For Sarah and Elliot
CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION
CHAPTER ONE: The Little Snow Leopard
CHAPTER TWO: New Friends
CHAPTER THREE: Pets and Surprises!
CHAPTER FOUR: The Ninja Plan
CHAPTER FIVE: Backhoes on the Mountain
CHAPTER SIX: The Dastardly Duke
CHAPTER SEVEN: The Great Lizard Commotion
CHAPTER EIGHT: Cloudtail’s Den
CHAPTER NINE: The Crack in the Ground
CHAPTER TEN: The Missing Diamond
CHAPTER ELEVEN: The Lepari Spring Festival
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Princess Maya leapt up the mountainside, jumping over rough stones and patches of star-shaped flowers. She climbed and climbed until she reached the huge flat rock called Ching-May Peak. Crawling onto the stone, she pushed her long black braid over her shoulder and gazed all around.
“I can see for miles. The palace looks so tiny!” she told Deena.
“How did you climb up so fast?” puffed the rosy-cheeked lady below her. “You’re like a mountain goat!”
Deena was a groom at the palace and, as well as caring for the horses, she also looked after the king’s wildlife projects.
Maya turned to gaze at the view again while she was waiting for Deena to catch up. The gray, turreted palace that she lived in had shrunk to the size of a toy castle. All around it were the streets and houses of the city.
“I love it up here,” she said, smiling. “I’m so glad you let me come with you.”
“I’m happy to have your help. I want to write down all the wild animals we see so I can report back to the king.” Deena took out a notepad and pencil. “He needs to know how the wildlife project’s going.”
“Do you think we’ll see any snow leopards?” asked Maya.
“I really hope so,” Deena replied.
Everyone in the kingdom of Lepari knew that the numbers of snow leopards had fallen over the last five years. There were very few of them left. The king, Maya’s dad, had set up a nature project to help the endangered animals. It meant that no one was allowed to hurt them or to build houses on the mountain slopes where they lived. That way the leopards would be able to live in peace.
Maya tilted her head back to look at the tallest peak, which was glittering white with snow. A few weeks ago, the whole mountainside had been covered, but now it was springtime again!
“There are two mountain sheep,” said Deena, scribbling on her notepad. “Can you see anything else, Maya?”
Maya turned her attention to the mountain slopes. Snow leopards were always well camouflaged. Their gray-and-white patterned coats were hard to spot against the rocks, but she thought she could see something moving.
“Look! There’s a snow leopard!” Maya said excitedly. “Right next to those bushes.”
The beautiful leopard had thick white fur speckled with dark rosettes. Maya watched it prowl across the mountain slope. It paused, crouching behind a boulder, its long tail flicking from side to side.
“Some people still call them by their old name: Spirits of the Mountain,” said Deena softly. “I think it’s because they’re so graceful.”
“It’s amazing that they’re such good climbers,” said Maya.
Deena nodded. “This one’s quite small, so it’s probably a female. I wonder if it has any cubs.”
Maya looked around eagerly. “I’d love to see some cubs!”
Deena wrote on her notepad. “Keep looking, then. Snow leopard dens are usually well hidden to keep the cubs safe.”
Maya scanned the mountainside carefully. There! Something was moving among the rocks.
“Deena!” Maya tugged at her sleeve. “Is that a snow leopard cub?”
The white shape moved, and they saw a small furry head. Deena smiled broadly. “Yes, it is! It’s a good thing I brought you along, Maya. Your eyes are much sharper than mine.”
The larger snow leopard gave a low growl, and the cub bounded out from behind a rock. It gazed around and then scampered over to its mother, rubbing against her legs before leaping away.
Maya’s heart thumped. “It’s so cute,” she whispered. “I wish we could go a little closer.”
“It’s best not to disturb them,” Deena reminded her.
The mother leopard padded farther up the mountainside, and the cub followed her, bounding playfully from rock to rock.
“I’m going to call him Cloudtail,” said Maya, “because his tail’s exactly the same color as those clouds up there.”
