The dinner table of Skytomb was hardly the time or the place for a pleasant conversation. Whether it was Tug Mug wolfing down his food, sending morsels onto the plates of those closest to him, or Red Eye cleaning between his toes before passing the condiments, the table and the manners of most of those attending made one feel as though it couldn’t get worse.

The addition of Knave to the Lunatak family had complicated things a little. While Chilla had redoubled her efforts to not cause a scene, and possibly lose face before her half brother, Alluro had become increasingly difficult. His love for Chilla had grown and, while Chilla kept refusing him, he knew that it infuriated Knave to no end.

"Tug Mug, you will pass the potatoes and not eat anymore," Alluro said, casting his psyche club over the rotund Lunatak.

"Come on Alluro. If you want something just ask for it. Showing off your powers does no good. None of us are overly impressed," Knave said, placing a mouthful of chicken in his mouth.

"I don’t know. It helps to remind you that I can make anyone do anything I want," Alluro said.

"By making Tug Mug do things for you? You don’t need psychic powers to do that. Watch. Tug Mug, if you pass me the chicken I’ll give you a candy bar," Knave said. Tug Mug’s eyes widened and he grabbed the chicken, running over to the ice Lunatak/Cheetah hybrid. "See. Easy as pie," Knave said, tossing Tug Mug the chocolate bar.

"You two stop that now. I will not tolerate you using your team members like that. Tug Mug. Give Amok the candy bar. That ought to teach the three of you a lesson," Luna said. Amok eagerly took the candy bar and watched Tug Mug roll to his seat.

The conversation was subdued around the table following this incident. Neither Alluro nor Knave had spoken of what had happened to them after they’d left. Both had returned with bruises and scars and even Tug Mug could guess that they’d fought. The scuffle hadn’t resolved anything though. The ship they were fighting in had crashed and they had been forced to work together to escape. Now, it seemed, the two were gearing for another brawl.

"Chilla, darling, would you please pass the rolls?" Alluro asked. Chilla looked down at the rolls. She picked them up and passed them over Red Eye’s feet to the hypnotist. On the way Alluro jolted the basket slightly, tipping a candle onto Knave’s lap across the table. Chilla glared at Alluro, knowing that he had done so on purpose. Knave, meanwhile, had blown a sheet of ice onto his lap to quench the fire. "Oops. I’m so sorry Knave. I guess we shouldn’t really be putting candles on the table so close to you," Alluro said.

"I hope you like your rolls frozen," Knave said, breathing ice onto the rolls.

Amok lifted the table over to the side and grabbed both Knave and Alluro. "That will be quite enough of this foolishness," Luna said, "I will not have you ruining food to settle your personal vendettas. You are both hereby confined to quarters until further notice. Dismissed." As the pair headed down the corridor Luna added, "If you fight on the way down the hall then Amok will personally see to it that your legs are broken."

"Of course Luna. I wouldn’t dream of fighting Alluro, without your permission," Knave said.

Knave glared at Alluro as they walked toward the set of stairs that would lead to their rooms. "One of these days your back is going to be turned bastard, and you’re going to find me there to exploit you at your weakest moment," Alluro said.

"Is that so? I just hope it’s pleasing for you to know that no matter how hard you try Chilla will never fall in love with you. That your efforts are wasted. From what she’s told me she would sooner see you dead than in her bed," Knave said.

"Perhaps you’re just saying that because you want to be in that role. For all Chilla’s posturing I’m betting that you’ve seen the sensitive side to her," Alluro said. Knave’s lip curled at this as he replied. "You’re right. I have." Knave then turned and went down the stairs to his basement room, leaving Alluro standing stunned in the hall.

"He’s bluffing," Alluro told himself, "he just said that to get you rankled. And it’s worked. Chilla would never do that. I’d be able to tell, wouldn’t I? One way or another I’ll get my revenge on that cursed half-breed. He’ll learn that he should never mess with Alluro. Now where did I leave that tome of Mumm-Ra’s. It cost me a great deal to borrow it, but if the spell I saw earlier works then it will have been worth it."

A day or so later Luna allowed both Alluro and Knave to leave their rooms and wander freely about Skytomb. Alluro couldn’t be happier. Finally he had a way to get back at Knave without anyone knowing. The first thing he needed, though, was a strand of Knave’s hair.

Knave lounged in a chair in Chilla’s room. "What really gets me is that we need Alluro," Knave said.

"I know. I’d trade him in for a bag of rocks if we didn’t need him around to build stuff," Chilla said.

