Witches Abroad (Discworld 12)

'Don't think it don't take a lot of effort,' said Granny in a more normal voice.

Lily's dress rustled in the darkness as she stepped out.

'So,' she said, 'y°u beat the swamp woman.'

'No.'

'But you're here instead of her.'

'Yes.'

Lily took the stick out of Granny's hands, and inspected it.

'Never used one of these things,' she said. 'You just sit on it and away you go?'

'With this one you have to be running quite fast before it takes off,' said Granny, 'but that's the general idea, yes.'

'Hmm. Do you know the symbology of the broomstick?' said Lily.

'Is it anything to do with maypoles and folksongs and suchlike?' said Granny.

'Oh, yes.'

'Then I don't want to hear about it.'

'No,' said Lily. 'I imagine you don't.'

She handed the stick back.

'I'm staying here,' she said. 'Mrs Gogol may have come up with a new trick, but that doesn't mean she has won.'

'No. Things have come to an end, see,' said Granny. 'That's how it works when you turn the world into stories. You should never have done that. You shouldn't turn the world into stories. You shouldn't treat people like they was characters, like they was things. But if you do, then you've got to know when the story ends.'

'You've got to put on your red-hot shoes and dance the night away?' said Lily.

'Somethin' like that, yes.'

'While everyone else lives happily ever after?'

'I don't know about that,' said Granny. 'That's up to them. What I'm sayin' is, you're not allowed to go round one more time. You've lost.'

'You know a Weatherwax never loses,' said Lily.

'One of 'em learns tonight,' said Granny.

'But we're outside the stories,' said Lily. 'Me because I . . . am the medium through which they happen, and you because you fight them. We're the ones in the middle. The free ones -'

There was a sound behind them. The faces of Magrat and Nanny Ogg appeared over the top of the stairwell.

'You need any help, Esme?' said Nanny cautiously.

Lily laughed.

'Here's your little snakes, Esme.'

'You know,' she added, 'you're really just like me. Don't you know that? There isn't a thought that's gone through my head that you haven't thought, too. There isn't a deed I've done that you haven't contemplated. But you never found the courage. That's the difference between people like me and people like you. We have the courage to do what you only dream of.'

'Yes?' said Granny. 'Is that what you think? You think I dream?'