“That really fits him! Well, we’d better start climbing down again,” said Deena, putting away her notepad. “The king wanted you back by ten o’clock to welcome all the royal visitors.” She started clambering down the mountainside.
Maya sighed. “I wish we had more time.” She took one last look at the little cub, who was running in and out of his mother’s legs. Even from a distance, she could see how soft his fur was and how his tail curled as he jumped. “See you soon, Cloudtail,” she murmured. Then she hurried down the stony mountainside to catch up with Deena.
Together they made their way to the bottom and climbed into Deena’s truck, which was parked at the side of a rough path.
“Do you know how many royal visitors are coming to stay?” Maya asked as Deena started the engine.
“A lot, I think,” Deena replied. “Nobody outside of Lepari has seen our Spring Festival before. I think nearly one hundred people have accepted your father’s royal invitation.”
Maya swallowed. The thought of meeting all those people made her feel shy. “I was hoping that there wouldn’t be too many guests coming.”
Deena looked at her sympathetically. “There might be some princesses of your own age to play with.”
Maya smiled and turned to watch the fields sweeping by the window. A few minutes later, they drove through the big stone arch that led to the palace, and stopped on the driveway.
“Later today, I’m traveling west to check on another wildlife area,” Deena told her. “But I’ll see you at the Spring Festival.”
“Bye, Deena! Thanks for taking me to Ching-May Peak with you.” Maya waved and then rushed off to the palace. She dashed around a corner, nearly running straight into a crowd of newly arrived kings and queens.
Her dad, King Ramesh, was standing on the steps in front of the gray stone palace wearing his emerald-green robes and golden crown. “Kings and Queens, Princes and Princesses,” he said loudly. “Welcome to the kingdom of Lepari.”
Queen Kala stepped forward carrying Maya’s little brother, Ajay. “We’re so pleased that you could all come to our Spring Festival.”
The kings and queens clapped.
“But where is Princess Maya?” the king asked urgently. “She should be here by now. We need to introduce her to our guests.”
Everyone looked around, murmuring in surprise, and Maya turned bright red. “I’m here,” she said faintly.
“Ah, there you are, Maya.” The king’s frown cleared. “Come right to the front, please, and you can curtsy and say hello to all these visitors.”
Maya’s feet felt heavy as she made her way to the front of the crowd. What if her curtsy went wrong or she fell over in front of everyone? She took a deep breath. She would just have to be brave.
Climbing up the steps, she stopped beside the king and turned to face the visitors. “Hello, everyone,” she said quietly, and curtsied.
“Thank you, Maya!” The king beamed. “Now that we’ve done all that —”
“Don’t forget me, dear Brother. I’m very important, after all.” A thin man with a beak-like nose elbowed his way to the front. He turned to the v
isitors and swept a deep bow. “I am Duke Levon, the king’s brother.”
“I’m glad you could be here, Brother,” said the king. “Now let’s all go inside for refreshments. Our cook’s made some wonderful cakes.”
Murmuring in approval, the royal visitors made their way up the steps into the palace. The banquet hall was a long room with huge purple–and–gold pillars stretching up to the ceiling.
Many of the younger princes and princesses ran straight to the table in the middle, which was spread with delicious-looking cakes and glasses of sparkling lemonade. The grown-ups gazed toward the far side of the room at the magnificent throne, which had a large diamond fixed to the top.
“That diamond is enormous,” said a gray-haired queen.
King Ramesh heard her. “It’s also a very famous jewel. It was discovered by the first king of Lepari. The legend says that the Ice Diamond has great strength, and the king used its power to build the kingdom. It has been kept here ever since to give strength to each ruler.”
“Why is it called the Ice Diamond?” asked the gray-haired queen.
“It was found stuck in a rock beneath the ice and snow at the very top of a mountain,” explained the king.
Maya had known that the guests would be impressed by the Ice Diamond. Visitors always were because it was so large and glittered beautifully in the light. She helped herself to a piece of chocolate cake and began nibbling the sweet icing off the top as she gazed around at the guests.