"Too bad we can’t just get a new hypnotist from the moons of Plundarr. Anyone would do, except for that vile Psychro," Knave spat. Chilla looked away. That way led to dark and painful memories (Read PartyMartian’s Old Flames are Cold Comfort for details).

"So we tolerate him. Him and his bungling. I swear, once we’re back on the ice moon, I’m never leaving there again," Knave said.

"I’ll drink to that," Chilla said, raising a glass of wine.

Alluro smiled evilly and entered Knave’s room. With the ice Lunatak still in Chilla’s room he knew that he would have enough time to slip in, take what he needed, and slip back out with no one being the wiser.

"Well. I’d better get on to guard duty. Have to relieve Tug Mug. It would have to be him, of all people," Chilla sighed, exasperated.

"It could be worse. It could be Alluro," Knave replied, giving her a thumbs up before she left the room.

"Now. A lump of clay, a hot brick, the hair and a simple incantation will give me the power I need to teach Knave a lesson," Alluro said, placing the items together.

"Power and darkness unite. Converge upon these items and seek the life force of the one called Knave. Bind his spirit to this clay and heat the clay upon this brick, that it may become a part of him but also be separate and mine to control. Whatsoever happens to this figure of clay let be done to him!" Alluro said, his voice rising with every sentence. His arms waved elegantly over the clay, hair and brick. Before his very eyes the clay molded around the hair, shaping itself to look identical to Knave, down to the clothes he wore. Alluro was most surprised to see it moving, taking on the posture and position of the ice Lunatak. An evil laugh escaped his lips as he held the mini Knave in the palm of his hand. His victim appeared to be walking somewhere, though the figure walked in place. Alluro produced a sharp pin and gently stuck it through Knave’s left foot.

"So you see Red Eye. By increasing the amount of voltage flowing through the conduits in the ice runner we can thereby increase the velocity at which it can, argh!" Knave cried out, grabbing onto Red Eye for support as pain lanced through his foot. He ripped off the boot and saw a slight indentation on one side and a large welt forming. "What happened?" Red Eye asked, concerned.

"I don’t know. We were walking and all of a sudden I felt incredible pain in my foot. Now it’s gone. The welt remains, but the pain isn’t. Let me try walking a little," Knave said, hobbling around a little.

"You’d better go see Luna. Maybe this is some new kind of Thundercat attack," Red Eye said.

"I hope not. I don’t think I could put up with many more of those," Knave replied.

Under an hour later, after Knave had reported the incident to Luna, he found himself sitting back in the dining hall on a chair. Chilla brought out what was left of a chicken and placed it between them. Chilla ate in silence as Knave described what had happened. She seemed more concerned than Luna had. "She had the nerve to say it was an isolated incident and that I shouldn’t worry about it," Knave said.

"What would she know about it? It didn’t happen to her," Chilla scoffed.

Alluro slipped into the kitchen. He could hear every word the half-siblings said to each other. This would prove interesting. Experimenting, he held the figure over the still warm stove.

Knave mopped his forehead. "I think the heat must be on a little high," he said, the sweat now pouring faster down his face. Heat could prove deadly to any Lunatak. Since Chilla wasn’t experiencing any of this, she quickly called for Luna.

Alluro looked at the contorted position of the figure and carefully placed it in the fridge. He moved quickly away as Amok crashed through the door. "Alluro. Follow us. Chilla called us for some emergency," Luna said. Alluro didn’t really want to just leave the figure of Knave lying around, just in case someone found it, but it would be too suspicious if he refused. Besides which, Amok could probably snap him like a twig without a second thought.

Knave was propped up again in a chair. "I don’t like this Luna. Why is Knave the only one who is experiencing these attacks?" Chilla asked.

"Maybe it’s some kind of strange disease," Alluro suggested.

"It’s not any disease I’ve ever seen. None of us have contracted it," Chilla said.

"Yet. How do we know he’s not the carrier of some new strain of bug?" Alluro asked.

"He has a point. I want a quarantine room set up where you can observe him," Luna said.

"Me? Why me?" Alluro asked, knowing the answer before he had asked the question.

"Because you’re our scientist you fool," Luna retorted, "now take him down to your lab and do what you have to do to prevent us from catching whatever it is," Luna said, guiding Amok away.

"You can use his quarters. There’s a speaker system in there and a pane of glass in the door through which you can observe him. The only creatures that might catch ill are the brute men and they’re worthless to us," Chilla said, helping Knave to his feet.

"You’d better let me take him. I’ll be around him as it is. You don’t want to get sick yourself, do you?" Alluro asked.

"I can manage fine," Knave growled, lurching to his feet.

