The Princess and the Little Man

By Tim Ronald O.

In a time and place where things were simple and magical, the fates of two lands with different cultures rest on the shoulders of a young princess and her unfortunate companion.

Gerard, an unadventurous, obedient servant of an evil crone named Judith, has his life turned upside down by Abigail the silver mare and soon finds himself on a journey that will change his life. Princess Christy of Ordinarius, a courageous and fun-loving sixteen-year-old, embarks on an auspicious voyage with her hairy blue dragon, Eva, for protection. Meanwhile, Prince Ron and his cat-chameleon, Grime, gradually arrive at the center of an age-old battle between his land, Illustris; Princess Christys Ordinarius; and the Evil Crone Forest. In encounters across their lands, these brave young royals discover strange truths that will change their lives forever.

In this fantasy novel for middle readers, a princess, a prince, and their companions must work together to save the lands of Illustris and Ordinarius from the dark magic of the evil crones.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Mar 10, 2016
• ISBN: 9781491781081

Tim Ronald O.

Tim Ronald O. first discovered his passion for writing while earning a master of science degree. After achieving a Nidan black belt in Shotokan Karate-do, his love for martial arts blossomed into a thirst for adventure and evolved into a ravenous passion for arts and sciences in general. He is also the author of Hollow Flash and The Princess and the Little Man.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 Tim Ronald O.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

iUniverse

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.iuniverse.com

1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4917-8109-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-8108-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015921228

iUniverse rev. date: 03/09/2016

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1 Abigail Meets Gerard

Chapter 2 Princess Christy

Chapter 3 The Little Man

Chapter 4 Journey to Illustris

Chapter 5 Prince Ron

Chapter 6 Saving King Donald

Chapter 7 Making Peace

Chapter 8 Garden of Hope

Chapter 9 Newland Unire

Prologue

Once upon a time, when people were ruled by kings and queens, citizens used weapons, horses, dragons, and magic. Lords lived in castles, and ladies guarded palaces and banished crones. Guards protected royal families and kept the peace of the land, and the commoners lived happy lives.

image%20001.jpg

In those days, there were two lands in the Kalm Sea, deep within the ocean. One of these lands was Illustris, and magic was practiced freely there because it was a great part of the lives of the Illustrians.

The other land was Ordinarius, and magic was forbidden there. The people of Ordinarius were known as the Ordinaros, and they used magic only to ward off magic, these Ordinaros were called spellbinders.

Illustris and Ordinarius were completely surrounded by the Kalm Sea. These two lands were separated by an enchanted forest called the Crone Forest.

The Crone Forest was the home of the evil crones. The crones were Illustrians that had been forbidden to return to Illustris because of their bad use of magic. They were cursed by many queens of Illustris over many generations to live as ugly and ruthless magicians along with other bad creatures of the forest.

image%20002.jpg

Illustris was to the north of the Crone Forest, and the Enchanted River was between Illustris and the forest. The Enchanted River was a magic river that kept the crones of the forest from entering Illustris. The river also gave magic powers to the Illustrians.

Ordinarius was to the south of the Crone Forest, separated from the forest by the Null River. The Null canceled magic. It also kept the crones from entering Ordinarius. If drops of water from the Null touched the crones, they would lose their evil powers.

The people of Illustris avoided the Null River, so the Illustrians never went to Ordinarius. Likewise, the people of Ordinarius avoided the Enchanted River, for they hated magic. As a result, these two lands had been separated over time because of magic.

image%20004.jpg

Ordinarius was ruled by a king and Illustris by a queen. The kings of Ordinarius and the queens of Illustris had tried to unite both lands for many generations, but in vain.

They had also come up with a way of teaching both Ordinaros and Illustrians how to find a balance between the magical and the nonmagical aspects of both lands. But, sadly, these attempts had ended in war. It had been that way until recently.

In the Land of Illustris, Queen Ruby was getting old, and she was suffering from a strange illness that started when her husband, King Donald, went missing many years before. He had disappeared while defending the Enchanted River during the last hunt carried out by the crones on Illustris. He had not been seen since.

Queen Ruby charged the ladies of Castle Vina, the home of the queens, to find a suitable companion, a lovely princess, for her son, Prince Ron, to succeed his father on the throne. Once chosen, this princess would rule Illustris with Prince Ron.

In the Land of Ordinarius, King Winston, a tall man with a smooth jaw and slim build, summoned his Elders’ Guild to find representatives of the cities of Somice and Elmi, both in Ordinarius, to take the hand of his daughter, Princess Christy.

In the Crone Forest, Crone Judith sent her slave, Gerard, to fetch wood from the talking trees at