This was not the usual kind of mind. The creature struggled. But no mind had ever beaten it. There was always a way ...
Through the ruin of the world the troll staggers ...
Brick lurched out of Dolly Sisters Watch House, clutching his head with one hand and, in the other, holding the bag that contained as many of his teeth as Detritus had been able to find. The sergeant had been very decent about dat, Brick thought. Detritus had also explained to him exactly what would have been happening to him had his second blow hit the human, graphically indicating that finding Brick"s teeth would have been secondary to finding a head to put them in.
He"d gone on to say, though, that there might be a place in the Watch for any troll who could still stand up after a headful of Big Hammer, and maybe Brick might like to conduct his future behaviour with an eye to this.
So, Brick thought - insofar as the term could be applied to any brain activity within two days of Big Hammer - the future was looking so bright that he had to walk along with his eyes almost shut, although that was probably the Big Hammer again.
But
He"d heard the other trolls talking. And the watchmen, too. All dis stuff about a troll killing a dwarf down in dat new mine. Now, Brick was still certain he hadn"t killed no dwarf, even after half an ounce of Scrape. He"d gone over and over it in what currently remained of his mind. Trouble was, the Watch had all dese tricks dese days, dey could tell what a guy had for dinner just by looking at his plate. An" he"d lost a skull down there too, he was sure o" dat. Like, dey could jus" sniff it and know it was him! Except it wasn"t him, right? "Cos dey said der troll dropped his club, an" Brick still had his club "cos he hit dat top watchman wi" it, so maybe that was what dey called an Ally By? Yes?
Despite the cerebral gurgling noise of the Big Hammer draining away from his higher brain functions, Brick suspected that it wasn"t. An" anyway, if dey lookin" for a troll what done der deed, and dey find out I was dere, lost a skull an" everyt"in" an" I say, okay, I was dere but I never walloped no dwarf, dey"ll say, ho yus, pull der other one, it is havin" bells on.
Right here, and right now, Brick was feeling a very lonely troll.
Dere was nothin" for it. Dere was only one person who could help him wi" dis one. It was too much t"inkin" for one troll.
Slinking through alleys, pressed against walls, keeping his head down, avoiding every living creature, Brick sought out Mr Shine.
Angua decided to go straight to Pseudopolis Yard, rather than a closer Watch House. That was HQ, after all, and besides, she always kept a spare uniform in her locker.
What was annoying was that Sally walked so easily in six-inch heels. That was vampires for you. She had taken hers off and was carrying them; it was that or turn an ankle. The Pink PussyCat Club had a fairly limited choice of footwear. There wasn"t much to choose from in the way of clothing either, if by clothing you meant something that actually made an attempt to cover anything.
Angua had been rather surprised that the stage wardrobe had included a female Watch outfit, but with skimpy papier-mache armour and a skirt that was much too short to be any protection. Tawneee had explained, rather carefully, that men sometimes liked to see a pretty girl in armour. To Angua, who"d found that men she was apprehending never looked very pleased to see her, this was food for thought. She"d settled for a sequinned gold dress, which just didn"t work. Sally had picked something simple and cut to the thigh in a blue which of course had become stunning the moment she"d put it on. She looked fabulous.
So when Angua strode ahead of Sally into the main office, slamming the big doors back, and there was a derisive wolf whistle, the
unwise watchman found himself being pushed backwards until he was slammed against the wall. He felt two sharp points pressed against his neck as Angua growled, "You want a wolf, do you? Say no, Sergeant Angua."
"No, Sergeant Angua!"
"You don"t? I was probably mistaken then, was I?" The points pressed a little harder. In the man"s mind, steely talons were about to pierce his jugular.
"Couldn"t say for sure, Sergeant Angua!"
"My nerves are a tad stretched right now!" Angua howled. "Hadn"t noticed, Sergeant Angua!"
"We"re all a little bit on edge at the moment, wouldn"t you say?" "That"s ever so true, Sergeant Angua!"
Angua let the man"s boots reach the ground. She put two black, shiny and noticeably pointed heels into his unresisting hands.
"Could you do me a really big favour, please, and take these back up to the Pink PussyCat Club?" she said sweetly. "They belong to someone called Sherilee, I think. Thank you."
She turned and looked over to the duty desk, where Carrot was watching her with his mouth open. Well aware of the stir she was causing, she walked up to the desk past an audience of shocked faces and threw a muddy necklace down on to the open Incident Book.
"Four dwarfs murdered by other dwarfs, down in the Long Dark," she said. "I"ll bet my nose on it. That belonged to one of them. He"d also got this." A muddy envelope was dropped by the necklace. "It"s pretty slimy, but you can read it. Mister Vimes is going to go spare." She looked up into the blue eyes of Carrot. "Where is he?"
"Sleeping on a mattress in his office," said Carrot, and shrugged. "Lady Sybil knew he wouldn"t go home, so she got Willikins to make up a bed down here. Are you two all right?"
"Fine, sir," said Sally.
"I was getting very worried-" Carrot began.
"Four dead dwarfs, captain," said Angua. "City dwarfs. That"s what you should be worrying about. Three half buried, this one crawled away."
Carrot picked up the necklace and read the runes. "Lars Legstrong," he said. "I think I know the family. Are you sure he was murdered?"