Skip to main content

story identification - Looking for young adult, fantasy book where a princess with "gilded skin" must collect Magic Stones to save her kingdom from gypsy


I read this book when I was 15 that I cant seem to find, no matter how many times I search for it. I'm hoping that someone may have read it, and recognize the details. Its really driving me crazy and I would be eternally grateful if anyone recognizes it.


The book centers around a princess (with "gilded skin") trying to save her kingdom from destruction. It starts off with a gypsy (?) coming into the kingdom with her slave boy. She had cut out his tongue to prevent him from warning the kingdom of her power. Soon, her friend or followers, her kind began to flock to the kingdom, selling idols that corrupt the citizens with greed and suspicion. The kingdom falls into civil war. When it's too weak to fight back, its neighboring kingdom invades, leading to the princess's inevitable destruction.


The princess escapes by using a tunnel that had been hidden in a well. She goes to a old hermit or wizard that was a friend of her fathers. He tells her of Magic Stones that, in the hands of their chosen champion, can have amazing powers. She recalls that the gypsy has a pearl-like stone on her ring, and believes that it poisons people's will, entrances them - and it is because of this gypsy her kingdom has fallen. The old hermit tells her that if she finds the man who can change time, changing the past, she can stop the gypsy from ever entering the kingdom.


She is sent to to top of the world (?) to seek the cave where these stone are kept. At some point the slave boy joins her, but the reasons for this are unknown, she believes he is there to spy on her but takes pity on him and allows him to continue with her. It's guarded (sort of) by a dragon/lizard. The dragon is made of stone, and seems to be able to metamorphosize from any stone matter and although not vicious, tells the princess that she must find it before the sunsets or she will be stuck in the cave forever. The stone originally given her by the dragon guardian turns out to be stone that controls time.


The stone cannot take her into the future but allows her to affect the past. She becomes desperate at some point (I don't remember why) and tries at first to step back to the point where the gypsy is let into the kingdom. After this attempt fails, she follows the boy's life back to the point where he is ambushed by the gypsy and forced into slavery to save his dog - referred to as a "dancing hound". By doing this, the princess is able to corner the gypsy, and freeze her in time. The princess kills the gypsy by crushing her under an oak that she aged.





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Did Dolores Umbridge Have Any Association with Voldemort (or Death Eaters) before His Return?

I noticed that Dolores Umbridge was born during the first Wizarding War, so it's very likely she wasn't a Death Eater then (but she is pretty evil -- who knows?). After that Voldemort was not around in a way that could affect many people, and most wouldn't know he was planning to rise again. During that time, and up through Voldemort's return (in Goblet of Fire ), did Umbridge have any connection with the Death Eaters or with Voldemort? Was she doing what she did on her own, or was it because of an association with Voldemort or his allies? Answer Dolores Umbridge was definitely not a good person. However, as Sirius points out, "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". Remember that he also says that he doesn't believe Umbridge to be a Death Eater, but that she's evil enough (or something like that). I think there are two strong reasons to believe that: Umbridge was proud to do everything according to the law, except when she trie...

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...