Nagy ran down Short Street (The longest street in Ankh-Morpork) darting from shadow to shadow and dodging the various genomes and Black Mages which were patrolling the streets.
Thunderchild and Nagy had met during Thunderchilds time in the Klatchian Army, Nagy had been in Khot-Lip-Khin to try and find people to join the Brotherhood of Nagy, a secret religious group which he had formed after receiving visions from the Holy Nagy. He and Thunderchild had talked and after a time become the best of friends, Nagy had sensed that there was something about Thunderchild that didn't meet the eye and now he knew exactly what it was.
From another planet eh? He thought Strange…but true I sense
To look at Nagy you wouldn't have thought he was quite an accomplished warrior, he looked more like a school teacher than anything else with his balding head and black goatee but Nagy had trained hard for many years, Thunderchild had even taught him some of what he knew, and he had exceeded everyone's expectations as a warrior.
As the latest patrol of Black Mages trudged off into the distance he darted out again keeping low as he ran off Short Street into the Street of Small Gods, he ran past the mighty temples of Hat, Gapp, Sek and the massive Temple of Small Gods itself before darting into a back alley which lead to the 'temple' and official meeting place of the Brotherhood of Nagy but at the moment it was the meeting place for the Ankh-Morpork resistance.
He passed three doors in the alleyway wall and then kicked five times on the fourth, a small hatch opened towards the bottom of the door.
"What's the password." Asked a gruff voice
"Salamander." Replied Nagy in a low whisper
There was a pause behind the door
"I'm sorry…could you speak up a little," replied the voice "I can't quite hear you down here."
"Salamander." Hissed Nagy a little louder
There was another short pause
"Nope…didn't get that sorry."
Nagy sighed and knelt down until he was at the level of the hatch and said
"Sal…a…man…der! Got it?"
The door opened
"No need to shout." Said Gliff Glodson the Brotherhoods doorkeeper from about the level of Nagys waistline…Gliff was a dwarf.
Nagy shook his head and walked in, he had to push his way through quite a few people to get to Thunderchild and Beowolf at the bottom of the stage which Nagy usually used for sermons proclaiming the Holy Nagy…today it had a rough map of Ankh-Morpork drawn on the back wall. Thunderchild was looking at it with a thoughtful look in his eye.
Beowolf saw Nagy as he walked in, Beowolf was another long term friend of Thunderchilds, they'd both spent time in jail for a mistake of Thunderchilds and had become good friends during that time.
(BEOWOLF DESCRIP HERE)
"Hey Nagy!" he shouted across the din
"Hi…certainly a few people here!"
"Yeah, Proeliator's spreading the word, loads of people are interested…I dunno about having half the city up in arms, at this rate we might have the whole lot!"
Nagy laughed and turned to Thunderchild
"How are you my friend?"
Thunderchild looked back at Nagy, Nagy could see the pain and the worry in his eyes, he was worried what he would find when they got to the Crystal Palace where his wife…and ex-girlfriend were to be found.
"Fine…just fine…" he lied
Nagy patted him on the shoulder
"She'll be ok Thu…from what I've heard she's a strong lass…"
Thunderchild nodded, an empty look in his eyes
"I hope so Nagy…I hope so."
SMACK!
Jaras hand connected with Dominos face yet again, she was enjoying this…damn this genome damn her for taking her boyfriend away from her.
"Not such the big genome any more are we!" she shouted at Domino
Domino looked back at her, her bruised and battered face betraying no sign of emotion, just like an ordinary genome…it was like she'd never been given a soul at all...but inside of her, her normal thoughts and feelings were still active and she was angry…and alone.
Jara turned away from Domino and looked out of the window to the city of Ankh-Morpork.
"You're planning something Yissan," she muttered to herself "I can feel it…I know you…you're planning something."
She turned around and kicking Domino as she passed walked to the doorway and shouted out into the stairway beyond.
"ZIDANE!"
Almost immediately the blonde genome arrived carrying a staff sword similar to the ones the other genomes were using.
"Yes your majesty?" he asked
"I have a mission for you…" she replied walking out of her throne room leaving Domino curled up in a ball on the floor, her mind screaming with rage and sorrow.
"Well…that's the plan anyway…" concluded Thunderchild
"You mean we're not to hurt the genomes or mages!" shouted someone incredulously in the audience
"If it can be avoided…"
"Why!"
Thunderchild sighed
"Because they're being controlled by Jara, they're not actually all that bad in normal form but they're being lead…we," he said indicating Proeliator, himself, Nagy and Beowolf "Will try to stop that control…once that happens then Jara will have to surrender as she will have lost her army."
