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‘They’re building another tower!’ said Nijel

‘Out of my palace, too,’ said Creosote

‘The hat’s won,’ said Rincewind ‘That’s why it’s building its oer It’s a sort of reaction Wizards always used to build a tower around thes you find at the bottosters’

‘Caddis flies is what I ht, the first thing he always did was build a tower’

‘It’s very big,’ said Nijel

Rincewind nodded glued

‘Away,’ he said

The outer palace wall drifted just below thean to loop towards the stor rock that buzzed around the neer

Eventually Conina said, ‘All right How did you get the carpet to fly? Does it really do the opposite of what you command?’

‘No I just paid attention to certain fundaements’

‘You’ve lost me there,’ she admitted

‘You want it in non-wizard talk?’

‘Yes’

‘You put it on the floor upside down,’ said Rincewind

Conina sat very still for a while Then she said, ‘I must say this is very comfortable It’s the first time I’ve ever flown on a carpet’

‘It’s the first tiuely

‘You do it very well,’ she said

‘Thank you’

‘You said you were frightened of heights’

‘Terrified’

‘You don’t show it’

‘I’ about it’

Rincewind turned and looked at the tower behind the at the top into a complexity of turrets and battle over it, individual tiles swooping down and clinking into place like cerah - the stones at the bottoic that crackled through theanised wizardry was concerned Two thousand years of peaceful ain, and with all this ne et very seriously hurt Probably the universe Too ic could wrap tiood news for the kind of person who had grown used to things like effects following things like causes

And, of course, it would be is to his corasp ideas properly;of doo could be done They seemed prepared to make the world the way they wanted it or die in the atte in the attempt was that you died in the atteanisation was that it kept a sort of peace betizards who got along with one another about as easily as cats in a sack, and now the gloves were off anyone who tried to interfere was going to end up severely scratched This wasn’t the old, gentle, rather silly ic hite-hot and searing

Rinceasn’t very good at precognition; in fact he could barely see into the present But he kneeary certainty that at some point in the very near future, like thirty seconds or so, so we could do?’

The desert passed below the sun

‘There don’t seem to be many stars,’ said Nijel ‘Perhaps they’re scared to coh in the air

‘It’s rawout of the atmosphere,’ he said ‘It’s saturated’

Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twen-

‘Surely there’s-’ Conina began

‘There isn’t,’ said Rincewind flatly, but with just the faintest twinge of satisfaction ‘The wizards will fight each other until there’s one victor There isn’t anything anyone else can do’

‘I could do with a drink,’ said Creosote ‘I suppose we couldn’t stop somewhere where I could buy an inn?’

‘What with?’ said Nijel ‘You’re poor, remember?’

‘Poor I don’tently in the ribs

‘Are you steering this thing?’ she said

No’

‘Then where is it going?’

Nijel peered doards

‘By the look of it,’ he said, ‘it’s going hubwards Towards the Circle Sea’

‘So it’

Hallo, said a friendly voice in Rincewind’s head

You’re notreally bad

Well, I’ht, but none of this is my fault I’m just a victim of circuses I don’t see why I should take the bla about it

Like what?

You could destroy the sourcerer All this would collapse then

I wouldn’t stand a chance

Then at least you could die in the atteical war break out

‘Look, just shut up, will you?’ said Rincewind