The Lost Ones

Chapter One

Oliver Bascombe paced his dungeon cell, wondering when his captors would decide to kill him and how they would do it. Public execution? Swift murder? Torture? Or perhaps they would simply feed him to the Battle Swine and let those filthy porcine warriors bite off his head and strip the flesh from his bones.

In the two months and more since he had first been clapped into the crumbling stone cell with its iron-grated windows and heavy wooden door, he had come to understand that there were only three things a prisoner in the royal dungeon of Yucatazca could do to pass the time—imagine dying, imagine escaping, and work his body hard enough to hurt, just to remind him that he was alive. In all his life, Oliver had never been so strong. He could not escape the irony that despite all of his newly gained strength and discipline, he had also never been so powerless.

A stained sleeping mat was the room’s only comfort. Unless he was sleeping, he kept it rolled up in the center of the cell. With that out of the way, he could walk the perimeter of the room unimpeded by anything but the small sink and the hole beside it that was the closest thing he had to a toilet.

He didn’t have space to run; no way to get up any momentum in a cell twenty feet by twelve. The best he could do was walk and so he did that, swiftly and consistently, for at least an hour when he rose and another hour after dark. After dark, Oliver needed to keep his body occupied because his mind became busiest then, as well. Back in the ordinary world, he had always believed that there truly were things lurking in the dark, but now he knew for certain. In the world of the legendary, everything was possible.

No, more than that. Everything is real.

This morning, like every other, he knew the day had begun by the lightening of the cell from black to gloomy gray and from the passage of silent guards out in the corridor. The two small grated windows never received direct sunlight and offered no view of anything but stone and shadow. Beyond the outer wall of the dungeon was a slotted canyon built into the king’s palace by its architect. He supposed he ought to have been grateful for that little bit of light that allowed him to keep track of the passage of night and day, but Oliver had no gratitude in his heart.

Only ice.

In the absence of Frost—whom he suspected was alive, despite all evidence to the contrary—he had become a kind of winter man himself.

If not for the presence of his sister, Collette, and his fiancée, Julianna Whitney, in the cell across that stone corridor, he knew his heart would have become ice entirely. What saved him was the ability to hear their voices and catch glimpses of their faces through the grated windows in their parallel door. Instead of slamming his palms and fists against the stones, building callus, he might have rammed his skull into the wall and been done with life.

Instead, he lived.

In between his morning and evening walks, Oliver did sets of pushups and sit-ups. He’d built up the muscles in his arms and shoulders quite a bit, and his abdomen was tight as a drum. This development did not stem solely from his exercise regimen, but also from what he’d come to think of as the “dungeon diet.” He, Collette, and Julianna lived on pitiful meals of crusty bread, water, and a thin stew obv See more like this in our Fantasy ebooks section

Share your thoughts on the The Lost Ones ebook with other internet viewers!

From the same series: The Veil

1

The Myth Hunters Best price $6.13

2

The Borderkind Best price $6.13

Title of ebook: The Lost Ones
ISBN: 9780553904826
parent-ISBN: 9780553383287
Publisher: Bantam Books
Published: 03-2008
Released online for download: 03-25-2008
Author of eBook: Golden, Christopher
Series: More eBooks from the The Veil series
Number in this series: 3

Format

Encrypted

Sku

ISBN

File size

Security

Printing

Copying

Read aloud

Devices

Digital Editions

Yes

0553904825

9780553904826

1776 KB

n/a

Not allowed

No

Sys Requirments

Download reader

Microsoft

Yes

5551768368

9780553904826

484 KB

n/a

Not allowed

No

Sys Requirments

Download reader

eReader

Yes

5551768376

9780553904826

337 KB

n/a

Not allowed

No

Sys Requirments

Download reader

The Lost Ones

Book 3 of the Veil
Chapter One

Oliver Bascombe paced his dungeon cell, wondering when his captors would decide to kill him and how they would do it. Public execution? Swift murder? Torture? Or perhaps they would simply feed him to the Battle Swine and let those filthy porcine warriors bite off his head and strip the flesh from his bones.

In the two months and more since he had first been clapped into the crumbling stone cell with its iron-grated windows and heavy wooden door, he had come to understand that there were only three things a prisoner in the royal dungeon of Yucatazca could do to pass the time—imagine dying, imagine escaping, and work his body hard enough to hurt, just to remind him that he was alive. In all his life, Oliver had never been so strong. He could not escape the irony that despite all of his newly gained strength and discipline, he had also never been so powerless.

