“Yeah, ” said Brother Watchtower. “We got the hang of it all right! Dint hurt a bit. We done real magic! And dint get et by tooth fairies from out of the woodwork either, Brother Plasterer, I couldn’t help noticing. ”
The other Brethren nodded. Real magic. Nothing to it. Everyone had just better watch out.
“Hang on, though, ” said Brother Plasterer. “Where’s this dragon gone? I mean, did we really summon it or not?”
“Fancy you asking a silly question like that, ” said Brother Watchtower doubtfully.
The Supreme Grand Master brushed the dust off his mystic robe.
“We summoned it, ” he said, “and it came. But only as long as the magic lasted. Then it went back. If we want it to stay longer, we need more magic. Understand? And that is what we must get. ”
“-three dollars I shan’t see again in a hurry-”
“Shut up!”
…
Dearest Father [wrote Carrot] Well, here I am in Ankh-Morpork. It is not like at home. I think it must have changed a bit since Mr Varneshi’s great-grandfather was here. I don’t think people here know Right from Wrong.
I found Captain Vimes in a common ale-house. I remembered what you said about a good dwarf not going into such places, but since he did not come out,
I went in. He was lying with his head on the table. When I spoke to him, he said, pull the other one, kid, it has got bells on. I believe he was the worse for drink. He told me to find a place to stay and report to Sgt Colon at the Watch House tonight. He said, anyone wanting to join the guard needed their head examined.
Mr Varneshi did not mention this. Perhaps it is done for reasons of Hygiene.
I went for a walk. There are many people here. I found a place, it is called The Shades. Then I saw some men trying to rob a young Lady. I set about them. They did not know how to fight properly and one of them tried to kick me in the Vitals, but I was wearing the Protective as instructed and he hurt himself. Then the Lady came up to me and said, ‘ ‘Was I Interested in Bed. I said yes. She took me to where she lived, a boarding house, I think it is called. It is run by a Mrs Palm. The Lady whose purse it was, she is called Reet, said, You should of seen him, there were 3 of them, it was amazing. Mrs Palm said, It is on the house. She said, what a big Protective. So I went upstairs and fell asleep, although it is a very noisy place. Reet woke me up once or twice to say, Do you want anything, but they had no apples. So I have fallen on my Feet, as they say here but, I don’t see how that is possible because, if you fall you fall off your Feet, it is Common Sense.
There is certainly a lot to do. When I went to see the Sgt I saw a place called, The Thieves’ Guild!! I asked Mrs Palm and she said, Of course. She said the leaders of the Thieves in the City meet there. I went to the Watch House and met Sgt Colon, a very fat man, and when I told him about the Thieves’ Guild he said, Don’t be A Idiot. I do not think he is serious. He says, Don’t you worry about Thieves’ Guilds, This is all what you have to do, you walk along the Streets at Night, shouting, It’s Twelve O’clock and All’s Well.
I said, What if it is not all well, and he said, You bloody well find another street.
This is not Leadership.
I have been given some chain mail. It is rusty and not well made.
They give you money for being a guard. It is, 20 dollars a month. When I get it I will send you it.
I hope you are all well and that Shaft #5 is now open. This afternoon I will go and look at the Thieves’ Guild. It is disgraceful. If I do something about it, it will be a Feather in my Cap. I am getting the Hang of how they talk here already. Your loving son, Carrot.
PS. Please give all my love to Minty. I really miss her.
…
Lord Vetinari, the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, put his hand over his eyes.
“He did what?”
“I was marched through the streets, ” said Urdo van Pew, currently President of the Guild of Thieves, Burglars and Allied Trades. “In broad daylight! With my hands tied together!” He took a few steps towards the Patrician’s severe chair of office, waving a finger.
“You know very well that we have kept within the Budget, ” he said. “To be humiliated like that! Like a common criminal! There had better be a full apology, ” he said, “or you will have another strike on your hands. We will be driven to it, despite our natural civic responsibilities, ” he added.
It was the finger. The finger was a mistake. The Patrician was staring coldly at the finger. Van Pew followed his gaze, and quickly lowered the digit. The Patrician was not a man you shook a finger at unless you wanted to end up being able to count only to nine.
“And you say this was one person?” said Lord Vetinari.
“Yes! That is-” Van Pew hesitated.
It did sound weird, now he came to tell someone.
“But there are hundreds of you in there, ” said the Patrician calmly. “Thick as, you should excuse the expression, thieves. ”
Van Pew opened and shut his mouth a few times. The honest answer would have been: yes, and if anyone had come sidling in and skulking around the corridors it would have been the worse for them. It was the way he strode in as if he owned the place that fooled everyone. That and the fact that he kept hitting people and telling them to Mend their Ways.
The Patrician nodded.
“I shall deal with the matter momentarily, ” he said. It was a good word. It always made people hesitate. They were never quite sure whether he meant he’d deal with it now, or just deal with it briefly. And no-one ever dared ask.
Van Pew backed down.
“A full apology, mark you. I have a position to maintain, ” he added.
“Thank you. Do not let me detain you, ” said the Patrician, once again giving the language his own individual spin.
“Right. Good. Thank you. Very well, ” said the thief.
‘ ‘After all, you have such a lot of work to do, ” Lord Vetinari went on.
“Well, of course this is the case. ” The thief hesitated. The Patrician’s last remark had barbs on it. You found yourself waiting for him to strike.
“Er, ” he said, hoping for a clue.
“With so much business being conducted, that is.”
Panic took over the thief’s features. Randomised guilt flooded his mind. It wasn’t a case of what had he done, it was a question of what the Patrician had found out about. The man had eyes everywhere, none of them so terrifying as the icy blue ones just above his nose.
“I, er, don’t quite follow… “he began.
“Curious choice of targets. ” The Patrician picked up a sheet of paper. ” For example, a crystal ball belonging to a fortune teller in Sheer Street. A small ornament from the temple of Offler the Crocodile God. And so on. Gewgaws. ”
“I am afraid I really don’t know-” said the head thief. The Patrician leaned forward.
“No unlicensed thieving, surely?” he said.[6]
“I shall look into it directly!” stuttered the head thief. “Depend upon it!”
The Patrician gave him a sweet smile. “I’m sure I can, ” he said. “Thank you for coming to see me. Don’t hesitate to leave. ”
The thief shuffled out. It was always like this with the Patrician, he reflected bitterly. You came to him with a perfectly reasonable complaint. Next thing you knew, you were shuffling out backwards, bowing and scraping, relieved simply to be getting away. You had to hand it to the Patrician, he admitted grudgingly. If you didn’t, he sent men to come and take it away.
When he’d gone Lord Vetinari rang the little bronze bell that summoned his secretary. The man’s name, despite his handwriting, was Lupine Wonse. He appeared, pen poised.
You could say this about Lupine Wonse. He was neat. He always gave the impression of just being completed. Even his hair was so smoothed-down and oiled it looked as though it had been painted on.
“The Watch appears to be having some difficulty with the Thieves’ Guild, ” said the Patrician. “Van Pew has been in here claiming that a member of the Watch arrested him. “