Through the darkness came light, a flicker of motion and a flash of color, like the beating wings of a butterfly. The light grew, the darkness vanished. He floated in a gorgeous rainbow-hued brilliance that shimmered and swirled with the throb of a supernal laboring. Beyond the brilliance outlines were taking form. He had a sensation of swift movement—and found himself standing at the edge of the pool in that bizarrely beautiful other-world garden he remembered so well.
"Haste! Haste!"
"Leeta is going into the fire!"
All around him the thoughts rose, beating at him. He saw the giant bird, then, and the smaller winged shapes that hovered beyond.
"Haste! Haste!"
The dread anxiety communicated itself to him, kindled a swift purpose. Sensing what was required of him, he hurried toward the waiting bird, leaped to its back. It sprang skyward, its huge wings beating. The garden dropped away, became a mere patch of bright color against the mottled pattern of the valley floor.
"Haste! Haste!"
Swifter and swifter the huge wings beat. Bryan clutched at the feathers under him, rocked by the surges of giant muscles, buffeted by the torrent of air that rushed past.
The valley wall rose ahead, and through a deep cleft in the towering masses of rock he saw a deadly blue shimmer. The bird descended toward the cleft—and abruptly he felt its stunned dismay.
"Leeta has gone through the portal! She has reached the fire!"