'I have seen its like,' nodded Jhary.
Strange forests passed below them and valleys filled with perpetually burning fire. They saw rivers of molten metal and beautiful castles made all of jewels. Horrid flying creatures sometimes rushed into the air towards them but turned aside when they recognized the craft, though it was apparently without protection.
'These people must have a powerful sorcery to make boats fly,' Rhalina whispered to Corum. And Corum made no reply at first, for he was deep in thought, racking his memory.
At last he spoke. 'This is not sorcery, as such,' he told her. 'It requires no spells and few incantations but is instead mechanical in its nature. Certain forces are harnessed to give power to machines - some of them much more delicate than anything the Mabden could imagine - which propel such vessels through the air and do many other things. Some of the machines could once sunder the fabric of the Walls Between the Realms and pass easily from plane to plane. My ancestors are said to have created such machines but most chose not to use them, preferring a different logic to their living. I dimly remember a legend which says that one Sky City - that was the name they gave to their cities - left our Realm altogether, to explore the other worlds of the multiverse. Perhaps there was more than one such city, for I know that one did destroy itself when it went out of control during the Battle of Broggfythus and crashed close to Castle Erorn, as I told you. Perhaps another city was called Gwlгs-cor-Gwrys and is now known as the City in the Pyramid.'
Prince Corum was smiling joyfully and speaking excitedly. With his mortal hand he pressed Rhalina's arm. 'Oh, Rhalina, can you understand what I feel at finding that some of my race still live, that Glandyth did not destroy them all?'
She smiled back at him. 'I think so, Corum.'
The air about them began to vibrate and the boat shuddered. The steersman called from the wheel-house: 'Do not be afraid. We are passing into another plane.'
'Does that mean we are escaping Xiombarg?' asked the King Without a Country eagerly.
Jhary answered him. 'No. Xiombarg's Realm extends for five planes and we are merely going from one of those into a different one. Or so I would think.'
The quality of the light changed and they looked over the side of the ship. A multicoloured gas swirled below them.
'The raw stuff of Chaos,' said Jhary. 'Queen Xiombarg has, as yet, made nothing with it.'
They crossed the great gas and flew over a range of mountains, each more than a thousand feet high, but each one a perfect cube. Beyond the mountains was a dark jungle and beyond that a crystalline desert. The crystals of the desert moved constantly, their motion creating a tinkling music which was not pleasant. Among these crystals moved ochre beasts of enormous proportions but of primitive development. They were feeding off the crystals.
Then the crystal desert gave way to a flat, black plain and they saw ahead of them the City of the Pyramid.
The city was, in fact, a many-sided ziggurat. On each terrace were a large number of houses. Flowers, shrubs and trees grew along the terraces and the streets teemed with people. Over the whole city a greenish light flickered and the light took the form of a pyramid, enclosing the ziggurat. As the ship of the air flew towards it, a darker oval of green appeared in the flickering light and through this the ship passed. It circled the topmost building - a many-towered castle built all of metal - and then began to descend until it landed on a raised platform on the castle's battlements. Corum shouted with pleasure as he saw the gathering which welcomed him.
'They are my people!' he exclaimed to his companions. 'They are all my people!'
The steersman left the wheel-house and put his hand on Corum's shoulder. He signed to the men and women below and suddenly they were no longer on the ship of the air but were standing with the group, beneath the platform, looking up at the faces of Rhalina, Jhary and the King Without a Country as they peered over the rail of the ship in astonishment.
Corum was equally astonished to see the three suddenly vanish and appear beside him. One of the group then stepped forward. He was a thin, ancient man with a straight bearing, dressed in a thick robe and holding a staff.
'Welcome,' he said, 'to Law's last bastion.'
Later they sat around a table of beautifully fashioned ruby-metal and listened to the old man who had introduced himself as Prince Yurette Hasdum Nury, Commander of Gwlгs-cor-Gwrys, the City in the Pyramid. He had explained how Corum's speculations were substantially correct.
As they had eaten he had explained how Corum's people had chosen to remain in their castles after the Battle of Broggfythus and devote themselves to learning while his people had decided to take their Sky City and try to fly it beyond the Five Planes, through the Wall Between the Realms. They had succeeded, but had failed to return due to some power loss which they could not then restore. Since then they had managed only to explore these Five Planes and then, when the struggle between Law and Chaos had begun to build, they had remained neutral.
'We were fools to do so. We thought we were above such disputes. And slowly we saw Law conquered and Chaos emerge in all its grisly triumph to create its travesties of beauty. But by that time, though we did take our city against Xiombarg's creatures, we were too late. Chaos had gained all power and we could not fight it. Xiombarg sent - and still sends - armies against us. These we resisted, not without danger. And now it is stalemate. Every so often Xiombarg will send another army - some frightful, monstrous army - and we are forced to fight it. But we can do no more than that. I fear we are all that is left of Law, save you.'
'Law has regained its power in our Five Planes,' Corum told him. He described his adventures, his battle with Arioch and the final result which was to restore Lord Arkyn to his Realm. 'But that, too, is threatened for Law has still only a slender hold on the Realm and all the forces of Chaos are being brought to bear on it.'
'But Law still has some power!' Prince Yurette said. 'We did not know that. We learned that the Sword Rulers controlled all the Realms. If only we could return - take our city back through the Wall Between the Realms - and give you our aid. But we cannot. We have tried so often. The materials are not available on these planes for building up the massive power it needs.'
'And if you had those materials?' Corum asked. 'How long would it be before you could return to our Realm?'
'Not long. But we are weakening already. A few more of Xiombarg's attacks - perhaps just one massive one - and we shall be destroyed.'
Corum stared bitterly at the table. Was he to find Vadhagh folk still living only to see them die - crushed, as his family was crushed by the forces of Chaos?
'We had hoped to take you back with us, to relieve Lywm-an-Esh,' he said. 'But now we learn that is impossible and, it seems, we, too, are stranded in this Realm, unable to go to the aid of our friends.'
'If we had those rare minerals…' Prince Yurette paused. 'But you could get them for us.'
'We cannot return,' Jhary-a-Conel pointed out. 'We cannot get back to our Realm. If it were possible, of course we could find the materials you need - or at least try to do so - but even then we could not be sure of being able to return here…'
Prince Yurette frowned. 'It would be possible for us to send just one Sky Ship through the Wall Between the Realms. We have the power to do that, though it would dangerously weaken our defences here. Yet it is worth the risk, I think.'
Corum's spirits lifted. 'Aye, Prince Yurette - anything is worth the risk if the Cause of Law is to be saved.'
While Prince Yurette conferred with his scientists, the four companions wandered through the marvellous city of Gwlгs-cor-Gwrys. It was all made of metal - but metals so magnificent, so strange in texture and so rich in colour that even Corum could not guess at how they had been manufactured. Towers, domes, trellises, arches and pathways were of these metals, as were the ramps and stairways between the terraces. Everything in the city functioned independently of the outside world. Even the air was created within the confines of the shimmering pyramid of green light which cast its glow on all the outer flanks of Gwlгs-cor-Gwrys.