"Gawain?" she said, eyeing a nervous bear who had suddenly spotted her and was now trying to edge away nonchalantly.
"Yes?"
"You meant to tread on that crack so that I'd have to thump some poor creature whose only fault is wanting to tear you limb from limb."
"I was just skipping-"
"Quite. Real children don't go hoppity-skip unless they are on drugs."
He grinned at her.
"If I catch you being twee again I will knot your arms behind your head," said Susan levelly.
He nodded, and went to push Twyla off the swings.
Susan relaxed, satisfied. It was her personal discovery. Ridiculous threats didn't worry them at all, but they were obeyed. Especially the ones in graphic detail.
The previous governess had used various monsters and bogeymen as a form of discipline. There was always something waiting to eat or carry off bad boys and girls for crimes like stuttering or defiantly and aggravatingly persisting in writing with their left hand. There was always a Scissor Man waiting for a little girl who sucked her thumb, always a bogeyman in the cellar. Of such bricks is the innocence of childhood constructed.
Susan's attempts at getting them to disbelieve in the things only caused the problems to get worse.
Twyla had started to wet the bed. This may have been a crude form of defense against the terrible clawed creature that she was certain lived under it.
Susan had found out about this one the first night, when the child had woken up crying because of a bogeyman in the closet.
She'd sighed and gone to have a look. She'd been so angry that she'd pulled it out, hit it over the head with the nursery poker, dislocated its shoulder as a means of emphasis and kicked it out of the back door.
The children refused to disbelieve in the monsters because, frankly, they knew damn well the things were there.
But she'd found that they could, very firmly, also believe in the poker.
Now she sat down on a bench and read a book. She made a point of taking the children, every day, somewhere where they could meet others of the same age. If they got the hang of the playground, she thought, adult life would hold no fears. Besides, it was nice to hear the voices of little children at play, provided you took care to be far enough away not to hear what they were actually saying.
There were lessons later on. These were going a lot better now she'd got rid of the reading books about bouncy balls and dogs called Spot. She'd got Gawain on to the military campaigns of General Tacticus, which were suitably bloodthirsty but, more importantly, considered too difficult for a child. As a result his vocabulary was doubling every week and he could already use words like "disemboweled" in everyday conversation. After all, what was the point of teaching children to be children? They were naturally good at it.
And she was, to her mild horror, naturally good with them. She wondered suspiciously if this was a family trait. And if, to judge by the way her hair so readily knotted itself into a prim bun, she was destined for jobs like this for the rest of her life.
It was her parents' fault. They hadn't meant it to turn out like this. At least, she hoped charitably that they hadn't.
They'd wanted to protect her, to keep her way from the worlds outside this one, from what people thought of as the occult, from...well, from her grandfather, to put it bluntly. This had, she felt, left her a little twisted up.
Of course, to be fair, that was a parent's job. The world was so full of sharp bends that if they didn't put a few twists in you, you wouldn't stand a chance of fitting in. And they'd been conscientious and kind and given her a good home and even an education.
It had been a good education, too. But it had only been later on that she'd realized that it had been an education in, well, education. It meant that if ever anyone needed to calculate the volume of a cone, then they could confidently call on Susan Sto-Helit. Anyone at a loss to recall the campaigns of General Tacticus or the square root of 27.4 would not find her wanting. If you needed someone who could talk about household items and things to buy in the shops in five languages, then Susan was at the head of the queue. Education had been easy.
Learning things had been harder. things had been harder.
Getting an education was a bit like a communicable sexual disease. It made you unsuitable for a lot of jobs and then you had the urge to pass it on.
She'd become a governess. It was one of the few jobs a known lady could do. And she'd taken to it well. She'd sworn that if she did indeed ever find herself dancing on rooftops with chimney sweeps she'd beat herself to death with her own umbrella.
After tea she read them a story. They liked her stories. The one in the book was pretty awful, but the Susan version was well received. She translated as she read.