There was a blast of cold night air as the door opened and then shut again and a cloaked figure joined the room.
"So…what will the signal be?" asked another person in the audience, Thunderchild recognised her as Aryonafire, one of Proeliators old flames.
"A fireball generated by me…you'll know it when you see it."
"And when do we start?"
"At Midday tomorrow."
Aryonafire nodded
"So does everyone understand? When I give the signal you attack the palace from the ground while me, Proeliator, Beowolf and Nagy will attack it from the air."
There were murmurs of agreement from the audience, Thunderchild nodded in approval. Then he caught sight of the cloaked figure looking intently at him, there was a flash of lightning outside which lit up the room even more and exposed the hooded figure's face to Thunderchild.
"Oh crap!" he swore and jumped off the stage into the audience, pushing his way through the gathered people he headed for the figure who was running for the door.
"Stop him! Stop that man!" shouted Thunderchild over the noise of the startled audience
The doorkeepers moved to intercept the man but were smashed in the face by the figure as he kicked the door open and fled into the street.
"Bugger!" swore Thunderchild again as he reached the door to find an empty street.
He walked back in again and ran back to the stage
"What was that all about?" asked Proeliator
"That was Zidane! He's working for Jara…she'll know our plans now!"
He cupped his hands and shouted out to the audience
"Ok…ok…listen up please," the audience quietened down "Change of plan people…we go now!"
"NOW!" shouted Nagy in disbelief
"But we're not ready." Agreed Aryonafire
"We have to go now," said Thunderchild "Within the hour Jara will know of our plan, we can't possibly delay any longer."
He turned to his three comrades
"Nagy come with me, Proeliator, you and Beowolf get these people ready, meet me at the Mended Drum in…oh…twenty to twenty five minutes."
Proeliator and Beowolf stared at him in disbelief
"GO! DAMMIT!" shouted Thunderchild as he grabbed Nagy and ran out of the room.
Proeliator and Beowolf looked at each other and then snapped into action.
Thunderchild ran at full pelt down the street of Small Gods with Nagy in close pursuit.
"Do you know what you're doing Thunderchild? We're nowhere near ready!" shouted Nagy
"Look, Jara has Zidane under her control…that was Zidane in the audience…he will report back to her within the next ten minutes…she'll marshal her forces, that'll take her another ten to fifteen minutes…then we're in serious trouble."
"Why?" asked Nagy as they entered the Plaza of Broken Moons, he could see the Crystal Palace not far away now.
"Because our whole plan relied on secrecy, now Jara knows what we're going to do she'll hit us with everything she's got…and trust me, that's a lot."
Nagy nodded as they leapt through into a side alley and ran down it.
"So…what are we gonna do?"
"Try and get our forces ready before hers."
Thunderchild stopped at a door in the alley and hammered on it, a few minutes later a small hatch opened at face level and a voice from behind it said
"What do you want?"
"I'm Thunderchild…I've come for my possessions."
"Bugger off." Replied the voice and the hatch slammed shut
"Oh for cryin' out loud." Said Thunderchild and smashed the door with a well aimed fireball.
Walking through the wreckage of the door he made a beeline for another door in the corner of the room, meanwhile the owner of the voice, an elderly man tried attacking Nagy with his walking stick.
"Villains! Thieves!" he shouted
"Hey…leave me alone…we're saving this damn city!" replied Nagy as he fended off the old mans blows with his arm.
Another whoosh and crash indicated that Thunderchild had found the door he'd wanted and smashed it down.
Nagy stood with his back to the door trying to keep the old man from reaching Thunderchild.
"There's valuable stuff in there!" screamed the old man
"I know," said Thunderchild from behind Nagy "It's mine."
Thunderchild walked out from behind Nagy and immediately the old man stopped attacking Nagy and cast his eyes to the floor.
"Oh…Khit, I am sorry."
"That's ok Alf…you defended my stuff, that's all I could ask for."
Nagy turned to look at Thunderchild and gasped.
Thunderchild was wearing his old Klatchian Army uniform which consisted of a brass breastplate which almost glowed in the light of the room, a metal helm which fitted snugly on his head and a breathtakingly beautiful sword which carried the name
DraconusHe also had a strange device in a holster on his belt, Nagy didn't have a clue what it was called or what it did, it looked very alien.
Under one arm Thunderchild carried a medium sized rug which he patted causing a cloud of dust to fall from it.
"I've got it…now let's go!"
He ran out of the door with Nagy shouting "Thank you!" to Alf as he passed, then they were back on the Plaza of Broken Moons.
