I Shall Wear Midnight
Read I Shall Wear Midnight Online
Authors: Terry Pratchett
I SHALL
W
EAR
M
IDNIGHT
Terry Pratchett
DOUBLEDAY
Chapter 1: A Fine Big Wee Laddie
Chapter 3: Those Who Stir In Their Sleep
Chapter 5: The Mother Of Tongues
Chapter 6: The Coming Of The Cunning Man
Chapter 9: The Duchess And The Cook
Chapter 11: The Bonfire Of The Witches
Chapter 13: The Shaking Of The Sheets
Chapter 15: A Shadow And A Whisper
This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Version 1.0
Epub ISBN 9781409096306
I SHALL WEAR MIDNIGHT
A DOUBLEDAY BOOK 978 0 385 61107 7
TRADE PAPERBACK 978 0 385 61796 3
Published in Great Britain by Doubleday,
an imprint of Random House Children’s Books
A Random House Group Company
This edition published 2010
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Copyright © Terry and Lyn Pratchett, 2010
Illustrations copyright © Paul Kidby, 2010
Discworld® is a trademark registered by Terry Pratchett
Chapters 13 and 14 include lyrics from two songs – ‘
The Larks They Sing Melodious
’ and ‘
The Shaking of the Sheets
’ – both traditional folksongs where the lyrics are now, to the best of our knowledge, out of copyright. The publishers would be grateful to be notified if this is erroneous and will be happy to make good any errors in future printings.
The right of Terry Pratchett to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
The Random House Group Limited supports the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the leading international forest certification organization. All our titles that are printed on Greenpeace-approved FSC-certified paper carry the FSC logo. Our paper procurement policy can be found at
www.rbooks.co.uk/environment
.
Set in 12/16pt Minion by Falcon Oast Graphic Art Ltd.
RANDOM HOUSE CHILDREN’S BOOKS
61–63 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA
www.
kids
at
randomhouse
.co.uk
www.
rbooks
.co.uk
Addresses for companies within The Random House Group Limited can be found at:
www.randomhouse.co.uk/offices.htm
THE RANDOM HOUSE GROUP Limited Reg. No. 954009
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc
BY TERRY PRATCHETT, FOR YOUNG READERS
THE CARPET PEOPLE
THE CARPET PEOPLE Illustrated edition
TRUCKERS
DIGGERS
WINGS
THE BROMELIAD omnibus edition
(contains
Truckers
,
Diggers
,
Wings
)
ONLY YOU CAN SAVE MANKIND*
JOHNNY AND THE DEAD
JOHNNY AND THE BOMB
THE JOHNNY MAXWELL OMNIBUS EDITION
(contains
Only You Can Save Mankind
,
Johnny and the Dead
,
Johnny and the Bomb
)
Discworld novels
THE AMAZING MAURICE AND HIS EDUCATED RODENTS
THE WEE FREE MEN
A HAT FULL OF SKY
WINTERSMITH
I SHALL WEAR MIDNIGHT
THE ILLUSTRATED WEE FREE MEN
The Discworld series: have you read them all?
1. THE COLOUR OF MAGIC
2. THE LIGHT FANTASTIC
3. EQUAL RITES
4. MORT
5. SOURCERY
6. WYRD SISTERS
7. PYRAMIDS
8. GUARDS! GUARDS!
9. ERIC
(illustrated by Josh Kirby)
10. MOVING PICTURES
11. REAPER MAN
12. WITCHES ABROAD
13. SMALL GODS
14. LORDS AND LADIES
15. MEN AT ARMS
16. SOUL MUSIC
17. INTERESTING TIMES
18. MASKERADE
19. FEET OF CLAY
20. HOGFATHER
21. JINGO
22. THE LAST CONTINENT
23. CARPE JUGULUM
24. THE FIFTH ELEPHANT
25. THE TRUTH
26. THIEF OF TIME
27. THE LAST HERO
(illustrated by Paul Kidby)
28. THE AMAZING MAURICE AND HIS EDUCATED RODENTS
(for young readers)
29. NIGHT WATCH
30. THE WEE FREE MEN
(for young readers)
31. MONSTROUS REGIMENT
32. A HAT FULL OF SKY
(for young readers)
33. GOING POSTAL
34. THUD!
35. WINTERSMITH
(for young readers)
36. MAKING MONEY
37. UNSEEN ACADEMICALS
38. I SHALL WEAR MIDNIGHT
(for young readers)
Other books about Discworld
THE SCIENCE OF DISCWORLD
(with Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen)
THE SCIENCE OF DISCWORLD II: THE GLOBE
(with Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen)
THE SCIENCE OF DISCWORLD III: DARWIN’S WATCH
(with Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen)
THE NEW DISCWORLD COMPANION
(with Stephen Briggs)
NANNY OGG’S COOKBOOK
(with Stephen Briggs, Tina Hannan and Paul Kidby)
THE PRATCHETT PORTFOLIO
(with Paul Kidby)
THE DISCWORLD ALMANAK
(with Bernard Pearson)
THE UNSEEN UNIVERSITY CUT-OUT BOOK
(with Alan Batley and Bernard Pearson)
WHERE’S MY COW?
(illustrated by Melvyn Grant)
THE ART OF DISCWORLD
(with Paul Kidby)
THE WIT AND WISDOM OF DISCWORLD
(compiled by Stephen Briggs)
THE FOLKLORE OF DISCWORLD
(with Jacqueline Simpson)
Discworld maps
THE STREETS OF ANKH-MORPORK
(with Stephen Briggs, painted by Stephen Player)
THE DISCWORLD MAPP
(with Stephen Briggs, painted by Stephen Player)
A TOURIST GUIDE TO LANCRE – A DISCWORLD MAPP
(with Stephen Briggs, illustrated by Paul Kidby)
DEATH’S DOMAIN
(with Paul Kidby)
A complete list of other books based on the Discworld series – illustrated screenplays,
graphic novels, comics and plays, can be found on
Non-Discworld titles
GOOD OMENS
(with Neil Gaiman)
STRATA
THE DARK SIDE OF THE SUN
THE UNADULTERATED CAT
(illustrated by Gray Jolliffe)
A FINE BIG WEE LADDIE
W
HY WAS IT
, Tiffany Aching wondered, that people liked noise so much? Why was noise so important?
Something quite close sounded like a cow giving birth. It turned out to be an old hurdy-gurdy organ, hand-cranked by a raggedy man in a battered top hat. She sidled away as politely as she could, but as noise went, it was sticky; you got the feeling that if you let it, it would try to follow you home.
But that was only one sound in the great cauldron of noise around her, all of it made by people and all of it made by people trying to make noise louder than the other people making noise. Arguing at the makeshift stalls, bobbing for apples or frogs,
1
cheering the prize fighters and a spangled lady on the high wire, selling candyfloss at the tops of their voices and, not to put too fine a point on it, boozing quite considerably.
The air above the green downland was thick with noise. It was as
if the populations of two or three towns had all come up to the top of the hills. And so here, where all you generally heard was the occasional scream of a buzzard, you heard the permanent scream of, well, everyone. It was called
having fun
. The only people not making any noise were the thieves and pickpockets, who went about their business with commendable silence, and they didn’t come near Tiffany; who would pick a witch’s pocket? You would be lucky to get all your fingers back. At least, that was what they feared, and a sensible witch would encourage them in this fear.