Motif · Book 4, The Gate of the Feral Gods

The two suns

Bubble 543's sky, projected on its wall: Taranis strolls for twenty-two hours, chased by his red brother Hellik for eight, the sandstorm comes four hours before dark, the night is two hours. Eleven days in, the Red Equinox: sixteen hours of dark, storms twice as long, lightning below. On the land the storm circles the island like a clock. The names are the gods'.

Segment appearances

• Chapter 1 — Hump Town
• Chapter 3 — A goose from the sky
• Chapter 4 — The Royal Chariot; Ifechi
• Chapter 6 — City hall
• Chapter 7 — The frog con
• Chapter 13 — Gerbils
• Chapter 15 — The Gate of the Feral Gods
• Chapter 20 — Gwendolyn Duet
• Chapter 21 — Ghazi
• Chapter 29 — Where the Red God Glows

Progression

A passing camel's astronomy (ch. 3); the heat when Hellik rises (ch. 6); the Red Equinox's sixteen-hour nights and a clockwise storm below (ch. 20). The names, Emberus's card explains, are the gods': Taranis, regent to the Celestial Throne; Hellik, god of Sun and Life, whom Carl is now commanded to kill (ch. 31, ch. 32).