Thud!

isn’t one of those,” he said. “Did you find the thing I asked you to look for ?”
    Nobby looked into his eyes. “I…Oh? Oh. Oh, yes, sir,” he said. “I…yes…we rushed in, you see, you see, you see, and people were running everywhere and there was, like, smoke…” Nobby’s face glazed and his lips moved soundlessly in an agony of creation, “…an’, an’ I was bravely fightin’ when what did I see but a sparkly thing rollin’ and bein’ kicked about, an’ I thought, I jus’ bet that’s the very same sparkly thing Mister Vimes very specific’ly told me to be lookin’ out for…an’ here it is, all safe…”
    He pulled a small, glittering cube out of his pocket and held it out.
    Vimes was faster than the king. His hand shot forward, closed over the cube, and was locked in a fist in the skin of a second.
    “Well done, Corporal Nobbs, for obeying my orders so concisely,” he said and stifled a grin at Nobby’s impeccably dreadful salute.
    “I believe that is dwarf property, Commander Vimes,” said the king calmly.
    Vimes opened his hand, palm up. The cube, only a couple of inches across, gave off little blue and green glints. The metal looked like bronze that had been corroded by time into a beautiful pattern of greens, blues, and browns. It was a jewel.
    He’s a king, thought Vimes. A king on a throne as wobbly as a rocking horse. And he’s not nice . It’s not a job where the nice last long. He even got a spy into my Watch! I will not put my faith in kings. Right now, who do I trust?
    Me.
    One thing I do know it that no damn demon got inside my head, no matter what they say. I wouldn’t buy that even if they threw in a lifetime supply of cabbage! No one gets into my head but me! This damn…burn is just a…coincidence. It doesn’t mean anything! But you play the hand you’re dealt…“Take it,” he said, opening his hand. On his wrist, the Summoning Dark glowed.
    “I ask you to give it to me, Commander,” said Rhys.
    “Take it,” Vimes repeated. And he thought: Let’s see what you believe, shall we?
    The king reached out, hesitated, and then slowly withdrew his hand.
    “Or, perhaps,” he said, as if the thought had just occurred to him, “it might be best to leave it in your celebrated custody, Commander Vimes.”
    “Yes. I want to hear what it has to say,” said Vimes, closing his fist again. “I want to know what was too dangerous to know.”
    “Indeed, so do I,” said the king of the dwarfs. “We will take it to a place that can—”
    “Look around you, sire!” snapped Vimes. “Dwarfs and trolls died here! They weren’t fighting, they were standing together! Look around you, the place looks like a godsdamn game board! Was this their testament? Then we listen to it here! In this place! At this time!”
    “And supposing what it has to say is dreadful?” said the king.
    “Then we listen!”
    “I am the king, Vimes! You have no authority here! This is not your city! You stand here defying me with a handful of men and your wife and child not ten miles away—”
    Rhys stopped, and the echoes bounced back from distant caves, tumbling over themselves and dying into a silence that rang like iron.
    Out of the corner of his ear, Vimes heard Sally say: “Oops…”
    Bashfullsson hurried forward and whispered something in the king’s ear. The king’s expression changed, as only a politician’s face can, into careful amity.
    I’m not going to do a thing, Vimes told himself. I’m just going to stand here.
    “I do look forward to seeing Lady Sibyl again,” said Rhys. “And your son, of course…”
    “Good. They’re staying in a house not ten miles away,” said Vimes. “Sergeant Littlebottom?”
    “Sir?” said Cheery.
    “Please take Lance Constable von Humpeding with you and go down to the town, will you? Tell Lady Sybil I’m fine,” Vimes added, not taking his eyes off the king. “Off you go, right now.”
    As they hurried away, the king smiled, and looked around the cavern. Then he sighed.
    “Well, I cannot afford a row with Ankh-Morpork, not at the moment. Very well, Commander. Do you know how to make it speak?”
    “No. Don’t you?” This is a game, right? Vimes thought. A king wouldn’t take this kind of gobbyness from anyone, especially when you outnumber them ten to one. A row? You’d just have to say we got caught in a storm in Koom Valley, which is such a treacherous place, as everyone agrees. He will be greatly missed and we will