Jim only looked away from the kaleidoscopic landscape when he felt a strange tickle in his hand. He found the Amulet in his palm and only now realized that he had been gripping it tightly ever since he’d stepped onto the crystal stairs.
Merlin’s device pulsed with blue energy.
“Uh, I think this thing’s on the fritz again,” Jim said.
“Yeah, my cell phone’s doing the same thing,” said Toby. “The Wi-Fi must be terrible down here.”
“Why-Fly?” asked AAARRRGGHH!!!.
“Wi-Fi,” Blinky clarified. “It’s some sort of electronic force that humans use to share information and adorable pictures of cats—”
“Cats?” said AAARRRGGHH!!!, licking his lips. “Tasty.”
“Oh, never mind! Merlin’s Amulet does not need Wi-Fi!” yelled Blinky.
Jim couldn’t help but smile as his friends continued to squabble, and all those self-pitying thoughts of losing to Bular and running away quickly dissolved. With his mind cleared again, Jim had a new realization. Maybe that battle with Bular wasn’t the end of his life. Maybe it was just the start of a whole new one.
Jim faced Toby, Blinky, and AAARRRGGHH!!!, who all smiled at him in relief. Obviously, Jim had surprised them—and himself—by surviving this night. Perhaps he owed it to them—plus all those Trolls down there and all the people above, like his mom and Claire—to try surviving another.
Blinky was right. There may have been many, many champions before Jim, but none of them were human. Judging by the Amulet’s unpredictable behavior, choosing Jim had definitely changed the rules of the game. That meant he couldn’t ever hope to be like the other Trollhunters, no matter how hard he tried. Jim would have to do this in his own unique, imperfect, and human way.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
The Amulet started ticking in his hand. Its gears clicked in rhythm, matching Jim’s heartbeat. Slow. Steady. Confident.
For once, he didn’t feel like time was running out. Instead, Jim actually felt like he had more time than ever.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
No more worrying. No more thinking.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
It was time for James Lake Jr.—the Trollhunter—to become.
EPILOGUE
COURAGE REBORN
Kanjigar’s eyes snapped open. A black and infinite space replaced the human bridge from which he had just fallen.
Where . . . where am I? Kanjigar wondered.
As if in answer, countless orbs of energy—similar to the ones that once sprang from his Amulet, only larger—appeared out of the darkness and streamed around Kanjigar. The illuminated spheres settled in a wide ring around him and transformed into several ghostly, yet familiar, Trolls in matching suits of armor.
“Welcome, Kanjigar the Courageous,” said the female Troll in front.
“Deya the Deliverer?” uttered Kanjigar, recognizing her. “Is that truly you? I haven’t seen you since your final battle.”
“Your eyes do not deceive you, Kanjigar,” said Deya. “You, I, and Merlin’s other fallen champions still exist beyond death in this remote afterlife.”
“Then this must be the Void,” Kanjigar said upon seeing that his own armored body had become transparent and weightless. “And I have joined your Council of Trollhunters.”
“I’d almost forgotten how quickly you catch on, Kanjigar. Alas, from this Void, our spirits meet to offer advice, prayer . . . and warning,” said Deya.
“Warning?” asked Kanjigar. “To whom?”
Deya stepped aside, revealing another ball of energy. It stretched and flattened into a window of sorts, giving Kanjigar a view into Heartstone Trollmarket. There, he saw his old friends, Blinky and AAARRRGGHH!!!, leading two humans into their sacred land. To make matters more shocking, one of the humans carried the Amulet in his young hand.
“To him,” said Unkar the Unfortunate, a small and meek Trollhunter who pointed at the boy with the Amulet. “Take it from me, that kid is doomed! Although he’s already lasted longer than I did. . . .”
Kanjigar watched in amazement as Blinky, AAARRRGGHH!!!, and the humans encountered Draal in Heartstone Trollmarket. Although Kanjigar could not hear what they said, it was plain that Draal believed the Amulet belonged to him, not a human. Draal looked furious, but Kanjigar’s spirit swelled with joy at the sight of his son.
Thank you, Merlin, thought Kanjigar. Thank you for hearing my wish and sparing my son so that he may live a life free of your demands.
