Thud! (Discworld 34)

One candle burned on the table. For some reason Fred had seen fit to put another on a stool near the one occupied cell.

"Isn"t it a bit dark in here, Fred?" said Vimes, as he pushed aside the debris of mugs and old newspapers that covered most of the table.

"Yessir. The dwarfs came and nicked some of our candles to put round their heathe- that nasty sign," said Fred, with a nervous look at Bashfullsson. "Sorry, sir."

"I don"t know why we can"t just burn it," grumbled Vimes, setting out the Thud board.

"That would be dangerous, now that the Summoning Dark is in the world," said Bashfullsson.

"You believe in that stuff?" said Vimes.

"Believe? No, said the grag. "I just know it exists. The troll pieces go all round the central stone, sir," he added helpfully.

Populating the board with its little warriors took some time, but so did the arrival of Helmclever. With Fred Colon steering him carefully by a shoulder he walked like someone in a dream, his eyes turned up so that they mostly showed the whites. His iron boots scraped on the flagstones.

Fred pushed him gently into a chair and put the second candle beside him. Like magic, the dwarf"s eyes focused on the little stone armies to the exclusion of everything else in the jail.

"We"re playing a game, Mr Helmclever," said Vimes quietly. "And you can choose your side."

Helmclever reached out with a trembling hand and touched a piece. A troll. A dwarf had chosen to play as the trolls. Vimes gave the hovering Bashfullsson a questioning glance, and got another smile in return.

Okay, you got as many of the little sods as possible in a defensive huddle, right? Vimes"s hand hesitated, and shifted a dwarf across the board. The click as he placed it was echoed by the one made by the movement of Helmclever"s next troll. The dwarf looked sleepy, but his hand had moved with snake speed.

"Who killed the four mining dwarfs, Helmclever?" said Vimes softly. "Who killed the boys from the city?"

Dull eyes looked at him, and then, meaningfully, at the board. Vimes moved a dwarf at random.

"The dark soldiers," Helmclever whispered, as a little troll clicked smartly into place.

"Who ordered it?" Again the look, again a dwarf placed at random followed by a troll that was moved so fast the two pieces seemed to hit the board together.

"Grag Hamcrusher ordered it:

"Why?"

"They had heard it speaking."

"What was it that spoke? Was it a cube?"

"Yes. It was dug up. It said it spoke with the voice of B"hrian Bloodaxe."

Vimes heard a gasp from Bashfullsson, and caught Fred Colon"s eye. He jerked his head towards the cell-block door, and mouthed a couple of words.

"Wasn"t he a famous dwarf king?" said Vimes.

"Yes. He commanded the dwarfs at Koom Valley," said Helmclever.

"And what did this voice say?" said Vimes.  And a third click from behind Vimes as Fred Colon locked the door and stood in front of it, looking impassive.

"I do not know. Ardent said it was about the battle. He said it was lies."

"Who killed Grag Hamcrusher?"

"I do not know. Ardent called me to the meeting and said there was terrible fighting among the grags. Ardent said one of them killed him in the dark, with a mining hammer, but none knew who. They were all struggling together:

All dressed alike, Vimes thought. Just shapes, if you can"t see their wrists ...

"Why did they want to kill him?"