"Why don't we use the carpet?" asked Nagy
"Too close to the Palace…she'd shoot us down." Replied Thunderchild as they reached the Street of Small Gods.
Suddenly something flew overhead following the Street of Small Gods down to Short street.
"What the hell is that?" asked Nagy
Thunderchild stopped and placing his hand on his forehead to shield out the glowing light from the Crystal Palace looked at the flying thing.
"A flying Black Mage?" he asked incredulously
Another smaller flying Mage passed down overhead and as it passed it threw a fireball down at the temple of Small Gods, it's tall tower caved in and came crashing down across the Street of Small Gods just in front of Nagy and Thunderchild completely blocking the street.
"Damn!"
"What do we do now?" asked Nagy
"Back up...we'll take Widdershins Broadway round to God Street!"
They turned around and ran back up towards the Plaza of Broken Moons but turned off to the left before they reached the Plaza and headed onto Widdershins Broadway.
Another flying mage swooped down low over the street and set fire to the street behind Nagy and Thunderchild
"I think they might be Black Waltz's!" shouted Thunderchild above the noise of fireballs passing by
"Black whats?"
"Black Waltz's, they come in threes, each one stronger than the first!"
They turned off into God Street but were instantly faced with a problem, two large monsters blocked the way as they bulldozed the houses along the street.
"Mistodons!" shouted Thunderchild
The Mistodons turned around and faced Thunderchild and Nagy with their stare, then as one they turned and charged down the street towards them.
"Clear!" shouted Thunderchild as he dived into a doorway and Nagy did the same on the other side of the street. The Mistodons passed them and went charging off towards the Plaza of Broken Moons.
But where the Mistodons once stood now stood a Black Waltz.
"Oh what!" shouted Nagy
"I am Black Waltz one…your attack ends here."
A blast of energy from the Black Waltz smashed into the building next to Thunderchild, Nagy ran at the Waltz and cut a heavy blow into it with his Holy sword of Nagy, Thunderchild followed suit but when he hit the Black Waltz with his sword it burst into flames with engulfed the Waltz.
Black Waltz one walked forward two steps and then fell over and disappeared.
"Where'd it go?" asked Nagy
"I dunno…come on, let's go!"
But they couldn't get any further down God Street due to the demolished buildings lying across the street.
"Now what?" asked Nagy
"No choice…Widdershins to Filligree!"
They ran back up God street to the connection with Widdershins Broadway and turned left. To the right of them, the Crystal Palace fired an energy blast at something over on the far left of Thunderchild and Nagy.
"Bloody hell," swore Nagy "Would you look at that!"
"I know…the Palace has it's own defences, I'd have been surprised if it hadn't."
They ran up past the Patricians Palace, outside it they found four city watchmen fighting the two Mistodons they had seen earlier.
"We've got to help them!" said Nagy
Thunderchild thought for a moment, concerned that their time was running out but then nodded and drew his sword again.
"ULLA!" he shouted and ran with his sword held high at one Mistodon, Nagy joined him shouting
"For the Nagyland!"
Together they jumped at the first Mistodon and gave it a vicious blow across the head which caused it to stagger and fall down with a roar of pain.
Thunderchild ran over to the watchmen and was surprised to see that they were Commander Vimes, Sergeant Colon, Captain Carrot and Sergeant Angua.
"Who the hell are you?" asked Vimes
"I'm Thunderchild and this is Nagy…Commander Vimes I presume?"
"Yes…"
"Firstly I must thank you for stopping the Ankh-Klatchian War and getting me out of the torture cells."
"Torture cells…?" asked Vimes, his face a mask of horror and disbelief
"Ah…something the regime here forgot to mention, never mind." Concluded Thunderchild
"And secondly?" asked Carrot
"Secondly we'd better finish off this Mistodon." Replied Thunderchild as the aforementioned Mistodon charged at them again.
Carrot parried the Mistodons blow with his sword and Thunderchild attacked it from the side, he lost sight of Nagy for a moment and so he ran over to Vimes and fought alongside him.
"Who tortured you then?" asked Vimes
Thunderchild was surprised, he wasn't aware his morporkian accent was that good.
"The Morporkians!" Thunderchild dodged a swiping claw and responded by cutting into one of the Mistodons legs with his sword, a flicker of flame shot up the Mistodon which caused it to roar with anger and focus its attacks on Thunderchild and Vimes.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Replied Vimes as he fired a crossbow bolt at the Mistodon
"That's ok…water under the bridge now."
"What are you doing out on the streets at this time?" asked Vimes as Thunderchild dodged a spew of acid.
