Guards! Guards!

'It's just in a book?' said Brother Plasterer.

'No ordinary book. This is the only copy. It has taken me years to track it down,' said the Supreme Grand Master. 'It's in the handwriting of Tubal de Malachite, a great student of dragon lore. His actual handwriting. He summoned dragons of all sizes. And so can you.'

There was another long, awkward silence.

'Um,' said Brother Doorkeeper.

'Sounds a bit like, you know . . . magic to me,' said Brother Watchtower, in the nervous tone of the man who has spotted which cup the pea is hidden under but doesn't like to say. 'I mean, not wishing to question your supreme wisdomship and that, but ... well . . . you know . . . magic . . .'

His voice trailed off.

'Yeah,' said Brother Plasterer uncomfortably.

'It's, er, the wizards, see,' said Brother Fingers. 'You prob'ly dint know this, when you was banged up with them venerable herberts on their mountain, but the wizards round here come down on you like a ton of bricks if they catches you doin' anything like that.'

'Demarcation, they call it,' said Brother Plasterer.

'Like, I don't go around fiddling with the mystic interleaved wossnames of causality, and they don't do any plastering.'

'I fail to see the problem,' said the Supreme Grand Master. In fact, he saw it all too clearly. This was the last hurdle. Help their tiny little minds over this, and he held the world in the palm of his hand. Their stupefyingly unintelligent self-interest hadn't let him down so far, surely it couldn't fail him now . . .

The Brethren shuffled uneasily. Then Brother Dunnykin spoke.

'Huh, wizards. What do they know about a day's work?'

The Supreme Grand master breathed deeply. Ah . , .

The air of mean-minded resentfulness thickened noticeably.

'Nothing, and that's a fact,' said Brother Fingers. 'Goin' around with their noses in the air,too good for the likes o'us. I used to see 'em when I worked up the University. Backsides a mile wide, I'm telling you. Catch 'em doing a job of honest toil?'

'Like thieving, you mean?' said Brother Watchtower, who had never liked Brother Fingers much.

'O'course, they tell you,' Brother Fingers went on, pointedly ignoring the comment, 'that you shouldn't go round doin' magic on account of only them knowin' about not disturbin' the universal harmony and whatnot. Load of rubbish, in my opinion.'

'We-ell,' said Brother Plasterer, 'I dunno, really. I mean, you get the mix wrong, you just got a lot of damp plaster round your ankles. But you get a bit of magic wrong, and they say ghastly things comes out the woodwork and snitches you right up.'

'Yeah, but it's the wizards that say that,' said Brother Watchtower thoughtfully. 'Never could stand them myself, to tell you the truth. Could be they're on to a good thing and don't want the rest of us to find out. It's only waving your arms and chanting, when all's said and done.'

The Brethren considered this. It sounded plausible. If they were on to a good thing, they certainly wouldn't want anyone else muscling in.

The Supreme Grand Master decided that the time was ripe.

'Then we are agreed, Brethren? You are prepared to practice magic?'

'Oh, practice,' said Brother Plaster, relieved. 'I don't mind practicing. So long as we don't have to do it for real…'

The Supreme Grand Master thumped the book.

'I mean carry out real spells! Put the city back on the right lines! Summon a dragon!' he shouted.