A stained sleeping mat was the room’s only comfort. Unless he was sleeping, he kept it rolled up in the center of the cell. With that out of the way, he could walk the perimeter of the room unimpeded by anyth ... read full excerpt from: The Lost Ones ebook

Other Christopher Golden ebooks:

receive alert on new Christopher Golden ebooks

Soulless

Times Square, New York City: The first ever mass seance is broadcasting live on the Sunrise morning show. If it works, the spirits of the departed on the other side will have ...more

Best price: $6.30

The Ferryman

Janine Hartschorn left David Bairstow for a man who abandoned her once he discovered she was pregnant with his child. A miscarriage almost ended her life. Now she and David ...more

Best price: $11.28

Poison Ink

On the last Friday night of summer, Sammi Holland and the girls went downtown in search of ice cream. They planned to meet at Krueger’s Flatbread for pizza beforehand, a...more

Best price: $7.88

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Dark Congress

Since the beginning of time, the demonic races have gathered every century to resolve conflicts among them and to determine the course of their future. This centennial event ...more

Best price: $8.76

Crashing Paradise: A Novel of the Menagerie

The Legion of Doom is hell-bent on breaking into eden, and they've got the perfect captive to help them: eve, mother of all humanity-and all vampires. Only Doyle and the ...more

Best price: $7.99

Hellboy: The Dragon Pool

Hellboy, a bloodred, cloven-hoofed demon raised by the United States government, is a top field agent for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. He questions the ...more

Best price: $7.00

The Borderkind

CHAPTeR1
Fire engulfed the church, radiating such heat that the snow falling around it was vaporized instantly. Julianna Whitney stood a moment and stared at the flames...more

Best price: $6.13

The Myth Hunters

Christopher Golden is the award-winning, Los Angeles Times bestselling author of such novels as Of Saints and Shadows, The Ferryman, Strangewood, The ...more

Best price: $6.13

King Kong

"With vaudeville in its death throes, actress Ann Darrow finds herself out of a job in Depression-era New York. But her luck changes when she meets Carl Denham -- entrepreneur...more

Best price: $8.76

See full listing:

Top eBooks in "Fantasy Contemporary"

Danse Macabre

by Hamilton, Laurell K.

Review: Although I really loved this book, truth be told, the storyline is not that great. There is a vampire ballet in town and Jean Claude had invited several master ...more

Best price: $6.43

Dead Beat: A Novel of the Dresden Files

by Butcher, Jim

Review: In "Dead Beat", Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, is blackmailed by the vampire Mavra into locating the "Word of Kemmler", a book of dark ...more

Best price: $7.99

American Gods

by Gaiman, Neil

"Special Feature: This PerfectBound e-book contains "On the Road to American Gods: Selected Passages from Neil Gaiman's Online Journal". The storm was coming..Shadow ...more

Best price: $7.00

Demon Ex Machina

by Kenner, Julie

From the USA Today bestselling author of Deja Demon--slaying demons is nothing compared to the terrible twos.
Demon Hunter Kate Connor is having ...more

Best price: $14.00

Blood Bargain

by Lima, Maria

Best price: $7.00

Beyond Reach

by Slaughter, Karin

Review: As a continuation of the Grant County series it shows a growing maturity in her style of writing since she started the series. This is my personal best in the ...more

Best price: $7.00

Angel Fire East

by Brooks, Terry

When Running with the Demon appeared two years ago, it was recognized at once as a masterpiece in the making, a bold departure that promised to revitalize contemporary urban ...more

Best price: $7.00

Bloody Bones

by Hamilton, Laurell K.

For the first time in trade paperback: the fifth novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.When Branson, Missouri, is hit with a death wave- four unsolved murders-it ...more

Best price: $5.20

Dead Man Rising

by Saintcrow, Lilith

Bounty hunting is a helluva job, but it pays the bills. And it lets necromance Dante Valentine forget her issues. Like struggling with her half-demon side and the memory of ...more

Best price: $4.37

Other Fantasy eBooks Categories

Fantasy General (1505)

Fantasy Bundles (83)

Fantasy Contemporary (284)

Fantasy Dark/Horror (138)

Fantasy eBook Short Stories (94)

Fantasy Epic (330)

Fantasy Historical (127)

Fantasy Series (284)

The Lost Ones

People who bought "The Lost Ones" ebook also bought: