by Quark » Sat Jan 23, 2010 11:37 am
The gates crashed open and the Watch, predictably, managed to barge in at exactly the worst time, releasing a tidal wave of angry and afraid citizens into the university grounds like a swarm of vengeful hornets. Skylux peered around the door frame as Ridcully addressed the increasingly anxious crowds in the dim light of the university windows. Fighting his way up to the steps, the leader of the Watch - to which Rincewind quickly attributed the name 'Vimes' - confronted the Archchancellor. A few similarly attired watch-people stood in his wake.
"What's all this, th - " he began, before checking his stereotypes.
"What's going on here, then?" he amended, glaring at Ridcully with renewed righteousness. "You can't just put the sun out, Archchancellor! With all due respect for wizardly affairs and processes, put the damn thing back right now before I find an excuse to use my exquisitely carved and rather useless-looking truncheon."
It was obviously an threat that was emptier than a heretic's temple. They both knew that. Skylux knew that. Even the people in the crowd, who wouldn't have been able to hear anyway, seemed to understand the general gist, and knew it. Nevertheless, Ridcully bristled.
"I might remind you, Commander, that here at the UU we are, to a certain degree, above the law. Not to mention the trouble you'd get in by laying a single splinter on any of our faculty. Anyway, I haven't a clue what's happened myself," he paused. "Someone get Doctor Hix. And where's the bloody Bursar? Rincewind!"
The scrawny wizard who had let Skylux in shuffled up to the Archchancellor, who managed to inconveniently spot the boy in his shadow.
"Who're you?" he barked, with the sound of someone who wants to keep shouting simply to show that they're doing something useful. Which shouting isn't.
"Oh, me?" Skylux said, panicking slightly and flicking his mind into the rather rusty 'conversation' gear. "Don't mind me. I'm a bystander."
"Alright then. Both of you, fetch the Bursar and Doctor Hix."
A few miles away, Lord Venitari looked up from his desk, and frowned.
