"Girl," said Cheery helpfully.
"Er, yes." Vimes felt the coach slow to a halt, even though they hadn"t left the town yet, and he looked out.
In front of them, across a small square, was a fort of sorts, but with much larger gates than you"d expect for its size. As Vimes stared at them they were swung open from within.
Inside was a slope. All the fort consisted of were four walls around a large, sloping tunnel.
"The dwarfs live underneath the town?" he said, as the light from outside was gradually replaced by the infrequent glow of torches. But they clearly showed the coach was rattling past a long, long line of stationary carts. The pools of light revealed horses, and drivers talking in groups.
"Under quite a lot of Uberwald," said Cheery. "This is just the nearest entrance, sir. We"ll probably have to stop in a minute because the horses don"t like - ah."
The coach stopped again, and the coachman banged on the side to indicate that this was the end of the line. The queue of carts wound off down another tunnel, but the coach had stopped in a small cave with a big door. A couple of dwarfs were waiting there. They had axes slung across their backs, although by dwarf standards this counted merely as "politely dressed" rather than "heavily armed". Their attitude, however, was in the international language of people guarding gates everywhere. "Commander Sam Vimes, Ankh-Morpork Ci - Ambassador from Ankh-Morpork," said Vimes, handing one of them his papers. At least it was not hard to assume a lofty air with dwarfs.
To his surprise, the document was read thoroughly, one dwarf looking over the other one"s shoulder and pointing out interesting sub
clauses. The official seal was carefully examined.
One guard pointed to Cheery. "Kra"k?"
"My official guard," said Vimes. "Included in "associated members of staff" on page two," he added helpfully.
"Mhust searhch thy coash," said the guard.
"No. Diplomatic immunity," said Vimes. "Tell "em, Cheery."
They listened to Cheery"s urgent dwarfish. Then the other guard, whose face had indicated that there was something on his mind and it was jumping up and down, nudged his companion and pulled him aside.
There was a torrent of whispers. Vimes couldn"t understand, but he caught the word "Wilinus". And, shortly afterwards, the word "hr grag", dwarfish for "thirty".
"Oh gods," he said. "And a dog?"
"Good guess, sir," said Cheery.
The document was handed back hurriedly. Vimes could read the body language, even written smaller than usual: there was probably an expensive problem here, so the guards were inclined to leave it to someone who earned more money than them.
One of them pulled a bellrope by the door. After some time the door slid open, revealing a small room.
"We have to go in, sir," said Cheery.
"But there"s no other doors!"
"It"s all right, sir."
Vimes stepped inside. The dwarfs slid the door back, leaving them in the room, which was lit by a single candle.
"Some kind of waiting room?" said Vimes.
Somewhere far off something went clonk. The floor trembled for a moment and then Vimes had an uneasy sensation of movement.
"The room moves?" he said.
"Yes, sir. Several hundred feet down, probably. I think it"s all done by counterweights."
They stood silently, unsure of what to say, as walls around them creaked and groaned. Then there was a rattle, a passing sensation of weight, and the room stopped moving.
"Wherever we"re headed, keep your ears open," said Vimes. "Something"s going on, I can feel it."
The door slid back. Vimes looked out on to the night sky, underground. The stars were all around him... below him...