‘Protector?’ broke in Lucy. ‘A Protector fought this Kazia thing?’ Across the Citadel, the Cloudians rocked back, but the statue only paused, worked its head around, and fixed its eyes on Lucy.
‘It is the old song.’ The statue lifted its hand and pointed at the Cloudians. ‘They forgot, these ones, happy in the cities and habits they had made. They forgot the old stories. They left the safe heart, their Citadel, empty. Only this year, they came creeping back to us. In dribs and drabs, they crept in weeping for their frozen cities, their citizens changed to ice.’
‘They don’t normally live here?’ interrupted Lucy.
The statue thumped its fist on the table. ‘A Snow Owl told us of a castle raised at the end of our Forgotten Lands, a castle of ice where the cold lived. Then we knew and it was certain: the Kazia had risen again.’
The statue stared down at Lucy. ‘We sent our Heir in search of you. January sent a message back. We grieved and were glad of what she told us. Our Heir was lost to a shadow-monger. Lost, the one who would have ruled after me.’ The statue gestured at an empty niche by its place on the wall. ‘But our Protector –’ It dropped its hand on Lucy’s shoulder, ‘our Protector was found.’
Lucy saw again that rag-like creature swallowing the cloud boy and, for a moment, her mind turned dark. She pressed her hands against her eyes. Could she even believe the statue – this story of some Ice Kazia freezing all the clouds? Looking across the Citadel, at all those ridged, alien faces, Lucy had a strange impression everything was floating.
Her mind fixed on the phrase her father used to repeat whenever her mother yelled at him: ‘When a sea wind meets cold air, rain will fall.’ What the statue had said made weather sense. If this Kazia was freezing the clouds, that would explain Earth’s endless rain. But the weather was fact; it was science.
Something squeezed her arm. She flinched and twisted around. Daniel was crouching behind her chair. ‘If this is their hideaway, if they find out you’re not their Protector . . .’ He glanced up at the statue and his face tightened. ‘Don’t tell them. Whatever they call you, whatever they say, go along with it until we find a way out of here.’
Lucy nodded. The statue had raised one hand from the table and dropped it onto Lucy’s shoulder. It was so heavy Lucy thought her bones would splinter. She ducked sideways and stood up. ‘I’ll go back to Earth for help.’
‘No. The Protector goes to Alkazia.’ The statue spoke simply. Lucy saw it was so accustomed to power it couldn’t imagine anyone would disobey. It gazed down the table. ‘Who goes with the Protector to Alkazia?’ In the silence, Lucy heard the dry sound of cloud sheep grazing on the ceiling. ‘Where are the two we chose to meet the Earthians?’
After a pause, Wist stood up and strode across the Citadel. Standing beside Lucy, he nodded at Jovius, who ducked his head a moment and then rose. There was another long pause.
‘So it’s just us,’ said Lucy. Her words fell into the silence. She suddenly remembered standing in the doorway at home, seeing her father with his hands in the sink while her mother, at the kitchen table, sat with tears leaking from her eyes. They had both noticed Lucy at the same moment. Her mother had looked away while her father dried his hands, then stepped across the room and knelt by Lucy: ‘Your mother needs to go away for a while.’ Why have I remembered this now? Lucy wondered. It was her mother’s words, echoing now in her mind: ‘I can’t, I’m sorry, I just can’t, I can’t . . .’
With the memory, all Lucy had felt that day flooded through her again. Despair filled her mind until just standing there, standing still, made her flesh ache. She looked at Daniel, his tight little face, at Wist and Jovius holding themselves in front of the crowd as though they had to concentrate to keep from falling. What could they do against the Kazia? Lucy pictured Earth’s flooded cities, the families camped on rooftops setting traps for birds. They were all waiting for the rain to stop – but if the statue was right, it would never stop.
The statue had climbed onto the table. It stalked over the leftover cakes; with every step, kicking pieces into the Cloudians’ faces. When it reached its place in the wall, it closed its eyes and settled back into stillness. Across the Citadel, the Cloudians stood up, stretched, and gathered in small groups, talking and gesturing at Lucy, while the hunched servants swept the table clean.
Daniel edged closer. ‘Lucy, listen. I’ve saved some food. As soon as we get out of here, we can find our way back to that trapdoor in the cloud.’ He paused, waiting for Jovius to look away again. ‘There’ll be another mist, sooner or later. We’ll just have to hide till it’s safe to climb down.’
His face wavered. She saw he was attempting a reassuring smile. She looked at him, his pocket full of cake. ‘But there isn’t anywhere safe, Daniel. Not anymore. Not for long.’