On Lychen, Earl fleeing the battle at Angado’s Crystal Tower with Cyber Avro and Perotto, learned from Pryor the location
of the house of Tama
Chenault, the scholar of ancient legends first revealed to him by Shakira of the Circus of Chem Wei. Earl flew Wynne’s raft part way there and walked the last 100 miles to avoid easy pursuit. When he entered the valley he met Govinda, one of Chenault’s followers who looked astonishingly like his lost love Kalin. Chenault lived in a fortress in a cave in the rocks at the head of a beautiful lush valley at the base of a very tall mountain. In the valley at night the firebirds made an exquisite spectacle. Earl was admitted to Chenault’s house and met Baglioni, a midget and Chenault’s right hand man, Lopakhin, an artist, Vosper an engineer, Pia Toyanna a doctor, Hilary, a tattooed lady and a
sensitive, Toetzer a sensitive who, enslaved in youth, had learned to love his captor only to lose her, and Shior and Massak who had been mercenaries together. Earl attended dinner where an odd ceremony characteristic of the Original People was held. Earl gradually learned about each of Chenault’s retinue including Govinda who appeared to each person as someone very dear to them. Govinda immediately became attached to Earl and gradually Earl found it hard to distinguish her from his memories of Kalin.
Earl met Chenault in his study and learned he was son of Chen Wei who had sold his circus to Shakira. Many of Chenault’s retinue had been in that circus or another like it. Chenault suddenly became ill and Earl had to await another meeting.
Back at the capital, chief of police Vaclav had to answer to Mirza Annette Karoum, Angado and Perotto’s cousin, who now led the Karroum. Her first duty was to find their killer and exact vengeance. She learned of Earl from Vaclav, but Vaclav did not know where Earl was and lacking evidence of guilt had not pursued him. Mirza induced Vaclav and Dr. Kooga, who was monitoring the comatose cyber Avro for the Cyclan, to rig a repeated subliminal question “Where is Dumarest?” to Avro’s life support. This stimulated Avro’s comatose mind into action (he was stimulated into rapport with the Cyclan) and he answered. With this information, Mirza left to find Earl. Kooga also discovered that Earl held a valuable secret the Cyclan wanted and tried to decipher it.
Mirza went to Chenault’s house. Chenault for his own reasons decided to defy Mirza and Earl offered to settle the debt of honor by hand to hand combat with Mirza’s champion. Earl won but spared her champion and Mirza swore friendship. While Mirza was hunting Earl the Cyclan arrived on Lychen and learned Kooga and Vaclav had discovered their interest in Earl. They poisoned both men but not before Vaclav warned Mirza that she was a target of the Cyclan as well. Mirza understanding fled to Chenault’s house. The Cybers left Lychen with the dying Avro.
Earl had a second meeting with Chenault. Chenault quizzed Earl about various things and told Earl the name of the trading house commissioning the ship where Earl stowed away as a boy and the region where they traded. Chenault said he knew where Earth was but first wanted Earl to lead an expedition to Ryzam, another legendary planet reputed to hold a fountain of youth. Chenault wanted restored youth before he went with Earl to Earth. Earl, angered that Chenault had broken his word, fought Chenault and discovered he was a robot. The real Chenault was in a life support unit rendered completely immobile by wasting disease except he could control his robot by radio transmissions. Earl reluctantly agreed to lead Chenault’s expedition in return for the coordinates of Earth.
Mirza arrived and warned Earl that the Cyclan knew his whereabouts. She offered her ship and supplies if she could join the expedition. Earl forced Chenault to accept her and they headed to Ryzam, an area on Skedaka possessing extreme radiation and bizarre geologic formations. Forces over the Ryzam caused ships’ drives to quit so Chenault’s band landed outside the Ryzam and walked in. Following signs left by ancient adventurer Agutter, Chenault led them past violent crab like creatures to a tunnel inhabited by spider like monsters. Near center was a beast similar to the Star Trek gaseous dichoronium monster from Obsession (original series). Members were killed one by one. Finally with only Chenault, Mirza and Earl left alive but severely wounded by the enraged Chenault robot (who thought Earl meant to leave him behind) they enter the fountain at the center of the Ryzam cave network. Earl is healed but Chenault is reduced in age back to a man of 20 and Mirza a baby of a few months. Their memories were both erased back to what they had been at their present physical age. Chenault had no memory of even searching for much less finding the coordinates of Earth.
They returned to the ship where Earl thought to find solace with Govinda, but Govinda soon formed an attachment to the baby Mirza (she could not have her own children) and the “father” Tama Chenault forgetting her attraction to Earl. Earl, alone again, naturally, with little new information, set out with a generous payment from the captain of Mirza’s ship on his lonely quest for Earth.