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"How?" I whispered

Turn their power upon the is real!" I cried Riser lifted his finger to his poked-out lips, then winked--not in hu our old spirits at this stage of our journey

We folowed as Vinnevra crossed to a path on the right, and then another--this one long and straight Behind, the ferry grew smaler and smaler, until I could cover it with my thumband then the center of the ent dark and the ferry with it

Behind us, below us, darkness Abovethe inner surface of the wheel ht be up there, its false landscapes just barely painted on--deserted cities, blasted plains covered with ashen dust, dead Forerunners, al that we had left behind, including our felow hued out as wel The wheel itselfweb

Too often, in a dreao back to where you were, and if you try, it’s not what you remember If our ultimate destination was to be Erde-Tyrene--Erda--that would violate this most basic law of al dreaht very wel be a spider

Now I realy wanted to piss ust any predator with reat stink!--and run, run, or leap over the edge and fal

Faling, perhaps I would corass and wood slats, hearpots in the next roo whatever Riser thought would be best for us to do

Happy ti back

And if I had died, if I was already across the western waters, clearly I had not found favor with Abada

We walked The dead, some of the old stories say, walk forever and never knohere they are going

Riser was the first to see the spider He poked ed, spiky blue leg--and then another Riser yawped and tried to clislowly, aardly left, I saw Mara, and beyond her--far beyond her--yet another long, jagged leg,to touch part of the web- slowly and delicately across the web

Just as I had feared

It took al the courage or foolishness I possessed to lean back and look up Above, supported by those flashing, sharp-angled blue legs, hung aas a city but upside- down and pulsing with a deep, shadowy light The facets of the crystals craith intense gloor and flexing, the legs had revealed they were not legs, but s vanished, reappeared, then flexed and bowed as if under a great weight

The crystal city lowered over us At its center, an e around it--and extruded the reen eye cast down a darting, baleful light

Riser clutched hter Vinnevra stood immobile with an expression of forlorn, final hope, hope about to give up and die-- while Mara rose to her ful height, squared her considerable shoulders, and opened her mouth to roar

The crystal city decorated itself withback over us, behind us, then down and through the here it paused at right angles to the pathways

The threads ed with the paths and avenues

We faced directly the jutting wal of crystals, at a level with the huge green eye The green eye had becoer Despitelike an animal, helplessly lured on by hastly green in the reflected glow "We’re horeen eye lifted The web of paths was slowly extinguished by darkness flowing from the cobwebbed crystal mass

We have seen this before, Lord of Admirals informed htened, and not because he was already dead He could feel har done to the Forerunners--and that was far more important than his oelfare, or reatest monster We know this one Remember?

But I did not--not yet

Wals descended around us, at first reflecting the jeweled eye, but then scenes and ies played across their pale surfaces like sketches for yet more dreams

Stil, the old spirit refused to be cowed We are here because so Sickness We carry that secret And we have not yet given it up to them If we do, we die!

But the inner voice was overwhelht was squeezed tight, then cra, then projecting a place in which we could al be coreater lie

Chapter Twenty-Seven

WE WALKED THROUGH a forest of old, dignified trees, then over ainsects--none of which tried to bite

At the center of the war, thick wooden table

Spread across that table were al the glorious foods we had smeled before, e rode on thethe what?

Vinnevra ran ahead and took a middle seat on a bench, then sly enough, but she gave me a look that seemed both wise, cautious-- and doubtful

Stil, there was food, there was sun

The ape joined Vinnevra, squatting behind her, and the girl passed her a bowl of fruit, which she delicately pinched up with thick fingers, then chewed on thoughtfuly

I walked around the table and sat across froe bowl, and then a setables, and sliced meat, roasted to perfection and sprinkled with salt Hot, rich, delicious

Riser, strangely, seemed only half-present, but for the moment that did not alarlad; but I could notjourney, hasn’t it?" Vinnevra said, flashing me a happy smile

This forest was little like the forests I had known, thornier and drier The sun was high and bright and the sky was just the correct shade of blue, and there was no

Sky bridge

We ate until we could eat no more, and then decided to leave the table to sit in the shade of a broad-spreading, thick-leafed giant of a tree that rose al clouds For a while, I knee had indeed returned to Erde-Tyrene, as Vinnevra had suggested ould

"Too bad Gaave me a quizzical look "But he is"

I accepted that "Where are al the others?" I asked around the

table

Riser--off to one side--did not answer

Vinnevra kept s "They’re here, too We’l ht turned to dusk as it always had on Erde-Tyrene, high clouds pink and orange, then purple, brown, and gray Stars came out