Cut

I've had to cut this from Felt II but I quite like the first couple of paragraphs so thought I'd stick a them here as they give nothing away. They were originally to be the start of the book and although it sets the scene nicely and tells you a bit about the mindset of the world it's not really very 'actiony'. Plus, in re-jigging the plot this scene never needs to happen.






Cut Beginning (1st draft).

I attended the festival of pigs in my official capacity.

The Festival, in the lower middens of the First Teir, was an ancient and revered homage to our Howling Lord who slept high up in the First Tier within Castle Elbay. Pigs are a popular animal amongst the middeners as they thrive in the rubbish filled streets of the low middens and on high Winterseve each pig farmer chooses a pig from his heard for slaughter and makes their mark upon it with a brand. Then, on High Wintersday any child whose seventh birthday falls within three months, future or past, is equipped with a wooden knife and sent into 'Squealer's Field' to pit themselves against a herd of pigs.

If the child kills a pig the child's family receive an entire leg or at least its worth in Tingots. Inevitably, there are many fatalities but children are easier to come by than metal, or food, in the middens of the Lead City. Unless, of course, you are a pig in which case food is plentiful and you will probably grow to an immense size and live a happy life until your throat is slit and your body consumed; or you are hacked to death by a group of screaming children for the pleasure of a baying crowd.