She actually looked a little hurt. “Of course I do.”

Ramus nodded and held out his hand. Lulah helped him up, and she was still holding his arm as they walked away from the cliff.

DIDN’T YOU GUIDE me here? Ramus thought. Isn't this the place you wanted me to climb? But as ever, his silent entreaties went unanswered.

They walked south, and to begin with Ramus thought they could reach the edge of the plateau and see the other side. But as the breeze grew stronger and whisked away the haze, he saw the first signs of wooded slopes far to the south. This was more than a narrow ridge or a plateau.

His initial idea that he would have to collapse and rest before moving on soon evaporated. His muscles burned, but walking prevented them from cramping. It felt good being able to move without worrying about the wind sweeping him from the cliff face, fingers failing or ledges crumbling beneath his weight. Below him now was the solid immensity of this new place, not the astounding nothingness of the drop.

There were trees and plants he did not know, insects and birds that defied categorizing, and by the time they'd walked a mile in from the cliff, Ramus was convinced that this was a place totally separate from Noreela. For all he knew, it went on for hundreds of miles to the south, and if he kept walking he might find new civilizations and societies, all believing that they existed alone, and all existing with the same introverted outlook as the majority of Noreelans.

What will this do? he wondered. This could change everything.

But much as there was plenty to explore, there was only one thing he had come up here to find.

Didn't you guide me here? he thought, again and again. He issued pleas to the Sleeping God, inviting It into his mind, but Its only response was silence.

“Maybe It's dead,” Ramus muttered, and Lulah turned from where she had walked on ahead.

“No,” she said, misunderstanding. “The whole place is alive. Look!” She pointed at several huge butterflies that had lifted off a hundred steps away, their wings easily as wide as a man's reach, bodies thick as an arm. Lines of bright yellow ants marched past Ramus's feet, a beetle the size of his thumb fought with several tiny serpents and something scurried through the undergrowth, squealing and whistling as it disappeared.

And then in the distance he saw the first square edge, a corner of stone peering above a slight rise in the ground. “There,” he said, pointing. “There . . .” His voice failed him, and he was not sure whether it was the altitude or shock that took it away.

FROM THE TOP of the slope, it was obvious that this place was dead.