'Yeah!'
'Right through it, dint you see?'
'Think you're sharp, do you?'
'Sharp enough, come to that!'
The leader scooped his knife out of the dirt in one snaky movement.
'Sharp as this?'
The third thief lurched over to the wall and kicked it hard a few times, while behind him there were the sounds of scuffle and some damp bubbling noises.
'Yep, it's a wall okay,' he said. That's a wall if ever I saw one. How d'you think they do it, lads?'
'Lads?'
He tripped over the prone bodies.
'Oh,' he said. Slow as his mind was, it was quick enough to realise something very important. He was in a back alley in The Shades, and he was alone. He ran for it, and got quite a long way.
Death walked slowly across tiles in the lifetimer room, inspecting the serried rows of busy hourglasses. Albert followed dutifully behind with the great ledger open in his arms.
The sound roared around them, a vast grey waterfall of noise.
It came from the shelves where, stretching away into the infinite distance, row upon row of hourglasses poured away the sands of mortal time. It was a heavy sound, a dull sound, a sound that poured like sullen custard over the bright roly-poly pudding of the soul.
VERY WELL, said Death at last. I MAKE IT THREE.
A QUIET NIGHT.
'That'd be Goodie Hamstring, the Abbott Lobsang again, and this Princess Keli,' said Albert.
Death looked at the three hourglasses in his hand.
I WAS THINKING OF SENDING THE LAD OUT, he said.
Albert consulted his ledger. 'Well, Goodie wouldn't be any trouble and the Abbott is what you might call experienced,' he said. 'Shame about the princess. Only fifteen. Could be tricky.'
YES. IT is A PITY.
'Master?'
Death stood with the third glass in his hand, staring thoughtfully at the play of light across its surface. He sighed.
ONE so YOUNG. . . .
'Are you feeling all right, master?' said Albert, his voice full of concern.
TIME LIKE AN EVER-ROLLING STREAM BEARS ALL ITS. . . .
'Master!'
WHAT? said Death, snapping out of it. 'You've been overdoing it, master, that's what it is—'
WHAT ARE YOU BLATHERING ABOUT, MAN?
'You had a bit of a funny turn there, master.'