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 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
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 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