Unseen Academicals - Terry Pratchett [175]
‘No,’ said Trev, amazed.
‘Well, it did for him! My word, though, he’s a game one. That reminds me, I’ll need a picture of you in them.’
Andy was rising slowly, elevating himself to the vertical almost by willpower alone. Pepe grinned, and somehow it seemed obvious to Trev that anyone who was going to get up and try any threats with Pepe grinning at him was more than suicidal.
‘Got a knife, have you, you little squirt?’ said Andy.
‘No, Andy,’ said Nutt behind him. ‘No more. The game is over. Fortune has favoured Unseen Academicals and I believe the traditional ending is to exchange shirts in an atmosphere of good fellowship.’
‘But not pants,’ said Pepe under his breath.
‘What do you know about that sort of thing?’ growled Andy. ‘You’re a bloody orc. I know all about you people. You can tear arms and legs off. You’re black magic. I’m not scared of you.’ He came at Nutt with commendable speed for a man in such pain.
Nutt dodged. ‘I believe there is a peaceful solution to the obvious enmity between us.’
‘You what?!’
Pepe and some of the footballers were closing in. Andy had not been making friends. Nutt waved them away.
‘I’m sure I could help you, Andy. Yes, you are right, I am an orc, but doesn’t an orc have eyes? Doesn’t an orc have ears? Doesn’t an orc have arms and legs?’
‘Yeah, at the moment,’ said Andy, and leaped.
What happened next happened so fast that Trev didn’t see the middle of it. It started with Andy jumping and finished with him sitting on the ground with Nutt’s hands clamped around his head, claws out. ‘Let me see now,’ Nutt mused as the man struggled in vain. ‘Twisting the skull with enough force to snap the spine and spinal column should not present much difficulty since it is a non-rotating joint. And, of course, the ear holes and eye sockets allow for extra grip in the manner of a bowling ball,’ he added happily.
There was a horrified hush as he continued. ‘Using the unit of measurement of force invented by Sir Rosewood Bunn, I should think that a mere 250 Bunns should do the trick. But, of course, and possibly surprisingly, it is the tearing of the skin, tendons and muscles that would present me with some difficulty. You are a young man and the tensile strength would be quite high. I imagine the skin alone would require a force of about a thousand Bunns.’
Andy yelped as his head was gently twisted.
‘Oh, I say! Look here now!’ said Ridcully. ‘A joke is a joke and all that, but…’
‘From then on it gets rather messy,’ said Nutt. ‘Muscle would tear off the bones comparatively easily.’
Andy gave another strangled yelp.
‘But taking it all in all, I would think a force of between three to five Kilobunns should do the trick.’ He paused. ‘Just my little joke, Andy. I know you like a laugh. I would also, I believe, be quite capable of putting one hand down your throat and pulling out your stomach.’
‘Go ahead,’ croaked Andy.
And around the arena of the Hippo, the beast smelled blood. After all, it wasn’t just horse racing that had taken place in the Hippo over the centuries. The comparatively small amount of blood that had been shed today was nothing compared with the oceans of the centuries gone by, but the beast knew blood when it smelled it. The cheering and the chanting now picked up, and the words grew louder and louder as people rose to their feet: Orc! Orc! Orc!
Nutt stood impassively and then turned to the former Dean. ‘Could I please ask everyone else to leave? This may become messy.’
‘Oh, come on!’ said Trev. ‘No way.’
‘Ah, well,’ said Nutt, ‘maybe just the ladies?’
‘Not likely,’ said Glenda.
‘In that case, would you please be so kind as to lend me your megaphone, referee, and I would be grateful if you would instruct some of the stronger players on the field to restrain Mister Shank who is, I believe, sadly not in his right mind.’
Wordlessly it was handed over. Nutt took it as the storm of Orc! Orc! grew louder, walked a little way from the rest of