Punishment? What Crime?
"Why worry where Vimes is now? Carrot. Is. Missing!" snarled Angua. "No..." Piano murmured.
"What!?" asked William and Angua
"You don't think that they got him too, do you?"
Gaols should not be like this. Not if you were in them. They should be open, airy, light and definitely have a loose rung in the bars, otherwise there was just no point. You most certainly should not be chained to the floor by chains wider than your waist, nor should you be in a cell without windows, without light. It was almost enough to make you lose hope in the narrative process. Yet Vimes did not despair. He might be trapped, but at least Sybil and little Sam were still free-
A loud clanging behind him surprised him, as did the sudden rush of light that blinded him. He waited for the newcomer to speak. It didn't take long.
"Well, Mr Vimes. It seems you have finally made a mistake in your campaign of terror against the innocent citizens of this city." A discreet, cultured voice spoke, tempered with an edge of steel; the owner of which was stood, carefully, behind where Vimes was chained to the floor, and probably in shadow as well.
"You WHAT!?'
"You mean you wish to dispute the statements of so many witnesses? No, it is too late. You have already been convicted. You and Carrot won't be seeing many people in the rest of your life, just Sybil and your son, who, incidentally, won't be seeing many people either, in the rest of their, tragically short, lives."
The door slammed, the light faded, and Vimes was once more left with a brilliant view of blackness, this time with added spiders. But now he despaired.
"NO! If Vimes is gone...he holds us together. He IS this 'AMPWatch' thing, without him and without Carrot we might as well all give up and go support Meow." Angua said, too surprised to argue.
"We might as well carry on, you mean. William, call a general meeting and, Angua, get the hole patched. We are taking on ... er ... water? Well, some substance, anyway." Piano was really getting into this initiative business...
"Lord Rust, Lord Rust!"
Lord Rust's headquarters was once a stable for dragons. Now, it once again resembled a home for dragons, in Rust's opinion, with sheets of paper and lost clerks everywhere. He turned to meet the running aide with his frostiest stare.
"Yes?"
"Sir, we just got intelligence from our sources onboard the Prid of the Ankh. Some of Vimes' top lieutenants (note from author: I don't care if you are Americanised; this is pronounced lef–ten-ants) just called an emergency general meeting of all members of AMPWatch, and it seems that Commander Vimes is missing, along with his entire family, and Captain Carrot."
"That is a surprise. Perhaps He has simply tired of that joke he seemed to think was better than us, though I find such a thing unlikely. However, no doubt one of those misguided fools who think to deny me of my birthright have persuaded him to support them, instead! Erm...whoever you are, find out just which of those ignoble pretenders has his support, and then find Vimes. And then...do whatever you have to, to get him to stop being such a barrier to my plans!"
"Yes, my lord"
The emergency meeting had been a disaster. Catastrophic. Most of the group had elected to leave, and only a handful were willing to consider helping out in a rescue attempt. The possibility that Vimes and his family, never mind Carrot, had chosen to leave never crossed the minds of any that remained in AMPWatch. The bar, surprisingly, at this hour (12:30 pm), was near empty. Angua, William de Worde, Otto, Piano, and a strange being, species unknown because he always, even when sleeping, wore a black cloak, one that hid his face in deep shadow, called Nænorn, who claimed to be knowledgeable about these things, were the only occupants.
"You know, back in Uberwald it is usually considered necessary to know vhere a person is before freeink him" commented Otto
"We can't not try though! We could raid Rust, Slant and Downey, and Meow too, if we had to, anywhere in the city. We must find them! Otherwise it'll be one of them that rules this city. We need Carrot and Sybil and Vimes to hold us as the opposition!" exclaimed Piano.
No suggestions were forthcoming, and silence reigned. The time passed, ticking, as inspiration completely failed to hit any of the 'old guard'.
Then, Nænorn said:
"I believe I may be of some help to you in this. I was employed by the late Rufus Drumknott to aid him in clearing up some discrepancies in his accounts. Discrepancies like several assassination attempts, and several missing persons. The patrician's mistress disappeared a while ago, the Baroness Hanna, you know (please, read mercator's stories on that). In my... employment, I built up a web of contacts. I am sure they will be delighted to know they have been reactivated, and even happier when they are paid. After Vimes is back, of course."
No one said anything for a long time. Then, Otto said;
"Vell, that iz interesting, but... vy did you vait so long before telling us? And, who the hell are you anyvay? Vy are you here?"