Page 4 (1/1)

"Go? We're going out?" Tiffany asked They never went out in the evenings, which hy the evenings always felt a hundred years long "Indeed we are They will be dancing tonight"

"Who will?"

"The ravens will not be able to see and the oill get confused," Miss Treason went on "I will need to use your eyes"

"Who will be dancing, Miss Treason?" said Tiffany She liked dancing, but no one seemed to dance up here "It is not far, but there will be a stor to tell But it sounded interesting Besides, it would probably be an education to see anyone Miss Treason thought was strange Of course, it did mean Miss Treason would put her pointy hat on Tiffany hated this bit She'd have to stand in front of Miss Treason and stare at her, and feel the little tingle in her eyes as the ancient witch used her as a kind ofdark anied the door out of Tiffany's hands when she opened it and blew around the roo the cords hum on the loo to push the door shut "Don't you say that to me! You will not say that to me! The dance must be witnessed! I have never y "We o! And you must wear black"

"Miss Treason, you know I don't wear black," said Tiffany "Tonight is a night for black You ear my second-best cloak" She said it with a witch's fir had never crossed her mind She was 113 years old She'd had a lot of practice Tiffany didn't argue It isn't that I have anything against black, Tiffany thought as she fetched the second-best cloak, but it's just not me When people say witches wear black, they actually mean that old ladies wear black Anyway, it's not as if I'… After that she had to wrap Miss Treason's clock in pieces of blanket, so that the clonk-clank beca it behind Miss Treason always kept the clock close to her While Tiffany got herself ready, the old wo noise She was alinding it up; soment, with a room full of horrified people There was no rain yet, but when they set out the air was full of twigs and flying leaves Miss Treason sat sidesaddle on the broo it by means of a piece of clothesline The sunset sky was still red, and a gibbouswhipped across it, filling the woods with ether, and Tiffany heard the creak and crash as, so to the villages?" Tiffany yelled above the din "No! Take the path through the forest!" shouted Miss Treason Ah, thought Tiffany, is this the fa around without your drawers on" that I've heard so much about? Actually, not very much about, because as soon as anyone mentions it, someone else tells them to shut up, so I really haven't heard ful way It was soht witches did, but witches didn't think they did it Tiffany had to adhts weren't all that wars and thistles to worry about Besides, you just couldn't i around without--Well, you just couldn't iine it, because if you did, it would make your head explode The wind died down as she took the forest track, still towing the floating Miss Treason But the wind had brought cold air with it and then left it behind Tiffany was glad of the cloak, even if it was black She trudged on, taking different tracks when Miss Treason told her to, until she saw firelight through the trees, in a little dip in the land "Stop here and help irl," said the old witch "And listen carefully There are rules One, you will not talk; two, you will look only at the dancers; three, you will not move until the dance is finished I will not tell you twice!"

"Yes, Miss Treason It's very cold up here" file:///F|/MUSIC/Pratchett,20Terry20-20[Discworld]20-20Winters]/wintersmithhtml (28 of 269)26/12/2006 19:25:36

Wintersht What good is a dance you can only watch? Tiffany wondered It didn't sound like much fun "It isn't meant to be fun," said Miss Treason Shadows ht, and Tiffany heard the sound of round, someone threater over the fire There was a hiss, and a cloud of s the trees It happened in athat had seemed alive here had died Dry fallen leaves crunched under her feet The moon, in a sky swept clean now of clouds, made little silver shapes on the forest floor It was some ti in the ainst theThey were in two lines of three, facing each other, but were so still that after a while Tiffany wondered if she was i them There was the thud of a drumbeat: bom…bom…bom It went on for half a minute or so, and then stopped But in the silence of the cold woods the beat went on inside Tiffany's head, and perhaps that wasn't the only head it thundered in, because thetheir heads, to keep the beat They began to dance The only noise was of their boots hitting the ground as the shadow men wove in and out But then Tiffany, her head full of the silent dru, all by itself She'd heard this beat before; she'd seen ht sunshine They'd worn little bells on their clothes "This is a Morris dance!" she said, not quite under her breath "Shush!" hissed Miss Treason "But this isn't the right--"

