“I know we’ll be half a world apart,” Jim said to Ballustra. “But I hope we stay in touch.”
“On this you may count,” Ballustra replied. “Now that my career as a weaponsmith has ended, I thought I might ply my Monger skills in a new trade—communication.”
She handed Jim his cell phone, totally repaired and fully charged, to boot.
“Thank you, Trollhunter, for bringing me closer to my son than I ever thought possible,” Ballustra added, her nose ring glinting.
“It’s the least I could do,” Jim said. “I mean, your son helped out my mom a lot. I’m just repaying the favor.”
Ballustra’s broad lips curled into a grin, and she nodded a final farewell. Once Jim rejoined his friends and Merlin, Claire opened a big, fat shadow with her staff and said, “Next stop: Arcadia!”
As Draal’s erstwhile teammates shadow-jumped away, he looked expectantly to his father. Reading his son’s face as easily now as when he was a boy, Kanjigar beckoned over another scrying portal. This one offered a view inside Claire’s house, later that night. Draal looked on with interest as the Nuñez family hosted an intimate ceremony celebrating his own life. Team Trollhunters, their extended families, and a bevy of refugees from Trollmarket crowded into the once-orderly home, drinking glug and trading stories about their fallen friend.
Javier offered food to the assorted Trolls, who all declined when they found out chorizo wasn’t a type of sock. Ophelia asked if any of the Trolls were registered to vote. And Nana took pictures of all the revelers. Among her photos was one of Blinky and Dictatious arguing over how to properly teach Troll lore to the Creepslayerz, plus a lovely portrait of the entire Nuñez family—including a surprisingly photo-shy NotEnrique.
Draal was touched by the outpouring of emotion in his honor, but one scene in particular caught his eye. He watched Jim approach Toby in Claire’s backyard.
“Tobes, I owe you a serious apology,” Jim began. “You just were trying to cheer me up when I was down about Draal, and I . . . I . . .”
“Dude,” Toby interrupted. “As our late, great pal would say, ‘Don’t make it weird.’ ”
Toby held out his arms, and Jim stepped into hug. The sight warmed Draal’s heart. Well, whatever passed for a heart in this afterlife. Reminded of his sudden appearance there, Draal said, “Father, I do not mean to seem ungrateful, but how is it that I came to arrive in the Void?”
“I know not, Draal, but I suspect he might have an inkling,” Kanjigar answered.
Draal peered through the looking glass into Claire’s home once more. He saw Merlin, standing alone by the buffet line, munching on a piece of celery. The wizard looked up and winked—seemingly making eye contact with Draal across time and space. Merlin then returned the half-eaten celery stick to the catering platter and walk away.
“What an odd little man,” said Draal’s spirit.
“Truer words were never spoken, my son,” agreed the ghost of Kanjigar. “Though Merlin shall have a crucial part to play in the tribulations ahead.”
Father and son turned to a third scrying window, this one focused upon the Dark Trollmarket. There, Gunmar the Gold muttered in Trollspeak while channeling the Staff of Avalon’s emerald energies into the base of the Heartstone. The strain of magic against crystal created a wave of arcane feedback, knocking Gunmar to his knees. Queen Usurna ran to his side, only to find a series of runes revealed along the length of the staff.
“ ‘Only human hands may wield,’ ” she translated. “But how are we to find a human who can speak the Trollish incantation?”
The Gumm-Gumm king punched the floor in rage and said, “Find me an Impure. . . .”
“My Trollhunter—my friend, Jim . . . his life’s in danger,” Draal realized in the Void. “Yet I now find myself unable to come to his defense. I . . . I have failed him, Father. I do not deserve to be with you.”
Kanjigar put a consoling hand on Draal’s back and said, “You are many things, but a failure is not one of them. How else would you explain your inclusion in this final resting place of Merlin’s champions? Draal, you have more than earned your seat in the Council of Trollhunters. Not because you held some amulet, but because you held steadfast in your devotion to family and friends. You were as fierce in your loyalty as you were in combat. My son belongs in the Void not because of the way he died, but because of the way he lived.”
Draal looked up, moved by his father’s words. With wide, searching eyes, he returned to the second scrying window. It now revealed Jim and Claire helping Ba-Bru-Ah patch up some cracks left by the Nyarlagroths in Draal’s old basement. Witnessing their camaraderie, their obvious love for one another, Draal felt his very soul fill with an inexplicable sense of calm—of peace.
Though the Eternal Night loomed closer than ever, Draal the Deadly knew his Trollhunter would be ready to face a war even greater than the one waged by the River and Garden Trolls. At the very least, Jim Lake Jr. would have one more guardian spirit watching over him from the Void.
“I spent so much of my existence preparing for battle, I never stopped to consider what I’d do once the battle ended,” Draal confessed to his father.
Kanjigar held his son and said, “We now have an eternity to figure that out . . . together.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
RICHARD ASHLEY HAMILTON is best known for his storytelling across DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon franchise, having written for the Emmynominated 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 DreamWorks 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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DreamWorks Trollhunters © 2019 DreamWorks Animation L.L.C. All Rights Reserved. All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. SIMON SPOTLIGHT and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc. For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or [email protected].
Designed by Nick Sciacca
Jacket design by Nicholas Sciacca
Written by Richard Ashley Hamilton
Jacket illustrations by Patrick Ian Moss
ISBN 978-1-5344-2865-2 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-5344-2864-5 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-5344-2866-9 (eBook)
The Way of the Wizard Page 9
