The Golden Bough (mythology) Aeneas tore off the bough, a second golden one immediately sprang up, which was a good omen, as the sibyl had said that if this did not happen the coming endeavor would fail. Soon after they started their descent into the Underworld, the Sibyl showed the golden bough to Charon who only then allowed them to enter his boat and cross the Stygian river. On the other side, she cast a drugged cake to the three-headed watchdog Cerberus, who swallowed it and fell asleep. Once in the Underworld, Aeneas tried talking to some shades, and listened to the Sibyl speak
In the Courts of the Crimson Kings will proceed to the next stage. Though both are unsure what this means, but they soon discover that three interplanetary "Gates" have opened up on Earth, Venus and Mars, each leading to another world. The book ends with Teyud and Jeremy visiting "Vow'da" (Moon-World) the new world on the other side of the Martian gate. "Publishers Weekly" called it "charming", and praised Stirling for "successfully creat[ing] a truly alien environment", but criticized his "inclusion of pirates with eye patches, heavily armored guards riding 'fat-tired, self-propelled unicycles' and other moments of near-parody." "Kirkus Reviews" lauded Stirling's "magnificently wacky Martian biological machines"