"Be silent!" Blushing and angry in the dark, Tiffany took her eyes off the dancers and defiantly looked around the clearing There were other shadows crowding in, human or at least human shaped, but she couldn't see the colder, she was sure White frost was crackling across the leaves The beat went on But it seemed to Tiffany that it wasn't alone now, but had picked up other beats, and echoes from inside her head Miss Treason could shush all she liked It was a Morris dance But it was out of tie sometime in May You could never be sure when, because they had to call at lots of villages along the Chalk, and every village had a pub, which slowed them down They carried sticks and hite clothes with bells on the up on people No one likes an unexpected Morris dancer Tiffany would wait outside the village with the other children and dance behind thereen to the beat of a druether in the air, and then everyone would go to the pub and summer would come Tiffany hadn't been able to work out how that last bit happened The dancers danced, and then summer came--that was all anybody seemed to know Her father said that there had once been a year when the dancers hadn't turned up, and a cold wet spring had turned into a chilly autu filled with ust The sound of the dru; there was so-- And then she remembered the seventh dancer, the one they called the Fool He was generally a ss sewn all over his clothes Mostly he wandered around holding out the hat and grinning at people until they gave him money for beer But sometimes he'd put the hat down and whirl off into the dancers You'd expect there to be a s, but it never happened Jued to be where the other dancers weren't The world wasaround her She blinked The drums in her head were like thunder now, and there was one beat as deep as oceans Miss Treason was forgotten So was the strange, mysterious crowd Now there was only the dance itself It twisted in the air like a living thing But there was a space in it,around It here she should be, she knew it Miss Treason had said no, but that had been a long tio and how could Miss Treason understand? What could she know? When did she last dance? The dance was in Tiffany's bones now, calling to her Six dancers were not enough! She ran forward and julared at her as she skipped and danced between the where they weren't The drums had her feet, and they here the beat sent them And then……there was so of so of someone in front of her, and beside her, and above her, and below her, all at once The dancers froze, but the world spun The men were just black shadows, darker outlines in the darkness The dru ently and silently, arround, her face turned toward stars that were as cold as ice and sharp as needles It felt…wonderful A voice said: "Who Are You?" It had an echo, or perhaps two people had said it at almost the same time The beat came back, suddenly, and six men crashed into her A few hours later, in the sbend, down on the plains, the citizens threitch into the river with her ar never happened in the mountains, where witches had respect, but down on the wide plains there were still people duh to believe the nastier stories Besides, there wasn't s However, it probably wasn't often that the witch was given a cup of tea and so It had happened here because the people of Dogbend Did It By The Book The book was called: Magavenatio Obtusis The townspeople didn't kno the book had arrived It had just turned up one day, on a shelf in one of the shops They kne to read, of course You had to have a certain aet on in the world, even in Dogbend But they didn't trust books h, was a book on how to deal itches It looked pretty authoritative, too, without too(and therefore untrustworthy) words, like "marmalade" At last, they told one another, this is e need This is a sensible book Okay, it isn't what you'd expect, but remember that witch last year? We ducked her in the river and then tried to burn her alive? Only she was too soggy, and got away? Let's not go through that again! They paid particular attention to this bit: It is very iht your witch, not to harm her in any way (yet!) On no account set fire to her! This is an error beginners often fall into It just er As everyone knows, the other way to get rid of a witch is to throw her into a river or pond This is the best plan: First, iive her as ht do, but for best results we recoood beef stock This has been proven to seriously harive her tomato soup--it will make her very powerful To be on the safe side, put a silver coin in each of her boots She will not be able to pull the coins out because they will burn her fingers Provide her ar to sleep Lock the door and see that no one enters About one hour before dawn, go into the rooht think the way to do this would be to rush in shouting NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH Tiptoe in gently, leave a cup of tea