He hadn't joined a secret society not to chant mystic runes. He'd been looking forward to it.
' 's an amulet...'s very powerful. Bought it off a man. Guaranteed. Protects you against crocodile bites.'
'-might have got blood of kings…Got no right saying I might not have got the blood of-'
'That's oppression, that is. If I'm not under the heel of the oppressor, I don't know who is.'
'Let that be a lesson to all oppressive vegetable sellers,' he kept saying.
'You never listen, do you?...It was all explained last week, we don't go around finding anyone, we make a king.'
The strangeness of the city, where they had all these laws and concentrated on ignoring them, was too much for him. But a shiny breastplate was a breastplate well-shined.
I think it is for the best, although Mrs. Palm never charged me rent which was very nice of her considering she is a widow so many fine daughters to bring up plus dowries ekcetra.
'It didn't ought to be like that.'
'You have the right to remain silent.You have the right to be summarily thrown into a piranha tank. You have the right to trial by ordeal. You have the-'
I hope Minty is keeping well.
'Just between you and me…we had a witch look at it. In case it was magic. But it isn't. Quite the most unmagical sword she'd ever see, she said.'
'People are frightened. You can't expect much of people when they're so frightened…Not everyone's as brave as you.'
'That's not right…That's not right at all. Shouldn't be able to do anything like that.'
'Why, Captain…this is a who the hell are you?'
'This is what the Watch has to know. You have to know all the laws,' he said virtuously, 'to be a good officer.'
'Right you are, Mr. Secretary,' he said. 'I'll see to it that he learns arresting thieves is against the law.'
'What you've got to ask yourself is: Am I feeling lucky?'
He'd always had a thing about plumes. Plumes sort of, well, bought you off, told everyone that you didn't belong to yourself.
'It's been like a friend to me, that old fat…There's little black bits in there I've grown to know and love. It's a meal in itself.'
He was thinking of a running man. And further back in the fuddled mists of his life, a boy running to keep up.
And under his breath he said, 'Any of them get out?'
He'd never really felt at home with swords, but a cleaver was a different matter. A cleaver had weight. It had purpose.
It wasn't the loneliness of command that was bothering him. It was the being-fried-alive of command that was giving him problems.
'The pizzas're getting cold, too. You know the cheese goes all manky when it gets cold.'
'…but people sort of participating, just handing over some slip of a girl and standing around watching as if it's all proper and legal, that's much worse.'
'I was only scraping the old fat out of the pan.' he mumbled.
He'd take the whining resentful ones, the ones with a bellyful of spite and bile, the ones who knew they could make it big if only they'd been given the chance.
No more summoning the dragon.
I can give it up, he thought. I can give it up any time I like.
The book was the key to it. He was sure of that.
He had come here full of rage against book thieves and that rage still burned.
The captain had always been kind to him.
And the captain had a badge, too.
Yes.
There were times when an ape had to do what a man had to do…
I know where your lovely children, how old are they now, my, doesn't time fly, I know where they play. So you won't forget what we agreed, will you? And he smiled.
He never told anyone what to do. He didn't have to, that was the wonderful part.
'I've got the palace guards on my side! They follow me, not you! No one likes you, you know. No one ever liked you.'
'I want to be clear about this…Are we to believe that you are asking for a petty wage increase and a domestic utensil?'
…the Patrician himself said…he hoped I should have a long and successful career in the Watch as well and, he would follow it with special interest.
I am as happy as anyone can be in the world.
'Do you know, a fortune teller once told me I'd die in my bed, surrounded by grieving great-grand-children…What do you think of that, eh?'
'Look, do you want the bloody book or not? I don't have to do this, I could be at home in bed.'
There seemed to be a special kind of poverty that only the very, very rich could possibly afford…
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