RENEGADE A LOST BOOK
TED DEKKER
A THOMAS N E L S O N Since 1798 NASHVILLE
DALLAS
MEXICO CITY
RIO DE JANEIRO
BEIJING
©2008byTedDekker All rights reserved. N o portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, ot transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc. Published in association with Thomas Nelson and Creative Trust, Inc., 5141 Virginia Way, Suite 320, Brentwood, T N 37027. Thomas Nelson, Inc. books may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail
[email protected] Publisher's Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental. Cover Design by The DesignWorks Group, Inc. Page Design by Casey Hooper Map Design by Chris Ward
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data [to come] Dekker,Ted, 1962Renegade / by Ted Dekker. p. cm. — (The lost books ; bk. 3) Summary: As Johnis, Silvie, Billos, and Darsal continue their quest for the four still missing Books of History, Billos makes a decision that has devastating consequences for himself and his companions, especially the devoted Datsal. ISBN 978-1-59554-371-4 (hardcover) [1. Fantasy. 2. Christian life—Fiction.] I. Title. PZ7.D3684Ren 2008 [Fic]~dc22
2008000063
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ur story begins in a world totally like our own, yet completely different. What once happened here in our own
history seems to be repeating itself, thousands of years from now, some time beyond the year AD 4000. But this time the future belongs to the young, to the warriors, to the lovers. To those who can follow hidden clues and find a great treasure, which will unlock the mysteries of life and wealth. Thirteen years have passed since the lush, colored forests were turned to desert by Teeleh, the enemy of Elyon and the vilest of all creatures. Evil now rules the land and shows itself as a painful, scaly disease that covers the flesh of the Horde, who live in the desert. The powerful green waters, once precious to Elyon, have vanished from the earth except in seven small forests surrounding
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seven small lakes. Those few who have chosen to follow the ways of Elyon are now called Forest Dwellers, and they bathe once daily in the powerful waters to cleanse their skin of the disease. The number of their sworn enemy, the Horde, has grown, and the Forest Guard has been severely diminished by war, forcing Thomas, supreme commander, to lower the army's recruitm