I washed my wounds and began to feel some strength returning to me.
We didn’t linger for long, and for that I was glad. The sooner I was reunited with Clarissa, the better.
Gallokomas picked me up, shot with breathtaking speed up to such an altitude that the entire forest became visible, like a dark wedge in the landscape beneath us, then we sped southward.
We flew at a tremendous velocity. My hair streamed backward, the air forcing tears from my eyes, and we had to yell to converse. To our left, the red sun glowered. To our right, the serrated peaks of the mountain range piled upward, and between them the sea shone unpleasantly like freshly spilled blood.
“Phenadoor,” Gallokomas shouted. “Perhaps I will return there once I have atoned for my sins.”
“What is it like to live in Phenadoor, Gallokomas?”
“I have no memory of it, but I feel I was rewarded there for my every action, so that existence was fulfilling and I wanted for nothing.”
“Many of the Yatsill enter it to die, believing they’ll be reborn into a better life.”
“What are Yatsill, Thing?”
“They are sentient creatures, like yourself. Did you not encounter them in Phenadoor?”
“Perhaps, but if I did, I have forgotten it.”
We flew on and on. A hot wind gusted from the East. The land slipped by far below us. Finally, the mountain range began to lose its height.
I pointed ahead to where the side of a slope was scarred with quarries. “New Yatsillat is near.”
Gallokomas altered his course slightly. We gradually lost altitude and I saw the strip of jungle and the Yatsill farms laid out beyond it. Further ahead, where before I had seen columns of smoke and steam rising, there was nothing. The factories were obviously idle.
The Zull dropped closer to the ground, cleared the edge of the bay, and flew out over the city.
It wasn’t there any more.
I gave a cry of dismay.
New Yatsillat, which had risen at such a phenomenal speed, had fallen into the sea with equal precipitateness. The huge terraces had collapsed and massive trails of rubble streaked the muddy slopes. The fishing village was entirely buried. There was barely a single building standing. In the awful red light, the whole bay looked like a hideous open wound.
Campfires flickered at one side of what remained of the fifth level. I pointed at them and cried out, “Take me down there, Gallokomas!”
The Zull veered away. “I cannot. I will set you down at the top of the bay.”
“But I need to go to that fire. My companion may be there.”
“I must ask forgiveness, Thing, for I find that I possess an inexplicable aversion to the creatures you call Yatsill.”
“I assure you, they are harmless.”
“I am not afraid, but I cannot approach them.”
Though I was beside myself with frustration, when Gallokomas landed I turned to him and said, “You have greatly assisted me, my friend. I thank you.”
“I will circle above,” he replied. “When you have established that all is well, wave to me. I will see you. But if you require further assistance, return to this spot and I will come.”
“Are you not eager to join the rest of your kind?”
“Later. I cannot leave one who is in need.”
“I am humbled by your compassion.”
Much to his astonishment, I took one of his hands and gave it a hearty shake.
“What was that?” he asked.
“A bond of friendship.”
“I like it.”
I smiled, turned away, and set off down the cracked and crumpled remains of one of the large avenues. To either side of it, the destruction was tremendous. New Yatsillat had fallen as if built from sand. What remained of its buildings stood like the ragged stumps of broken teeth, their upper sections gone, the roofs that covered them disintegrated and swept away. I clambered over fractured girders and piled debris, broken glass and almost unrecognisable fragments of furniture and vehicles. Off to my left, three Ptall’kors were drifting, apparently without purpose. I saw the body of a Kaljoor, still harnessed to a hansom cab, crushed beneath the remains of a fallen tower. I stepped on a sandwich board that bore the legend The Petticoat Parlour, First for Female Attire! and felt a hollowing grief for a shattered dream. New Yatsillat might have become my home. Instead—this.
And Clarissa. Where was Clarissa?
With no little difficulty I descended to the fifth level and made my way toward the fires, where I found approximately two hundred individuals gathered. As I drew closer, I waved and shouted, “Hi, there!”