"...and then Jack chopped down the beanstalk, adding murder and ecological vandalism to the theft, enticement and trespass charges already mentioned, but he got away with it and lived happily ever after without so much as a guilty twinge about what he had done. Which proves that you can be excused just about anything if you're a hero, because no one asks inconvenient questions. And now," she closed the book with a snap, "it's time for bed."
The previous governess had taught them a prayer which included the hope that some god or other would take their soul if they died while they were asleep and, if Susan was any judge, had the underlying message that this would be a good thing.
One day, Susan averred, she'd hunt that woman down.
"Susan," said Twyla, from somewhere under the blankets.
"Yes?"
"You know last week we wrote letters to the Hogfather?"
"Yes?"
"Only...in the park Rachel says he doesn't exist and it's your father really. And everyone else said she was right."
There was a rustle from the other bed. Twyla's brother had turned over and was listening surreptitiously.
Oh dear, thought Susan. She had hoped she could avoid this. It was going to be like that business with the Soul Cake Duck all over again.
"Does it matter if you get the presents anyway?" she said, making a direct appeal to greed.
"'es."
Oh dear, oh dear. Susan sat down on the bed, wondering how the hell to get through this. She patted the one visible hand.
"Look at it this way, then," she said, and took a deep mental breath. "Wherever people are obtuse and absurd...and wherever they have, by even the most generous standards, the attention span of a small chicken in a hurricane and the investigative ability of a one-legged cockroach...and wherever people are inanely credulous, pathetically attached to the certainties of the nursery and, in general, have as much grasp of the realities of the physical universe as an oyster has of mountaineering...yes, Twyla: there is is a Hogfather." a Hogfather."
There was silence from under the bedclothes, but she sensed that the tone of voice had worked. The words had meant nothing. That, as her grandfather might have said, was humanity all over.
"G'night."
"Good night," said Susan.
It wasn't even a bar. It was just a room where people drank while they waited for other people with whom they had business. The business usually involved the transfer of ownership of something from one person to another, but then, what business doesn't?
Five businessmen sat round a table, lit by a candle stuck in a saucer. There was an open bottle between them. They were taking some care to keep it away from the candle flame.
"'s gone six," said one, a huge man with dreadlocks and a beard you could keep goats in. "The clocks struck ages ago. He ain't coming. Let's go."
"Sit down down, will you? Assassins are always late. 'cos of style, right?"
"This one's mental."
"Eccentric."
"What's the difference?"
"A bag of cash."
The three that hadn't spoken yet looked at one another.
"What's this? You never said he was an Assassin," said Chickenwire. "He never said the guy was an Assassin, did he, Banjo?"
There was a sound like distant thunder. It was Banjo Lilywhite clearing his throat.
"Dat's right," said a voice from the upper slopes. "Youse never said."
The others waited until the rumble died away. Even Banjo's voice voice hulked. hulked.
"He's"-the first speaker waved his hands vaguely, trying to get across the point that someone was a hamper of food, several folding chairs, a tablecloth, an assortment of cooking gear and an entire colony of ants short of a picnic-"mental. And he's got a funny eye."
"It's just glass, all right?" said the one known as Catseye, signaling a waiter for four beers and a glass of milk. "And he's paying ten thousand dollars each. I don't care what kind of eye he's got."
"I heard it was made of the same stuff they make them fortune-telling crystals out of. You can't tell me me that's right. And he looks at you with it," said the first speaker. He was known as Peachy, although no one had ever found out why. that's right. And he looks at you with it," said the first speaker. He was known as Peachy, although no one had ever found out why.*
Catseye sighed. Certainly there was something odd about Mister Teatime, there was no doubt about that. But there was something weird about all Assassins. And the man paid well. Lots of Assassins used informers and locksmiths. It was against the rules, technically, but standards were going down everywhere, weren't they? Usually they paid you late and sparsely, as if they they were doing the favor. But Teatime was okay. True, after a few minutes talking to him your eyes began to water and you felt you needed to scrub your skin even on the inside, but no one was perfect, were they? were doing the favor. But Teatime was okay. True, after a few minutes talking to him your eyes began to water and you felt you needed to scrub your skin even on the inside, but no one was perfect, were they?
