The Golden Amulet: a tale of Faerie

By M. M. Fahren

A young Minstrel heals Princess Elena by exchanging lockets and witnessing her deadly dream. Years later,the Beast, Bezilicar, assaults the Kingdom and threatens the Princess Elena’s life, when a mysterious knight arrives and fights the dragon, is wounded, and disappears. The Minstrel returns and is arrested for treason. Elena must find out the Minstrel’s secret to save her friend’s life.

Traditional illustrated faerie with a subtle twist.
Contains vivid imagery and playful language, accessible medievalisms and a bit of the Tolkienesque--written long before the Fellowship wandered to the New Zealand heights. (So please pardon a few feeble attempts by a silly to emulate the masterful tale. It shall shortly be edited or cloven.)

• Language: English
• Publisher: M. M. Fahren
• Release date: Nov 5, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465917478

M. M. Fahren

Author of 2 and a half books, a comic novella, a quarry of faerie tales, and poetry by the dozen, Fahren is owned by a white horse of wavering dispostion. Contemporary Comic Novella, 'Towards a More Perfect Union: New Orleans Alliances,' placed in the Novella-in-Progress Short List of the 2010 Faulkner-Wisdom Literary competition. 'Drift of Tallow,'(finalist in same) and a number of Fahren's poems have been recently presented (four broadcasts) on Canadian radio read by Ken Cowle on his weekly program, Soul Asylum.

Book preview

The Golden Amulet

By M M Fahren

JMJT

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2011 by M M Fahren

All rights reserved.

Dwazendorff,

The City on the Mountain

Chapter One

Once there was a Kingdom set on the top of a very high mountain.

Down the side of this mountain there flowed a mighty river. It began as a quiet little brook, but soon grew until its torrents formed deep chasms along its sides. Stretching westward from its high banks, a vast woodland of tall firs became the great dark forest, the boundaries of which no man has ever seen.

In the castle of the King there lived a little princess with golden hair. Night after night, she simply couldn’t sleep. She tossed and she turned, and she saw frightful shadows on her walls. All the dreadful things which scare you at eight years of age, Princess Elena imagined surrounding her dark bedchamber.

Finally she fell into a fitful sleep, yet no sooner had Elena closed her eyes than she awoke with a terrible dream. She ran to the bedroom of her mama and her papa, the King, who tried to comfort her. Yet he could not, for she could not remember her dream. Again and again, night after night, she awoke in the same way and ran to her parents’ side. But try as they might to help her, she could never remember.

Elena’s mother decided to open her trousseau—a fragrant cedar box richly ornamented with jaspers and emeralds—and she drew from it a little silver case. Holding a long taper in her hands, the Queen lifted from out of the darkness a most beautiful golden chain, on which hung a radiantly gilded amulet of delicate craft.

It was about as big as Elena’s palm, the middle of shiny red ruby, and stamped on its face in purest gold was a picture of the Sun. Its locket opened, with gold along its sides. The Queen laid it in her little daughter’s hands, saying,

‘Take this, my Elena, and place it beneath your pillow, and tonight you will surely remember your dream!"

This the little girl did, but no sooner had she fallen asleep than she awoke, crying out, grasping the sun-emblazoned locket til it seemed to burn her palm. With a pale face, she fell back on her pillow and was still as death. Her mother and father, hearing her cry, came running to her side and beheld their child with horror. In the next long hours, no one could wake fair Elena. For days the Court doctors were summoned to perform their duties, and yet no doctor with any medicine, nor wise man with his incantations, could awaken her. Princess Elena’s parents were inconsolable.

So King Edden sent out an edict throughout his Kingdom that anyone who could rouse the Princess from her deathly sleep would receive half the Dwazzendorff Kingdom (for this was the name of the Great City) in gold as reward. Many tried, and as many failed. Still the