And this was awkward, because although Rincewind considered himself an expert in most of the tongues of the western segments of the Disc it was the first time that he had ever been addressed in Krullian, and he did not understand one word of it. Neither did Twoflower, but that did not stop him stepping forward and taking a breath.
The speed of light through a magical aura such as the one that surrounded the Disc was quite slow, being not much faster than the speed of sound in less highly tuned universes. But it was still the fastest thing around with the exception, in moments like this, of Rincewind’s mind.
In an instant he became aware that the tourist was about to try his own peculiar brand of linguistics, which meant that he would speak loudly and slowly in his own language.
Rincewind’s elbow shot back, knocking the breath from Twoflower’s body. When the little man looked up in pain and astonishment Rincewind caught his eye and pulled an imaginary tongue out of his mouth and cut it with an imaginary pair of scissors.
The second chelonaut—for such was the profession of the men whose fate it would shortly be to voyage to Great A’Tuin—looked up from the chart table and watched this in puzzlement. His big heroic brow wrinkled with the effort of speech.
“?H?r yu latruin n?r ü?” he said.
Rincewind smiled and nodded and pushed Twoflower in his general direction. With an inward sigh of relief he saw the tourist pay sudden attention to a big brass telescope that lay on the table.
“! Sooten ü!” commanded the seated chelonaut. Rincewind nodded and smiled and took one of the big copper helmets from the rack and brought it down on the man’s head as hard as he possibly could. The chelonaut fell forward with a soft grunt.
The other man took one startled step before Twoflower hit him amateurishly but effectively with the telescope. He crumpled on top of his colleague.
Rincewind and Twoflower looked at each other over the carnage.
“All right!” snapped Rincewind, aware that he had lost some kind of contest but not entirely certain what it was. “Don’t bother to say it. Someone out there is expecting these two guys to come out in the suits in a minute. I suppose they thought we were slaves. Help me hide these behind the drapes and then, and then—”
“—we’d better suit up,” said Twoflower, picking up the second helmet.
“Yes,” said Rincewind. “You know, as soon as I saw the suits I just knew I’d end up wearing one. Don’t ask me how I knew—I suppose it was because it was just about the worst possible thing that was likely to happen.”
“Well, you said yourself we have no way of escaping,” said Twoflower, his voice muffled as he pulled the top half of a suit over his head. “Anything’s better than being sacrificed.”
“As soon as we get a chance we run for it,” said Rincewind. “Don’t get any ideas.”
He thrust an arm savagely into his suit and banged his head on the helmet. He reflected briefly that someone up there was watching over him.
“Thanks a lot,” he said bitterly.
At the very edge of the city and country of Krull was a large semicircular amphitheater, with seating for several tens of thousands of people. The arena was only semicircular for the very elegant reason that it overlooked the cloud sea that boiled up from the Rimfall, far below, and now every seat was occupied. And the crowd was growing restive. It had come to see a double sacrifice and also the launching of the great bronze space ship. Neither event had yet materialized.
The Arch-astronomer beckoned the Master Launchcontroller to him.
“Well?” he said, filling a mere four letters with a full lexicon of anger and menace. The Master Launchcontroller went pale.
“No news, lord,” said the Launchcontroller, and added with a brittle brightness, “except that your prominence will be pleased to hear that Garhartra has recovered.”
“That is a fact he may come to regret,” said the Arch astronomer.
“Yes, lord.”
“How much longer do we have?”
The Launchcontroller glanced at the rapidly climbing sun.
“Thirty minutes, your prominence. After that Krull will have revolved away from Great A’Tuin’s tail and the Potent Voyager will be doomed to spin away into the interterrapene gulf. I have already set the automatic controls, so—”
“All right, all right,” the Arch-astronomer said, waving him away. “The launch must go ahead. Maintain the watch on the harbor, of course. When the wretched pair are caught I will personally take a great deal of pleasure in executing them myself.”
“Yes, lord. Er—”
The Arch-astronomer frowned. “What else have you got to say, man?”
The Launchcontroller swallowed. All this was very unfair on him, he was a practical magician rather than a diplomat, and that was why some wiser brains had seen to it that he would be the one to pass on the news.
“A monster has come out of the sea and it’s attacking the ships in the harbor,” he said. “A runner just arrived from there.”
“A big monster?” said the Arch-astronomer.
“Not particularly, although it is said to be exceptionally fierce, lord.”