Amberville - By Tim Davys Page 0,56

worked for Nicholas Dove, and you’re suggesting that I should bribe the gorillas?”

“Honorably stated and with all due respect, I don’t give a damn about either,” said Snake.

Eric sat silently. There must be a reason, he thought, for it was apparent that Snake was looking for a reaction. Perhaps, he thought further, it had to do with the Death List? Perhaps Snake, who was sensitive to the weaknesses of animals, understood that something had happened in the Order Room, something that had worsened the bear’s situation? And perhaps Snake was out to reveal this through his provocations? Both of them knew that you could never have too much information when power was concerned.

They each took a bite of blueberry muffin and pondered the next move.

“Do you think Tom-Tom can do anything?” asked Eric.

“What would that be?”

“He’s a crazy bastard,” stated Eric, “deep down inside. Perhaps he’d be able to make them see reason?”

“If you toss in the gazelle too, it’s not impossible,” said Snake.

They each took another bite; it was a suitably doughy yet flavorful muffin.

The gorillas had reason to fear a berserk crow. But even if Tom-Tom and Sam together might frighten away many gorillas on the way, they could never frighten them all off.

“If I know the dove rightly,” said Snake, “he has in addition promised an enormous reward to the one who proves that he took care of your Rabbit. An accountant in some shabby office somewhere in town is just waiting, with an authorization in his desk drawer, for someone to come in with proof. And that means it’s not just the crazy gorillas you have to take care of, but the bounty hunters as well.”

Eric sighed. That’s how it was of course, he’d realized it too.

“And the chance of successfully completing our assignment?” asked Eric.

“You mean removing Dove from the list?”

Eric nodded. Actually he wanted nothing better than to tell about Teddy, but nothing positive would come out of such a confession. So he nodded again.

“I don’t know,” said Snake. “We’ve proved that there is a list. I didn’t think we’d succeed in that.”

“I knew there was a list,” said Eric.

“You didn’t know that at all,” said Snake.

“But removing someone, pardoning someone…?”

“Among all the legends about the Death List,” answered Snake, “there are a few that speak of something like that. And I’m not just thinking of that story about the archdeacon.”

While the coffee cooled and Eric ate up both his and Snake’s blueberry muffin, Snake told the story of Horse Carl and Admiral Pedro.

Horse Carl was the hero who, more than two hundred years ago, united the four parts of the city after almost a century of civil war, temporary alliances, and betrayed promises. Today all schoolchildren read about Horse Carl, but not many knew, said Snake in a tone of utter contempt, that as a reward for his efforts Horse was awarded the opportunity to pardon one animal each year from the Death List.

“No, wait,” protested Eric, “I’ve never heard anything about that…”

“As I said,” snapped Snake Marek, irritated by the interruption, “this is about legends, myths. There’s nothing that’s true or false. But I can understand if the authorities try to keep this type of story from being retold. I have a hard time seeing which department would benefit from the story of Horse Carl…”

And then he continued:

Horse Carl soon understood that the possibility of pardoning someone could be used in the power play that had arisen among the leading animals in the four parts of the city. Carl established a new tradition. A small selection of judges, generals, highly placed politicians, and one or two truly significant landowners would get to vote each year for one of the animals on the Death List. The animal who counted up the most votes would be removed, and all those involved could enjoy the feeling of power: power over life and death even greater than what they’d had before the city’s unification.

Everything functioned according to Horse Carl’s plan up until the year when both David Owl and Admiral Pedro were on the Death List. For many years the admiral had been in command of the rather insignificant fleet in Hillevie, but he was still young, and that his name showed up on the list came as a complete surprise, both to him and to everyone else. Pedro was seized by panic, applied for and was granted discharge from the fleet, and then devoted all his time toward attempting to influence the animals who would