Conn Iggulden: TOLLINS II: DYNAMITE TALES

Dedication Contents Cover Title Page Dedication CAST OF CHARACTERS BOOK ONE - ROMEO AND BERYL CHAPTER ONE - THE YEAR 1924, DURING THE REIGN OF KING GEORGE V CHAPTER TWO - TEAM GRUNION CHAPTER THREE - YOU CAN’T GO WRONG WITH A SWORDFIGHT CHAPTER FOUR - YOU CAN’T DO IT WITHOUT A BALCONY CHAPTER FIVE - MAGIC AND FALSE TEETH CHAPTER SIX - APPARENTLY, THE SHOW MUST GO ON BOOK TWO - RADIO CHAPTER ONE - THE AUTUMN OF 1924 CHAPTER TWO - WHEN SLIPPERS ARE NOT THE RIGHT CHOICE CHAPTER THREE - MAKING WAVES CHAPTER FOUR - THE PROBLEM WITH HEDGEROWS CHAPTER FIVE - THE PROBLEM WITH A HAIR TRIGGER CHAPTER SIX - WHY HANNIBAL CHOSE ELEPHANTS BOOK THREE - BONES CHAPTER ONE - THE WINTER OF 1924 CHAPTER TWO - WOLFENSTEIN PROVES HIS WORTH CHAPTER THREE - WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE CHAPTER FOUR - THE IMPORTANCE OF HOT TEA AND TOAST CHAPTER FIVE - A TIME TO BREAK THE RULES CHAPTER SIX - WAITING IN THE DARKNESS Credits Copyright About the Publisher

FOR SOPHIE AND ARTHUR

CONN IGGULDEN

FOR ROB, MUM AND DAD

LIZZY DUNCAN

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Dedication

CAST OF CHARACTERS

BOOK ONE - ROMEO AND BERYL

CHAPTER ONE - THE YEAR 1924, DURING THE REIGN OF KING GEORGE V

CHAPTER TWO - TEAM GRUNION

CHAPTER THREE - YOU CAN’T GO WRONG WITH A SWORDFIGHT

CHAPTER FOUR - YOU CAN’T DO IT WITHOUT A BALCONY

CHAPTER FIVE - MAGIC AND FALSE TEETH

CHAPTER SIX - APPARENTLY, THE SHOW MUST GO ON

BOOK TWO - RADIO

CHAPTER ONE - THE AUTUMN OF 1924

CHAPTER TWO - WHEN SLIPPERS ARE NOT THE RIGHT CHOICE

CHAPTER THREE - MAKING WAVES

CHAPTER FOUR - THE PROBLEM WITH HEDGEROWS

CHAPTER FIVE - THE PROBLEM WITH A HAIR TRIGGER

CHAPTER SIX - WHY HANNIBAL CHOSE ELEPHANTS

BOOK THREE - BONES

CHAPTER ONE - THE WINTER OF 1924

CHAPTER TWO - WOLFENSTEIN PROVES HIS WORTH

CHAPTER THREE - WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

CHAPTER FOUR - THE IMPORTANCE OF HOT TEA AND TOAST

CHAPTER FIVE - A TIME TO BREAK THE RULES

CHAPTER SIX - WAITING IN THE DARKNESS

Credits

Copyright

About the Publisher

CAST OF CHARACTERS Contents Cover Title Page Dedication CAST OF CHARACTERS BOOK ONE - ROMEO AND BERYL CHAPTER ONE - THE YEAR 1924, DURING THE REIGN OF KING GEORGE V CHAPTER TWO - TEAM GRUNION CHAPTER THREE - YOU CAN’T GO WRONG WITH A SWORDFIGHT CHAPTER FOUR - YOU CAN’T DO IT WITHOUT A BALCONY CHAPTER FIVE - MAGIC AND FALSE TEETH CHAPTER SIX - APPARENTLY, THE SHOW MUST GO ON BOOK TWO - RADIO CHAPTER ONE - THE AUTUMN OF 1924 CHAPTER TWO - WHEN SLIPPERS ARE NOT THE RIGHT CHOICE CHAPTER THREE - MAKING WAVES CHAPTER FOUR - THE PROBLEM WITH HEDGEROWS CHAPTER FIVE - THE PROBLEM WITH A HAIR TRIGGER CHAPTER SIX - WHY HANNIBAL CHOSE ELEPHANTS BOOK THREE - BONES CHAPTER ONE - THE WINTER OF 1924 CHAPTER TWO - WOLFENSTEIN PROVES HIS WORTH CHAPTER THREE - WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE CHAPTER FOUR - THE IMPORTANCE OF HOT TEA AND TOAST CHAPTER FIVE - A TIME TO BREAK THE RULES CHAPTER SIX - WAITING IN THE DARKNESS Credits Copyright About the Publisher

