People around her were chattering excitedly now. Fingers pointed all the same way, like a small fallen forest. There were one or two screams, and then the crowd moved like a tide.
Wonse looked along the wide Street of Small Gods.
It wasn't a raven out there. Not this time.
The dragon flew slowly, only a few feet above the ground, wings sculling gracefully through the air.
The flags that crisscrossed the street were caught up and snapped like so much cobweb, piling up on the creature's spine plates and flapping back along the length of its tail.
It flew with head and neck fully extended, as if the great body was being towed like a barge. The people on the street yelled and fought one another for the safety of doorways. It paid them no attention.
It should have come roaring, but the only sounds were the creaking of wings and the snapping of banners.
It should have come roaring. Not like this, not slowly and deliberately, giving terror time to mature. It should have come threatening. Not promising.
It should have come roaring, not flying gently to the accompaniment of the zip and zing of merry bunting.
Vimes pulled open the other drawer of his desk and glared at the paperwork, such as there was of it. There wasn't really much in there that he could call his own. A scrap of sugar bag reminded him that he now owed the Tea Kitty six pence. Odd. He wasn't angry yet. He would be later on, of course. By evening he'd be furious. Drunk and furious. But not yet. Not yet. It hadn't really sunk in, and he knew he was just going through the motions as a preventative against thinking.
Errol stirred sluggishly in his box, raised his head and whined.
'What's the matter, boy?' said Vimes, reaching down. 'Upset stomach?'
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