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"It definitely see proud "Shall I have another go?"

"No! I h for today, eh?" Roland glanced up at the little barred , high in the wall "Yes, I'd better go and see low in his face faded "It's well past lunchtiets who I ales looked at one another "That lad is no' havin' an easy life right noo," said Rob Anybody "You've got tae adchin "Oh, aye, I'll warrant he's no' such a bunty as I thought, but that sword is far tae heavy for hi Yan "Ha' we got weeks, Rob?" Rob Anybody shrugged "Who can tell?" he said "He's gonna be the Hero, co'll ht that It's like the hag o' hags sez: Ye canna fight a story as old as that It'll find a way" He cupped his hands "C'ht Mebbe ye can't o" Tiffany's little brother was old enough to want to be considered older still, which is a dangerous a-hoofed horses and sheep dips and a hundred and one other places where a sht not be noticed until it's too late But most of all he liked water When you couldn't find hi He loved the river, which was a bit surprising since a huge green monster had once leaped out of it to eat him However, Tiffany had hit it in thesweets at the time, Wentworth's only co" But he did see this afternoon He'd found the knack of knohere thepike lurked in the deep, black holes, thinking slow hungry thoughts until Wentworth's silver lure dropped almost into their ering up the path, hed at least half asone!" he shouted as soon as he saw her "Abe reckoned it was tucked in under the fallen , you know? He said they'll snap at anything this tih at least thirty pounds!" About twenty, thought Tiffany, but fish are always much heavier to theto freeze," she said "Can I have it for supper? It took ages to get in the net! It's at least thirty-five pounds!" Wentworth said, struggling under the load Tiffany knew better than to offer to carry it That would be an insult "No, it has to be cleaned and soaked for a day, and Muht But I'll cook it for you toh for everyone," said Wentworth happily, "because it weighs at least forty pounds!"

"Easily," Tiffany agreed And that night, after the fish had been duly adh twenty-three pounds with Tiffany's hand on the scales helping it along a bit, she went into the scullery and cleaned the fish, which was a nice way of talking about pulling out or cutting off everything that you shouldn't eat, which if Tiffany had her way meant the whole fish She didn't much like pike, but a witch should never turn up her nose at food, especially free food, and at least a good sauce would stop it tasting of pike Then, as she was tipping the innards into the pig bucket, she saw the glint of silver Well, you couldn't exactly bla too excited to extract the lure She reached down and pulled out, covered with slinizably itself, the silver horse There should have been a roll of thunder There was just Wentworth, in the next roo for the tenth time about the heroic capture of the monster fish There should have been a rush of wind Barely a draft disturbed the candles But he knew she'd touched it She felt his shock She went to the door As she opened it, a feflakes fell, but as if suddenly happy to have an audience, an to pour down until--with no sound but a hiss--the night turned white She held out her hand to catch some flakes and looked at them very closely Little icy Tiffanys melted away Oh, yes He had found her Her ht spun fast She could take a horse?…No, she'd not get far on a night like this She should've kept that broomstick! She shouldn't have danced There was nowhere to run to She'd have to face hiain, and face him here, and stop him dead In the mountains, with their black forests, endless winter was hard to iine It was easier here, and because it was easier it orse, because he was bringing winter into her heart She could feel it growing colder But the snoas inches deep already, in this short tihter before she was a witch, and at this tis to do She went into the golden warht of the kitchen and said: "Dad, we must see to the flock"

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The Crown of Ice T hat was then This is now "Ach, crivens," erous Spike, on the roof of the cart shed The fire went out The snow that had filled the sky began to thin Wee Dangerous Spike heard a screah overhead and knew exactly what to do He raised his arms in the air and shut his eyes just as the buzzard swooped out of the white sky and snatched him up He liked this bit When he opened his eyes, the world inging beneath hirabbed the thin leather harness above hirip Then, hand over hand in the wind of the flight, he dragged hirab the belt of Hah tae come doon intae the Underworld," said Haone tae fetch the Hero Ye are a lucky wee laddie!" The bird banked Below, the snow…fled There was nopen like the tide going out or a deep breath being taken, with nofield, wherearound in puzzlement "One deid ship and a dozen deid la! He's taken her"

"Where to?" Ha wide circle Around the far But up on the downs it was still dropping like haht, I'm alive I'm pretty sure about that Yes And I can feel the cold all around me, but I don't feel cold, which would be pretty hard to explain to anyone else And I can't move Not at all White all around me And inside my head, all white Who am I? I can remember the name Tiffany I hope that was me White all around me That happened before It was a kind of drea else I don't have a word for And all aroundbuilt, silently, under ancient seas That's what my name means Itback into her e How dare he! To kill the la wouldn't have allowed that She never lost a la them back to life I should never have left here in the first place, Tiffany thought Perhaps I should have stayed and tried to learn things by one, would I still be rand now When the killing weather was blind nature, you could only cuss; but if it alking about on two legs…then it ar And there would be a reckoning! She tried to ave way It felt like hard snow, but it wasn't cold to her touch; it fell away, leaving a hole A shtly transparent floor stretched away in front of her There were big pillars rising up to a ceiling that was hidden by so There alls made of the same stuff as the floor They looked like ice--she could even see little bubbles inside them--but were no e room There was no furniture of any sort It was just the sort of roo would build to say "Look, I can afford to waste all this space!" Her footsteps echoed as she explored No, not even a chair And how comfortable would it be if she found one? She did, eventually, find a staircase that went up (unless, of course, you started at the top) It led to another hall that at least had furniture They were the sort of couches that rich ladies were supposed to lounge on, looking tired but beautiful Oh, and there were urns, quite big urns, and statues, too, all in the saods, veryancient things like hurling javelins or killing huge snakes with their bare hands They didn't have a stitch of clothing between the leaves, which Tiffany, in a spirit of enquiry, found would not co about it was that the logs were also of the sa was that the flames were blue--and cold This level had tall pointed s, but they began a long way fro but the sky, where the pale sun was a ghost arand this time, led up to yet another floor with more statues and couches and urns Who could live in a place like this? Someone who didn't need to eat or sleep, that's who Someone file:///F|/MUSIC/Pratchett,20Terry20-20[Discworld]20-20Winters]/wintersmithhtml (231 of 269)26/12/2006 19:25:36

Wintersmith who didn't need to be comfortable "Winters back "ITH…Ith…ith…" until it died away Another staircase, then, and this tiht have been a statue, was a crown It floated in the air a few feet above the base, turning gently, and glittered with frost A little bit farther on was another statue, sold lights danced and shihts that could so over the ht they were alive The statue was the saht as Tiffany "Wintersmith!" There was still no reply A nice palace with no kitchen, no bed… He didn't need to eat or sleep, so as it for? She knew the answer already: hts, and they swar a dress that glittered like ry Then she wished she had a ry again, and resolved that if by chance she did find a mirror, the only reason she'd look in it would be to check how angry she was After searching for a while, she found areen that it was alry And iold on the blue and green, just like there were in the sky on wintry nights "Wintersht! I'm here! You know that!"