Lanceheim (31 page)
Authors: Tim Davys
I heard Maria upstairs. She had gone up to bring Maximilian down.
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Maximilian always drank his
tea out of the same cup. It was large, green, and chipped on the rim. I have never understood why he liked it so much, but he was a creature of habit; we both were. The poison that I put in Maximilian's cupâthis was twenty, thirty minutes agoâI actually know nothing about. I got it from my father when the forest rats were trying to chew their way into the cottage. I know that it is strong, and that is all I need to know. A few sips of tea, and then he doesn't wake up until the Chauffeurs arrive. Even if it takes awhile, even if it takes months.
When I set the teacups on the table in the library, I did not even care to say hello to the walrus. I left the room before they had come down from upstairs. My paws were not shaking. One cup for the guest, one for Maria, and the big green cup for Maximilian.
Then I sat down in the kitchen and waited. I do not believe I was thinking about anything. Mute. Numbed by what I had done. It felt unreal. At last I sneaked over to the closed door and put my ear to it.
I heard a strange voice, it must be the walrus.
“Did I think I heard birds?” he said from inside the library.
As always, when the Afternoon Rain approached, the forest birds became restless and excited by the oncoming storm.
“Can it be right, Maximilian?” said the walrus within, and he sounded agitated. “Did I hear forest birds?”
I went back and sat down at the kitchen table. I closed my eyes. Maria just screamed.
But I intend to remain sitting here.
TIM DAVYS
is a pseudonym. He is the author of
Amberville
, the first book in the Mollisan Town quartet, and lives in Sweden, where he is currently working on the last two Mollisan Town novelsâ
Tourquai
and
Yok
.
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LSO BY
T
IM
D
AVYS
Amberville
Jacket illustration by Marc Burckhardt
Jacket design by Jarrod Taylor
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
LANCEHEIM
. Copyright © 2010 by Tim Davys Corporation. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
First published in Swedish in 2008 by Albert Bonniers Förlag.
FIRST U.S. EDITION
Translated by Paul Norlen
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
EPub Edition © May 2010 ISBN: 978-0-06-199951-2
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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