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"What?"
Urn pointed
"There's a big shaft through the wall there, see? At the bottoear-chain?"
"The what?"
"The big knobbly wheels?"
"Oh Yeah"
"Where does the shaft go to?"
"Don't know There's the big Treadh there"
Ah
The breath of God was ultimately the sweat of ht
He are of a sound that had been there all the tih his concentration It was tinny and faint and full of echoes, but it was voices Froe by his expression, had heard them too
Urn put his ear to the eneral religious rhythoing on in the Te off the doors and the sound's being carried down the pipes"
Fergods are involved in any way," Urn translated He turned his attention to the pipes again
"Sihts, disturbing the equilibriuhts descends and the other rises up the shaft in the wall The weight of the door is ihts descend, these buckets here tip over, pouring the water out Probably quite a smooth ac?tion Perfect equilibriuht out"
He caught Fergoes in and out and the doors swing open," he translated "So all we've got to do is wait forwhat did he say the sign would be?"
"They'll blow a truht" Urn eyed the weights and the reservoirs overhead The bronze pipes dripped with corrosion
"But perhaps we'd better just check that we knoe're doing," he said "It probably takes a " He fu that looked, to Fergmen's eye, very much like a torture instrument This must have communicated itself to Urn, who said very slowly and kindly: "This is an ad-just-ab-ble span-ner"
"Yes?"
"It's for twisting nuts off"
Fergmen nodded miserably
"Yes?" he said
"And this is a bottle of penetrating oil"
"Oh, good"
"Just give e to the valve, so we ht as well make a start" Urn heaved himself into the ancient machinery while, above, the ceremony droned on
Cut-Me-Own-Hand-Off Dhblah was all for new prophets He was even in favor of the end of the world, if he could get the concession to sell religious statues, cut-price icons, rancid sweet dates, and putrescent olives on a stick to any watching crowds
Subsequently, this was his testament There never was a Book of the Prophet Brutha, but an enterprising scribe, during what came to be called the Renovation, did assemble some notes, and Dhblah had this to say:
"I I was standing right by the statue of Ossory, right, when I noticed Brutha just besidea bishop and they do things to you if you jostle bishops
"II I said to hihurt practically free
"III He responded, no
"IV I said, it's very healthy, it's a live yoghurt
"V He said, yes, he could see
"VI He was staring at the doors This was about the tiot hours to wait He was looking a bit down and it's not as if he even ate the yoghurt, which I admit was on the hum a bit, ith the heat I mean, it wasit with a spoon to stop it getting out of theall right I was just explaining about the yoghurt All right I mean, you want to put a bit of color in, don't you? People like a bit of color It was green
"VII He just stood there, staring So I said, got a problem, Your Reverence? Upon which he vouch?safed, I cannot hear him I said, what is this he to hat you refer? He said, if he was here, he would send n
"VIII There is no truth whatsoever in the rumor that I ran away at this juncture It was just the pressure of the crowd I have never been a friend of the Quisition I ed theh the line of guards as holding the crowd back and stood right in front of the doors, and they weren't sure what to do about bishops, and I heard hi like, I carried you in the desert, I believed all
"X Soain offer Onna stick"
O tendrils in his beak and hauling himself up by the neck muscles Then he fell down the other side The Citadel was as far away as ever
Brutha'slike a beacon in Om's senses There's a streak of ods, and it was driving the boy now
"It's too soon!" Om yelled "You need followers! It can't be just you! You can't do it by yourself! You have to get disciples first!"
Sith of the Turtle Thirtyvery apprehensive
A corporal saluted
"The needle's there, sergeant"
The brass whistle whistled
Si ropes This ar should be, he thought No uncertainty A few ain
"Stand by," he said
He pulled the big lever hard
The brittle metal snapped in his hand