Withel stared at the boiling flames, unnerved. And Rincewind leapt. He ducked under the thief’s sword arm and brought his own blade around in an arc so incompetently misjudged that it hit the man flat-first and jolted out of the wizard’s hand. Sparks and droplets of flaming oil rained down as Withel reached out with both gauntleted hands and grabbed Rincewind’s neck, forcing him down.
“You did this!” he screamed. “You and your box of trickery. “
His thumb found Rincewind’s windpipe. This is it, the wizard thought. Wherever I’m going, it can’t be worse than here…
“Excuse me,” said Twoflower.
Rincewind felt the grip lessen. And now Withel was slowly getting up, a look of absolute hatred on his face.
A glowing ember landed on the wizard. He brushed it off hurriedly, and scrambled to his feet. Twoflower was behind Withel, holding the man’s own needle-sharp sword with the point resting in the small of the thief’s back. Rincewind’s eyes narrowed. He reached into his robe, then withdrew his hand bunched into a fist.
“Don’t move,” he said.
“Am I doing this right?” asked Twoflower anxiously.
“He says he’ll skewer your liver if you move,”
Rincewind translated freely.
“I doubt it,” said Withel.
“Bet?”
“No!”
As Withel tensed himself to turn on the tourist Rincewind lashed out and caught the thief on the jaw. Withel stared at him in amazement for a moment, and then quietly toppled into the mud.
The wizard uncurled his stinging fist and the roll of gold coins slipped between his throbbing fingers.
He looked down at the recumbent thief.
“Good grief,” he gasped.
He looked up and yelled as another ember landed on his neck. Flames were racing along the rooftops on the other side of the street. All around him people were hurling possessions from windows and dragging horses from smoking stables. Another explosion in the white-hot volcano that was the Drum sent a whole marble mantelpiece scything overhead.
“The Widdershin Gate’s the nearest!” Rincewind shouted above the crackle of collapsing rafters. “Come on!”
He grabbed Twoflower’s reluctant arm and dragged him down the street.
“My luggage!”
“Blast your luggage. Stay here much longer and you’ll go where you don’t need luggage. Come on!” screamed Rincewind.
They jogged on through the crowd of frightened people leaving the area, while the wizard took great mouthfuls of cool dawn air. Something was puzzling him.
“I’m sure all the candles went out,” he said. “So how did the Drum catch fire?”
“I don’t know,” moaned Twoflower. “it’s terrible, Rincewind. We were getting along so well, too.”
Rincewind stopped in astonishment, so that another refugee cannoned into him and spun away with an oath.
“Getting on?”
“Yes, a great bunch of fellows, I thought language was a bit of a problem, but they were so keen for me to join their party, they just wouldn’t take no for an answer - really friendly people, I thought…”
Rincewind started to correct him, then realised he didn’t know how to begin.
“It’ll be a blow for old Broadman,” Twoflower continued. “Still, he was wise. I’ve still got the rhinu he paid as his first premium.”