Read Online Live and Let Drood by Simon R. Green - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Simon R. Green
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peacocks and gryphons had all been killed during the attack, where were their bodies?
Why were there no winged unicorns anywhere? I hadn’t got around to checking out the stables at the rear, but I couldn’t see them just flying off.…Where were any of the dozen or so magical creatures that had taken up residence in and around the Hall for as long as I could remember? You were never short of choice for an unusual pet, when I was a kid, though you had to be very careful about which ones you could turn your back on safely. I’d never known the grounds to be this still, this silent…and I didn’t care for it one bit.
I led the way down to the great ornamental lake, a wide expanse of cool blue waters spread out before us like a modest inland sea. Long and wide enough that you had to pack a picnic lunch if you felt like taking a walk round it, and deep enough that the family once lost a small submarine in it. It was all very peaceful down beside the lake, as though nothing at all had happened. Though there was something…wrong with the view. It took me a moment to realise that there weren’t any swans sailing majestically back and forth on the calm blue surface, and there were always swans on our lake. I stood at the water’s edge with Molly beside me, looking out across the calm blue-green surface at the cool dark copse of beech trees on the other side. Nothing moved anywhere. It was all very still, not even a breath of a breeze.…
Like a ghost town at midnight. Like a museum after closing time. Like…what the whole world will be like after Humanity has finally left and closed the door behind them.
“It is beautiful,” said Molly, after a while. “Everything a lake should be.”
“Thank you,” I said. “It’s artificial, of course.”
Molly looked at me. “What?”
“Oh, the whole thing was designed and created by a head gardener to the family, Capability Charlotte. This was back during Victorian times, when you were nobody if your country manor house didn’t have its very own artificial lake. So we had one put in. Complete with its own waterfall feature at the far end, and a small family of selkies specially imported from the Orkney Isles to live in the lake and keep it clean and tidy. It does look good, doesn’t it?”
“What was here before?” said Molly. “What did you get rid of to make the lake? How many perfectly good trees did you cut down, how much natural vegetation did you dispose of, how much wildlife did you kill…just so you could have a lake exactly where you wanted it?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I wasn’t here then. I’m sensing disapproval from you, Molly. This isn’t the wild woods; it’s a garden. We’re always changing things in the grounds, because you can get bored of anything if you have to look at it long enough. Wouldn’t surprise me if all thiswas gone some years or decades or centuries from now, replaced with something completely different. Maybe an equatorial rain forest…”
“I am changing the subject now,” said Molly. “Before hitting happens. I remember there being swans on this lake. Or did someone get bored with them, too?”
“No,” I said. “Whatever happened to the swans, it wasn’t us. Come on. Let’s go take a look at the waterfall.”
“An artificial waterfall?”
“Of course! It was all the fashion.…”
“Words fail me.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m sure you’ll get over it.”
I walked her down the side of the lake to the jagged stone cliff that towered over the farthest end, where heavy flowing waters cascaded down the craggy surface with endless noise and fury. A gentle mist of water drops gave a hazy, mystical look to the waterfall, and slow steady tides pulsed out from the water’s impact, pushing across the lake’s surface. There was even a dainty little cave cut into the cliff face, tucked away behind the tumbling waters. Very popular with courting couples. Nothing like a dark womblike setting to
Why were there no winged unicorns anywhere? I hadn’t got around to checking out the stables at the rear, but I couldn’t see them just flying off.…Where were any of the dozen or so magical creatures that had taken up residence in and around the Hall for as long as I could remember? You were never short of choice for an unusual pet, when I was a kid, though you had to be very careful about which ones you could turn your back on safely. I’d never known the grounds to be this still, this silent…and I didn’t care for it one bit.
I led the way down to the great ornamental lake, a wide expanse of cool blue waters spread out before us like a modest inland sea. Long and wide enough that you had to pack a picnic lunch if you felt like taking a walk round it, and deep enough that the family once lost a small submarine in it. It was all very peaceful down beside the lake, as though nothing at all had happened. Though there was something…wrong with the view. It took me a moment to realise that there weren’t any swans sailing majestically back and forth on the calm blue surface, and there were always swans on our lake. I stood at the water’s edge with Molly beside me, looking out across the calm blue-green surface at the cool dark copse of beech trees on the other side. Nothing moved anywhere. It was all very still, not even a breath of a breeze.…
Like a ghost town at midnight. Like a museum after closing time. Like…what the whole world will be like after Humanity has finally left and closed the door behind them.
“It is beautiful,” said Molly, after a while. “Everything a lake should be.”
“Thank you,” I said. “It’s artificial, of course.”
Molly looked at me. “What?”
“Oh, the whole thing was designed and created by a head gardener to the family, Capability Charlotte. This was back during Victorian times, when you were nobody if your country manor house didn’t have its very own artificial lake. So we had one put in. Complete with its own waterfall feature at the far end, and a small family of selkies specially imported from the Orkney Isles to live in the lake and keep it clean and tidy. It does look good, doesn’t it?”
“What was here before?” said Molly. “What did you get rid of to make the lake? How many perfectly good trees did you cut down, how much natural vegetation did you dispose of, how much wildlife did you kill…just so you could have a lake exactly where you wanted it?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I wasn’t here then. I’m sensing disapproval from you, Molly. This isn’t the wild woods; it’s a garden. We’re always changing things in the grounds, because you can get bored of anything if you have to look at it long enough. Wouldn’t surprise me if all thiswas gone some years or decades or centuries from now, replaced with something completely different. Maybe an equatorial rain forest…”
“I am changing the subject now,” said Molly. “Before hitting happens. I remember there being swans on this lake. Or did someone get bored with them, too?”
“No,” I said. “Whatever happened to the swans, it wasn’t us. Come on. Let’s go take a look at the waterfall.”
“An artificial waterfall?”
“Of course! It was all the fashion.…”
“Words fail me.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m sure you’ll get over it.”
I walked her down the side of the lake to the jagged stone cliff that towered over the farthest end, where heavy flowing waters cascaded down the craggy surface with endless noise and fury. A gentle mist of water drops gave a hazy, mystical look to the waterfall, and slow steady tides pulsed out from the water’s impact, pushing across the lake’s surface. There was even a dainty little cave cut into the cliff face, tucked away behind the tumbling waters. Very popular with courting couples. Nothing like a dark womblike setting to
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