try this man-made tunnel was a smart one: beyond the wooden door, it only had to fork once, anywhere, to give them a chance at doubling back.

They could vanish down a side-tunnel, consult the map, work their way around.

Moonshadow skidded onto his knees and slid up to the door in a small cloud of dust. Behind him he heard the clangs of Groundspider taking on the Fuma, dull thunks from the giant blocking attacks with his leg armour and gauntlets.

Moonshadow quickly retrieved his lock-picking kit from a pouch in his leggings and attacked the lock. A gaggle of cries behind him made him turn even as he probed the mechanism with a thin iron hook. It seemed the foreign-formula Toledo armour had given Groundspider a surprising advantage. Still uncut and dominating the fight, the big shinobi had just snatched up a lightweight Fuma trainee. As Moonshadow watched, the giant hurled his victim like a log into a cluster of attackers, felling them. Idiot Fuma, Moonshadow grinned, they hadn’t learned yet not to bunch up when fighting together!

With a click, the lock gave way and Moonshadow pressed on the door with his palm. It creaked loudly and opened a fraction. He stood up, turning on the spot as fresh cries echoed through the gallery.

Groundspider had just evaded his bedraggled foes and rolled away. He was heading for Moonshadow, scattering tetsubishi in his wake.

The impulsive trainees chasing Groundspider soon started to shriek and fall to the floor, clutching at their punctured, bleeding feet. Rikichi, who had only just recovered from Groundspider’s kick, leapt the tetsubishi and his prone comrades with ease. His face was contorted with rage.

Behind the hapless trainees, the two chamber guards acted with more restraint. Exchanging nods, they fell back together to block the way east and at the same time watch their allocated post.

Groundspider, drenched with sweat and sporting dents in his thigh armour, reached Moonshadow at the door. Three men, one of them Rikichi, still pursued him.

‘Go!’ The giant grunted and together they pushed the door open wide.

The sound of its creaking hinges, along with every other noise in the gallery, was instantly drowned out by a long, furious roar that blasted from the man-made tunnel. The cry was incredibly loud, stomach-knotting, and it died away with a sorrowful throb.

Moonshadow recalled what he had somehow forgotten in the wild, distracting melee of the chase: this was that tunnel.

He cursed. There was no going back. They were committed now to flee to where something huge and nasty was waiting for them.

After trading a glance, the pair ran into the dark tunnel, the enemy close behind.