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?"

"Throat cut. It"d be hard to call it suicide. But he took some time to die. He made it to one of their damn doors which they"d locked shut, and scrawled one of their signs on it in his own blood. Then he sat down and waited to die in the dark. In the damn dark, Carrot! They were working dwarfs! They had shovels and wheelbarrows! They were down there doing a job and when they weren"t needed any more they got the chop! Hacked down and left for the mud! He might even still have been alive down there when Mister Vimes and I went in. Behind their bloody thick door, dying by inches. And do you know what this means?" She pulled a folded piece of card out of her bodice and passed it over.

"A drinks menu?" said Carrot.

"Open it," snapped Angua. "I"m sorry it"s written in lipstick. It was all we could find."

Carrot flipped it open. "Another dark symbol?" he said. "I don"t think I know this one."

There were other dwarf watchmen in the office. Carrot held up the symbol. "Does anyone here know what this means?"

A few helmeted heads shook, and a few dwarfs backed away but a deep voice from the doorway said: "Yes, Captain Carrot. I suspect I do. Does it look like an eye with a tail?"

"Yes ... er ... sir?" said Carrot, staring. A shadow moved.

"It was drawn in the dark? By a dying dwarf? In his own blood? It is the Summoning Dark, captain, and it will be moving. Good morning to you. I am Mr Shine."

Carrot"s jaw dropped as the watchmen turned to look at the newcomer. He loomed in the doorway, almost as broad as he was tall, in a black cloak and hood that hid any possible feature.

"The Mr Shine?" he said.

"Regrettably so, captain, and can I charge you to see that no one in this room leaves for a few minutes after I do? I like to keep my movements ... private."

"I didn"t think you were real, sir!"

Tags: Terry Pratchett Discworld Fantasy
Source: readsnovelonline.net