Discworld and Member Articles
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Written by TheJackal
Monday, 29 August 2005 |
Brother Salem Troy was not feeling at ease. He hated not feeling at ease. Yet, he sensed something was not right.
Troy and his men had been watching Gilbert Adams’ home for a few hours now and the man had not so much as put a foot outside the door. Brother Troy had spoken to Gee half a dozen times over the past few decades and struck him as being a clever man. So why would a clever man be so stupid as to let himself get trapped in his own home?
One part of Troy’s brain was telling him this was down to the man’s age. Now that he was Mortal, Gee must not be as sharp as he once was. He mustn’t have realised the danger that Brother Ron Stevens had brought with him.
Another, itchier side of his brain, told Troy that Gee was not stupid. He had a plan. He must have plan, surely. But what?
Troy had ordered some of his men to sneak closer to the building, just in case they tried slipping out as the light faded. These men were some of the Brother Reverent’s best. Each was skilled at stealth. Inconspicuous was their middle name. Well, not really, but some of them were bound to have wished their parents had been blessed with such foresight.
Indeed, one of the officers was so good, that he was currently lying comfortably, directly over some of Brother Parthas’ men, themselves also on a stakeout for the targets. He’d remain there for days if needs be, just sitting, watching and having the occasional sandwich. Just because you were on an important stakeout was no excuse for going hungry. He had a flask around here somewhere…
But even with this extra precaution, Troy still felt nervous. The itch was still there and he badly wanted to scratch it. Therefore, he widened the perimeter, sending another dozen men back out along the road. One group headed closer to the village proper side of Sleepy Falls, with the others going further out. This way, if Gee had managed to muck together a hoard of rebelling friends, then Troy would see the enemy coming.
Nonetheless, it was not until his men reported the whereabouts of a solitary, middle-aged man and a horse-drawn carriage, a lone soldier if you will, that Troy realised this year, Hondor Festival had come early.
They left the man alone; watched from a safe distance. Troy was impressed when he saw where the man disappeared to. He’d have to remember to mention it to Gee later. Troy recognised genius when he saw it. And there was a lot of it, perhaps a third of a kilometre.
When Ron returned to the ground floor, he found the others sitting in the kitchen. Gee was lifting a boiling kettle from the stove.
‘Ah Ron. Feeling better? Fancy a cup of tea?’
Although he was in fact feeling a bit better now that the contents he’d had in his stomach were now longer there, Ron was not quite at the stage yet where he felt comfortable consuming anything.
‘No thanks,’ he said after a pause to take in his surroundings. It seemed the others were quite contented to have a tea break, as if the conspiring events outside did not matter in the slightest.
‘Do we have a plan yet?’ asked Ron eventually in a loud, frustrated voice which interrupted the others’ conversation. ‘Oh, and thanks for letting me know about the secret tunnel. It’s nice to know I’m being kept in the loop.’
‘Must have slipped my mind,’ replied Gee. ‘But we did work out a course of action while you were in the basement ruining my floorboards.’
Ron looked a bit sheepish. ‘Sorry for ruining your floor. It was all Nemoy’s fault anyway for giving me that horrible stuff. Feels like I’ve burned all my insides.’
‘It’s not my fault you can’t hold your liquor,’ said Nemoy in retaliation.
‘Look, I don’t really care about the flipping floorboards. That mob outside are going to do a lot more damage later on. That’s why we’re going to be gone before they make their move.’
‘So that’s the plan, Ron,’ said Brother Kalem. ‘Pre here brought along a carriage and will take Nemoy with him. We’ll leave a few minutes after, on foot. That way if anything unexpected happens, we won’t all be caught.’
At this point Nemoy chose to interject. ‘What I don’t get is, how come I don’t just go out there and face them. I mean, I’m immortal, aren’t I? They couldn’t hurt me.’
‘Nah, stupid idea,’ said Kalem. ‘There’s too many of them. Besides, we don’t fully know what Master Rubeus is up to, and I don’t want you getting caught and brought to him.’
Nemoy looked angry. He knew Kalem was right, of course, but he still wanted to kick some ass.
‘So when are we going?’ asked Ron.
‘Right after this cup of tea,’ replied Gee, lapsing back into his seemingly carefree manner. ‘Theres also a few scones here as well, if anyone’s interested?’
‘Ooh, I’ll have one,’ said Pre.
Ron just shook his head and hoped they all weren’t dead in an hour’s time.
‘Sir. Sir,’ said one of Brother Troy’s men urgently. He looked like he had run quite a distance and was panting profusely.
‘Shh,’ hissed Troy from behind a particularly large Juniper tree. ‘If you give away our position, I’ll kill you.’
The threat had the desired effect and the man shut his mouth. Before continuing, Troy waited a suitably long time for the man to fear the possible repercussions for his recklessness. ‘Now, Brother Tomkpins, what is it?’
‘Letter for you, Sir. I was told it is very important.’
‘Well, give it here then,’ said Troy putting out his hand.
Tompkins duly handed the message over to his commander, who in turn, ripped it open and read it quizzically.
Then he re-read it, much more slowly second time round.
‘How odd.’
‘Sir?’
‘This message: who gave it to you?’ asked Troy, raising his voice slightly.
Tompkins looked a bit hesitant. ‘Er…I don’t know his name, Sir. Haven’t seen him before. But he was definitely a Brother.’
‘Thought as much,’ Troy replied. ‘And this Brother told you to deliver the letter to me immediately, did he?’
‘Yes, Sir. He said it was of vital importance that I get the letter to you as soon as possible. But I told him that you were a few miles up the road and I wasn’t sure where.’
‘Yet, you still came?’
‘Oh, yes. He was very insistent; said that you’d be very mad if you found out I’d been sitting around with a vital message, waiting for you to return.’
‘I bet he did. And you just scampered along up here like a headless chicken, probably giving away our positions to the enemy.’
Brother Tompkins looked horrified. ‘Enemy, Sir? I thought he was one of ours, Sir?’
‘Oh, I wager he was a Brother alright, but he was working for the other side. Gilbert Adams has a lot of friends still.’
Both men sat in silence. Troy was pondering what action he should take; Tompkins was hoping his boss’ actions would not be directed at him.
Brother Troy was first to break the silence. ‘How did you find where I was, anyway?’
‘Asked around, Sir. On the way, like. Each person I spoke to knew which way you were going when you passed them, so I just followed the trail.’
‘I’d commend you on your lateral thinking, if you were not so idiotic.’
‘Thank you, Sir,’ said Tompkins unsurely.
‘Well, I supposed you’ve done as much damage as you could possibly do. Get Brother Jot to go and make sure you weren’t followed. After that, tell Brother Reys and Brother Fillet that we have a job to do. If what that message said is true, things around here might become very interesting indeed.’
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