‘The cats are loyal in a traitors’ world.’
‘Steerpike …?’
‘O no!’
‘Barquentine …?’
‘O no!’
‘I cannot stand it … O my doctor dear.’
‘I have missed you Titus … O very much so … by all that abdicates you take the cake.’
‘But where have you gone to … love?’
‘Why did you do it … why?’
‘Why did you?’
‘Why … why …?
‘Why …
‘Your father … and your sister and now … you …’
‘Fuchsia … Fuchsia …’
‘What was that?’
‘I heard nothing.’
‘O Dr Prune … I love you, Dr Prune …’
‘I heard a footfall.’
‘I heard a cry.’
‘Ahoy there Urchin! Titus the flyblown …’
‘Hell how you’ve wandered! Who were you talking to?’
‘Who was it Titus?’
‘You wouldn’t understand. He is different.’
‘He drinks the red sky for his evening wine. He loved her.’
‘Juno?’
‘Juno.’
‘He saved my life. He saved it many times.’
‘Enough. Cut out the woman in you with a jack-knife.’
‘God save the sweetness of your iron heart.’
‘So they all died … all … fish, flesh and fowl.’
‘Ha ha ha ha ha! They were only caged-up creatures after all. Look at that lion. That’s all it is. Four legs … two ears … one nose … one belly.’
‘But they killed the zoo! Muzzlehatch’s zoo! Plumes; horns; and beaks compounded all together. A slice of living over. The lion’s mane, clotted with blood, creaking as it crumbles.’
‘I love you, child. Where are you? Am I worrying you?’
‘He’s been away so long.’
‘So long … What were you doing in that part of the world that you could get so wet with the rain?’
‘I was lost. I have always been lost; Fuchsia and I were always lost. Lost in our great house where the lizards crawled and the weeds made their way up the stairs and blossomed on the landings. Who is that? Why don’t you open the door? Why do you keep fidgeting? Have you not the courage to open the door? Are you afraid of wood? Don’t worry, I can see you through the door. Don’t worry. Your name is Acreblade. King of the police. I hate your face. It is made of tin-tacks. Your arms are fixed with nails … but Juno is with me. The castle is afloat. Steerpike my enemy swims under water, a dagger between his teeth. Yet I killed him. I killed him dead.