She wanted to find some princesses her own age, but spotting them in the crowd was much harder than finding the cub on the mountainside that morning had been! She saw a group of princes crowding around a huge lemon cake. Then she caught sight of a younger princess with blond curls, but there were no girls her own age.
Maya brushed the cake crumbs off her hands and squeezed through the crowd to reach the door. Then she walked out of the hallway and down the front steps. After the busy, noisy banquet hall, it was nice to be outside in the empty garden. Suddenly, she heard the sound of voices and realized that it might not be empty after all.
The sound came from a small circle of trees that stood beyond the neat flower beds. Through a gap in the branches, Maya thought she saw two figures. Wondering who they were, she went closer.
A girl with tight red curls was marching up and down, only stopping to stare into the treetops. Another girl with short blond hair was watching her and frowning fiercely.
Maya crept a little closer and hid behind a tree trunk. What were they doing? They looked so serious that it couldn’t be a game.
“You’re looking in the wrong place. That wasn’t where I threw it,” said the blond-haired girl. “It was over here.”
The red-haired girl put her hands on her hips. “How can you possibly know where it went, Rosalind? You threw it so wildly that it could be almost anywhere.”
Rosalind’s eyes flashed. “I’m the one who threw it, so of course I know. Look — there it is! Happy now?”
Maya looked at where she was pointing. A blue-and-white ball was stuck at the top of a tree. She recognized it as the one her little brother, Ajay, liked to play with.
“Come on! Let’s shake the tree and get it down.” The red-haired girl rushed over and shook the tree, showering them with leaves and twigs.
“Yuck! Stop it, Lottie!” Rosalind brushed the bits out of her hair. “That isn’t working at all.”
“Well, you think of something, then,” said Lottie. “We’ve got to get the ball down. It probably belongs to that little prince, or maybe his sister with the long braid and the red dress.”
Maya looked down at her red dress and smiled. They must mean her! She stepped out from behind the tree trunk, meaning to go and say hello, but her dress caught on a bramble. Bending down, she tried to unhook it.
Rosalind was staring so hard at the ball that she didn’t notice Maya. “I’m going to climb right up the tree and get it. That’s what any Rescue Princess would do!” She grabbed hold of the tree trunk and put her foot onto the lowest branch.
Maya freed her dress and straightened up. Had that girl just said Rescue Princess?
Lottie hadn’t seen Maya, either. “Wait a sec! I’ll give you a boost,” she said, trying to push Rosalind up the tree.
“Ow! Stop it!” Rosalind wobbled wildly and then fell sideways with a shriek, knocking Lottie to the ground. The two girls lay there, groaning.
“Rosalind?” Lottie’s voice was muffled. “You’re squashing me.”
Maya ran forward. “Oh, poor you! Are you both all right?”
Rosalind stood up, looking surprised. “Where did you come from? I didn’t know there was anyone else out here.”
“I …” Maya suddenly felt as if she shouldn’t have been watching them. “I heard your voices, so I came to see who it was.”
“So you were listening just now?” Rosalind frowned. “You shouldn’t do that, you know.”
“Rosy, don’t be so suspicious!” Lottie sprang up, her green eyes sparkling. “Hello, I’m Lottie from the kingdom of Middingland. Don’t mind Rosy. She just doesn’t like anyone seeing her fall over.”
“It’s not that. I didn’t know anyone was listening. We were talking about … things.” Rosalind gave Lottie a meaningful look.
Maya’s cheeks flushed. “I didn’t mean to listen. I’m Maya, and I live here at the palace. It’s really nice to meet you.” She stopped and bit her lip. She’d been hoping to meet some girls her own age and now she’d ruined it.
Rosalind’s frown cleared, and she patted Maya’s arm. “It’s great to meet you, too! I’m Rosalind from the kingdom of Dalvia. I was really happy when my dad said we’d been invited to Lepari. I’ve never been anywhere with such big mountains. I wish I could go right up to the top of one!”
