The Lost Realm (Volume 2) (Crown of Three, Band 2) - Hardcover

Rinehart, J. D.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1481424467 ISBN 13: 9781481424462

Verlag: Aladdin, 2016

Inhaltsangabe

Family secrets combine with fantasy in this epic tale of battle, magic, strange creatures, power, and fate, in a sweeping new middle grade series that Publishers Weekly called “Game of Thrones on a mellow day.”

The kingdom of Toronia is being torn apart by civil war. The kingdom’s only hope comes in the form of illegitimate triplets, who are prophesied to kill the king and rule together in peace. Separated at birth and scattered throughout the realms, the triplets face a desperate fight to secure their destiny. Will they survive long enough to rule?

The resurrected King Brutan and his army of the dead control the city of Idilliam. Outside, Eloide and Tarlan are trying to hold their own army together and find a way to rescue their brother Gulph who is trapped inside the city. Or is he? Gulph has found a passageway to the lost realm of Celestis, which lies beneath Idilliam. There he is reunited with the mother he has never known—but she can’t remember him. If Gulph stays in the city, will he also forget those above ground whom he loves?

Meanwhile, Tarlan and the wizard Melchior set out on a quest to restore the wizard’s powers, leaving Eloide and her army to keep watch. But Eloide is betrayed, her troops slaughtered, and she is taken captive by Lord Vicerin, her former guardian, who is determined to use her to get to the throne.

Seemingly further from the throne than ever, the triplets will need to use all of their strength and abilities if they are to survive—let alone rule.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

J.D. Rinehart is a pseudonym for author Graham Edwards. When he’s not writing, he can be found exploring castles, watching films, or hiking through the countryside with Sir Galahad, his pet Great Dane. He loves falconry, and once raised a young falcon he found abandoned. He lives in Nottinghamshire, England.

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The Lost Realm

CHAPTER 1

To the postern gate!” shouted Captain Ossilius. “It’s our only chance!”

He swung his sword, killing two undead warriors simultaneously. Gulph dodged past his friend, kicking out at the bodies, once, twice, tumbling them end over end down the steep stone stairs, where they scattered the oncoming enemy soldiers like bowling pins.

“That should buy us some time,” he gasped. “What’s a postern gate?”

“Our last chance.”

Together, Gulph and Ossilius climbed the rest of the way up the stairs, ran along the battlement, and plunged down a steep ramp into a small, enclosed courtyard.

Here they halted, leaning against each other as they fought for breath. Gulph felt small against the burly, gray-haired captain, and wondered if he would always be as skinny as he was now.

Never mind growing up, he thought, massaging the aches from his crooked back, I just wish I’d grow straight.

“So where’s this last chance of yours?” he said, stepping away from his companion, who was still struggling to breathe. Ossilius ran a hand through his gray hair and ushered Gulph over to a break in the wall.

“Look,” he said, pointing through the shattered stonework toward a squat tower built into the city wall.

“I can see what looks like a door,” said Gulph. “What are those things on either side of it? Statues?”

Ossilius nodded. “That’s the postern gate.”

Gulph stared skeptically at the stretch of ground lying between them and their destination. Swarms of undead warriors were fighting their way through ranks of terrified citizens, and thick smoke shrouded the scene, making it hard to see exactly what was happening. But Gulph could hear the screams clearly enough.

All the people of Idilliam wanted was to flee, but even as they tried to escape they were seized and made undead. This was the horror: the enemy didn’t kill you.

The enemy made you like itself.

“Every time we lose a soldier,” whispered Gulph, “they gain one. How can we ever win?”

For a brief moment the smoke surrounding a nearby tower cleared, and King Brutan himself strode into view. Flesh hung from his bones; his blood-streaked clothes flapped in tatters; his eyes burned red with fire.

Gulph closed his eyes, trying to remember how Brutan had looked when he’d been alive. But all he could bring to mind was the look of betrayal on the king’s face when he, Gulph, had placed the poisoned crown on his head.

I didn’t know it would kill you, Gulph thought. I never imagined it would make you a monster. He shook his head, correcting himself. No—you already were a monster, weren’t you?

