Authors: Joshua Khan
Text copyright © 2016 by Joshua Khan
Illustrations copyright © 2016 by Ben Hibon
Cover illustration © 2016 by Ben Hibon
Lettering by Russ Gray
Cover design by Marci Senders
All rights reserved. Published by Disney • Hyperion, an imprint of Disney Book Group. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. For information address Disney • Hyperion, 125 West End Avenue, New York, New York 10023.
ISBN 978-1-4847-3789-7
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Give me my robe, put on my crown;
I have Immortal longings in me.
—From
Antony and Cleopatra
,
by William Shakespeare
PORT CUTLASS
Thorn, a runaway boy
Merrick, a wandering minstrel
Lukas, a slave master
CASTLE GLOOM
Lilith Shadow, ruler of Gehenna
Pandemonium Shadow, her uncle
Mary, a servant
Baron Sable, a nobleman
Rose, a servant
Wade, a squire
Old Colm, the weapons master
Tyburn, the executioner
PRISM PALACE
Duke Raphael Solar, ruler of Lumina
Gabriel Solar, his son and heir apparent
K’leef Djinn, a hostage
BEASTS
Custard, a puppy
Thunder, a warhorse
Hades, a monster
…
“H
ow much for this boy?” asked the man, prodding Thorn hard in the chest.
Thorn grimaced, but did nothing.
The slave master, Lukas, wiggled all his fingers.
The man frowned. “Ten? Captain Pike sells his boys for five.”
Lukas, born ogre-ugly but turned hideous by the large scar across his face, laughed. “Pike sells them half-starved and diseased.” He tugged Thorn forward by his manacles. “Have a good look at him, Master Shann,” he said. “Twelve summers and already taller than many men. Straight limbs and a sound chest. And look at these.” Lukas twisted Thorn’s wrist to turn his palm up. “Good old-fashioned farmer’s hands. I swear by the Six, you put him in the fields, and you’ll get ten years out of him. Maybe fifteen.”
Thorn pulled himself free. They talked as if he was some animal.
The customer, Master Shann, prodded him again. “Open your mouth, boy.”
Thorn clamped his mouth shut.
Lukas cuffed the back of his head. “Open your mouth.”
Thorn didn’t.
“Is he simpleminded?” asked Shann. “I have no use for simpleminded boys.”
Thorn should have punched him for that. Shann needed punching. He was big and round and squashy-faced, with a bulbous nose crowded with hairy warts. But hitting a customer would only earn him another beating—the third this week—so Thorn kept his fist clenched and by his side. It wasn’t easy.
“Or is he mute? Is that it? I have no use for mute boys, either. Speak, boy. Say something.”
Speak? All right.
“Fat. Stupid. Oaf,” said Thorn.
Shann blinked.