The Zull shook its head. “No. It is a place of peace.”
“Whatever it is, Gallokomas, if the Blood Gods have Clarissa with them, and if they go to Phenadoor, whether to attack it or not, then I have to go there, too. Will you take me?”
“I cannot approach Phenadoor any more than I can approach the Yatsill. It is forbidden.”
“Can you get me close?”
“I would have to drop you into the sea.”
“Within sight of it?”
“Yes, I could do that.”
“Then I’ll swim the rest of the way.”
Gallokomas looked to the East, where the gigantic sun blazed, and said, “My kind await.” He turned back to me and his complex multi-jointed jaw flexed slowly. His expressionless eyes shone with an internal light, silvery and penetrating. The membrane on his back began to reinflate. “I feel the strength of your need,” he said, “and so cannot refuse. But once I deposit you in the water, I will have to leave you to fend for yourself. It will be too difficult for me to remain so close to Phenadoor. It pushes me away. Like all the Zull, I am forsaken.”
“If all the Zull are as generous as you, my friend, then you should not regret your current status, for you are to be admired and cherished.”
He rose a couple of feet into the air, flitted around me until he was at my back, then took hold of me as before and shot upward. We swooped over the bay and headed out to sea.
Once we’d travelled beyond sight of land, I lost all sense of time and distance. Ptallaya was reduced to three elements: a bright red sky overhead, a dark red sea below, and a blood-red orb above and to the rear of us. None of the moons was visible.
I was still weak from my wounds, and even in the best of health had never been a strong swimmer, but if there was any possibility that Clarissa still lived, then I had no option. I had to find her, even if it meant losing my own life in the attempt.
After an immeasurable period, Gallokomas shouted, “Look down to the left, Thing.”
I did so and saw, about a mile away, a ball of orange light slipping along underwater—the same phenomenon Clarissa and I had observed off the shore of New Yatsillat.
“Fly over it!” I yelled.
The Zull altered course and moments later we were above the illumination. I could now see that it shone from the centre of a long ovoid object travelling at great speed just beneath the surface. I felt certain it was some sort of machine.
“There’s another ahead of us,” Gallokomas observed.
We flew on, seeing more and more of the lights, and soon realised they were coming and going from a point directly ahead of us. Then a bright twinkling light, like a rising star, burst over the horizon.
“Phenadoor,” Gallokomas exclaimed. “I will take you as near to it as I dare, but already I feel it pushing me away.”
As we drew closer to the dazzling radiance and my eyes adjusted, it was revealed to be a vast cone-shaped mountain of pink crystal—probably white under the yellow suns—which reared up from the ocean and towered into the sky.
“I’m struggling,” my escort groaned. We began to lose altitude.
“What is it, Gallokomas? What prevents you from approaching? Is there a physical resistance?”
“No, Thing. I feel a sense of . . . of transgression in coming here. I will have to drop you very soon.”
“Please, get as close as you can manage. I can’t swim this distance.”
Plunging downward, the Zull sped along just a few feet above the surface of the water. At such proximity, our velocity felt tremendous, but still Phenadoor grew only slowly before us, gradually rising over the horizon and expanding until it appeared impossibly massive and completely blocked the western skyline from view.
Gallokomas reduced speed, came to a stop, and gasped, “It hurts! I cannot take you any farther!”
I tried to gauge the distance to the shore of the mountain. It was too far for me, I was positive, but I had no option other than to make the attempt.
“Drop me here, Gallokomas, and go to your people, taking with you my sincere gratitude and friendship.”
“I hope you find your companion, Thing. Phenadoor will offer you peace and fulfilment, but if you ever suffer the misfortune of being expelled from it, as I was, seek out the Zull. I will ensure that you are well received.”