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'Nothing wrong with that,' she snapped 'And see about plu'

'For the asses' milk?' said Koomi, as now totally lost in the desert[32]

'Shut up, Koomi'

'Yes, O queen,' said Kooes It was just that he'd wanted things to stay the same, as well

The sun dropped to the horizon, entirely unaided For soood day The reddened light lit up the three male members of the Ptaclusp dynasty, as they pored over plans for-

'It's called a bridge,' said IIb

'Is that like an aqueduct?' said Ptaclusp

'In reverse, sort of thing,' said IIb 'The water goes underneath, we go over the top'

'Oh The k- the queen won't like that,' said Ptaclusp

'The royal fa the holy river with daave a triuraciously went on to say, could we see to it there's places for people to stand and drop rocks on the crocodiles'

'She said that?'

'Large pointy rocks, she said'

'My word,' said Ptaclusp He turned to his other son

'You sure you're all right?' he said

'Feeling fine, dad,' said IIa

'No-' Ptaclusp groped 'headaches or anything?'

'Never felt better,' said IIa

'Only you haven't asked about the cost,' said Ptaclusp 'I thought perhaps you were still feeling fl- ill'

'The queen has been pleased to ask me to have a look at the royal finances,' said IIa 'She said priests can't add up' His recent experiences had left him with no ill effects other than a profitable tendency to think at right angles to everyone else, and he sat wreathed in s fees and a coive the merchant venturers of Ankh-Morpork a nasty shock

Ptaclusp thought about all the ed And there was plenty of dressed stone around now, millions of tons of the stuff And you never knew, perhaps on soes there'd be roo

He put his arms around his sons' shoulders

'Lads,' he said proudly 'It's looking really quantu sun also shone on Dil and Gern, although in this case it was by a roundabout route through the lightwell of the palace kitchens They'd ended up there for no very obvious reason It was just that it was so depressing in the e room, all alone

The kitchen staff worked around theloom that surrounded the two embalmers It was never a very sociable job at the best of times and embalmers didn't make friends easily Anyway, there was a coronation feast to prepare

They sat a of beer

'I expect,' said Gern, 'that Gwlenda can have a ith her dad'

'That's it, boy,' said Dil wearily 'There's a future there People will alant garlic'

'Bloody boring stuff, garlic,' said Gern, with unusual ferocity 'And you don't get to meet people That's what I liked about our job Always new faces'

'No more pyramids,' said Dil, without rancour 'That's what she said You've done a good job, Master Dil, she said, but I' into the Century of the Fruitbat'

'Cobra,' said Gern

'What?'

'It's the Century of the Cobra Not the Fruitbat'

'Whatever,' said Dil irritably He staredThat was the trouble now, he reflected You had to start relared at a tray of canapes That was the thing these days Everyone fiddling about

He picked up an olive and turned it over and over in his fingers

'Can't say I'd feel the sa, 'but I bet you were proud,held up like that'

Dil, his eyes not leaving the olive, reached drearasped one of his smaller knives for intricate jobs

'I said, you must have felt very sorry it was all over,' said Gern

Dil swivelled around to get ht, and breathed heavily as he concentrated

'Still, you'll get over it,' said Gern 'The i is not to let it prey on your mind-'

'Put this stone somewhere,' said Dil

'Sorry?'

'Put this stone soed, and took it out of his fingers

'Right,' said Dil, his voice suddenly vibrant with purpose

'Now pass me a piece of red pepper

And the sun shone on the delta, that little infinity of reed beds anddown the silt of the continent Wading birds bobbed for food in the green es danced over the brackish water Here at least time had always passed, as the delta breathed twice daily the cold, fresh water of the tide

It was co between the reeds

Here and there soaked and ancient bandages unwound, wriggled for a while like incredibly old snakes and then, with the mininum of fuss, dissolved

THIS IS MOST IRREGULAR

We 're sorry It's not our fault

HOW MANY OF YOU ARE THERE?

More than 1,300, I'm afraid