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'Can't one of you get hi?' he said

A very fat man said, 'Huh? Who'd use a blanket after it had been on a troll?'

'Hah, yes, good point,' said Cuddy He glanced at the five holes in Detritus' breastplate They were at about head height, for a dwarf 'Could you corinned at his friends, and sauntered over

'I expect you can see the holes in his arht?' said Cuddy

C M O T Dibbler was a survivor In the same way that rodents and insects can sense an earthquake ahead of the first treo down on the street Cuddy was being too nice When a das nice like that, itup to be nasty later on

'I'll just, er, go about my business, then,' he said, and backed away

'I've got nothing against dwarfs, mind you,' said the fat man 'I mean, dwarfs is practically people, in my book Just shorter humans, almost But trollsweeeelllthey're not the saway, gangway,' said Dibbler, achieving with his cart the kind of getaway customarily associated with vehicles that have fluffy dice on the windscreen

'That's a nice coat you've got there,' said Cuddy

Dibbler's cart went around the corner on one wheel

'It's a nice coat,' said Cuddy 'You knohat you should do with a coat like that?'

The ht now,' said Cuddy, 'and give it to the troll'

'Why, you little--'

The rabbed Cuddy by his shirt and wrenched him upwards

The dwarf's hand moved very quickly There was a scrape ofand absolute stationary tableau for a few seconds

Cuddy had been brought up almost level with the an to water

'Let me down,' said Cuddy 'Gently I make involuntary muscle movements if I'm startled'

The oodjust pass it overthank you'

'Your axe' the man murmured

'Axe? Axe? My axe?' Cuddy looked down 'Well, well, well Hardly kneas holding it there My axe Well, there's a thing'

The

'The thing about this axe,' said Cuddy, 'the interesting thing, is that it's a throwing axe I was cha up at Copperhead I could draw it and split a twig thirty yards away in one second Behind me And I was ill that day A bilious attack'

He backed away The ratefully on to his heels

Cuddy draped the coat over the troll's shoulders

'Coet you hoht

'Howup?' said Cuddy

Detritus peered

'Two and one?' he suggested

'It'll do,' said Cuddy 'For a start'

Mr Cheese looked over the bar at Captain Vimes, who hadn't moved for an hour The Bucket was used to serious drinkers, who drank without pleasure but with a sort of deter new This orrying He didn't want a death on his hands

There was no-one else in the bar He hung his apron on a nail and hurried out towards the Watch House, ahnost colliding with Carrot and Angua in the doorway

'Oh, I'lad that's you, Corporal Carrot,' he said 'You'd better come It's Captain Vimes'

'What's happened to him?'

'I don't know He's drunk an awful lot'

'I thought he was off the stuff!'

'I think,' said Mr Cheese cautiously, 'that this is not the case any more'

A scene, sooing to get someone to have a look at you'

'Not dwarf doctor!'

'There must be so ce like that?'

'Dunno Never oozed before Where we?'

'Dunno Never been down here before'

The area was on the ard side of the cattle yards and the slaughterhouse district Thatspace by everyone except trolls, to whoanic odours were about as relevant and noticeable as the sranite would be to humans The old joke went: the trolls live next to the cattleyard? What about the stench? Oh, the cattle don't mind

Which was daft Trolls didn't smell, except to other trolls

There was a slabby look about the buildings here They had been built for hu the doorider and blocking up the s It was still daylight There weren't any trolls visible

'Ugh,' said Detritus

'Co pushes a tanker

'Lance-Constable Cuddy?'

'Yes'

'You a dwarf This is Quarry Lane You found here, you in deep trouble'

'We're city guards'

'Chrysoprase, he not give a coprolith about that stuff'

Cuddy looked around

'What do you people use for doctors, anyway?'

A troll face appeared in a doorway And another And another

What Cuddy had thought was a pile of rubble turned out to be a troll

There were, suddenly, trolls everywhere

I'eant Colon said Stop being a dwarf and start being a Watchave e, shaped like a shield City Watch, that's er

Vi quietly at a table in the corner of The Bucket There were some pieces of paper and a handful ofat his fist It was lying on the table, clenched so tight the knuckles hite

'Captain Vi a hand in front of his eyes There was no response

'How much has he had?'

'Two nips of whiskey, that's all'

'That shouldn't do this to hiua pointed at the neck of a bottle protruding fro on an empty stomach,' she said 'I think he put some alcohol in it first'

'Captain Vi in his hand?' said Angua