Pyramids Read online

Page 7

 

  There hadnt been any doubt about Arthur passing. Hed been given extra tuition and was allowed to use really complicated poisons. He was probably going to stay on for post-graduate work.

  They waited until the gongs of the city struck two. Clock work was not a precise technology in Ankh-Morpork, and many of the citys variuos communities had their own ideas of what constituted an hour in any case, so the chimes went on bouncing around the rooftops for five minutes.

  When it was obvious that the citys consensus was in favour of it being well past two the three of them stopped looking silently at their shoes.

  Well, thats it, said Chidder.

  Poor old Cheesewright, said Arthur. Its tragic, when you think about it.

  Yes, he owed me fourpence, agreed Chidder. Come on. Ive arranged something for us.

  King Teppicymon XXVII got out of bed and clapped his hands over his ears to shut out the roar of the sea. It was strong tonight.

  It was always louder when he was feeling out of sorts. He needed something to distract himself. He could send for Ptraci, his favourite handmaiden. She was special. Her singing always cheered him up. Life seemed so much brighter when she stopped.

  Or there was the sunrise. That was always comforting. It was pleasant to sit wrapped in a blanket on the topmost roof of the palace, watching the mists lift from the river as the golden flood poured over the land. You got that warm, contented feeling of another job well done. Even if you didnt actually know how youd done it . . .

  He got up, shuffled on his slippers, and padded out of his bedroom and down the wide corridor that led to the huge spiral stairs and the roof. A few rushlights illuminated the statues of the other local gods, painting the walls with shifting shadow pictures of things dog-headed, fish-bodied, spider-armed. Hed known them since childhood. His juvenile nightmares would have been quite formless without them.

  The sea. Hed only seen it once, when he was a boy. He couldnt recall a lot about it, except the size. And the noise. And the seagulls.

  Theyd preyed on his mind. They seemed to have it far better worked out, seagulls. He wished he could come back as one, one day, but of course that wasnt an option if you were a pharaoh. You never came back. You didnt exactly go away, in fact.

  Well, what is it? said Teppic.

  Try it, said Chidder, just try it. Youll never have the chance again.

  Seems a shame to spoil it, said Arthur gallantly looking down at the delicate pattern on his plate. What are all the little red things?

  Theyre just radishes, said Chidder dismissively. Theyre not the important part. Go on.

  Teppic reached over with the little wooden fork and skewered a paper-thin sliver of white fish. The squishi chef was scrutinising him with the air of one watching a toddler on his first birthday. So, he realised, was the rest of the restaurant.

  He chewed it carefully. It was salty and faintly rubbery, with a hint of sewage outfall.

  Nice? said Chidder anxiously. Several nearby diners started to clap.

  Different, Teppic conceded, chewing. What is it?

  Deep sea blowfish, said Chidder.

  Its all right, he said hastily as Teppic laid down his fork meaningfully, its perfectly safe provided every bit of stomach, liver and digestive tract is removed, thats why it cost so much, theres no such thing as a second-best blowfish chef, its the most expensive food in the world, people write poems about it-

  Could be a taste explosion, muttered Teppic, getting a grip on himself. Still, it must have been done properly, otherwise the place would now be wearing him as wallpaper. He poked carefully at the sliced roots which occupied the rest of the plate.

  What do these do to you? he said.

  Well, unless theyre prepared in exactly the right way over a six-week period they react catastrophically with your stomach acids, said Chidder. Sorry. I thought we should celebrate with the most expensive meal we could afford.

  I see. Fish and chips for Men, said Teppic.

  Do they have any vinegar in this place? said Arthur, his mouth full. And some mushy peas would go down a treat.

  But the wine was good. Not incredibly good, though. Not one of the great vintages. But it did explain why Teppic had gone through the whole of the day with a headache.

  It had been the hangunder. His friend had bought four bottles of otherwise quite ordinary white wine. The reason it was so expensive was that the grapes it was made from hadnt actually been planted yet. [8]

  Light moves slowly, lazily on the Disc. Its in no hurry to get anywhere. Why bother? At lightspeed, everywhere is the same place.

  King Teppicymon XXVII watched the golden disc float over the edge of the world. A flight of cranes took off from the mist-covered river.

  Hed been conscientious, he told himself. No-one had ever explained to him how one made the sun come up and the river flood and the corn grow. How could they? He was the god, after all. He should know. But he didnt, so hed just gone through life hoping like hell that it would all work properly, and that seemed to have done the trick. The trouble was, though, that if it didnt work, he wouldnt know why not. A recurrent nightmare was of Dios the high priest shaking him awake one morning, only it wouldnt be a morning, of course, and of every light in the palace burning and an angry crowd muttering in the star-lit darkness outside and everyone looking expectantly at him. .

  And all hed be able to say was, Sorry.

  It terrified him. How easy to imagine the ice forming on the river, the eternal frost riming the palm trees and snapping off the leaves (which would smash when they hit the frozen ground) and the birds dropping lifeless from the sky

  Shadow swept over him. He looked up through eyes misted with tears at a grey and empty horizon, his mouth dropping open in horror.

