Motif · Book 4, The Gate of the Feral Gods

The dromedarians

Eight-foot bipedal camels in headscarves and robes, a hunter race gone lethargic in a three-way stalemate on top of a tomb they were enslaved to build; a brothel economy, sails on stilts, anti-air guns, and 'in their hearts, good people' who took the changelings in. The two-humped Bactrians across the bowl are bombed on the second day. The camels die at their guns in the gerbil siege and rebuild their town for a world about to end.

Segment appearances

• Chapter 1 — Hump Town
• Chapter 2 — The Wasteland through a telescope
• Chapter 3 — A goose from the sky
• Chapter 4 — The Royal Chariot; Ifechi
• Chapter 5 — Rapid Detox
• Chapter 6 — City hall
• Chapter 7 — The frog con
• Chapter 8 — A yam from the pacifists
• Chapter 9 — Ruckus
• Chapter 10 — Squeeze out the Juice Box
• Chapter 11 — The Vahana
• Chapter 12 — Dolores Doesn't Splat
• Chapter 13 — Gerbils
• Chapter 14 — Maggie
• Chapter 15 — The Gate of the Feral Gods
• Chapter 16 — Denise
• Chapter 17 — Jennifer and Dale's house
• Chapter 29 — Where the Red God Glows
• Chapter 32 — Acolyte of Emberus
• Chapter 34 — Seeding the pond

Progression

Clay's toll and city hall's rule (ch. 1); sails furled by camels on stilts (ch. 1), an anti-air gun, a patrol that goes out only after the storm (ch. 2, ch. 4); a two-hour night and a sky of two suns explained (ch. 3); the Bactrians bombed for a dead pig (ch. 4, ch. 10); Anser's slaves, per the gnomes (ch. 12); changelings among them they cannot see (ch. 9); Emerald digging; the town under siege; camels dead at their guns while the changelings vanish (ch. 13); a wall raised for a world with hours left (ch. 34).