"My name is Richard Mayhew, and my life has turned into a nightmare." "Right now," "I'm somewhere under London" "With a girl called Door." "Someone killed her family." "There's an angel who said he could help us if we got it this key." "I had to go through an ordeal to get it, but I did." "Now we just have to get to the market and meet up with the Marquis, get the key back to the angel, and then everything's going to be all right." "The sooner this business is over and done with, the happier I shall be." "There are other times and other places that would properly appreciate two pair of dab hands with a garrotting wire and the boning knife." "Godd night, good Marquis, and don't forget to write," "It' saddening to reflect that there are people walking the streets above who will never know the beauty of these sewers, Mr Vandemar, these red brick cathedrals beneath their feet." "Craftsmanship, Mr Croup." "Well said." "As with people, Mr Vandemar, the condition of the bowels is all important." "What's so funny?" "I was just thinking of the expression on the Marquis' face when we tell him that we got the key without his help." " That's not gonna be safe, you know." " Ahhh!" "Let go of me!" " She stole my paintbrush." " Didn't." " You did these?" " Yeah." " Where's the next Floating market?" " Tonight, Belfast." "You're Hunter." "The Hunter." " The best bodyguard on the Underside." " So they tell me." " How'd you do that?" " Scram!" "Any idea when the next market is?" " Tonight, Belfast." "Thanks." "See you there" "Do you really think the Marquis is gonna be waiting on the market?" "I mean, he's a little dodgy." "He's a little dodgy in the same way that rats are a little bit covered in fur." " but he'll be there." " Are you sure the Marquis will be there?" "He won't let us down." "By the Temple and the Arch, it's Lady Door." "Hello, Hammersmith, I hoped you'd be here." "Never miss a market, Lady." "Now, just you wait there a moment." " Hammersmith, these are my friends." " Charmed." "Richard." "Fine name." "I had a horse called Richard." "And you are?" "Hunter." "As I live, breathe and defecate, ...it is." "Hammersmith." " Hammersmith, can you bring me down?" " Beg pardon, Lady?" "Now, what can I do for you?" "Couple of things." "Richard, I've got a mission for you." " For me?" " For you and Hunter." " Who are they?" " Sewer Folk." "Important mission." "Honestly." " What kind of meat is it, then?" " Crow." "Ah, right." "Tell you what, better make that vegetable curries all round." "Hello again." "Hello." "Do you have something we could carry them with?" " Here for curry?" " I do not eat... curry." "Richard." "Richard Mayhew." "Lamia." "I am a Velvet." " Oh." "What do you do?" " When I'm not looking for food," "I'm a guide." "I know every inch of the Underside." "You need me as a guide." "I need you as a guide." "He's not yours." "I'll take you wherever you want to go." "There you go." "Thanks." "You stupid bugger." "I think my throat's been cut." "Have you anything to bind it with?" "Anything to drink?" "How are you feeling?" "I felt better." "What do you want to go and get yourself killed for, anyway?" "I want to know." "Information." "People tell you so much more when they know you're about to be dead, and then they talk around you when you are." "What's it like then?" "Being dead?" "Live long enough and you'll find out For yourself." "It's very cold, my friend." "Very dark and very cold." " Fine work, Hammersmith." " Thank you, Lady." "What do you want in return?" "It's a puzzle box." "I took it in exchange for some smithing a handful of years ago." "I can't get it open." "I was hoping it would be diamonds and pearls." "He's got pretty eyes, Hammersmith." "Keep him, he'll bring you luck." "Thanks again." "I know I can rely on your discretion." "Door." "This is Lamia." "She's a guide." "She says she can take us anywhere in the Underside." " Anywhere?" " Anywhere." " Do you know where angle Islington is?" " Islington?" " You can't go there." " Do you know?" "Down Street." "The end of Down Street." " But it's not safe." " We don't need a guide." "Well, I think we do." "The Marquis still hasn't shown up." "I know it's gonna be a dangerous journey." "We've got to get the key that I got to the Angel." "And then he'll tell Door about her family, and he'll tell me how to get home." "And he'll give you brain, and me a heart." "We'll be fine, just the three of us, Richard." "You just don't like it that I'm sorting everything out for once." "instead of following blindly behind you, going where I'm told." " Do you know where Down Street is?" " Yes, Lady." "Right." "It says, "The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Houses."" ""Down Street." "Please knock."" "Ah, you get to the street through the house." "No." "The street is in the house." "Ah, the street is in the house." "Now would be a bad time to discover that I was a claustrophobic, wouldn't?" "Yep." "Then I won't" "And I suppose this wouldn't be a good time to point out that I'm really crap of heights." "It's safe." "It was the last time I was here, anyway." "Look." "See, it's fine." "Richard, move!" " Just climb along it, Richard." " I can't." "You went through worse than this to get the key, Richard," "I'm really not very good at heights." "I want to