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Gaspode shot backwards as Angua's paws slipped fro Both of the

Then Angua bounded away, clearing the next alley before Gaspode had stopped seeing a redFido's collar, which slid down the roof and vanished over the edge

'Oh, thank you!' he shouted 'Thank you very ood legs! Don't you worry about me! If I'm lucky I'll fall oft before I starve! Oh yes! Story of ether! We could havethe roofs or, the other side of the street

'You lot! Go home! BAD DOG!' he barked

He slithered down the other side of the roof There was an alley there, but it was a sheer drop He crept along the roof to the adjoining building, but there was no way down There was a balcony a storey below, though

'Lat'ral thinking,' he muttered 'That's the stuff Noolf, your basic wolf, he'd jump, and if he couldn't juence, can assess the whole wossnah application of oyle squatting on the angle of the gutter

'Ot oo oo ont?'

'If you don't help me down to that balcony, I'll widdk in your ear'

BIG FIDO?

'Yes?'

HEEL

There were, eventually, two theories about the end of Big Fido

The one put forward by the dog Gaspode, based on observational evidence, was that his remains were picked up by Foul Ole Ron and sold within five ht of day again as a set of ear loves

The one believed by every other dog, based on what ht tentatively be called the truth of the heart, was that he survived his fall, fled the city, and eventually led a huge pack of htly struck terror into isolated far around back doors for scraps see it until Big Fido came back

His collar was kept in a secret place and visited regularly by dogs until they forgot about it

Sergeant Colon pushed open the door with the end of his pike

The Tower had floors, a long tiolden shafts of light from ancientebefore, had been Acting-Constable Cuddy

Colon gave the body a cautious prod It didn'tlike that should move A twisted axe lay beside it

'Oh, no,' he breathed

There was a thin rope, the sort the Assassins used, hanging down fro Colon looked up at the haze, and drew his sword

He could see all the way to the top, and there was no-one on the rope Which meant--

He didn't even look around, which saved his life

His dive for the floor and the explosion of the gonne behind him happened at exactly the sa as it passed over his head

Then a figure stepped through the sh the open door, into the rain

ACTING-CONSTABLE CUDDY?

Cuddy brushed himself off

'Oh,' he said 'I see I didn't think I was going to survive that Not after the first hundred feet'

YOU WERE CORRECT

The unreal world of the living was already fading, but Cuddy glared at the twisted remains of his axe It seemed to worry him far more than the twisted remains erf Cuddy

And will you look at that?' he said 'My dad made that axe for me! A fine weapon to take into the afterlife, I don't think!'

IS THAT SOME KIND OF BURIAL CUSTOM?

'Don't you know? You are Death, aren't you?'

THAT DOESN'T MEAN I HAVE TO KNOW ABOUT BURIAL CUSTOMS GENERALLY, I MEET PEOPLE BEFORE THEY'RE BURIED THE ONES I MEET AFTER THEY'VE BEEN BURIED TEND TO BE A BIT OVER-EXCITED AND DISINCLINED TO DISCUSS THINGS

Cuddy folded his ar to be properly buried,' he said, 'I ain't going My tortured soul alk the world in torment'

IT DOESN'T HAVE TO

'It can if it wants to,' snapped the ghost of Cuddy

'Detritus! You haven't got time to ooze! Get over to the Tower! Take some people with you!'

Vimes reached the doorway of the Great Hall with the Patrician over his shoulder and Carrot stu behind hi heavy drops of rain were beginning to fall, hissing on the hot stones

Ridcully rolled up his sleeves

'Hell's bells! What did that to his leg?'

'That's the gonne for you! Sort him out! And Corporal Carrot too!'

'There's no need,' said Vetinari, trying to s collapsed under him

Vimes blinked He'd never expected this The Patrician was the man who always had the answers, as never surprised Vi loose

'We can handle it, sir,' said Carrot 'I've got men on the roofs, and--'

'Shut up! Stay here! That's an order!' Vie on his torn jacket 'Hey, youPyjama! I need a sword!'

Pyjama looked sullen

'I only take orders froht now, you horrible little et to the Tow--'

A shadow appeared in the doorway

Detritus walked in

They looked at the limp shape in his hands

He laid it carefully on a bench, without saying a word, and went and sat in a corner While the others gathered round the -Constable Cuddy, the troll re at it, turning it over and over in his hands

'He was on the floor,' said Sergeant Colon, leaning against the doorfraht at the top Someone else was in there, too Must've shinned down a rope and caughtpushed down the Tower's not worth it for a shilling,' said Carrot, vaguely

It was better when the dragon caht Vion It went soon, that is It couldn't nip over a wall and beco You didn't have to--

'What's that in Cuddy's hand?' he said He realized he'd been staring at it without seeing it for soed at it It was a strip of black cloth

'Assassins wear that,' said Colon blankly

'So do lots of other people,' said Ridcully 'Black's black'

'You're right,' said Vi any action on the basis of this would be preet me fired'