"Is it going to work?" he whispered.
"It"s hard to think of a bigger precedent than this, sir. I mean, it"s the song of songs! The ultimate appeal! It"s built into dwarf law, almost! They can"t refuse. It"d be... not being a dwarf, sir!"
As Vimes watched, one dwarf pulled a fine chain-mail handkerchief out of his pocket and blew his nose with a wet, jingling noise. Several others were in tears.
When the last note died away there was silence, and then the sudden thunder of axes banging on shields.
"It"s all right!" said Cheery. "They"re clapping!"
Sybil, panting with the effort, turned to her husband. She gleamed in the torchlight. "Do you think that was all right?" she said.
"By the sound of it, you"re an honorary dwarf," said Vimes. He held out his arm. "Shall we go?"
News was going on ahead. Dwarfs were pouring out of the entrance to Downtown when the Duke and Duchess arrived.
There were dwarfs behind them now. They were being swept along. And all the time, hands reached out to touch the Scone as it passed.
Dwarfs crowded into the elevator with them. Down below, the roar of conversation stopped abruptly as Vimes stepped out and raised the Scone above his head. Then the rock echoed and re-echoed to one enormous cheer.
They can"t even see it, thought Vimes. To most of them it"s a tiny white dot. And that was what the plotters had known, wasn"t it? You don"t have to steal something to hold it hostage.
"They are to be arrested!" Dee was hurrying forward, with more guards behind him.
"Again?" said Vimes. He kept the Scone aloft.
"You attempted to kill the King! You escaped from your cell!"
"That"s something about which we could hear more evidence," said Vimes, as calmly as he could. The Scone was heavy. "You can"t keep people in the dark all the time, Dee."
"You shall certainly not see the King!"
"Then I will drop the Scone!"
"Do so! It won"t - "
Vimes heard the gasp of the dwarfs behind him.
,"It won"t what?" he said quietly. "It won"t matter? But this is the Scone!"
One of the dwarfs that had accompanied them from the embassy shouted something, and several others took it up.
"Precedent is on your side," Cheery translated. "They say they can always kill you after you"ve seen the King."
"Well, not exactly what I was hoping, but it"ll have to do." Vimes looked at Dee again. "You said you wanted me to find the thing, didn"t you? And now, how fitting that I return it to its rightful owner..."
"You... the King is... You may give it to me," said Dee, pulling himself up to the height of Vimes"s chest.
"Absolutely not!" snapped Lady Sybil. "When Ironhammer returned the Scone to Bloodaxe, would he have given it to Slogram?"
There was a general chorus of dissent.
"Of course not," said Dee, "Slogram was a trait - "
He stopped.
"I think," said Vimes, "that we had better see the King, don"t you?"
"You can"t demand that!"