: He's late.
(Pause)
: He said he would come.
(Pause)
: He said he would come but he hasn't. This is my last newt. I saved it for him. And he hasn't come.
(Pause)
'I think,' said Tomjon, later, 'you ought to slow down a bit. You've done what was ordered. No-one said it had to sparkle.'
'It could, you know. If I could just get it right.'
'You're absolutely sure about the ghost, are you?' said Tomjon. The way he threw the line away made it clear that he wasn't.
'There's nothing wrong with the ghost,' snapped Hwel. 'The scene with the ghost is the best I've done.'
'I was just wondering if this is the right play for it, that's all.'
'The ghost stays. Now let's get on, boy.'
Two days later, with the Ramtops a blue and white wall that was beginning to dominate the Hubward horizon, the company was attacked. There wasn't much drama; they had just manhandled the lattys across a ford and were resting in the shade of a grove of trees, which suddenly fruited robbers.
Hwel looked along the line of half a dozen stained and rusty blades. Their owners seemed slightly uncertain about what to do next.
'We've got a receipt somewhere—' he began.
Tomjon nudged him. 'These don't look like Guild thieves,' he hissed. 'They definitely look freelance to me.'
It would be nice to say that the leader of the robbers was a black-bearded, swaggering brute, with a red headscarf and one gold earring and a chin you could clean pots with. Actually it would be practically compulsory. And, in fact, this was so. Hwel thought the wooden leg was overdoing it, but the man had obviously studied the role.
'Well now,' said the bandit chief. 'What have we here, and do they have any money?'
'We're actors,' said Tomjon.
'That ought to answer both questions,' said Hwel.
'And none of your repartee,' said the bandit. 'I've been to the city, I have. I know repartee when I see it and—' he half turned to his followers, raising an eyebrow to indicate that the next remark was going
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