'The Librarian knocked his way urgently along the dark aisles between the slumbering bookshelves.
The rooftops of the city belonged to him. Oh, assassins and thieves might make use of them, but he'd long ago found the forest of chimneys, buttresses, gargoyles and weathervanes a convenient and somehow comforting alternative to the streets.
At least, up until now.
It had seemed amusing and instructive to follow the Watch into the Shades, an urban jungle which held no fears for a 300-lb ape. But now the nightmare he had seen while brachiating across a dark alley would, if he had been human, have made him doubt the evidence of his own eyes.
As an ape, he had no doubts whatsoever about his eyes and believed them all the time.
Right now he wanted to concentrate them urgently on a book that might hold a clue. It was in a section no-one bothered which much these days; the books in there were not really magical. Dust lay accusingly on the floor.
Dust with footprints in it.
"Oook?" said the Librarian, in the warm gloom.
He proceeded cautiously now, realizing with a sense of inevitability that the footprints seemed to have the same destination in mind as he did.
He turned a corner and there it was.
The section.
The bookcase.
The shelf.
The gap.
There are many horrible sights in the multiverse. Somehow, though, to a soul attuned to the subtle rhythms of a library, there are few worse sights than a hole where a book ought to be.
Someone had stolen a book.'
Guards! Guards!
(Page 82-83)
Not my favourite* in the Discworld but a welcome introduction to Commander Vimes and his band of, well, drunken idiots.
But truly lovable drunken idiots.
And Errol.
The mildly rubbish dragon.
I do love me an unconventional fire-breather.
*I've been assured the next few Guards books are better. In general, the Discworld only truly reaches its full powers a good few books into the series so don't be deterred by the initial stages of its development. Even better, start with a book near the middle - Wyrd Sisters is always my recommendation even though it's actually quite early - behold the glory and mastery of Terry Pratchett and then return to the start.
Boom, Literatured.
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