‘It’s time,’ she said to Silvius. And he nodded, though his hands were shaking.

Tisamenos removed the cloth from the Last Gorgon’s eyes.

Nothing happened. Then Elissa was horrified to see the snakes on her head begin to move and hiss.

A voice came from the head, calling, ‘Father!’

‘My own child cannot hurt me.’ Python, voice distant and rumbling, laughed, and the Last Gorgon’s head shivered and shattered into pieces. Tisamenos cried out in rage and fear.

Elissa had never felt more afraid.

The serpent’s coils were so huge they looked like a range of small hills, their summits shrouded in mist, the sky behind them grey.

The Enemy soldiers were approaching from the rear. She could not hear Orestes. Perhaps they had all been destroyed. She saw Tisamenos throw a javelin that bounced off Python’s scales uselessly. She saw Helenus fighting hand to hand with three Enemy soldiers. His little band of fighters was diminishing.

Silvius prepared the Arrow and passed it to her. It shone with white light, illuminating his desperate face. Then he was off, clashing with a towering foot soldier.

Elissa readied herself. The Bow was glowing golden. She had to shoot, and she had to shoot true. The light lit up the scales and fangs of the great Python.

All around her was the horror of battle. Helenus fell to the ground, defending himself against the thrusts of three swords. Tisamenos, wildly swinging, was hemmed in. Silvius was struggling. Desperate shouts came from every side, and more noise from the distance.

They were losing against the might of the Enemy.

She had to shut out the noise around her. She had to concentrate. Elissa, whole body trembling, sighted her target. The Python’s eye. Red and malevolent, it held her gaze, as if it was looking at her, and only her.

No. She would not give in to it. And, with the shouts and screams of those fighting around her, she shot the Arrow at Python’s eye.

The sounds drained away.

Everything vanished.

She was no longer standing on a plain, and there were no armies battling to the death.

All that remained was the Arrow of Apollo, flying towards Python, but moving slowly now, as if it were being pushed back by some invisible force.

Silvius regarded Elissa in astonishment. Tisamenos also remained, with his sword, still fighting an opponent that was no longer there.

‘What’s happening?’ He let his sword drop to his side. Both Silvius and Tisamenos were sweating with the heat of battle. ‘Where are we?’

‘It’s Python,’ answered Elissa. ‘He’s moved us here.’

She saw they were in an underground cavern.

It must be beneath the crater of the meteorite, where the star fell, she reasoned. Around them the rocks were smoking, and a stench of sulphur filled the air. Breathing in, she coughed.