"Good. You go down to your room and I’ll be by to take a blood sample soon. I’ll even bring you some food," Alluro said. Chilla went with Knave anyway, much to Alluro’s displeasure. He briefly thought about creating a figure of Chilla too, so he could have an excuse to perform a physical, but Luna might start getting overly worried and have him confined to quarters as well. Besides, he couldn’t hurt Chilla even if he wanted to.

Alluro sat with Knave’s figurine before him and a video monitor set up to observe the Lunatak. He was talking to Chilla through the speaker in his room. "Can’t have them exchanging pleasantries, can we?" Alluro thought, stabbing his pin into Knave’s throat.

Knave crumbled to the ground. "I can’t breathe!" he thought, desperately scrabbling at his neck. "Chilla. Go get help!" he gasped. He heard Chilla’s hurried footfalls as she dropped the microphone.

"Poor Knave. All alone, hurt and fearing that his life is at an end. Should I be nice? For now, yes," Alluro said, removing the pin. He then rushed down to Knave’s room for show.

"I saw what was happening on the monitor. This is getting serious," Alluro said as he, Luna and Chilla stood outside Knave’s room.

"Are you any closer to the cure?" Luna asked.

"No, not yet. I only just began performing tests on the blood," Alluro said.

"Then what are you waiting for, get up there and finish," Chilla said.

Knave paced the room. It felt much better to be able to breathe again, though again a welt was forming. He looked in the mirror and saw the deep pits beneath his eyes. He didn’t like things that he couldn’t fight. It made him feel utterly useless. He flung himself on his bed and tried to sleep.

Alluro smiled quietly to himself. Try to sleep would he? Alluro forcibly turned the figurine over onto its stomach and held it there tightly.

Knave couldn’t move. He had flipped over suddenly and now couldn’t turn over. If only he could reach his communications device. Surely Alluro was watching on the monitors. But Alluro wouldn’t help him, would he? Did he place his hatred over valuing his life? Probably not.

There was a knock on the door. Alluro tossed the figure into an open drawer just in time as Chilla entered the room. "What were you doing?" Chilla asked.

"Just trying to see if I can find any references to this disease in one of Mumm-Ra’s tomes," He replied.

"Oh. I brought you the food he’d eaten that day. You said you wanted it," Chilla said, dumping a plastic bag containing left over food onto Alluro’s lap.

"Thanks. I’m sure that this will prove useful," Alluro said.

"I hope so. I’d do anything to make him well," Chilla said. A half dozen possibilities flooded through his mind as to how Chilla could earn this cure, all of them deadly if she knew what he thought. "I’m doing my best. I just can’t seem to make headway," Alluro sighed.

"I’m thinking of going down to the black pyramid and asking Mumm-Ra if he has anything," Chilla said.

"There’s no need for that. I can do that myself. Besides, Mumm-Ra will ask such a high price. It would be better if I paid it, rather than you," Alluro said.

"You can go, but I will pay the price, not you," Chilla hissed.

"As you wish. Look, Chilla, something’s been bothering me. Something Knave said the other day. Forgive me for doing so, but I asked him if the two of you were sleeping together. He said that you had," Alluro said, somewhat surprised that Chilla hadn’t covered him in ice for that.

"What did you say exactly?" Chilla asked, fatigued by her vigil over her half brother. Alluro repeated the conversation.

"Look. I’m going to be more honest with you now than I ever have been. But be warned. If this issue ever comes up again, and I mean in any way at all, you will be dead before the words leave your mouth," Chilla said.

"If it’s that important to you that it remains a secret, I will certainly seal my lips," Alluro said.

"You won’t tell Red Eye, Luna or even Knave himself?" Chilla asked, eyes narrowing.

"I won’t brag about it to him, if that’s what you’re worried about. I trust your discretion," Alluro said.

"I hope so," Chilla said. "Knave was not referring to some wild and passionate night that we had together. When we were younger, we were much different people. I suppose it was our mother’s upbringing that made us soft. Our father demanded that we behave like proper Lunataks, beating us if we failed to be as cold and harsh as our moon. But when it was just the two of us, Knave and I, we would comfort each other, talk about the incidents of the gone by and pray for change. After a time we adapted. We became stronger and indeed made our father as proud as he would let on. Knave has seen me at my emotional best. He knows of my first love, long after Psychro but that’s a different story, he’s seen me cry after stubbing my toe, my dreams, my fears. It was I who cared for him, raised him, nurtured him. I was the mother he never had. ‘A mother above all mothers’ as he put it. So yes, he has seen my sensitive and tender side. But I warn you. That side of me is buried so deep within me that no one will ever see it without me wanting them to, and I certainly don’t want you to," Chilla said.

