Chapter Two: Gone
As he made his way down the epic staircase, Sam Vimes tried to make sense of the morning. What did he know? Not a lot. Someone shot at me with a very expensive arrow. That was it. He was disgusted with himself. He didn't who the attacker was, he didn't know where the attacker had shot from. The wizards couldn't tell him those things, unless they'd managed to do something useful with their powers.
"What's happening, Sam?" asked Sybil anxiously, when he came into the kitchen.
"Oh, I don't know. Some wizards will be along in a few hours."
"Wizards?"
"Yes, dear." Vimes frowned. "It's very quiet in here. Where's Sam?"
"Still sleeping," said Sybil.
"Still? That's not like him."
"It's certainly an improvement on the crack of dawn."
"Mm."
Sibyl sat down with her cup of tea. "It is very late, though," she said.
"I'll go up and check on him," said Vimes.
Sybil sipped her tea as she heard her husband slowly climb the stairs. She heard his footsteps echo in the hall above. She heard the door open. Twenty seconds later the footsteps were slamming back down the stairs.
"Sybil!" Sam yelled, "He's gone!"
Fifteen minutes later, a breathless Sam Vimes demanded to see Archchancellor Ridcully. Carrot had once suggested using those omniscopes to see into the past and watch crimes and how they happened, but Vimes had put his foot down. He'd kept magic out of warfare and there was no chance of it getting into law enforcement.
Until now. Vimes fully supported Carrot's belief that personal wasn't the same as important, but that didn't mean he could live by it.
"Ah, your grace," said Mustrum Ridcully, brushing some toast crumbs from his robe as he entered the Great Hall. "What brings you here this morning? I received your message, but I thought-"
"Get me one of those omni-things. My son is missing."
"They are not meant to be used for personal reasons," was what Ridcully didn't say. It was a sign of Vimes' desperation that he let 'Your Grace' slide and Mustrum noted it. He nodded instead. "Stibbons!"