"I go to die with you, my lord," said the princess simply.
"My lord!" squawked Moore. "Excuse me!" He walked forward hurriedly.
Ross, his face burning in the gloom, took Illeria's arm roughly. "This is no job for you, Princess! There will be danger!"
"Even death," agreed the slim princess equably. "No matter. And the Lord Artana is agreed that I go."
"Artana agreed?" Ross was taken aback. He looked ahead to where Moore waited, looked back over the way they had come, then shrugged. "Oh, well! Here we go!"
Happily Illeria caught his arm, and they strode forward. Moore chuckled in the dark. "Everything settled?"
"Yes, dammit," grated Ross. "Did you ever see such a mess?"
Moore's reply was sober. "We couldn't have a better guide," he pointed out. "And we know the princess is loyal. How could we be sure of some other guide? A jigger who might sell us out to the first Horta sentry?"
Ross grunted agreement, and they trudged on. They saw no one, heard no one, until the first of the craters lay behind, and the Moon terrain sloped down and down into the caverns. They came upon the first two sentries suddenly. Both swung their ray-guns up, but Moore was quicker. His gas-pistol spat twice, and the sentries crumpled.