Ardent came back in, with Helmclever trailing after him.

He got as far as: `The door here can be opened again but, alas, we-' and stopped.

They were happy vurms. By the standards of greeny-white glow, they were brilliant. Behind Carrot there was now a gently glowing circle, with two diagonal lines slashed through it. Both the dwarfs stared at it as if in shock.

`Well, let's take a look, shall we?' said Carrot, apparently oblivious of all this.

`We, alas, the water ... water ... not entirely watertight ... the other doors ... the troll caused flooding. .:Ardent murmured, not taking his eyes off the glow.

`But you say we can go through here, at least?' said Carrot politely, pointing to the sealed door.

`Er, yes. Yes. Certainly.'

The steward hurried forward and produced a key. The wheel, unlocked, turned easily. Angua was acutely aware of how the muscles on Carrot's bare arms glistened and pumped as he pulled the metal door open.

Oh no, not yet, surely! She ought to have at least another day! It was the vampire, that's what it was, standing there looking so

innocent. Bits of her body wanted her to become a wolf, right now, to defend herself...

There was a pillared room on the other side of the door. It smelled damp and unfinished. There were vurms on the ceiling, but the floor was muddy and squelched underfoot.

Angua could make out another dwarf door across the room, and one on either side as well.

`We take spoil to a heap on the waste ground outside,' said Ardent. `We, er, believe the troll got in that way. It was an unpardonable oversight.' He still sounded uneasy.

`And the troll was not seen?' said Carrot, kicking at the mud.

`No. These chambers are finished. The diggers are elsewhere, but they came as soon as they could. We believe the grag had come up here for solitude. To die at the random hand of an abomination!'

`Lucky for the troll, wasn't it, sir?' said Angua sharply. `He just happened to wander in and stumble across Hamcrusher?'

Carrot's boot struck something metallic. He kicked some more mud away. `You've laid rails?' he said. `You must be shifting a lot of spoil, sir.,

'Better to push than to carry,' said Ardent. `Now, I have arranged for-'

`Hold on, what's this?' said Carrot. He squatted down and pulled at something pale. `It's a piece of bone, by the look of it. On a string.'

`There are plenty of old bones,' said Ardent. `Now, I-'

It came free with a gloop, and grinned at them in the sickly light.

`It doesn't look very old, sir,' said Carrot.

Just one breath was enough for Angua.

`It's a sheep skull,' she said. `About three months dead.' Oh, another clue, she added to herself. Nice and convenient for us to find, too.

`Could have been dropped by the troll,' said Carrot.

`A troll?' said Ardent, backing away.

It wasn't the reaction Angua had expected. Ardent had been

nervous already, but now, under all those wrappings, he was on the verge of panic.

`You did say a troll had attacked the grag, sir?' said Carrot.

`But we never- I never saw that before! Why didn't we find it? Did it come back?'

`All the doors are sealed, sir,' said Carrot patiently. `Aren't they?' `But have we sealed it in here with us?' It was practically a shriek. `You'd know, sir, wouldn't you?' said Carrot. `Trolls sort of, well,

stand out.'

`I must fetch guards!' said Ardent, backing away towards the single open door. `It could be anywhere!'

`Then you could be heading right towards it, sir,' said Angua.

Ardent stopped dead for a moment, and then uttered a little whimper and ran into the dark, Helmclever on his heels.

`Well, how do we all think that went?' said Angua, with a horrible smile. `And what was that you said to him in dwarfish - "You know I am a dwarf in the brotherhood of all dwarfs"?'

'Erm, "With emphatic certainty you know me. I observe the rites of the dwarf. What/who am I? I am the Brothers united",' said Sally carefully.

`Well done, lance-constable!' said Carrot. `That was an excellent translation!'

`Yes, did you bite someone clever?' said Angua.

`I am a Black Ribboner, sergeant,' said Sally meekly. `And I'm naturally good at languages. While we're alone, captain, can I mention something else?'

`Certainly,' said Carrot, trying the wheel on one of the closed doors.

`I think a lot of things are wrong here, sir. There was something very strange about the way Ardent reacted to that skull. Why would he think the troll was still here, after all that time?'

`A troll getting into a dwarf mine can do a lot of damage before it's stopped,' said Carrot.

`Ardent really wasn't expecting that skull, sir,' said Sally, pressing on. `I heard his heart racing. It terrified him. Er ... something more, sir. There's lots of city dwarfs here. Dozens. I can feel their hearts, too. There are six grags. Their hearts beat very slowly. And there are other dwarfs, too. Strange ones, and only a few of them. Maybe ten.'

`That's useful to know, lance-constable, thank you very much.'

`Yes, I don't know how we managed before you came,' said Angua. She walked quickly over to the other side of the dank room, so that they wouldn't see her face. She needed fresh air, not the pervasive, clinging, old-root-cellar reek of this place. Her head was full of shouting. The Temperance League? `Not One Drop'? Did anyone believe that for one minute? But everyone wanted to fall for it because vampires could be so charming. Of course they were! It was part of being a vampire! It was the only way to get people to stay the night in the dreadful castle! Everyone knew a leopard couldn't change his shorts! But, no, stick on a stupid black ribbon and learn the words for `Lips that touch Ichor shall never touch Mine' and they fall for it every time. But werewolves? Well, they were just sad monsters, weren't they? Never mind that life was a daily struggle with the inner wolf, never mind that you had to force yourself to walk past every lamp-post, never mind that in every petty argument you had to fight back the urge to settle it all with just one bite. Never mind that, because everyone knew that a creature that was a wolf and a human combined was a kind of dog. They were expected to behave. Part of her was shouting that this wasn't so, that this was just PIT and the known effects of a vampire's presence, but somehow, now, with the smells around her becoming so strong that they were approaching solidity, she did not want to listen. She wanted to smell the world, she was practically climbing into her own nose. After all, that was why she was in the Watch, wasn't it? For her nose?

New smell, new smell ...

Sharp blue-grey of lichen, the browns and purples of old carrion, undertones of wood and leather ... even as a full wolf she'd never tasted the air so forensically as this. Something else, sharp, chemical ... The air was full of the smell of damp and dwarfs, but these little traces ran through it like a piccolo hornpipe through a requiem and formed one thing ...

`Troll,' she croaked. `Troll. Troll with skull belt and head-locks. On Slab, or something like it! Troll!' Angua was almost barking at the far door now. `Open door! This way!'

She barely needed her eyes now, but there on the metal of the door, in charcoal, someone had drawn a circle with two diagonal lines through it.

Suddenly Carrot was by her side. At least he had the decency not to

say `Are you sure?' but he rattled the big wheel. The door was locked. `I don't think there's water behind this,' he said. `Oh, really?' Angua managed. `You know that was jus'... to keep

us out!'

Carrot turned and there, running towards them, was a squad of dwarfs. They were heading for the door as though quite oblivious of the presence of the watchmen.