  He stood up, flinging aside the blanket, and raised both hands in supplication. But the sun had gone. He was the god, this was his job, it was the only thing he was here to do, and he had failed the people.

  Now he could hear in his minds ear the anger of the crowd, a booming roar that began to fill his ears until the rhythm became insistent and familiar, until it reached the point where it pressed in no longer but drew him out, into that salty blue desert where the sun always shone and sleek shapes wheeled across the sky.

  The pharaoh raised himself on his toes, threw back his head, spread his wings. And leapt.

  As he soared into the sky he was surprised to hear a thump behind him. And the sun came out from behind the clouds.

  Later on, the pharaoh felt awfully embarrassed about it.

  The three new assassins staggered slowly along the street, constantly on the point of falling over but never quite reaching it, trying to sing A Wizards Staff Has A Knob On The End in harmony or at least in the same key.

  Tis big an iss round an weighs three to the- sang Chidder. Blast, whatve I stepped in?

  Anyone know where we are? said Arthur.

  We - we were headed for the Guildhouse, said Teppic, only must of took the wrong way, thats the river up ahead. Can smell it.

  Caution penetrated Arthurs armour of alcohol.

  Could be dangerous pep - plep - people around, this time o night, he hazarded.

  Yep, said Chidder, with satisfaction, us. Got ticket to prove it. Got test and everything. Like to see anyone try anything with us.

  Right, agreed Teppic, leaning against him for support of a sort. Well slit them from wossname to thingy.

  Right!

  They lurched uncertainly out on to the Brass Bridge.

  In fact there were dangerous people around in the pre-dawn shadows, and currently these were some twenty paces behind them.

  The complex system of criminal Guilds had not actually made Ankh-Morpork a safer place, it just rationalised its dangers and put them on a regular and reliable footing. The major Guilds policed the city with more thoroughness and certainly more success than the old Watch had ever managed, and it was true that any freelance and u
nlicensed thief caught by the Thieves Guild would soon find himself remanded in custody by social inquiry reports plus having his knees nailed together[9].

  However, there were always a few spirits who would venture a precarious living outside the lawless, and the five men of this description were closing cautiously on the trio to introduce them to this weeks special offer, a cut throat plus theft and burial in the river mud of your choice.

  People normally keep out of the way of assassins because of an instinctive feeling that killing people for very large sums of money is disapproved of by the gods (who generally prefer people to be killed for very small sums of money or for free) and could result in hubris, which is the judgement of the gods. The gods are great believers in justice, at least as far as it extends to humans, and have been known to dispense it so enthusiastically that people miles away are turned into cruet.

  However, assassins black doesnt frighten everyone, and in certain sections of society there is a distinct cachet in killing an assassin. Its rather like smashing a sixer in conkers.

  Broadly, therefore, the three even now lurching across the deserted planks of the Brass Bridge were dead drunk assassins and the men behind them were bent on inserting the significant comma.

  Chidder wandered into one of the heraldic wooden hippopotami[10] that lined the seaward edge of the bridge, bounced off and flopped over the parapet.

  Feel sick, he announced.

  Feel free, said Arthur, thats what the rivers for.

  Teppic sighed. He was attached to rivers, which he felt were designed to have water lilies on top and crocodiles underneath, and the Ankh always depressed him because if you put a water lily in it, it would dissolve. It drained the huge silty plains all the way to the Ramtop mountains, and by the time it had passed through Ankh-Morpork, pop. One million, it could only be called a liquid because it moved faster than the land around it; actually being sick in it would probably make it, on average, marginally cleaner.

  He stared down at the thin trickle that oozed between the central pillars, and then raised his gaze to the grey horizon.

  Suns coming up, he announced.

  Dont remember eating that, muttered Chidder.

  Teppic stepped back, and a knife ripped past his nose and buried itself in the buttocks of the hippo next to him.

  Five figures stepped out of the mists. The three assassins instinctively drew together.

  You come near me, youll really regret it, moaned Chidder, clutching his stomach. The cleaning bill will be horrible.

  Well now, what have we here? said the leading thief. This is the sort of thing that gets said in these circumstances.

  Thieves Guild, are you? said Arthur.

  No, said the leader, were the small and unrepresentative minority that gets the rest a bad name. Give us your valuables and weapons, please. This wont make any difference to the outcome, you understand. Its just that corpse robbing is unpleasant and degrading.

  We could rush them, said Teppic, uncertainly.

  Dont look at me, said Arthur, I couldnt find my arse with an atlas.

  Youll really be sorry when Im sick, said Chidder. Teppic was aware of the throwing knives stuffed up either sleeve, and that the chances of him being able to get hold of one in time still to be alive to throw it were likely to be very small.

  At times like this religious solace is very important. He turned and looked towards the sun, just as it withdrew from the cloudbanks of the dawn.

  There was a tiny dot in the centre of it.

  The late King Teppicymon XXVII opened his eyes.