Councils, Part V Summary

Chapters 34-41

Mayor Rudgutter and his aides meet in an atmosphere of siege and crisis to discuss letters from residents alarmed at the appearance of the predatory slake moths and fearful of Isaac's work on the crisis energy machine. These fears and apprehensions cause an epidemic of nightmares, interrupted sleep and daytime accidents caused by drowsiness. Isaac and Derkhan awaken crammed into small spaces in the walls of the sewer system, in filthy water and breathing in the unhealthy fetid air of excrement. Their companions Yagherek and Lemuel are missing. Isaac and Derkhan are both missing their left ears; in Isaac's case, the ear is completely healed with skin but Derkhan's is still raw and bloody. They notice some kind of form crammed into a similar space on the opposite wall; Isaac approaches and finds that it's the cleaning...