(Books of Arriland #6)
by Alethea Kontis
YA Fantasy
Paperback & ebook, 210 Pages
March 28th 2016
March 28th 2016
Join Trix Woodcutter on an epic new animal-filled adventure!
Fey magic and animal magic: that troublemaking imp Trix Woodcutter has both, if not the ability to use them to their full potential. While traveling with his companion—the golden girl Lizinia—to see the King of Eagles, Trix is sent a vision of the Faerie Queen, who is in desperate need of his help. An evil sorceress has stormed Faerie and trapped all the fey magic under the Hill, leaving the Faerie Queen powerless! Trix’s talent for communicating with animals is desperately needed…but before he braves the wild world of Faerie he must arm himself, with nothing less than the bow and arrows of a god.
With the help of his gilded companion, her ghost-cat godfather, a blind brownie and a sister or two, the Boy Who Talks to Animals must befriend a mischievous leprechaun, best a wolf, and journey into the depths of Faerie to restore order and free the fey magic before the imbalance destroys the world.
Trix and the Faerie Queen is second in The Trix Adventures and sixth in the Books of Arilland.
Fans of the Woodcutter Sisters: Desperate to know what happened to Saturday and Peregrine after they found Trix at the end of HERO? Here’s your chance!
Excerpt:
Chapter 1: The Emissary (Part 7)
“I assume these people died off along with the dragons.”
“As did we all,” said the Faerie Queen. “But a dragon has awoken, and all fey magic beneath the Hill has been bound. I cannot think that these two things are unrelated.”
“My Aunt Joy is in Faerie! My sister Wednesday is her apprentice. They are the most powerful fey I know. Why can’t you ask them for help?”
“They have been magically bound as well.”
Trix squinted at the vision. “If your magic is bound too, how can we be having this conversation?”
“At full strength, I could have transported you straight here with but a thought. This is the last of my power.” The Faerie Queen indicated their surroundings.
“Why me?”
“You are the Boy Who Talks to Animals,” she said. “And with the fey magic bound, anyone under the Hill with animal magic has been turned into a beast. They cannot talk to us, nor can they talk to each other. Soon there will be nothing but chaos, and such an imbalance can tear this world apart.” The Faerie Queen clasped her hands together as she made her plea. “I want to make you my Emissary, Trix Woodcutter. You must speak for the animals. Save Faerie. And save the world.”
The longer the Faerie Queen spoke to him, the more dire he began to realize the situation was. Trix was supposed to be searching for his birthfather, but the King of Eagles would need to remain a stranger for a little while longer. The fate of the world hung in the balance! It’s not like there was another Boy Who Talked to Animals that could take his place…
“I accept,” he said eagerly.
“You must come immediately,” said the queen.
The urgent need to spring into action overwhelmed the instinctive tingling he’d felt in the animal parts of himself. They were so far away from Faerie! He had to leave now. “I have a companion, but I’m sure she won’t mind.”
“Gods bless you, child. Now, you will need to arm yourselves.”
“Lizinia’s covered in gold, so she doesn’t need a weapon,” he said. “I have a dagger. But I have never needed anything more than my wits in the company of animals.”
“Even with your skills, it is not safe here. These are more than animals, my dear. They are fey men gone mad, trapped in bodies they cannot escape.”
Unlike some of his sisters, Trix had very little knowledge of weapons. Thursday had given him a bow…but even if he’d had it with him, it would have been too small for his new man-sized body. “I do know some archery,” he said, “But I do not have a bow, or the arrows to shoot from it.”
The Faerie Queen read his mind before he could make so much as a suggestion. “Anything shot from a mundane bow will not help you here. These beasts are too powerful.” The Faerie Queen looked to the sky, as if checking the position of the sun to see how much time had passed, only there was no sun in these strange azure heavens. “Look for an island. You will find a woman who can provide you with what you need.”
“Thank you.” He hated that this side quest would delay their arrival in Faerie, but he appreciated the queen’s straightforwardness. Visions had a tendency to be poetic and cryptic. “But I have to ask—”
“I know you still have many questions, but my magic is fading, so I have brought you someone who might be able to answer them.” The Faerie Queen, her dress, and the Hill itself began to sparkle around the edges. “Save us, Trix Woodcutter. Save us all.”
“—WHO WOKE THE DRAGON?” Trix called after her, but she was already gone. The sound of his own cry woke him out of his vision-state. He wobbled on the tree branch; Lizinia caught him before he could fall.
Trix blinked once, twice. Shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs from his magic-addled brain. The rush of the magic had stopped; there was nothing below them now but forest, as far as the eye could see. In his hands was a small, ginger-furred rodent. It nosed about, sniffed his hands and shirt, and then looked up at Trix with cloudy, blind eyes.
“Yes, yes,” said the brownie, “Judging by your smell, your sister. Yes, yes. Your sister woke the dragon.”
Alethea Kontis is a princess, author, fairy godmother, and geek. Her bestselling Books of Arilland fairytale series won two Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Awards (Enchanted and Tales of Arilland), and was twice nominated for the Andre Norton Award. Alethea also penned the AlphaOops picture books, The Wonderland Alphabet, Diary of a Mad Scientist Garden Gnome, Beauty & Dynamite, The Dark-Hunter Companion (w/Sherrilyn Kenyon), and a myriad of poems, essays, and short stories. Princess Alethea lives and writes on the Space Coast of Florida with her teddy bear, Charlie. You can find her on her YouTube channel, all the social media, and at www.aletheakontis.com.
Tour Schedule
April 2nd: Launch
April 3rd: Rockin' Book Reviews & Wishful Endings
April 4th: Brooke Blogs & Zerina Blossom's Books
April 5th: deal sharing aunt & Goddess Librarian
April 6th: Becky on Books & Colorimetry
April 8th: Grand Finale
Tour Giveaway
3 copies of Trixter and Trix and the Faerie Queen (signed copies if US, ebooks if INT)
Ends April 15th
a Rafflecopter giveaway
3 copies of Trixter and Trix and the Faerie Queen (signed copies if US, ebooks if INT)
Ends April 15th
a Rafflecopter giveaway
2 comments:
Heehee...I LOVE THIS PART. Thanks, Mel! xox
This series looks fabulous! Thanks for the intro!
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