Guards! Guards!

derived little comfort from knowing this, however, because he was dead.
    “—t,” he said, and his disembodied self looked down at the small heap of charcoal which, he knew with an unfamiliar sort of certainty, was what he had just been disembodied from. It was a strange sensation, seeing your own mortal remains. He didn’t find it as horrifying as he would have imagined if you’d asked him, say, ten minutes ago. Finding that you are dead is mitigated by also finding that there really is a you who can find you dead.
    The alley opposite was empty again.
    “That was really strange,” said Mooty.
    E XTREMELY UNUSUAL , CERTAINLY .
    “Did you see that? What was it?” Mooty looked up at the dark figure emerging from the shadows. “Who’re you, anyway?” he added suspiciously.
    G UESS , said the voice.
    Mooty peered at the hooded figure.
    “Cor!” he said. “I thought you dint turn up for the likes o’ me.”
    I TURN UP FOR EVERYONE .
    “I mean in…person, sort of thing.”
    S OMETIMES . O N SPECIAL OCCASIONS .
    “Yeah, well,” said Mooty, “this is one of them, all right! I mean, it looked like a bloody dragon! What’s a man to do? You don’t expect to find a dragon around the corner!”
    A ND NOW , IF YOU WOULD CARE TO STEP THIS WAY …said Death, laying a skeletal hand on Mooty’s shoulder. “Do you know, a fortune teller once told me I’d die in my bed, surrounded by grieving great-grandchildren,” said Mooty, following the stately figure. “What do you think of that, eh?”
    I THINK SHE WAS WRONG .
    “A bloody dragon,” said Mooty. “Fire breathing, too. Did I suffer much?”
    N O . I T WAS PRACTICALLY INSTANTANEOUS .
    “That’s good. I wouldn’t like to think I’d suffered much.” Mooty looked around him. “What happens now?” he said.
    Behind them, the rain washed the little heap of black ash into the mud.

    The Supreme Grand Master opened his eyes. He was lying on his back. Brother Dunnykin was preparing to give him the kiss of life. The mere thought was enough to jerk anyone from the borders of consciousness.
    He sat up, trying to shed the feeling that he weighed several tons and was covered in scales.
    “We did it,” he whispered. “The dragon! It came! I felt it!”
    The Brethren glanced at one another.
    “We never saw nothing,” said Brother Plasterer.
    “I might of seen something,” said Brother Watchtower loyally.
    “No, not here ,” snapped the Supreme Grand Master. “You hardly want it to materialize here , do you? It was out there, in the city. Just for a few seconds…”
    He pointed. “Look!”
    The Brethren turned around guiltily, expecting at any moment the hot flame of retribution.
    In the center of the circle the magic items were gently crumbling to dust. Even as they watched, Brother Dunnykin’s amulet collapsed.
    “Sucked dry,” whispered Brother Fingers. “I’ll be damned!”
    “Three dollars that amulet cost me,” muttered Brother Dunnykin.
    “But it proves it works,” said the Supreme Grand Master. “Don’t you see, you fools? It works! We can summon dragons!”
    “Could be a bit expensive in magical items,” said Brother Fingers doubtfully.
    “—three dollars, it was. No rubbish—”
    “Power,” growled the Supreme Grand Master, “does not come cheap.”
    “Very true,” nodded Brother Watchtower. “Not cheap. Very true.” He looked at the little heap of exhausted magic again. “Cor,” he said. “We did it, though, dint we! We only went and bloody well did some magic, right?”
    “See?” said Brother Fingers. “I tole you there was nothin’ to it.”
    “You all did exceptionally well,” said the Supreme Grand Master encouragingly.
    “—should’ve been six dollars, but he said he’d cut his own throat and sell it me for three dollars—”
    “Yeah,” said Brother Watchtower. “We got the hang of it all right! Dint hurt a bit. We done real magic! And dint get et by tooth fairies from out of the woodwork either, Brother Plasterer, I couldn’t help noticing.”
    The other Brethren nodded. Real magic. Nothing to it. Everyone had just better watch out .
    “Hang on, though,” said Brother Plasterer. “Where’s this dragon gone ? I mean, did we really summon it or not?”
    “Fancy you asking a silly question like that,” said Brother Watchtower doubtfully.
    The Supreme Grand Master brushed the dust off his mystic robe.
    “We summoned it,” he said, “and it came. But only as long as the magic lasted. Then it