Chapters (132)
- COVER PAGE
- CHOSEN: LOST BOOK 1
- BEGINNINGS
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- INFIDEL: LOST BOOK 2
- BEGINNINGS
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- RENEGADE: LOST BOOK 3
- BEGINNINGS
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- CHAOS: LOST BOOK 4
- BEGINNINGS
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
“I do think I could take any sixteen-year-old from the crowd and show them stronger than any of you.”
“Then do it!” Jackov screamed.
Thomas swung to him. “There are no rules in matters of wit and mind, Jackov, but I still haven’t made my final selection. You should watch your emotion.”
Jackov saw his mistake and bowed his head. “Forgive me.”
“I will. And I will agree to your insistence that I . . . do it.”
He faced Johnis. “You there, who stepped out first. What is your name?”
At first Johnis wasn’t sure he was speaking to him, but there could be no mistake. All eyes were on him.
“Johnis,” he said.
“Johnis. How old are you?”
“Sixteen.”
“Are you married, Johnis?”
“No,” Johnis said.
“Well then, I think we have our new player.” Thomas faced his fighters. “I do think that this boy, who was either too cowardly to try out for the Guard or was dismissed early, could run circles around the lot of you.”
Jackov spit to one side.
Rather than consider his options in slow deliberation, Johnis once again reacted on impulse, trusting his heart. He simply did what he knew he must do if he wanted to avoid a terrible end to this day.
“Should I invite him to show you all a lesson?” Thomas demanded of his fighters.
Without any further invitation, Johnis left his spot by the side and walked toward Jackov.
Quick thinking.
Deadly thinking.
FIVE
FIVE
Johnis was halfway across the field before he’d fully decided on what he would do. He’d committed himself to either being beaten to a pulp, as Thomas had put it, or teaching them all that a smaller boy with a love for books wasn’t as useless as they thought.
A slight grin settled on Thomas Hunter’s face. “You’ve come out for your whipping so eagerly, lad?”
“No, sir,” Johnis said, striding faster now. Straight for Jackov. “I’ve come out to show the big thug that mind is greater than muscle.” He wasn’t entirely sure where all of this courage was coming from.
Courage or stupidity?
Jackov grunted and took a step in Johnis’s direction.
At this point Johnis could do one of two things. He could continue on—into the jaws of this monster, so to speak—or he could turn tail and sprint for the end with the ball safely around his belly.
He supposed that Thomas wanted him to do the latter, to show them all that mind was greater than muscle. But Johnis suddenly wanted to do more.
So he started to jog, arms pumping loosely, hoping that the Horde hair around his waist would stay put.
There were twenty-four fighters on the field, grouped at the center. There were five thousand onlookers in the stadium. There was one supreme commander, Thomas Hunter, standing to one side.
And every last eyeball was pinned to him. To Johnis. Heading straight into terrible trouble.