Maya laughed. “That would take days! Can I help you reach that ball?” She pulled herself up into the tree and knocked the ball down. “Have you seen any other princesses our age here?”
“The other princesses are mostly younger ones,” said Lottie. “We were hoping to meet up with our friends Amina and Isabella, but they couldn’t come.”
Maya smiled. “Would you like me to show you around the palace? We could go and see the horses.” She stopped, suddenly hearing a thin wailing noise.
“What’s that?” asked Rosalind, her eyes widening. “It sounds like someone crying.”
“I think it’s my brother.” Maya ran out of the trees. “Ajay, where are you? What’s wrong?”
A little boy ran up and flung himself at Maya, tears on his cheeks. “Tilly’s gone! Tilly’s gone!”
“What happened?” Maya knelt down and hugged him.
“She jumped out of my arms.” Ajay sniffed. “I didn’t mean to let her go.”
“Who’s Tilly?” Lottie asked quickly.
“It’s his rabbit,” Maya explained. “She’s a troublesome bunny. She often tries to escape from her run, and she isn’t very easy to catch.”
“Don’t worry,” Rosalind told Ajay. “Show us where she escaped, and we’ll find her for you. We’re great at helping animals!”
Ajay rushed across the garden with the three princesses close behind him. They ran through a tunnel of trees and stopped next to a pair of hutches in front of the stable yard.
“This is where we keep our rabbit and guinea pig,” Maya explained to the other girls before turning to Ajay. “Which way did Tilly go after she jumped out of your arms?”
“I was over here.” Ajay pointed to an open hutch. “I tried to catch her, but she hopped away too fast.” His little face crumpled. “I want Tilly back!”
Maya gave him another hug. “Don’t worry. We’ll find her.” She was about to suggest that they should start searching in different places, but she realized in surprise that the others had already begun. Rosalind was peering under the hutches while Lottie was checking beneath the branches of a bush.
“There’s nothing here. Have you found anything, Rosalind?” asked Lottie.
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p; Rosalind shook her head. “There’s no use looking for paw prints — we won’t find any with the ground so dry.”
“Let’s take twenty paces in opposite directions and search again,” said Lottie. “Ready?” She and Rosalind stood back to back. Then they walked away from each other, counting their steps.
Maya watched them in astonishment. These two girls had been arguing a minute ago, and now they looked as if they were princesses on a mission! She noticed that they had matching heart-shaped rings on their fingers, one sapphire and one ruby.
Hurrying forward, she joined in by looking behind a stack of hay bales. “Tilly?” she called. “Come out, bunny!”
Behind her she heard a soft echo. “Come out, bunny.”
She turned around, wondering for a minute if someone was copying her. But she couldn’t see anyone. Lottie and Rosalind were dashing over to the stable yard. Ajay was still standing by the open hutch, rubbing his eyes.
“Come out, bunny.”
There it was again! Running around the hay bales, Maya found a girl crouching down next to a pile of flowerpots and gardening tools. She turned her head and smiled as Maya came closer. Her blond hair hung loosely around her pointed face. “There’s a rabbit hiding down here,” she explained. “But I think I can get her to come out.”
Maya knelt down to look. “That’s probably my brother’s rabbit. I’m Maya, by the way.”
“Hi.” The other girl smiled again. “My name’s Summer.” There was a scrabbling noise behind a garden spade, and she turned her attention back to the rabbit. “Come on, bunny.” She held out her hand.
Cautiously, Tilly poked her whiskery nose out to sniff Summer’s fingers. Then she crept forward a little more, her dark brown eyes darting from Summer to Maya.
Lottie and Rosalind ran around the corner. “Did you find her?” asked Lottie breathlessly. “I can pick her up if you want.”
“No, it’s OK. I can do it.” Summer quickly put a hand under the rabbit’s tummy and scooped her out. Then she straightened up, stroking Tilly’s fur gently.
“Ajay!” Maya called. “Look who we found!”
The Ice Diamond Page 1
