278

You are back in the Neverness; the bleak, sunless sky and the unending plain of grey cloud stretches away from you.²⁷ Soon you sight the familiar shape of the Crystal Tower and land the craft close to its door. ‘Spittlethrift!’ you shout. ‘I have returned. Come, take your prize.’ A window in the tower opens and the face of Spittlethrift appears. He is ashen-grey and trembling with fear.

‘Go away!’ he calls. ‘We’ve nothing else to give you. The girl … she was not ours to give in the first place.’

‘It is I, Grey Star,’ you shout. ‘Open up. I have brought the Threnogem as I promised.’

The little man stares down at you, shocked and afraid. ‘But … but,’ he stammers, ‘you have only just left, you … you were changed, so full of darkness and … this is not possible!’

‘Let me in,’ you demand, ‘or it will be the worse for you.’

The window slams shut and after a short wait, Spittlethrift throws open the door. ‘Is it really you?’ he asks, incredulous.

‘What has happened?’ you demand, growing angry. ‘Where is Tanith? Return her to me!’

‘She is gone. You … or, should I say, someone like you was here but a short while ago. We could not understand the change in you, you had so much more power. We were afraid. We gave up the girl, even though the Threnogem had not been brought back to us.’

After more questioning, you are able to piece together what happened while you were in the Realm of the Singing City. It seems that someone who looked exactly like you, clad in a black robe, came to the Crystal Tower. He had an evil countenance and was able to master the Academicians easily. They gave up Tanith to the Black Wizard and he left. He had been asking questions about the Realm of Paradox and one named Oz-na-Mun, the man with the mighty hand. It appears that he was on his way there. The Academicians say that he had no craft but was able to travel the realms at will.

If your Gyronome has been blessed by the Guardian of the Screaming God, turn to 303.

If it has not, turn to 314.