Vimes looked out of the windows as the horses trotted away. The golden-haired wolf had come to the steps and was watching him leave.
He sat back as the coach rumbled out of the castle and closed his eyes. Cheery was wise enough to remain silent.
"No weapons on the walls, did you notice?" he said, after a while. His eyes were still shut, as if he was looking at a picture on the back of them. "Most castles like that have the things hanging all over the place."
"Well, they are werewolves, sir."
"Does Angua ever talk about her parents?"
"No, sir."
"They didn"t want to talk about her, that"s certain." Vimes opened his eyes. "Dwarfs?" he said. "I"ve always got on with dwarfs. And werewolves... well, never had a problem with werewolves. So why is the only person who hasn"t tried to blow me out this morning the blood-sucking vampire?"
"I don"t know, sir."
"Big fireplace they had."
"Werewolves like to sleep in front of the fire at night, sir," said Cheery.
"The Baron certainly didn"t seem comfortable in a chair, I spotted that. And what was the motto carved into that great big mantelpiece? "Homini..." "
" "Homo Homini Lupus", sir," said Cheery. "It means "Every man is a wolf to another man"."
"Hah! Why haven"t I promoted you, Cheery?"
"Because I get embarrassed about shouting at other people, sir. Sir, did you notice the strange thing about the trophies they had on the wall?"
Vimes shut his eyes again. "Stag, bears, some kind of mountain lion... What"re you asking me, corporal?"
"And did you notice something just below them?"
"Let"s see... I think there was just space below them."
"Yes, sir. With three hooks in it. You could just make them out."
Vimes hesitated. "Do you mean," he said carefully, "three hooks that might have had trophies hanging from them until they were removed?"
"Very much that sort of hook, sir, yes. Only perhaps the heads haven"t been hung up yet."
"Trolls" heads?"
"Who knows, sir?"
The coach entered the town.
"Cheery, have you still got that silver chainmail vest you used to have?"
"Er, no, sir. I stopped wearing it because it seemed a bit disloyal to Angua, sir. Why?"
"Just a passing thought. Oh, ye gods, is that Igor"s parcel under the seat?"
"I think so, sir. But look, I know about Igors. If that"s a real hand, the original owner hasn"t got a use for it, believe me."
"What? He cuts bits off dead people?"
"Better than live people, sir."
"You know what I mean!"