Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett

Author:Terry Pratchett
Format: mobi, epub, azw3, pdf
Tags: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Published: 2010-01-29T22:46:30+00:00

The sound of saws was brisk on the morning air. Captain Carrot knocked against the timber-yard door, which was eventually opened.

'Good morning, sir!' he said. 'I understand you have a golem here?'

'Had,' said the timber merchant.

'Oh dear, another one,' said Angua.

That made four so far. The one in the foundry had knelt under a hammer, the one in the stonemason's yard was now ten clay toes sticking out from under a two-ton block of limestone, one working in the docks had last been seen in the river, striding towards the sea, and now this one . . .

'It was weird,' said the merchant, thumping the golem's chest. 'Sidney said it went on sawing all the way up to the moment it sawed its head right off. I've got a load of ash planking got to go out this afternoon. Who's going to saw it up, may I ask?'

Angua picked up the golem's head. Insofar as it had any expression at all, it was one of intense concentration,

"ere,' said the merchant, 'Alf told me he heard in the Drum last night that golems have been murderin' people . . .'

'Enquiries are continuing,' said Carrot. 'Now then, Mr ... it's Preble Skink, isn't it? Your brother runs the lamp-oil shop in Cable Street? And your daughter is a maid at the university?'

The man looked astonished. But Carrot knew everyone.

'Yeah . . .'

'Did your golem leave the yard yesterday evening?'

'Well, yeah, early on ... Something about a holy day.' He looked nervously from one to the other. 'You got to let them go, otherwise the words in their heads—'

'And then it came back and worked all night?'

'Yeah. What else would it do? And then Alf came in on early turn and he said it came up outa the saw pit, stood there for a moment, and then . . .'

'Was it sawing pine logs yesterday?' said Angua.

That's right. Where'm I going to get another golem at short notice, may I ask?'

'What's this?' said Angua. She picked up a wood-framed square from a heap of sawdust. This was its slate, was it?' She handed it to Carrot.

' "Thou Shall Not Kill," ' Carrot read slowly. ' "Clay of My Clay. Ashamed." Do you have any idea why it'd write that?'

'Search me,' said Skink. They're always doing dumb things.' He brightened up a bit. 'Hey, perhaps it went potty? Get it? Clay ... pot ... potty?'

'Extremely funny,' said Carrot gravely. 'I will take this as evidence. Good morning.

'Why did you ask about pine logs?' he said to Angua as they stepped outside.

'I smelled the same pine resin in the cellar.'

'Pine resin's just pine resin, isn't it?'

'No. Not to me. That golem was in there.'

They all were,' sighed Carrot. 'And now they're committing suicide.'

'You can't take life you haven't got,' said Angua.

'What shall we call it, then? "Destruction of property"?' said Carrot. 'Anyway, we can't ask them now . . .'He tapped the slate.

'They've given us the answers,' he said. 'Perhaps we can find out what the questions should have been.

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