go home." "Asetu tuohon." "Put your weight there." "Just one inch forward, Richard." "Slowly." "Inch at a time." "That's it." "Doing fine." "Nearly there." "That's it." "Here we are." "That's it." "Come on." "Thank you." " I'm sorry." " It's okay." "So..." "Where do we go now?" "Down." "I really appreciate you coming with us, being a guide." "I hope it's not gonna be bad luck for you or anything." "Why should it be bad luck?" "There was a rat- speaker named Anasthesia." "She... well, we got to be sort of friends a bit." "She was guiding me somewhere." "Then she got stolen on...." "Knightsbridge." "Can't stop thinking about her." "It's very good of you taking me with you." "You know, the others are getting a bit ahaid of us." "We might want just..." "Let them go." "We'll catch up." "You're so warm." "It must be wonderful to have so much warmth." "It's not somethng I think about much." "Would you give me some of your heat, Richard?" " I'm so cold." " What?" "I don't..." " Don't you like me?" " No, of course I like you." "You're very nice." "And you're not using all your heat, are you?" "I suppose not." "And you said yo'd pay me for being you guide." "And it's what I want as my payment." "Warmth." "Can I have some?" "More." "Give it back." "Give him back his life." " You can't make me." " Give him his life back or I'll break your neck." "All of it, Lamia." " What did you do to me?" " She was drinking your life." "Taking your warmth." "Turning you into a cold thing like her." "I need it more than he does." "Go near him again, you or any of the Velvet Children, and I'll come by day to your cavern while you sleep and I'll burn it to the ground." "Marquis." " We've been looking for you." " Now you have found me." "Look, there, Hunter and Door." "I'll call them to wait for us." "Someone's waiting for them." "It's Croup and Vandemar." "It's a trap." " What do I do?" " Run." "Warn them." "I can't run yet." " Go damn you!" " Stop!" "Stop!" "Hunter." "Hunter, quickly." "Hunter?" " I'm afraid so." " Don't think us as murderers and cut-throats." "Think of us as... escort service." "Only without the bosoms." "You see, Lady Door, we have been appointed to make sure you get safely to your destination." " Hunter, what's happening?" " Before Hunter agreed to work for you, she agreed to work for our principal." " Taking care of you." " We told you." "We told you one of you was a traitor." " I thought you were talking about the Marquis." " Talking about the Marquis," "I wonder where he is?" "He is a little bit late," " isn't he, Mr Vandemar?" " Very late indeed, Mr Croup." "As late as he possible be." "From now on then, we shall call him the late Marquis de Carabas." "You traitorous bitch." " No hard feelings." " Where are you taking me?" "To meet our employer." "The key you obtained from the Blackfriars, who has it?" "I do." "Here." "Good gracious me," "I find myself utterly taken in by his cunning ploy, Mr. Vandemar." "Fooled again, Mr Croup." " Hurt him, Mr Vandemar." " With pleasure, Mr Croup." "People think it's how hard you kick that hurts." "But it's not how hard you kick, it's where." "I mean - this is a very gentle kick." "But it hurts just as much as this." " which is much harder." " I've got the key." "Good." "Have you got the token?" "What about me?" "Where is my payment?" "Good hunting." "You sold Door out for a spear?" "Are you going to kill me?" "What challenge would I have hunting you, Richard Mayhew?" "I have bigger game to kill." "Oh, this is your Wild Beast of London hunting spear, isn't?" "They say that nothing can stand against it." "Door trusted you." " I trsuted you..." " Enough." "So, who you working for, Hunter, hmm?" "Where have they taken her?" " Who's behind all this?" " Tell him, Hunter!" "I wondered whether you were as dead as they said you were." "You struck me as a hard man to kill." "And you strike me that way too, dear lady." "But a crossbow bolt to the throat and a fall of several thousand feet may prove me wrong, eh?" "Put the spear down and step back." "Tell him who's behind all this, Hunter." "The angel Islington." "I don't understand." "I met Islington." "He's an angel." "I mean, he's a real angel." "Lucifer used to be an angel." "But why?" "Islington is at the bottom of Down Street and at the bottom of this mess." "And between us and Islington there's a labyrinth and the Beast." "Richard, take the spear." "Hunter!" " You want her to come with us?" " Would you prefer her behind us?" "The labyrinth is one of the oldest places in London Below." "Before King Lud founded the village on the Thames marshes, there was a labyrinth here." " No beast, though." " Not then." "I think I have dreamed of the beast." " What kind of dreams?" "Bad ones." "You'd have to be mad to go in there." "Without the token, you would never find your way." "One of these, you mean?" "I'm sure we're lost." "We've been through this way before." "We're fine." "The token is leading us straight." " Clever little thing." " Yeah, very clever." " Shit!" " The token!" " It's hopeless." " Keep looking!" "It's gone!" "Any suggestions?" "Too late." "Yes." "At last!" "# Heaven, I'm in heaven." "#And the cares that hung around me in the week" "# Seem to vanish like a gambler's lucky streak." "# Heaven, I'm in heaven." "I'm in heaven."