by the sleeping witch, tiptoe back to the doorway, and cough quietly This is iet very nasty indeed Some authorities recoer biscuits will be enough If you value your life, do not give her plain biscuits, because sparks will fly out of her ears When she awakes, recite this powerfulinto a swar away: ITI SAPIT EYI MA NASS When she has finished the tea and biscuits, tie her hands and feet in front of her with rope using No 1 Bosun's knots and throw her in the water IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTE: Do this before it starts getting light Do not stay to watch! Of course, this ti and not coain, while her wicked pointy hat floated away Then they went ho much happened for several minutes more Then the pointy hat started to move toward a thick patch of reeds It stopped there, and rose very slowly A pair of eyes peered out from underneath the brim… When she was sure that there was no one about, Miss Perspicacia Tick, teacher and witch finder, crawled up the bank on her stoh speed into the woods just as the sun ca with a clean dress and so with a box of matches (she never carried ht, in case it gave people ideas) Well, she thought, as she dried out in front of a fire, things could have been worse Thank goodness the village still had someone left who could read, or else she would have been in a pretty pickle Maybe it was a good idea that she'd had the book printed in big letters It was in fact Miss Tick who had written Witch Hunting for Dumb People, and she made sure that copies of it found their way into those areas where people still believed that witches should be burned or drowned Since the only witch ever likely to pass through these days was Miss Tick herself, it ht's sleep and a decentthrown into the water The water was no problee for Young Ladies, where you had to have an icy dip everyto build Moral Fiber And a No 1 Bosun's knot was very easy to undo with your teeth, even underwater Oh, yes, she thought, as she eot two silver sixpences, too Really, the people of the village of Dogbend were getting very stupid indeed Of course, that's what happened when you got rid of your witches A witch was just someone who knew a bit more than you did That's what the name meant And some people didn't like anyone who knewteachers and the traveling librarians steered clear of the place The way things were going, if the people of Dogbend wanted to throw stones at anyone who knew s The place was a ht there as definitely showing promise, and Miss Tick dropped in sometimes to keep an eye on her Not as a witch, obviously, because although she liked a cold dip in the uised herself as a humble apple seller, or a fortune-teller (Witches don't usually do fortune-telling, because if they did, they'd be too good at it People don't want to knohat's really going to happen, only that it's going to be nice But witches don't add sugar) Unfortunately the spring on Miss Tick's stealth hat had gone wrong while she alking down the main street and the point had popped up Even Miss Tick hadn't been able to talk her way out of that one Oh well, she'd have to erous You had to do it, though A witch growing up all alone was a sad and dangerous child… She stopped, and stared at the fire Why had she just thought about Tiffany Aching? Why now? Working quickly, she emptied her pockets and started a shamble Shambles worked That was about all you could say about the and a couple of sticks and anything you had in your pocket at the time They were a witch's equivalent of those knives with fifteen blades and three screwdrivers and a tinyearwax from chickens You couldn't even say precisely what they did, although Miss Tick thought they were a way of finding out what things the hidden bits of your own mind someho You had to s in your pockets There was no harh, just in case After less than a minute Miss Tick had crafted a shamble out of: One twelve-inch ruler One bootlace One piece of secondhand string Some black thread One pencil One pencil sharpener A s awith a scrap of bread for hi About half a packet of Mrs Sheergold's Lubricated Throat Lozenges A button It looked like a cat's cradle, or e puppet Miss Tick stared at it, waiting for it to read her Then the ruler swung around, the throat sweets exploded in a little cloud of red dust, the pencil shot away and stuck in Miss Tick's hat, and the ruler was covered in frost That was not supposed to happen Miss Treason sat downstairs in her cottage and watched Tiffany sleeping in the low bedroo on the tarnished brass bedstead Beyond the gray s (Miss Treason hadn't bothered to clean them for fifty-three years, and Tiffany hadn't been able to shift all the dirt), the wind howled a for her, she thought as she fed a piece of ancient cheese to another mouse on her lap But he won't find her She is safe here Then the"I told yez! She's here somewhere, fellas!"