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Chronicles of the Red King #3: Leopards' Gold

Page 22

by Jenny Nimmo


  Petrello felt himself held in the king’s deep gaze. In his father’s eyes he read love and pride, but also a warning. “I will never misuse the gift that you passed to me,” Petrello silently promised.

  The king’s warm smile grew into a broad and joyful grin, and Petrello realized that everyone was staring at the sky where, only a few days ago, a thousand soldiers had floated and tumbled and spun. And now all eyes were turned to him, and he felt very hot and tearful all at the same time.

  Beside him, Guanhamara whispered, “No one will ever dare to call you foolish again. Nurse Ogle will have to bite her tongue so many times, she’ll wear a hole in it.”

  Petrello laughed until he could hardly breathe, and Vyborn chose that moment to turn into a large ginger cat. It ran the length of the table, overturning several jugs of water, but no one paid any attention to it, and they didn’t bat an eyelid when Olga sent a platterful of fruit spinning into Tolly’s lap.

  “Thanks for that,” said Tolly. He raised his wings, and sighs of wonder and admiration filled the courtyard as sunlight colored every single gleaming feather.

  Praise for the Chronicles of the Red King

  “[H]ighly appealing …”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “The world is richly developed, and the magical creatures therein are both fascinating and frightening. Timoken is a noble, likable hero.”

  —Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

  “Nimmo pulls out all the stops, creating three main characters with distinct personalities and placing them in an action-packed fantasy with drama, tension, and welcome bits of humor.”

  —Booklist

  “Readers will be instantly drawn into the author’s captivating and thrilling tale of magic and adventure…. [Nimmo] spins her magical web in this well-paced and expertly crafted tale.”

  —School Library Journal

  I was born in Windsor, Berkshire, England, and educated at boarding schools in Kent and Surrey from the age of six until I was sixteen, when I ran away from school to become a drama student/assistant stage manager with Theater South East. I graduated and acted in repertory theater in various towns and cities.

  I left Britain to teach English to three Italian boys in Amalfi, Italy. On my return, I joined the BBC, first as a picture researcher, then assistant floor manager, studio manager (news), and finally director/adaptor with Jackanory (a BBC storytelling program for children). I left the BBC to marry Welsh artist David Wynn-Millward and went to live in Wales in my husband’s family home. We live in a very old converted water mill, and the river is constantly threatening to break in, which it has done several times in the past, most dramatically on our youngest child’s first birthday. During the summer, we run a residential school of art, and I have to move my office, put down tools (typewriter and pencils), and don an apron and cook! We have three grown-up children, Myfanwy, Ianto, and Gwenhwyfar.

  ALSO BY JENNY NIMMO:

  CHRONICLES OF THE RED KING

  The Secret Kingdom

  The Stones of Ravenglass

  CHILDREN OF THE RED KING

  Midnight for Charlie Bone

  Charlie Bone and the Time Twister

  Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy

  Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors

  Charlie Bone and the Hidden King

  Charlie Bone and the Beast

  Charlie Bone and the Shadow

  Charlie Bone and the Red Knight

  THE MAGICIAN TRILOGY

  The Snow Spider

  Emlyn’s Moon

  The Chestnut Soldier

  Griffin’s Castle

  The Dragon’s Child

  Copyright © 2013 by Jenny Nimmo

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC PRESS, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  Nimmo, Jenny.

  Leopards’ gold / Jenny Nimmo. — 1st ed.

  p. cm. — (Chronicles of the red king ; 3)

  Summary: It is years since King Timoken, his sister, Zobayda, and his friends settled in the enchanted Red Castle, but now they are all threatened by the evil beyond the castle’s protective spells — and it will be up to two of Timoken’s nine children, Petrello and Tolomeo, to find out which of their siblings is the traitor in their midst, and defeat their enemies.

  ISBN 978-0-545-25185-3 (jacketed hardcover) 1. Magic — Juvenile fiction. 2. Kings and rulers — Juvenile fiction. 3. Brothers and sisters — Juvenile fiction. 4. Castles — Fiction. [1. Magic — Fiction. 2. Kings, queens, rulers, etc. — Fiction. 3. Brothers and sisters — Fiction. 4. Castles — Fiction.] I. Title. II. Series: Nimmo, Jenny. Chronicles of the Red King ; bk. 3.

  PZ7.N5897Leo 2013

  813.54 — dc23

  2012043508

  First edition, November 2013

  Cover art © 2013 by Owen Richardson

  Cover design by Elizabeth B. Parisi

  e-ISBN 978-0-545-57639-0

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Contents

  Characters In the Red Castle

  Chapter 1 The Vanishing

  Chapter 2 The Investigator’s Message

  Chapter 3 The Hall of Corrections

  Chapter 4 Caught in the Forest

  Chapter 5 Wolves and Eagles

  Chapter 6 The Missing Crystal

  Chapter 7 Guanhamara’s Demon

  Chapter 8 A Sword Fight

  Chapter 9 The Enchanted Helmet

  Chapter 10 Breaking the Spell

  Chapter 11 Lilith’s Punishment

  Chapter 12 A Serpent in the Solarium

  Chapter 13 Touching the Future

  Chapter 14 A Cloak of Feathers

  Chapter 15 Quelling the Storm

  Chapter 16 Wizards’ Smoke

  Chapter 17 The Royal Tower

  Chapter 18 Zobayda’s Ring

  Chapter 19 The House on Stilts

  Chapter 20 Leopards’ Gold

  Chapter 21 Dragonfire

  Chapter 22 The Damzel and the King

  Chapter 23 Petrello’s Storm

  Chapter 24 A Celebration

  Praise for the Chronicles of the Red King

  About the Author

  Also by Jenny Nimmo

  Copyright

 

 

 


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