Synopsis[]
Flash, Dale and Thun are cut off from their escape and menaced by a massive reptilian cave-dweller, which threatens to devour Dale until they manage to distract it. Even this, though, only delays their seemingly inevitable death until another creature arises, just as hungry, and attacks the first. The two monsters bite and struggle, the creatures that were once their prey driven from their minds, until they finally drag one another off of a cliff and into the abyss.
Thus saved, they leave the stifling cavern, going into the open air - where they are promptly met by Princess Aura, chased down a canyon, cornered against the back wall, and despite an effort to climb away, captured once again. They are brought back to Mingo City, and Ming himself, and while Dale is again forced among Ming's women (putting up a worthy struggle in her own right), Ming decides that he has had enough of Flash's meddling. Despite Aura's protests, he and Thun are sent into the mines lying beneath the city.
Here, they are forced to work among a great many other slaves by whip-wielding snake women. Thun remembers Flash's saving him, even putting himself at risk to do so, in the face of a common enemy, and begins to see what he has been driving toward. He is also sadly familiar with these mines: A man can last no more than a hundred days down here; even a week could take a toll on their health, and while few have escaped Ming, none have escaped the mines. As such, they labor heavily until the rest period, where the food is nearly inedible, until they see an unexpected face: Princess Aura.
Aura, still in love with Flash (or so she calls it; at any rate, it is a great surprise to hear that she cares about anyone), offers to free him from the mines. Thun does not get the same treatment, and when he ridicules the cold-hearted princess, is zapped and stunned for his words. At this, Flash attacks her, and as he did before, overpowers her and demands that the attendant snake-women surrender their weapons. They comply - cuing Thun to incite a revolt among the slaves, telling them this is their only chance to free themselves; only too eager, they rise up against their masters and overthrow them.
Freedom seems at hand, but what seems like mere moments later, a cascade of water is released into the mine: Ming does not want them escaping, and he is apparently willing to flood the place in order to prevent it. Aura knows the way to safety, and without any other choice, Flash and Thun (the other slaves are unaccounted for) follow her up an incline to a tunnel out. All that's left, Flash jokes, is the monster - and he is surprised to learn that there actually is one, lying in an underground lake. Although it is blind, it hunts by sound, nearly swallowing Vultan until Flash stuns it with Aura's weapon.
While the beast is stunned, they continue their escape, making it outside, where they are suddenly attacked by a carnivorous plant - larger than the one seen before - hanging just outside of the passage. All three are grabbed and subdued by the thing, with all hope seeming lost, until it is struck, frozen and killed by an ice arrow. Prince Barin and his hunters have arrived, placing them in little less danger than they were before. Aura in particular is not pleased: Barin has unrequited feelings for her, which she does not return.
Flash and Thun manage to break away, setting traps in the jungle which waylay some of their pursuers. Still, they find they have nowhere to run when they reach a cliff, surrounded by Barin and his remaining hunters - but things take another unexpected turn when they see figures in the sky; both parties, it appears, are now prisoners of the Hawk Men...