"Fighting Jara and her forces…I'm leading an uprising."
"An uprising!" asked Vimes in astonishment as he reloaded his crossbow
Thunderchild nodded and swung at the Mistodon again.
"Yes…most of the city has agreed, we're going to attack the Crystal Palace…I'm going to get Domino back."
Vimes knelt and aimed along his crossbow, Thunderchild covered him from Mistodon attacks.
"Who's Domino?" he asked
"My wife." Replied Thunderchild as Vimes fired
Vimes stood up again and patted Thunderchild on the back
"Your wife? By the gods…Jara has her?"
Thunderchild nodded again and ducked under the Mistodons attacks and plunged his sword deep into the Mistodons side, the Mistodon cried out in pain and fell to the ground dead.
Thunderchild withdrew the bloodied blade and wiped off some of the blood on the Mistodons side.
"Yes…but not for long," said Thunderchild looking over at the Crystal Palace "Be warned Jara…I'm coming for my wife!" he shouted at the Palace.
He looked around to see Nagy and Carrot kneeling by Angua
"What happened?" asked Vimes
"That blasted beast got her…she'll be alright but she's not goin' anywhere fast." Said Colon.
"I've got to go," said Thunderchild "I've got an uprising to lead."
Vimes nodded as he ran over to Angua, Nagy stood up and turned to Thunderchild
"This is getting tough going." He said
Thunderchild nodded and sighed
"Yep…but if we'd had stood around and done nothing then she would have killed us all anyway, the die is cast now Nagy…we live or we die tonight."
Vimes looked up from Angua's side
"Go Thunderchild! We'll send what help we can, I'll get someone on the clacks…we can broadcast this as quickly as we can."
Thunderchild nodded and ran off with Nagy following.
From outside the Patricians palace they followed Widdershins broadway as it curved around to the west and led onto Peasant Parade. Many people ran past them as though they were fleeing from something, Thunderchild frowned at them as they passed.
"What are they so worried about?" asked Nagy
As they ran across Peasant Parade and entered Filligree Street they saw exactly what people were running from, another Black Waltz, this one larger than the one they had just faced.
"What the hell…we just defeated that!" shouted Nagy above the roar of energy bolts which tore up the street in front.
"No…remember what I told you…Waltz's come in threes…that was Black Waltz one…so this must be Black Waltz two."
Nagy frowned as he spotted something near the Black Waltz…or rather some people.
"It's Proeliator and Beowolf! They're fighting the Black Waltz!" he shouted
Thunderchild broke into a fast ran and sprinted down Filligree street to the Black Waltz, Nagy sighed and followed him.
Another energy blast knocked Beowolf off his feet as the street erupted under him. He and Proeliator had been organising runners to alert people to the uprising when this thing had dropped from the sky in front of them and had started throwing energy blasts about.
Proeliator peeked out from behind a pile of rubble and fired his crossbow at the Waltz, the bolt hit the Black Waltz somewhere in his cloak but didn't seem to do any damage.
Someone ran past him at a fast speed and crashed into the Black Waltz, another person ran in with his sword drawn, Beowolf saw it was Nagy…so that had to be…
"Thunderchild!" he shouted
Thunderchild stabbed at the Black Waltz with his sword
That's a new sword thought Beowolf I've never seen him use that before!
The Black Waltz pushed Thunderchild off and raised his staff for another energy blast this one directed at Nagy who was running at the Waltz with his sword raised.
"Nagy look out!" shouted Thunderchild
Proeliator stood up from behind the rubble and fired his crossbow again, as quick as a flash he pulled out another bolt and set it into the crossbow and fired again. He moved across to Nagy as he kept up this rapid fire.
Thunderchild raised his hand to the sky and shouted something unintelligible, as the Black Waltz started to stagger under the amount of Proeliators crossbow bolts being fired at it a massive bolt of lightning shot down through the clouds and hit it.
Black Waltz two burst into flames and fell to the ground before flashing out of existence just like the other Black Waltz had.
"Where'd it go?" asked Beowolf
Nagy shrugged
"The other one did that too."
Thunderchild stood up
"Are the people ready?"
Proeliator nodded
"As they'll ever be, we've sent out runners but we can't guarantee a total turnout…but they're waiting for your signal."
Thunderchild smiled
"Right…we'd better get going then." He said as he unravelled the carpet and dropped it on the ground.
"Eh?" asked Beowolf "What are we going to do with that?"
"Up!" commanded Thunderchild
The carpet lifted into the air and hovered a foot above the ground, Thunderchild looked over at Beowolf with a large smile on his face.