“Good,” said Tomas, starting for the door.
A terrified cry erupted from the thing of blackness. “No, master!” it shouted. “Don’t leave me here! I will wither for ages before I die! It will be constant pain! Even now I hunger! Release me and I will serve you, master!”
Pug said, “Can we trust it?”
Tomas said, “Of course not.”
Pug said, “I hate to visit torment on anything.”
“You always did have a tender side to your nature,” said Tomas, hurrying down the stairs. Pug came after as shrieks and curses followed them. “Those beings are the most destructive in the universes,” said Tomas, “anti-life. Once set free, the common dread are difficult enough to deal with; the Dreadmasters are impossible to control.”
They reached the door and went outside. Tomas said, “Do you feel up to getting us back to the surface?”
Pug stretched slowly, testing his tender side. “I’ll manage.”
He incanted his spell and, holding Tomas’s hand, rose into the air, insubstantial again as they passed the rock ceiling of the cavern. With their departure the only sound in the vast cave was the faint inhuman screams that came from the top of the tower upon the island.
“What is the Garden?” asked Pug.
Tomas said, “It is a place which is of the city, but apart from it.” He closed his eyes, and shortly after, Ryath descended from the sky. They mounted and Tomas said, “Ryath, the Garden.”
The dragon beat into the sky and soon they were again speeding over the odd landscape of the City Forever. More alien buildings rolled by beneath them, hinting at functions but not revealing them. In the distance, if distance could be judged in this impossible place, Pug saw seven pillars rising from the city. At first they appeared black, but as they drew closer, Pug could see tiny flecks of light contained within.
Noticing his interest, Tomas said, “The Star Towers, Pug.” He sent a mental command to Ryath, and the dragon banked, coming very close to one of the pillars, which were arranged in a circle around a mighty, open plaza, easily miles across.
As they passed, Pug was astonished to discover that the pillars were composed of tiny stars, comets, and planets, miniature galaxies swirling within the confines of the pillar, locked in a void as black as true space. Tomas laughed at Pug’s astonishment. “No, I don’t know what they are. No one does. It may be art. It may be a tool of understanding.” He paused and added, “It may be the true universe is contained within those pillars.”
As they flew away, Pug looked back at the Star Towers. “Another mystery of the City Forever?”
Tomas said, “Yes, and not even the most spectacular. Look there.” He pointed to the horizon, where a red glow could be seen. As they raced toward it, it resolved into a wall of flames, topped by a heat shimmer that distorted everything seen beyond. As they passed over the flames, waves of scorching heat rose to meet them.
“What was that?”
Tomas said, “A wall of flames. It runs roughly a mile along a straight line. It has no apparent purpose, no reason, no use. It’s simply there.”
They continued their flight until they approached land free of buildings of any sort. The dragon descended toward a green area. As they dropped in altitude, Pug could see a dark circular shape outlined against the grey of rift-space, floating at the edge of the city. “It is the oddest feature of this very odd place,” said Tomas. “Had I your discerning nature, I might have thought of the Garden when we first came here. It is a floating place of plants. Assuming Macros’s powers could have been neutralized, this is the last place from which he could escape. There are many unexpected treasures hidden throughout the City Forever. Besides gold and other obvious items of wealth, there are alien machines of vast power, arcane items of might, perhaps means to return to true space. But even should means of return to Midkemia exist in the city, Macros can’t get there.”
Pug looked down. They were a thousand feet above the city and descending rapidly. Beyond the boundaries of the City Forever, the grey of rift-space could be seen. As they approached the border of the Garden, Pug could see misty falls of water descending from several points along the edge. The garden was surrounded by what Pug could think of only as a moat. But instead of water flowing along the edges of the Garden, there was literally nothing - the void of rift-space.