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'I have coure 'They say you are the best in the world'

'What? Me? I've only delivered one!' said Miss Ogg, now looking hunted 'Biddy Spective is a lot ht! Mrs Weaver was going to be my first solo, 'cos she's built like a wardro-'

'I do beg your pardon I will not trespass further on your tier retreated into the flake-speckled shadows 'Hello?' said Miss Ogg 'Hello?' But there was nothing there, except footprints Which stopped in theon the door Mrs Ogg put down the child that had been sitting on her knee and went and raised the latch A dark figure stood outlined against the ware about its shoulders 'Mrs Ogg? You arecheerfully 'What can I do for y-'

'You ent'

'I didn't know anyone was-'

'I have co paused There was so And now she could see that the whiteness on the cloak was snow,fast Faint memory stirred 'Well, now,' she said, because she'd learned a lot in the last twenty years or so, 'that's as may be, and I'll always do the best I can, ask anyone But I wouldn't say I' new, that's me'

'Oh In that case I will call at a ot snow on-?' But, without ever quite vanishing, the stranger was no longer present Tick There was a ha carefully put down her brandy nightcap and stared at the wall for a e witchery[4] had honed senses thatin her head went 'click' On the hob the kettle for her hot-water bottle was just coot up and opened the door on this springti,' she said, showing no surprise at the dark figure 'That is true, Mrs Ogg'

'Everyone who knowssnow dripping off the cloak It hadn't snowed up here for a ent, I expect?' she said, as ot to say, "You must come at once"'

'You must come at once'

'Well, now,' she said 'I'd say, yes, I'h I do say it myself I've seen hundreds into the world Even trolls, which is no errand for the inexperienced I know birthing backwards and forwards and damn near sideways at tih' She looked down modestly 'I wouldn't say I'm the best,' she said, 'but I can't think of anyone better, I have to say'

'You must leave with'Yes!' An edge witch thinks fast, because edges can shift so quickly And she learns to tell when a , and when the best you can do is put yourself in its path and run to keep up 'I'll just go and get-'

'There is no tiht out and-'

'Now' Nanny reached behind the door for her birthing bag, always kept there for just such occasions as this, full of the things she knew she'd want and a few of the things she always prayed she'd never need 'Right,' she said She left Tick The kettle was just boiling when Nanny walked back into her kitchen She stared at it for a moment and then moved it off the fire There was still a drop of brandy left in the glass by her chair She drained that, then refilled the glass to the brim from the bottle She picked up her pipe The boas still warm She pulled on it, and the coals crackled Then she took soood deal elass in her hand, sat down to look at it 'Well,' she said at last 'That was very unusual' Tick Death watched the ie fade A few flakes of snow that had blown out of the mirror had already melted on the floor, but there was still a whiff of pipe smoke in the air AH, I SEE, he said A BIRTHING, IN STRANGE CIRCUMSTANCES BUT IS THAT WHAT THE PROBLEM WAS OR WAS THAT WHAT THE SOLUTION WILL BE? SQUEAK, said the Death of Rats QUITE SO, said Death YOU MAY VERY WELL BE RIGHT I DO KNOW THAT THE MIDWIFE WILL NEVER TELL ME The Death of Rats looked surprised SQUEAK? Death smiled DEATH? ASKING AFTER THE LIFE OF A CHILD? NO SHE WOULD NOT''scuse ? Sounds like a bit of a rural arrange'

WITCHES ARE MATRILINEAL, said Death THEY FIND IT MUCH EASIER TO CHANGE MEN THAN TO CHANGE NAMES He went back to his desk and opened a drawer There was a thick book there, bound in night On the cover, where a book like this ' or , Acme Photo Albues carefully So brief pictures in the air before the page turned, and they went flying and fading into the distant, dark corners of the roohter, tears, screams and for some reason a brief burst of xylophone music, which caused hireat deal to res where they will be safe One ancient ered in the air over the desk It showed five figures, four on horseback, one in a chariot, all apparently riding out of a thunderstorallop There was a lot of seneral excitement AH, THE OLD DAYS, said Death BEFORE THERE WAS THIS FASHION FOR HAVING A SOLO CAREER SQUEAK? the Death of Rats enquired OH, YES, said Death ONCE THERE WERE FIVE OF US FIVE HORSEMEN BUT YOU KNOW HOW THINGS ARE THERE'S ALWAYS A ROW CREATIVE DISAGREEMENTS, ROOMS BEING TRASHED, THAT SORT OF THING He sighed AND THINGS SAID THAT PERHAPS SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN SAID He turned a few ain When you needed an ally, and you were Death, on whoaze fell on the teddy bearOf course, there was always faain, but he'd never got the hang of proot up and went back to the s in thenoise, a breathlessdropped The Death of Rats winced The raven took off hurriedly HELP ME UP, PLEASE, said a voice from the shadows AND THEN PLEASE CLEAN UP THE DAMN BUTTER

