Ardent stood up and produced a ring of complex keys from his
robes.
Vimes tried to keep track of the journey, but it was hard. There
were twists and turns, in dim tunnels that all seemed alike.
There was not a trace of water anywhere. How far did the tunnels
go? How far down? How far out? Dwarfs mined through granite.
They could probably stroll through river mud.
In fact in most places the dwarfs hadn"t so much mined as cleaned house, taking away the silt, tunnelling from one ancient, dripping room to another. And, somehow, the water went away.
There were things glittering, possibly magical, half seen in dark archways as they passed. And odd chanting. He knew dwarfish, in a "The axe of my aunt is in your head" kind of way, and it didn"t sound like that at all. It sounded like short words rattled out at very high speed.
And with every turn he felt the anger coming back. They were being led in circles, were they? For no other reason than pique. Ardent forged ahead, leaving Vimes to blunder along behind and occasionally bump his head.
His temper was bubbling. This was nothing more than a bloody runaround! The dwarfs didn"t care about the law, about him, about the world up above. They undermine our city and they don"t obey our laws! There"s been a damn murder. He admits it! Why am I putting up with this ... this stupid play-acting!
He was passing yet another tunnel mouth, but this one had a piece of board nailed across it. He pulled out his sword, yelled, "I wonder what"s down here?", smashed the board and set off down the tunnel, with Angua following.
"Is this wise, sir?" she whispered, as they plunged along.
"No. But I"m up to here with Mr Ardent," Vimes growled. "I tell you, another twisty tunnel and I"ll be back here with the heavy mob, politics or not."
"Calm down, sir!"
"Well, everything he says and does is an insult! It makes my blood boil!" said Vimes, striding onwards and ignoring the shouts of Ardent behind him.
"There"s a door ahead, sir!"
"All right, I"m not blind! Just half blind!" Vimes snapped.
He reached out. The big round door had a wheel in its centre, and dwarf runes chalked all over it.
"Can you read them, sergeant?"
"Er. .. "Mortal Danger! Flooding! No Entry!"" said Angua. "More or less, sir. They"re pressure doors. I"ve seen these used before in other mines.
"Chained shut, too," said Vimes, reaching out. "Looks like solid iron- Ow!"
"Sir?"
"Gashed my hand on a nail!" Vimes rammed his hand into a pocket, where without fail Sybil saw to it that a clean handkerchief was lodged on a daily basis.
"A nail in an iron door, sir?" said Angua, looking closely.
"A rivet, then. Can"t see a thing in this gloom. Why they-"
"You must follow me. This is a mine! There are dangers!" said Ardent, catching up with them.
"You still get flooding?" said Vimes.
"It is to be expected! We know how to cope! Now, stay close to me!"
"I"d be more inclined to do that, sir, if I thought we were taking a direct route!" said Vimes. "Otherwise I might look for short cuts!"