Brutan’s left hand closed on the neck of a man; with his right he snatched up a peasant woman. He lifted them both off the ground and squeezed his skeleton fingers. They struggled briefly, then their eyes closed and their bodies went slack. Their skin turned white; their flesh sank in on itself.

When their eyes opened again, they were filled with flame.

Gulph watched, aghast. He’d seen this happen many times during their headlong run across the battlefield; still, it never failed to repulse him. What made it worse was the knowledge of who Brutan really was.

You’re more than a monster. You’re my father.

A fresh wave of city dwellers burst from a breach in the wall: ordinary people clutching bags and boxes and clumsy wraps of cloth. Gulph gripped the rubble of the broken wall, silently urging them on, wondering what meager possessions they’d managed to collect, and where they thought they could flee to.

“They don’t know about the bridge,” said Ossilius.

Gulph held his breath as the first of the refugees reached the edge of the chasm. It encircled Idilliam as a moat surrounds a castle—except this moat was bottomless. One man led his children to the brink and stopped, staring dumbstruck at the ruins of the bridge that had once connected the city to the rest of Toronia. . . .

“They have nowhere to go,” Gulph groaned. “There’s no escape. They’re trapped here. We’re all trapped.”

He lifted the golden crown he’d carried across the battlefield. His fingers were cramped from clutching it. Now that he had the crown, he couldn’t imagine ever letting it go—yet part of him wanted to cast it into the chasm.

“Just this morning Nynus was wearing it,” he said. He shuddered, remembering what Nynus had done to take the crown—and to try to keep it. He’d tricked Gulph into killing Brutan and come up with the insane scheme to destroy the bridge and isolate Idilliam. “Nynus was no better than his father,” Gulph said. “Our father.”

“Gulph—Nynus is dead.”

“But the crown is still here! Was it the crown that made him do all those terrible things, Ossilius? What will happen to me if I put it on? If I try to rule? The prophecy says that I’m one of the three. That it’s my destiny to rule Toronia. But what if I turn out to be just as much a monster as Brutan or Nynus?”

He stared at Ossilius, his eyes wide, the crown held between both hands. Ossilius looked solemnly back.

“It is just a crown, Gulph. A piece of metal. What you do with it is your choice and yours alone.”

Gulph stared at the gold band. What did it matter now, anyway? For a brief moment, just after Nynus had died, when Ossilius had picked up the crown and handed it to him, Gulph had believed everything might turn out all right. But the dead had taken over Idilliam and there was nothing left to rule.

“It’s time to go,” said Ossilius. Gently, he removed one of Gulph’s hands from the crown and placed a sword in it. “Are you ready?”

“I don’t think I was ready for any of this,” Gulph replied. But he followed Ossilius as they crept through the hole in the wall, heads lowered, and began to cross the battlefield. In the shadow of the nearby tower, Brutan had closed his bony fingers around the throat of a boy of about thirteen—Gulph’s age. The undead king hoisted the lad into the air and studied his face with blazing red eyes.

“Are you my son?” he bellowed. “Are you the one who killed me?”

“Leave him alone!” Gulph hissed, but when he started toward the horrific scene, Ossilius pulled him back.

“It is too late,” Ossilius insisted.

The boy’s whimpers were cut off as Brutan squeezed. A moment later, his life had ended and his new, undead existence had begun.

“Revenge!” Brutan roared as he marched on. “I will have revenge on my son and my treacherous people!”

“I have to do something!” said Gulph, shaking Ossilius’s hand from his shoulder. “I don’t care if it’s hopeless. These are my people. I should be fighting with them!”

He started off through the smoke, but Ossilius caught him again. “I understand, Gulph. I do. But this is not the time for you to fight. This is the time for you to hide.”

Gulph stopped struggling and stared at him, dumbfounded. “Hide? What kind of king hides when his people need him?”

“The kind of king who wants to stay alive.”

“A cowardly one, more like.”
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Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Aladdin
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2016
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1481424467
• ISBN 13: 9781481424462
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 496
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar