“She was shot by an elf-”
“But-” said Magrat and Verence at the same time.
“Don't ask questions now, got no time. Shot by an elf. Them horrible arrows of theirs. They make the mind go wandering off all by itself. Now - can you do anything?”
Despite her better nature, Magrat felt a spark of righteous ire.
“Oh, so suddenly I'm a witch again when you-”
Granny Weatherwax sighed.
“No time for that, either,” she said. “I'm just askin'. All you have to do is say no. Then I'll take her away and won't bother you again.”
The quietness of her voice was so unexpected that Magrat tripped over her own anger, and tried to right herself.
“I wasn't saying I wouldn't, I was just-”
“Good.”
There was a series of clangs as Nanny Ogg lifted the silver tureen lids.
“Hey, they've got three kinds of eggs!”
“Well, there's no fever,” said Magrat. “Slow pulse. Eyes unfocused. Shawn?”
“Yes, Miss Queen?”
“Boiled, scrambled and fried. That's what I call posh.”
“Run down to my cottage and bring back all the books you can find. I'm sure I read something about this once, Granny. Shawn?”
Shawn paused halfway to the door.
“Yes, Miss Queen?”
“On your way out, stop off in the kitchens and ask them to boil up a lot of water. We can start by getting the wound clean, at any rate. But look, elves-”
“I'll let you get on with it, then,” said Granny, turning away. “Can I have a word with you, your majesty? There's something downstairs you ought to see.”
“I shall need some help,” said Magrat.
“Nanny'll do it.”
“That's me,” said Nanny indistinctly, spraying crumbs.
“What are you eating?”
“Fried egg and ketchup sandwich,” said Nanny happily.
“You better get the cook to boil you, too,” said Magrat, rolling up her sleeves. “Go and see her.” She looked at the wound. “And see if she's got any mouldy bread . . .”
The basic unit of wizardry is the Order or the College or, of course, the University.
The basic unit of witchcraft is the witch, but the basic continuous unit, as has already been indicated, is the cottage.
A witch's cottage is a very specific architectural item. It is not exactly built, but put together over the years as the areas of repair join up, like a sock made entirely of dams. The chimney twists like a corkscrew. The roof is thatch so old that small but flourishing trees are growing in it, the floors are switchbacks, it creaks at night like a tea clipper in a gale. If at least two walls aren't shored up with balks of timber then it's not a true witch's cottage at all, but merely the home of some daft old bat who reads tea leaves and talks to her cat.
Cottages tend to attract similar kinds of witches. It's natural. Every witch trains up one or two young witches in their life, and when in the course of mortal time the cottage becomes vacant it's only sense for one of them to move in.