Peachy leaned forward. "You know what?" he said. "I reckon he could be here already. In disguise! Laughing at us! Well, if he's in here laughing at us-" He cracked his knuckles.
Medium Dave Lilywhite, the last of the five, looked around. There were indeed a number of solitary figures in the low, dark room. Most of them wore cloaks with big hoods. They sat alone, in corners, hidden by the hoods. None of them looked very friendly.
"Don't be daft, Peachy," Catseye murmured.
"That's the sort of thing they do," Peachy insisted. "They're masters of disguise!"
"With that eye of his?"
"That guy sitting by the fire has got an eye patch," said Medium Dave. Medium Dave didn't speak much. He watched a lot.
The others turned to stare.
"He'll wait till we're off our guard then go ahahaha," said Peachy.
"They can't kill you unless it's for money," said Catseye. But now there was a soupcon of doubt in his voice.
They kept their eyes on the hooded man. He kept his eye on them.
If asked to describe what they did for a living, the five men around the table would have said something like "This and that" or "The best I can," although in Banjo's case he'd have probably said "Dur?" They were, by the standards of an uncaring society, criminals, although they wouldn't have thought of themselves as such and couldn't even spell spell words like "nefarious." What they generally did was move things around. Sometimes the things were on the wrong side of a steel door, say, or in the wrong house. Sometimes the things were in fact people who were far too unimportant to trouble the Assassins' Guild with, but who were nevertheless inconveniently positioned where they were and could much better be located on, for example, a sea bed somewhere. words like "nefarious." What they generally did was move things around. Sometimes the things were on the wrong side of a steel door, say, or in the wrong house. Sometimes the things were in fact people who were far too unimportant to trouble the Assassins' Guild with, but who were nevertheless inconveniently positioned where they were and could much better be located on, for example, a sea bed somewhere.* None of the five belonged to any formal guild and they generally found their clients among those people who, for their own dark reasons, didn't want to put the guilds to any trouble, sometimes because they were guild members themselves. They had plenty of work. There was always something that needed transferring from A to B or, of course, to the bottom of the C. None of the five belonged to any formal guild and they generally found their clients among those people who, for their own dark reasons, didn't want to put the guilds to any trouble, sometimes because they were guild members themselves. They had plenty of work. There was always something that needed transferring from A to B or, of course, to the bottom of the C.
"Any minute now," said Peachy, as the waiter brought their beers.
Banjo cleared his throat. This was a sign that another thought had arrived.
"What I don' unnerstan," he said, "is..."
"Yes?" said his brother.
"What I don' unnerstan is, how longaz diz place had waiters?"
"Good evening," said Teatime, putting down the tray.
They stared at him in silence.
He gave them a friendly smile.
Peachy's huge hand slapped the table.
"You crept up on us, you little-" he began.
Men in their line of business develop a certain prescience. Medium Dave and Catseye, who were sitting on either side of Peachy, leaned away nonchalantly.
"Hi!" said Teatime. There was a blur, and a knife shuddered in the table between Peachy's thumb and index finger.
He looked down at it in horror.
"My name's Teatime," said Teatime. "Which one are you?"
"'m...Peachy," said Peachy, still staring at the vibrating knife.
"That's an interesting name," said Teatime. "Why are you called Peachy, Peachy?"
Medium Dave coughed.
Peachy looked up into Teatime's face. The glass eye was a mere ball of faintly glowing gray. The other eye was a little dot in a sea of white. Peachy's only contact with intelligence had been to beat it up and rob it whenever possible, but a sudden sense of self-preservation glued him to his chair.
"'cos I don't shave," he said.
"Peachy don't like blades, mister," said Catseye.
"And do you have a lot of friends, Peachy?" said Teatime.
"Got a few, yeah..."
With a sudden whirl of movement that made the men start, Teatime spun away, grabbed a chair, swung it up to the table and sat down on it. Three of them had already got their hands on their swords.
"I don't have many," he said, apologetically. "Don't seem to have the knack. On the other hand...I don't seem to have any any enemies at all. Not one. Isn't that nice?" enemies at all. Not one. Isn't that nice?"