CHAPTER ONE - THE YEAR 1924, DURING THE REIGN OF KING GEORGE V CHAPTER TWO - TEAM GRUNION CHAPTER THREE - YOU CAN’T GO WRONG WITH A SWORDFIGHT CHAPTER FOUR - YOU CAN’T DO IT WITHOUT A BALCONY CHAPTER FIVE - MAGIC AND FALSE TEETH CHAPTER SIX - APPARENTLY, THE SHOW MUST GO ON BOOK TWO - RADIO CHAPTER ONE - THE AUTUMN OF 1924 CHAPTER TWO - WHEN SLIPPERS ARE NOT THE RIGHT CHOICE CHAPTER THREE - MAKING WAVES CHAPTER FOUR - THE PROBLEM WITH HEDGEROWS CHAPTER FIVE - THE PROBLEM WITH A HAIR TRIGGER CHAPTER SIX - WHY HANNIBAL CHOSE ELEPHANTS BOOK THREE - BONES CHAPTER ONE - THE WINTER OF 1924 CHAPTER TWO - WOLFENSTEIN PROVES HIS WORTH CHAPTER THREE - WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE CHAPTER FOUR - THE IMPORTANCE OF HOT TEA AND TOAST CHAPTER FIVE - A TIME TO BREAK THE RULES CHAPTER SIX - WAITING IN THE DARKNESS Credits Copyright About the Publisher

Sparkler couldn’t help himself. The sun was a ball of pleasant gold, the clouds looked a bit like sheep with no legs and he was happy. The only cloud on his horizon, except of course for the ones that actually were on the horizon, (sheep, no legs) was his secret. A secret that made you happy was a difficult one to keep. He knew he had to tread carefully. Not everyone picked up after their dogs, you see.

This particular secret involved books and not the ones he had so carefully copied out before, either. A new thing had come to Chorleywood that summer. Tollins do not often take much notice of human affairs and Sparkler could have missed it if he hadn’t been out training a dragonfly to hunt beetles.

It had seemed like a good idea at the time. A dragonfly is a bit like a hawk on a smaller scale – a Tollin scale. They are fast and agile and they can catch almost anything in the air. Sparkler’s dragonfly would sit on his sleeve if he fed it titbits, but he was beginning to think that its four wings and glittering body were a sort of beautiful covering for what was, in the end, a very dim insect indeed. The one he was training seemed more interested in nipping his ears than bringing savage destruction to edible prey.

It had been Sparkler’s idea to train the insects, but somehow, he just didn’t seem to have the knack for it. Half the dragonflies on Darvell’s Pond had been retrained for hunting, racing or even formation flying, while his just sulked and turned its back on him. He regretted naming it now, obviously. Grunion’s one was known as ‘Blue Thunder’ and brought its master all sorts of delicious things for the oven. Wing had one she called ‘Lightning’ and even her father had managed to train one he called the ‘Yellow Peril’.

Sparkler shook his head as he looked at young Wolfenstein. It wasn’t a great name, even with the hint of wolf in it. It certainly wasn’t a great name for a dragonfly that seemed to prefer being fed by hand and sleeping to any hunting at all.

He had come across his secret one bright morning as he had been trying to get Wolfenstein to respond to whistle signals. Sparkler had seen a heavy lorry arrive in a cloud of dust and he ducked down in the long grass to watch. Wolfenstein stuck his head up in the air and Sparkler had to sit on him to keep him still.