Tick This desk was a field of galaxies Things twinkled There were coainst the blackness Jeremy always liked the moment when he had a clock in pieces, with every wheel and spring carefully laid out on the black velvet cloth in front of hi at Time, dismantled, controllable, every part of it understood He wished his life was like that It would be nice to reduce it to bits, spread them all out on the table, clean and oil theether so that they coiled and spun as they ought to But sometimes it seemed that the life of Jeremy had been assembled by a not very competent craftss to go ping into the corners of the room He wished he liked people et on with them He never knehat to say If life was a party, he wasn't even in the kitchen He envied the people who made it as far as the kitchen There would probably be the remains of the dip to eat, and a bottle or two of cheap wine that so that'd probably be okay if you took out the drowned cigarette stubs There h Jereot an invitation Clocks, now clocks were different He knehat made clocks tick His full name was Jeremy Clockson, and that was no accident He'd been a member of the Guild of Clockmakers since he was a few days old, and everyone knehat that un in a basket, on a doorstep Everyone kneorked All the Guilds took in the foundlings that arrived with themilk It was an ancient forot a life, and an upbringing of a sort, and a trade, and a future, and a nanitary had a telltale surnahy or Pune or Clockson They'd been named after trade heroes or patron deities, and this turned them into a family, of a sort The older ones reswatch they were free with donations of food and clothing to the various younger brothers and sisters of the basket It wasn't perfect, but, then, what is? So Jereift for his adoptive craft that almost made up for every other personal endowhed and put down his eyeglass He didn't rush, though There was a lot to look at in the shop Soh to attract the custoh to attract the attention of his reflection when he was shaving Jere person The trouble was that he was the kind of person who, having decided to be an interesting person, would first of all try to find a book called How to Be An Interesting Person and then see whether there were any courses available He was

puzzled that people see conversationalist Why, he could talk about all kinds of clock Mechanical clocks, ical clocks, water clocks, fire clocks, floral clocks, candle clocks, sand clocks, cuckoo clocks, the rare Hershebian beetle clocks But for some reason he always ran out of listeners before he ran out of clocks He stepped out into his shop, and stopped 'Oh I'm so sorry to have kept you,' he said It was a woman And two trolls had taken up positions just inside the door Their dark glasses and huge ill-fitting black suits put them down as people who put people down One of the at him The woman rapped in an enorht have explained the trolls Long black hair cascaded over her shoulders, and her face was made up so pale that it was almost the shade of the coat She wasquite attractive, thought Jeree whatsoever, but it was a monochromatic beauty He wondered if she was a zombie There were quite a few in the city now, and the prudent ones had taken it with them when they died, and probably could afford a coat like that 'A beetle clock?' she said She had turned away frolass dome 'Oh, er, yes The Hershebian lawyer beetle has a very consistent daily routine,' said Jeremy 'I, er, only keep it for, uanic,' said the woman She stared at him as if he was another kind of beetle 'We are Myria LeJean Lady Myria LeJean' Jeremy obediently held out a hand Patienthi it up in despair, but so hand Finally, one of the trolls lumbered over 'Der lady does not shake hands,' it said, in a reverberating whisper 'She are not a tactile kinda person'

'Oh?' said Jere back 'Younoise froe watch 'If that was chi the hour, you are fast,' said the woood idea to, um, put your hands over your ears' It was three o'clock And every clock struck it at once Cuckoos cuckooed, the hour pins fell out of the candle clock, the water clocks gurgled and seesawed as the buckets eed, chimes tinkled and the Hershebian lawyer beetle turned a somersault