The blows sounded like shovels hitting wet concrete.
Wolfgang grabbed the falling man, lifted him over his head with one hand and hurled him down on to the bridge in front of Angua. "Civilized man!" he shouted. "Here he is, sister!"
Vimes heard a sound down beside him. Gavin was watching intently, making urgent little noises in his throat. A tiny part of Vimes, the little rock-hard core of cynicism, thought: all right for you, then.
Steam was rising off Wolfgang. He shone in the torchlight. The blond hair across his shoulders gleamed like a slipped halo.
Angua knelt down by the body, face impassive. Vimes had been expecting a scream of rage.
He heard her crying.
Beside Vimes, Gavin whined. Vimes stared down at the wolf. He looked at Angua trying to lift Carrot, and then he looked at Wolfgang. And then back again.
"Anyone else?" said Wolfgang, dancing back and forth on the boards. "How about you, Civilized?"
"Sam!" hissed Sybil. "You can"t - "
Vimes drew his sword. It wouldn"t make any difference now. Wolfgang wasn"t playing now, he wasn"t punching and running away. Those arms could push a fist through Vimes"s ribcage and out the other side
A blur went past at shoulder height. Gavin struck Wolfgang in the throat, knocking him over. They rolled across the bridge, Wolfgang changing back to wolf shape to lock jaw against jaw. They broke, circled, and went for one another again.
Dreamlike, Vimes heard a small voice say: "He wouldn"t last five minutes back home fightin" like that. The silly bugger"s gonna get creamed, fightin" like that! Stuff the Marquis of flamin" Fantailler!"
Gaspode was sitting bolt upright, stubby tail vibrating.
"The daftie! This is how you win a dogfight!"
As the wolves rolled over and over, Wolfgang tearing at Gavin"s belly, Gaspode arrived growling and yapping and launched himself in the general direction of the werewolf"s hindquarters.
There was a yip. Gaspode"s growls became somewhat muffled. Wolfgang leapt vertically. Gavin sprang. The three hit the parapet of the bridge together, knocked the crumbling stones aside, hung for a moment in a snarling ball, and then dropped down into the roaring whiteness of the river.
The whole of it, from the moment Tantony had crossed the bridge, had taken much less than a minute.
The Baroness was staring down into the gorge. Keeping his eye on her, Vimes spoke to Detritus.
"Are you sure you"re werewolf-proof, sergeant?"
"Pretty much, sir. Anyway, I got the bow wound up again."
"Go into the castle and fetch the resident Igor, then," said Vimes calmly. "If anyone even tries to stop you, shoot them. And shoot anyone standing near them."
"No problem about dat, sir."
"We"re not at home to Mister Reasonable, sergeant."
"I do not hear him knockin", sir."
"Go to it, then. Sergeant Angua?"
She did not look up.
"Sergeant Angua!"
Now she looked up.
"How can you be so... so cool?" she snarled. "He"s hurt."
"I know. Go and talk to those watchmen hanging around on the other end of the bridge. They look scared. I don"t want any accidents. We"re going to need them. Cheery, cover Carrot and the lad with something. Keep them warm."