But Kanjigar’s heart soon grew heavy when he considered the human with the Amulet. Had Kanjigar’s death sealed this boy’s fate instead of Draal’s?
Over the centuries Kanjigar had seen full-grown Trolls, some triple his size, cower in fear when the Amulet chose them. And yet here was this human child who somehow managed to withstand the Amulet’s burden—and Draal’s fury—and still keep going.
“Yet I have always known our Amulet to work in mysterious ways, just like its maker,” Kanjigar continued. “Is it possible this human will succeed where so many of us have not?”
“Come now, Kanjigar,” whined Unkar the Unfortunate. “Surely you don’t believe that . . . do you?”
Through the window he witnessed the human enter the Hero’s Forge and begin his training under Blinky and AAARRRGGHH!!!’s guidance.
“I do not know,” Kanjigar admitted.
The image suddenly shifted to sometime later, showing Draal defending the human Trollhunter and his home from attack. Kanjigar blinked his eyes, and more visions followed. The human’s best friend and a female with a streak of blue in her hair now joined the Trollhunter in battle with weapons of their own. Understanding that the Void was showing him glimpses of things yet to come, Kanjigar saw Blinky and AAARRRGGHH!!! guide these humans on adventures under the world and across it. He saw them all grow closer as warriors and friends. He saw them achieve unbelievable victories . . . and suffer a tragic defeat. And through all these wins and losses, ups and downs, Kanjigar saw the human Trollhunter continue growing in skill, confidence, and power.
Kanjigar smiled at the other Trollhunters in the Void and said, “But the very thought of it gives me courage for the future of humans and Trolls alike.”
THE BEGINNING
READ ON FOR MORE
Here’s a sneak peek at WELCOME TO THE DARKLANDS!
Gunmar the Black howled.
He howled in confusion, unable to tell day from night in this strange new realm. He howled in pain. Ice-cold winds whipped against his body—a body born in the fires of war. And he howled in defeat. Victory had been snatched from his grasp, just as Gunmar had been snatched into these dark lands.
Gunmar forced himself to stand. His hooves nearly slipped on the glowing green rock beneath him, but he found his balance.
Never again will I be brought to my knees, Gunmar promised himself.
He looked out at the Darklands with his single burning eye and watched his army start to appear around him. One by one, thousands of Gumm-Gumm soldiers arrived in flashes of blinding white light. They, too, crashed against the barren landscape, as Gunmar had done mere seconds ago. They, too, fell over with vertigo and shivered against the sudden cold.
Gunmar turned his horned head upward and saw the portal through which he and his army had been thrown. Killahead Bridge sat atop a jagged stone peak. Its arch shimmered with magic as more Gumm-Gumms plummeted into the Darklands.
Gunmar squinted his eye and stared through the portal. He glimpsed the distant surface world on the other side, as well as the enemy who had just banished him from there.
“Deya,” said Gunmar with a low growl.
Deya the Deliverer stood guard at the other end of Killahead Bridge. Her silver Daylight Armor was battered and dirty from weeks of combat, but still unbroken. She planted her broadsword into the battlefield, a grim look of finality in the Trollhunter’s eyes. Even across the immeasurable space that separated them, Deya’s message was clear: This war is over.
ABOUT THE AUTH
OR
RICHARD ASHLEY HAMILTON is best known for his storytelling across DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon franchise, having written for the Emmy-nominated DreamWorks Dragons: Race to the Edge on Netflix and the official DreamWorks Dragons expanded universe bible. In his heart, Richard remains a lifelong comic book fan and has written and developed numerous titles, including Trollhunters: The Secret History of Trollkind (with Marc Guggenheim) for Dark Horse Comics and his original series Scoop for Insight Editions. Richard lives in Silver Lake, California, with his wife and their two sons.
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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This Simon Spotlight edition December 2017
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Designed by Nick Sciacca
Jacket design by Nicholas Sciacca
Written by Richard Ashley Hamilton
Jacket illustrations by Patrick Ian Moss
ISBN 978-1-5344-1293-4 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-5344-1292-7 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-5344-1294-1 (eBook)
The Adventure Begins Page 9
