Captain Carrot and Sergeant Angua were joined by the double act that was Sergeant Fred Colon and Corporal Nobby Nobbs at the sidings of the Ankh-Morpork Hygienic Railway. With them stood Otto, Lily and 'The Turning of the Cogs' who had brought the experimental Pictsie Mark 2.
The train that had been transporting Prosper was Iron Girder and so it was Dick Simnel who greeted them, "It's reet gruesome in there." he jerked a thumb towards the last carriage which was just being uncoupled. "Bloo...uh..." he was aware of Otto's presence and trailed off, "well, it's everywhere. Whole damn carriage'll need a refurb." The train hissed testily as if in agreement. "Harry King sends his deepest sympathies." he lowered his hat to his chest, then popped it back on, dashing off to Iron Girder to move her along the track.
"Perhaps it's best if I stay out here?" Otto offered and the Captain stayed with him whilst Angua, Lily and the goblin climbed aboard, Nobby and Fred craning their necks for a good view.
"Cor!" Nobby exclaimed, "That's a cracking one. It's even up on the ceiling!"
"Oh..." murmured Lily, fighting the urge to be sick.
"Pretend it's red ink," Angua suggested, but the overwhelming sickly sweet, red stench of blood was unmistakable.
'The Turning of the Cogs' took a series of pictures with the Pictsie. Lily knew what the goblin claimed she had made it do, but had yet to see the results. It was odd, the sound the shutter made, like an inverse click. !kcilC
They rather hurriedly got back out the carriage, breathing deeply the smoggy air of the railway outside in preference to the noisome scent within.
'The Turning of the Cogs' handed out the pictures between them.
"Hwhy are they blank?" Fred Colon asked, "Did it not hwork?"
"Just watches them Mister Fat One," the goblin urged, "it takes a bit of time."
Unlike the iconograph before it, the Mark 2 was capable of taking images of the past. The goblins had added a supplement to the imps diet and the inks they used also had a goblin-made additive. Otto and Lily still didn't quite understand how it worked, but goblins celebrate and cherish their past selves by collecting tears and other less fragrant bodily cast offs in their beautifully made Unggue pots. It was definitely something to do with that.*
*And probably nothing to do with the Überwaldean Land Eel they thought they saw the goblins sneaking in one night.
Images of inside the carriage began to form like smoke, becoming clearer as they watched. They swapped the images between them until there was a sequence of events; Prosper sat between two watchmen, still very much alive, another almost the same, then a blurred black mass. "Is that the tunnel?" Angua asked.
"No," Otto answered, "I zink it is a cape. Zere!" in the next picture the two guards stared in front of them unaware that Larry was being attacked by a vampire; a female vampire.
"Do you know her Mr Chriek?" Carrot asked.
"Sorry, no," he sighed, "but I am sure Lady Margolotta vill."
###
Neville Flach paced backwards and forwards from one end of the Great Hall to the other. He was furious and he was nervous. He was also starting to get out of breath so he had a sit down at the long table. The reason for his anger was simple. His Father was joining him for dinner. Not his dead Father, but his biological and somewhat diabolical Father.
Hieronymous Flach had been a sweet, kindly gentleman who had merely wanted the best for those he loved. He was somehow completely unaware that his intended, Dahlia Chumpe, was into 'bad boys' and that the shotgun wedding he had happily agreed to was really the responsibility of someone else. Dahlia did eventually fall for her saviour and she and 'Ronny' went on to have Lily before she sadly passed away when her daughter was just six years old.
The bad boy that turned Dahlia's head* was an up and coming villain from Überwald, who it seems liked to play the long game. Days after Hieronymous was laid to rest Erik Von Kugelstadt paid a visit and threatened to expose Neville's true parentage if he didn't see his ol' Dad right for money. For a time Neville was able to pay Erik for his silence, but he realised that he would lose everything anyway at the rate the blackmail was going. Von Kugelstadt was not a man to ignore and so Neville had come up with the plan to marry off Lily to Larry and give her share of the inheritance over as a final pay off.
*And other things besides.
Of course, when Larry was arrested it all went to pot. He would have told the Watch everything, which is where Daddy Erik stepped in to protect the investment. It was his vampire that ripped out Prosper's throat, with the added bonus that Lily's vampire might get the blame.
Von Kugelstadt was ushered into the Hall and Neville got to his feet. Despite age, Neville and his father were very alike in both looks and build. Less of the changeling and definitely more of the bastard.
"Son!" Erik boomed, "We have good news, yes?*"
*He had kept the Überwaldean name but had worked hard to drop the accent.
"Hardly," the younger man retorted, "Larry's dead!"
"Well, that is the good news, surely?"
"He was my best friend, I'd known him since we were boys. He might've been a bloody idiot but he was my bloody idiot. Anyway, how will this work with Larry gone? He can hardly marry Lily now can he?"
"Oh but Neville, you have to look at the bigger picture. I'm not heartless. You're my flesh and blood and I'm here to look out for you. So what's the one little fly in the ointment when it comes to us sharing the Flach fortune?"
"I'm sorry, I don't follow"
Von Kugelstadt wondered if Neville had got his Mother's brains, "Lily! If she's out of the picture then you and by which I mean we, get the lot."
"Kill Lily?" They had never got on, but more death? Where would it end? "Could we not just, ship her off somewhere?"
"I assure you, we'd make sure it was quick and painless. Oh and suitably tragic and completely untraceable to you. The timing couldn't be better as it happens, what with all those other murders going on in Ankh-Morpork right now." He clapped Neville on the shoulder, "Believe me son, if there was any other way…"
Neville said nothing. Like Von Kugelstadt said, what choice was there? The first course was served and whilst the soup was beautifully prepared, to Neville it tasted like crow.