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Authors: Katia Fox

The Silver Falcon

BOOK: The Silver Falcon
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Also by Katia Fox:

The Copper Sign

The Golden Throne (forthcoming)

Text copyright © 2008 by Verlagsgruppe Lübbe
GmbH & Co. KG, Bergisch Gladbach

English translation copyright © 2013 by Aubrey Botsford

Interior illustrations and maps copyright © 2008 by Franz Vohwinkel

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

The Silver Falcon
by Katia Fox was first published in 2008 by Bastei Lübbe in Köln, Germany, as
Der silberne Falke
. Translated from the German by Aubrey Botsford. First published in English in 2013 by AmazonCrossing.

Published by AmazonCrossing
PO Box 400818
Las Vegas, NV 89140

ISBN-13: 9781611090369
ISBN-10: 1611090369
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013900606

For MaPa

Contents

Start Reading

Author’s Note

Prologue

Apprenticeship

Near Saint Edmundsbury, October 1184

Near Sevenoaks, December 13, 1184

Just outside Saint Edmundsbury, 1185

Orford, May 1185

Thorne, June 1185

July 1185

Spring 1186

April 1186

Winter 1186

March 1188

April 14, 1188 Three Days before Easter

May 1188

Early July 1188

April 1189

June 1189

Wandering

July 1189

London, September 3, 1189

November 1190

April 1191

Elmswick Castle, Winter 1191–92

Oakham, September 1192

November 1192

February 1193

Oakham, October 1193

Near Saint Edmundsbury, October 1193

Winter 1193–94

Ferrières, 1195

Oakham, August 1195

Brittany, 1196

Oakham, August 1198

Mastery

Oakham, April 1199 The King Is Dead! Long Live the King!

Elmswick, Late May 1199

Oakham, June 1199

Saint Edmundsbury, November 1199

Oakham, Winter 1200

Roford Manor, January 1201

October 1201

Near Saint Edmundsbury, March 1202

Roford Manor, May 1203

December 1203

Canterbury Castle, Early January 1204

And a Few Closing Remarks…

Acknowledgments

About the Author

About the Translator

Author’s Note

Dear Reader,

I am delighted to present my second novel, and with it I invite you to accompany me to the twelfth century. Allow yourself to be transported back to the fascinating world of knights and nobles and their favorite pastime: falconry. If you have read
The Copper Sign
, I’m sure you will be glad to hear more about William, the swordsmith’s son. If you don’t yet know
The Copper Sign
, I warmly recommend it.

Do you like history? Would you like to peep behind the curtain for a view of the novel from behind the scenes? If so, don’t miss the Closing Remarks at the end.

Now, make yourself comfortable and follow me…

With best wishes,

Katia Fox

Prologue

I
n the days when gods still lived on Mount Olympus, Hera gave birth to a boy and named him Hephaestus. When she saw that the child’s feet were deformed, she was ashamed of him and tossed him off Olympus. The boy plummeted down toward the sea, but instead of being smashed against the jagged cliffs, he was caught by Thetis and Eurynome. They were the daughters of Oceanus, god of the sea, who had also raised Hera. The two sisters kept the boy with them, hiding him in a grotto for many years.

Hephaestus grew up and learned to be a blacksmith, using the volcano as a natural forge. He fashioned fine jewelry, gorgeous palaces with golden maidservants, and exquisite, sharp swords for Achilles, the brave warrior. And yet Hephaestus was not happy; he desired revenge on his mother. He forged a golden throne and had it brought to her. When Hera sat in it, she was immediately gripped by golden shackles. No one could free her, so the gods decided to summon Hephaestus back to Olympus. He refused. Ares tried to bring him back by force and failed, but Dionysus managed to get him drunk and lead him back to the circle of the gods on Olympus.

And so Hephaestus, the god of blacksmiths, allowed himself to be reconciled, and he released his mother from the shackles of her throne. And it seems he forged some very special arrows for Eros…

BOOK: The Silver Falcon
5.41Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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