Alluro leaned back in his chair. He almost felt sorry for the man imprisoned in his own room. Almost, but not quite. "If I can cure him," he began carefully, "would you allow me a glimpse of that side?" Alluro asked.

"If you can completely cure him, so that he never again experiences any symptoms I will grant you a glimpse, yes, maybe even more than a glimpse. But only on the condition that you and Knave make an attempt to keep your hands off each other. I am, quite frankly, getting a little tired of your futile attempts to fight over me," Chilla said. She then turned on her heel and left.

Alluro opened his desk drawer and looked at the awkward position Knave lay in. He held the figure lightly between his fingers and set it down before him. Was his Chilla’s kindness worth ending his perfect revenge? As much as he wanted Chilla’s love, there was still a voice inside that cried out for Knave’s blood. And what would the half breed’s reaction be. He had hated Alluro before, but if he and Chilla started to get closer then what would Knave do? Finally the hypnotist stood and walked over to Mumm-Ra’s tome. "To break the spell and end all wounds one must encase the figurine in ice and shatter both ice and figure with a silver mallet," Alluro read. It didn’t sound too difficult. He was bound to have a mallet made of silver around somewhere. The ice could be gotten quite easily during his turn at being cook. He placed the figure back in the drawer, straightening the limbs somewhat, and began digging around for a hammer.

Alluro entered the kitchen. Good, no one was about. No one was supposed to be around until lunch time when Red Eye would begin cooking. Since it was Alluro’s turn at breakfast it was a simple matter to slip Knave, in a bucket of water, into the freezer unit they owned. He then began cooking some eggs, bacon and a little toast for good measure. He quickly set the communal table and hoped that Red Eye wouldn’t need anything out of the freezer for lunch.

Chilla sat on a stool by the door to Knave’s room. He looked very cold, despite the extra blankets she’d smuggled in. "Get well little brother," she said, feeling a tear trickled down her cheek. No. She wouldn’t cry. It was undignified of a woman of her stature. "Maybe just a few, for you," she said softly, going into another room and weeping softly on the floor.

From his vantage point at the end of the hall Alluro watched Chilla flee to a side room. He’d brought breakfast for the three of them. This had been unexpected though. Now he knew for sure that he’d done the right thing. Quietly he padded into Knave’s room and tried to force feed him some bacon.

Alluro saw Red Eye walking down the hall toward the kitchen and cursed himself. "Red Eye! I have a favor to ask of you. I really feel the need to cook. It helps relieve the stress after all. Please let me take your turn!" Alluro said, hating himself as he did so.

"I don’t know Alluro. Your eggs gave me such a bad stomachache," Red Eye said.

"A stomachache, well then of course you shouldn’t be cooking. Can’t cook with a sore stomach," Alluro said.

"You can’t?" Red Eye asked.

"No. It’s against convention. I mean if you have to, you can, but it’s better to let someone else do the cooking under those circumstances," Alluro said, allowing his hypnotic powers to slip into his voice.

"You’re probably right. I’ve got a sandwich saved from a few days ago anyway. I’ll eat that instead of coming down," Red Eye said. Alluro breathed a sigh of relief as the Lunatak walked down the hall. With his silver hammer in hand he tapped the ice block out of the bucket. Then he brought it down crashing on both ice and figure.

Knave lay immobilized on his bed. He was cold, so terribly cold. While ice Lunataks were accustomed to extreme temperatures, this was like nothing he’d ever felt. Suddenly though, it was gone. The blankets were stifling and he threw them to the floor. His plate of breakfast rested beside him and he began eating. Then he realized that the welts had faded away and he no longer felt ill. It was a miracle. He shouted for joy and danced about the room. He was cured!

Chilla pushed open the kitchen door and saw Alluro cutting a slab of ham into thin slices. "I don’t know how you did it," Chilla said.

"Did what?" Alluro asked innocently.

"You know exactly what you did. Knave appears to be cured. We agreed that he should stay confined to quarters for a few more days, but all the symptoms are gone," Chilla said, moving closer.

"Then it worked. I thought I’d found a cure and slipped into his food. It was a stroke of luck really," Alluro said, hastily making up the lie.

"But it worked, that’s the important thing," Chilla said.

"You haven’t forgotten our promise, have you?" Alluro asked.

"No. That’s why I’m here," Chilla said, "To invite you back to my room after lunch. We’ll work out some sort of reward for you." Alluro mopped his brow and determined swiftly that yes, ending his vengeance on Knave had been worth it.

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