The Rescue Princesses: The Enchanted Ruby E-Book

Paula Harrison

• Herausgeber: Nosy Crow
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Serie: The Rescue Princesses
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Seitenzahl: 70

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 Scarlett has always longed for adventure. When two princesses come to stay at Bearbrook Castle, she takes her new friends to a secret island in the river to meet a special otter family. When a speeding boat injures a fluffy baby otter, the princesses must reunite him with his family. They'll need to learn some brilliant new ninja moves, and even solve a mystery! 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

The princesses kept very still, watching in delight as the baby otter jumped in and out of the water, squeaking happily. Water drops glistened on his whiskers. Soon, three more little otters sprang out of the burrow…

For Bailey and Taylor, also known as Squish and Doodles

Chapter One

A Birthday Parcel

Princess Scarlett fizzed with excitement as she ran down the stairs of Bearbrook Castle. She skidded to a halt in the dining room and looked round eagerly. “Has a letter from Ella come today?”

Her mum, Queen Ruth, set down her teacup. “Scarlett, do calm down! Our guests will soon be here to celebrate your birthday tomorrow. What will they think if you’re galloping round the castle like a wild pony?”

“Sorry!” Scarlett pushed back the tight black curls that bobbed around her face. “It’s just that Ella promised to write another letter. I thought it might come today.”

Her mum smiled. “Actually, she’s sent you a parcel. It’s on the table in the hallway.”

“A parcel!” Scarlett’s eyes widened. “Can I open it now? I know my birthday isn’t till tomorrow but I can’t wait to see what’s inside.”

“All right then.” Her mum nodded, smoothing her blue silk dress.

“Thank you!” Scarlett hugged her mum before dashing into the hallway to look for the parcel.

“And slow down a little!” the queen called after her.

Sitting on the hall table was a parcel wrapped in shiny pink paper and tied up with a gold ribbon. The postmark – Harebell Castle – made Scarlett’s tummy do a somersault. Harebell Castle was where Ella, her cousin, went to school – at the Royal Academy for Princesses. Ella had been writing to Scarlett every week describing their picnics and how they looked after the school pets. Scarlett thought it all sounded amazing and couldn’t wait until she was old enough to go!

More than anything, she loved Ella’s stories about helping animals. Ella had made friends with some other princesses and together they’d made a secret promise to always help animals in trouble. They called themselves the Rescue Princesses, and that name made Scarlett shiver with excitement. They used teamwork and ninja moves to rescue animals, and they even had magic jewels!

Hugging the parcel to her chest, Scarlett ran back up the spiral stairs. Bearbrook Castle was a tall grey palace with an enormous banquet hall and more than fifty bedrooms. Scarlett’s room was at the top of one of the towers.

It was crammed with soft toys and had red velvet curtains and a lacy canopy over the bed. From her window, Scarlett could see the river rushing through the meadow beyond the castle wall. The Kingdom of Deronda was a wild and beautiful land, with snowy mountains, deep forests and sparkling rivers.

Scarlett loved playing in the meadow outside the gate. Sometimes she would see a black bear cub skipping beside its mother on the river bank. If she was very lucky, she would see otters playing in the shallow water. The otters were so adorable, with their sleek furry bodies and bright black eyes!

Sitting down on her bed, Scarlett undid the parcel’s gold ribbon and shiny paper. Inside was a card saying Happy Birthday with a picture of a birthday cake. There was a letter too and a small wooden box with a gold key.

Scarlett turned the key, lifted the box lid and gasped. A row of silver tools lay neatly inside. There were several little chisels – each one a different size – and a tiny silver hammer. Scarlett’s heart skipped a beat. Ella had mentioned tools like these in her letters. They were for making the magic jewels that helped with the animal rescues!

Snatching up the letter, Scarlett read it eagerly.

The letter carried on with more news from the Royal Academy for Princesses but Scarlett turned over to study the picture on the back. The drawing showed how to use the tools to make jewels of different shapes.

Scarlett put the paper down and gazed at the tools again. They were so small – just right for shaping precious jewels! Pulling open a drawer, she went through her jewellery. She had two tiaras – a silver one, and a gold one decorated with square emeralds. She also had a diamond flower brooch that her mum had given her, and a sapphire bracelet. None of them seemed quite right though.

She delved below her collection of hair bands until she found a necklace with an oval-shaped ruby at the bottom of the drawer. It was a beautiful gem, as red as a sunset, but it was quite heavy so she hardly ever wore it. It would be perfect for making into a magic jewel!

Carefully, she took the ruby off the gold chain and laid it on her dressing table, before fetching the jewel-making tools. Then she studied the picture on the back of the letter again.

There was a sudden knock at the door and Scarlett looked up in surprise. “Come in!”

Her dad, King Philip, opened the door. He smiled broadly, his dark eyes twinkling. “Your mother sent me to fetch you,” he said. “The royal guests are starting to arrive.”

“I didn’t know they were coming so early!” Scarlett jumped up. She looked back at the ruby and the jewel-making tools as she left the room. She hoped there would be time to try out the tools before tonight’s banquet.

Six carriages were lined up on the drive outside Bearbrook Castle. Servants were rushing everywhere, carrying suitcases and seeing to the horses. Two little princesses were running around on the lawn, giggling. “Bailey! Taylor!” called a queen with a long purple cloak. “Don’t get grass on your dresses.”

Queen Ruth was welcoming people on the steps and she called Scarlett forward. “Scarlett, come and meet King Thomas and Queen Freda… This is Duke Robert… Say hello to Queen Umasa…”

Scarlett curtsied and smiled at everyone. It was amazing to see so many guests! She would never remember everybody’s names.

Her mum stopped beside a stocky man with a beard. “I beg your pardon! Are you…?”

“I’m King Bruno of Lidvia.” The man bowed deeply but didn’t smile.

“Of course! Welcome to the Kingdom of Deronda. It’s been such a long time since we last met and I think you’ve grown your beard. I feel I hardly recognise you.”

King Bruno bowed again and moved on.

A very young prince began tugging on his mum’s sleeve and whining, “I’m hungry!”

“Let’s all go inside and have a slice of strawberry cake,” said Queen Ruth. “You can look after the older princesses, can’t you, Scarlett? Get them something to eat and then show them the castle.”

All the grown-ups drifted inside and Scarlett was left on the castle steps with two girls that looked the same age as her.

One princess had a pale-green dress and blonde hair that hung over her shoulders. She grinned at Scarlett, her blue eyes sparkling. The other princess was staring down at the steps, so that her long dark hair hid some of her face. She was wearing a long yellow dress tied around the waist with a ribbon.

Scarlett’s heart skipped. She didn’t meet other princesses very often, except for her older cousin Ella. She hoped they would all become friends straightaway!

The blonde-haired girl spoke first. “Are you Scarlett? I can’t wait for your birthday tomorrow!”

“Yes, I’m Scarlett,” said Scarlett, smiling at them both. “Welcome to Bearbrook Castle!”

Chapter Two

The Baby River Otter

Scarlett showed the princesses where to hang up their cloaks. All the kings and queens were in the banquet hall, so she led the girls to the parlour and rang the bell for Mr Ellis, the butler. Mr Ellis brought in a cake topped with strawberries and vanilla icing. It looked so delicious Scarlett knew at once she was going to want more than one slice!

“So where do you come from?” she asked as she poured them each a glass of lemonade.

“My name’s Lily.” The girl in the green dress shook back her fair hair. “I live in Estaland, which is a very long way from here. We have some wonderful animals, like kangaroos, and parrots with rainbow-coloured wings.”