They walked to the door at dawn.
The whole kingdom walked together. It filled the canyon from wall to wall, a river of people that ran back farther than anyone at the front could see.
Almond and Lily led it. Rudra and Ainen walked on either side of them, with Big D a step behind. The Empress of Skytheum walked on Almond's left with Kael and Vess, and behind her came seven of her dead, carried on the shoulders of the living.
John strolled along on the right with his hands in his pockets. His ten Sovereigns padded and drifted and coiled along behind him.
Nobody talked much.
The door grew as they came closer. It had looked as tall as a mountain from the Shelf. Up close, there was no top to it at all. The gap in it was wide enough for a hundred people to walk through side by side.
The strange light poured out over them.
Almond stopped at the edge of it.
"Before we go in," he said, "there's something I should have told you last night."
He told them what the gatekeeper had said.
