The Fifth Elephant (Discworld 24)

"That was not a good thing you just did," said Gaspode.

I "M SORRY. P ERHAPS THIS IS NOT THE RIGHT MOMENT.

"Not for me, no. You may have caused some physical damage here."

I T"S HARD TO KNOW WHAT TO SAY.

"Trees don"t normally talk back, is my point." Gaspode sighed. "So what happens now?"

I BEG YOUR PARDON?

"I"m dead, right?"

N O. N O ONE IS MORE SURPRISED THAN ME, I MAY SAY, BUT YOUR TIME DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE NOW.

Death pulled out an hourglass, held it up against the cold stars for a moment, and stalked away along the riverbank.

"scuse me, there"s no chance of a lift, is there?" said Gaspode, struggling after him.

N ONE WHATSOEVER.

"Only, being a short dog in deep snow is not good for the of wossnames, if you get my - "

Death had stopped at a little bay. An indistinct shape lay in a few inches of water.

"Oh," said Gaspode.

Death leaned down. There was a flash of blue and then he vanished.

Gaspode shivered. He paddled into the water and nudged Gavin"s sodden fur with his nose.

"Shouldn"t be like this," he whined. "If you was a human, they"d put you in a big boat on the tide and set fire to it, an" everyone"d see. Shouldn"t just be you an" me down here in the cold."

There was something that had to be done, too. He knew it in his bones. He crawled back to the bank and pulled himself up on to the trunk of a fallen willow.

He cleared his throat. Then he howled.

It started badly, hesitantly, but it picked up and got stronger, richer... and when he paused for breath the howl went on and on, passing from throat to throat across the forest.

The sound wrapped him as he slid off the log and struggled on towards higher ground. It lifted him over the deeper snow. It wound around the trees, a plaiting of many voices becoming something with a life of its own. He remembered thinking: maybe it"ll even get as far as Ankh-Morpork.

Maybe it"ll get much further than that.

Vimes was impressed by the Baroness. She fought back in a corner.

"I know nothing about any deaths - "

A howl came up from the forest. How many wolves were there? You never saw them and then, when they cried out, it sounded as though there was one behind every tree. This one went on and on - it sounded like a cry thrown into a lake of air, the ripples spreading out across the mountains.

Angua threw her head back and screamed. Then, breath hissing between her teeth, she advanced on the Baroness, fingers flexing.

"Give him... the damn stone," she hissed. "Will any... of... you... face me? Now? Then give him the stone!"

"What theemth to be the trouble?"

Igor lurched through the stricken gates, trailed by Detritus. He caught sight of the two bodies and hurried over, like a very large spider.

"Fetch the stone," growled Angua. "And then... we... will leave. I can smell it. Or do you want me to take it?"