‘I thought you would hate me.’
‘Hate you? Why?
‘Well, sir, wasn’t she your … your …’
‘She was my everything. But like the damned creature that I inescapably am, I swapped her for the freedom of my limbs. For solitude which I eat as though it were food. And if you like, for animals. I have erred. Why? Because I long for her and am too proud to admit it. So she slipped away from me like a ship on the ebb tide.’
‘I loved her too,’ said Titus: ‘If you can believe it.’
‘To be sure you did, my pretty cutlet. And you still do. But you are young and prickly: passionate and callow: so you deserted her.’
‘Oh God!’ said Titus. ‘Talk, sir, with fewer words. I am sick of language.’
‘I will try to,’ said Muzzlehatch. ‘Habits are hard to break.’
‘Oh, sir, have I hurt your feelings?’
Muzzlehatch turned away and stared through the window. Almost immediately below him, he could see, through the bars of a domed roof, a family of leopards.
‘Hurt my feelings! Ha ha! Ha ha! I am a kind of crocodile on end. I have no feelings. As for you. Get on with life. Eat it up. Travel. Make journeys in your mind. Make journeys on your feet. To prison with you in a filthy garb! To glory with you in a golden car! Revel in loneliness. This is only a city. This is no place to halt.’
Muzzlehatch was still turned away.
‘What of the castle that you talk about – that crepuscular myth? Would you return after so short a journey? No, you must go on. Juno is part of your journey. So am I. Wade on, child. Before you lie the hills, and their reflections. Listen! Did you hear that?’
‘What?’ said Titus.
Muzzlehatch did not trouble to answer as he raised himself on one elbow, and peered out of the window.
There away to the east, he saw a column of scientists marching, and almost at the same moment the beasts of the zoo began to lift their heads, and stare all in the same direction.
‘What is it?’ said Titus.
Muzzlehatch again took no notice, but this time Titus did not wait for an answer, but moved to the window, and stared down, with Muzzlehatch, cheek by cheek, at the panorama spread out below him.
Then came the music: the sound of trumpets as from another world: the distant throbbing of the drums; and then, shattering the distance, the raw immoderate yell of a lion.
‘They are after us,’ said Muzzlehatch. ‘They are after our guts.’
‘Why?’ said Titus. ‘What have I done?’
‘You have only destroyed a miracle,’ said Muzzlehatch. ‘Who knows how pregnant with possibilities that globe could be? Why, you dunderhead, a thing like that could wipe out half the world. Now, they’ll have to start again. You were observed. They were on their toes. Perhaps they found your flint. Perhaps they have seen us together. Perhaps this … perhaps that. One thing is certain. You must disappear. Come here.’
Titus frowned, and then straightened himself. Then he took a step towards the big man.
‘Have you heard of the Under-River?’ asked Muzzlehatch.
Titus shook his head.
‘This badge will take you there.’ Muzzlehatch folded back his cuff, and tore away a bit of fabric from the lining. On the small cloth badge was printed the sign
‘What is that supposed to mean?’ said Titus.
‘Keep quiet. Time is on the slide. The drums are twice as loud. Listen.’
‘I can hear them. What do they want? What about your …?’
‘My animals? Let them but try to touch them. I’ll loose the white gorilla on the sods. Put away the badge, my dear. Never lose it. It will take you down.’
‘Down?’ said Titus.
‘Down. Down into an order of darkness. Waste no time.’
‘I don’t understand,’ said Titus.
‘This is no time for comprehension. This is a great moment for the legs.’
Then suddenly a screaming of monkeys filled the room, and even Muzzlehatch with his stentorian throat was forced to raise his voice to a shout.
‘Down the stairs with you, and into the wine cellars. Turn left immediately at the foot of the flight, and mind the nails on the hand-rail. Left again, and you will see ahead of you, dimly, a tunnel, vaulted and hung with filthy webs as thick as blankets. Press on for an hour at least. Go carefully. Beware of the ground at your feet. It is littered with the relics of another age. There is a stillness down there that is not to be dwelt upon. Here, cram these in your pockets.’
Muzzlehatch strode across the room, and pulling open a drawer in an old cabinet he took a fistful of candles.
‘Where are we? Ah yes. Listen. By now you will be under the city at the northern end, and the darkness will be intense. The walls of the tunnel will be closing in. There will not be much room above your head. You will have to move doubled up. Easier for you than for me. Are you listening? If not, I’ll blast you, child. This is no game.’
