'Alas, you would never see him again,' said Moist. 'I can tell that would be a blow.'
Hicks coughed. 'Oh dear. He wouldn't be able to come back at all?'
'I think not.'
'Are you sure?' said Hicks carefully. 'No possibility?'
'I'm pretty sure.'
'Hm. Well, of course it would indeed be a blow.'
'A big blow. A big blow,' Moist agreed.
'I wouldn't want him... hurt, of course.'
'Anything but. Anything but,' said Moist, trying not to laugh. We humans are good at this curly thinking, aren't we, he thought.
'And he has had a good innings, when all's said and done.'
'Two of them,' said Moist, 'when you come to think about it.'
'What do you want us to do?' said Hicks, against the distant shouts of the ghostly professor berating the students.
'There's such a thing, I believe, as... an insorcism?'
'Those? We're not allowed to do those! They're totally against university rules!'
'Well, wearing the black robe and the skull ring has got to count for something, hasn't it? I mean, your predecessors would turn in their dark coffins if they thought you wouldn't agree to the minor naughtiness I have in mind...' And Moist explained, in one simple sentence.
Louder shouts and curses indicated that the portable circle was almost upon them.
'Well, doctor?' said Moist.
A complex spectrum of expressions chased one another across Dr Hicks's face. 'Well, I suppose...'
'Yes, doctor?'
'Well, it'd be like sending him to Heaven, right?'
'Exactly! I couldn't have put it better myself!'
'Anyone could put it better than this shower!' snapped Flead, right behind him. 'The department has really been allowed to go uphill since my day! Well, we shall see what we can do about that!'
'Before you do, professor, I must speak to the golem,' said Moist. 'Can you translate for me?'
'Can but won't,' snapped Flead.
'You tried to help Miss Dearheart earlier on.'
'She is attractive. Why should I bequeath to you knowledge it took me a century to acquire?'
'Because there're fools back there who want to use these golems to start a war?'
'Then that will reduce the number of fools.'
In front of them now was the lone golem. Even kneeling, this one's face was level with Moist's eyes. The head turned to look blankly at him. The guards around the golem, on the other hand, looked at Moist with deep suspicion.
'We are going to perform a little magic, officers,' Moist told them.