The Rescue Princesses: The Amber Necklace E-Book

Paula Harrison

• Herausgeber: Nosy Crow
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Serie: Rescue Princesses
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 65

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

Friendship, animals and secret royal adventures! With over one million Rescue Princesses titles sold, this action-packed series is the perfect combination of good friends, beautiful dresses, ninja moves and baby animals! Princess Zina is shocked to discover that the forest home of her kingdom's lemurs is in danger! Can she and her princess friends work together to save the lovely animals and their precious trees? From Paula Harrison, author of the Kitty and the Moonlight Rescue series. With short chapters and beautifully illustrated throughout, the Rescue Princesses series is perfect for readers aged seven and up. Related activity sheets are available on the Nosy Crow website. Check out the other titles in this series: The Secret Promise, The Wishing Pearl, The Moonlight Mystery and many more!

Leseprobe

Zina crept closer to the baby lemur. She didn’t want to leave him behind while she searched for his family. Would he trust her enough to let her carry him? She held out another guava, saying softly, “Are you still hungry?”

For Hannah and Ava Carp, who enjoy many Rescue Princess adventures of their own

Chapter One

The Lemurs’ Breakfast

Zina crept out of the palace, shutting the door behind her. She crossed the garden, carefully holding a plate of fruit. Her bright-yellow dress swirled around her legs and an amber jewel on a silver chain hung around her neck.

The pale, glistening turrets of Ramova Palace stretched into the sapphire sky. Beyond the palace gate, tall rainforest trees swayed gently in the wind. Warm sunlight drifted through the leaves and birds called in the treetops.

It was early, and no one else in the palace would be awake yet, but Zina had been too excited to stay in bed any longer. Her friends Princess Lily and Princess Scarlett were coming to stay for a few days to take part in the Ramova Carnival – a festival with brightly-decorated floats and music and dancing.

Zina was excited about the carnival but she had another secret reason for wanting to see her friends so much. They had met a few months ago at Scarlett’s castle and together they had become Rescue Princesses.

This meant they’d promised always to help animals in trouble. They had already saved two baby animals! The first time, they had crossed a deep river to help a baby otter called Sparky. The next time, they’d saved an adorable little kangaroo and helped raise money for a kangaroo sanctuary. They’d even learned ninja moves so they could outsmart baddies and keep their rescues secret.

Zina climbed the steps that led to the top of the palace wall and set down the plate. She knew it would be a busy day so she wanted to make sure her most important task was done right away. Carefully, she spread the fruit along the top of the wall. Then she stood back and waited, tucking her long dark hair behind her ears.

The leaves shivered in the wind and the amber jewel on her necklace seemed to whisper back. Zina picked up the teardrop-shaped jewel and looked at it more closely. Amber from the Kingdom of Ramova was dark golden with little yellow flecks. The necklace had been given to Zina by her grandma, who had died four years ago. Her grandma had told her that amber came from tree sap and took millions of years to turn into a jewel. It holds the heart of the forest, she’d told Zina. Don’t ever forget that.

A chattering noise made Zina look up. A ring-tailed lemur scampered down a tree branch and jumped on to the wall. The creature gazed at Zina with bright yellow-brown eyes, its tufted white ears pricked up and its black nose twitching.

Zina loved lemurs. They were so playful and the ring-tailed ones had beautiful furry black-and-white-striped tails. “It’s all right.” She smiled at the animal. “I brought the fruit for all of you. Go ahead and eat!”

The lemur galloped along the wall and picked up a piece of orange. Suddenly more lemurs swung down from the branches and jumped over to the palace wall. Last to climb down was a mother with a little baby on her back. The lemurs ate the banana, orange and mango pieces, chattering noisily to each other.

“Zina! Where are you?” called Queen Tali.

“I’m here!” Zina waved to her mum, who was standing at the palace entrance. Picking up the plate, she hurried down the steps and ran back across the garden. “I was just feeding the lemurs,” she said breathlessly.

Queen Tali smoothed her long dark hair. She was wearing her finest dress, made from gold silk and tied with a green sash. “You haven’t forgotten that we have guests arriving today, have you?”

“No, I can’t wait to see Lily and Scarlett,” Zina told her mum.

Queen Tali smiled. “Good! They’ll all be here by lunchtime. Could you cut some flowers from the garden and put them into vases? We want the palace to look its best for our visitors.”

Zina beamed. “I’d love to! I’ll get started straightaway.”

Zina felt excitement rising like a balloon inside her all morning. She began to feel a little shy too – she hadn’t seen her friends for weeks and weeks. What if they didn’t like the Kingdom of Ramova or the palace very much? She frowned at her reflection in her bedroom mirror as she brushed her long dark hair and tied it up with a ribbon. She had to be braver, she told herself, and remember what good friends Lily and Scarlett were.

She glanced at the diamond ring that she wore every day. The Rescue Princesses often used magic jewels when they needed to help animals in trouble. They all had special rings that let them talk to each other when they were apart. To use the ring, all Zina had to do was press the heart-shaped jewel. For a moment, she wanted to touch the diamond, watch it light up and talk to her friends. Then she reminded herself they would be here very soon!

Hurrying out into the garden, she cut some rosy periwinkle flowers and some bright-red zinnias. She checked the top of the palace wall and was delighted to see all the lemurs’ fruit was gone. Gathering up the flowers, she went inside to look for the royal vases.

Just before lunch, a black and gold carriage rolled through the gates. It drew to a stop in front of the palace steps and Scarlett burst out, her curly black hair bouncing. She ran to Zina, who’d been waiting by the front door, and hugged her. “Thanks for inviting us!” she said, beaming. “Are you ready for some more Rescue Princess adventures?”

“Shh, Scarlett! Someone will hear you,” said Lily. “Hi, Zina!” She came up the steps, her blonde hair falling over her shoulders.

Zina smiled shyly. “Hi, Lily. Hi, Scarlett.”

Queen Tali came hurrying out of the palace door. “Welcome to the Kingdom of Ramova. How was your journey, girls?”

“It was great!” Scarlett’s eyes sparkled. “I kept looking out of the window at the clouds and thinking that they looked like fluffy bunny tails or sheep or scrunched-up pillows … and when we went through the forest the carriage got really bumpy and I thought it was like driving a tractor round a track for racing cars. Not that I’ve actually done that!”

Queen Tali looked stunned for a moment and Zina couldn’t help grinning. She’d forgotten how chatty Scarlett could be! “Well, I’m glad you enjoyed the carriage ride,” the queen said at last. “I must say hello to your parents.” She went to greet the kings and queens as they climbed out of the carriage.

Looking at her friends, Zina felt her shyness melting away. “There’s so much I want to show you.” She linked arms with Lily and Scarlett. “We’re going to have the best time ever!”

Chapter Two

The Carnival Master

Queen Tali bustled up the steps. “Shall we go inside, everyone? I’m sure you’d all like a drink and a slice of cake after your long journey.” She glanced at the palace gate. “Oh, this is a surprise! I wasn’t expecting the Carnival Master till tomorrow.”

A bright-yellow wagon drew up behind the carriage and a man climbed down from the driver’s seat. He was wearing a purple jacket, trousers made from