A Nutcracker Colour Special. Darcey Bussell

rest of us all LOVE Christmas,” said the Queen. “So this year I thought it would be a good idea to have a huge banquet on Christmas Eve.”

      “Tonight!” Delphie breathed.

      “We were going to invite everyone in the land and have lots of food and dancing and presents,” Princess Aurelia added.

      “It sounds amazing!” said Delphie.

      “It would have been,” Princess Aurelia replied sadly. “But it’s all gone wrong. The elves came to the palace to help us wrap the presents and when Mother went to check on them, they had all disappeared!”

      The Queen nodded. “There was just a little red hat left on the bench with this.” She reached into the pocket of her dress and handed a black card to Delphie.

      Delphie looked at it. There was just a scrawling signature in gold:

      “He must have taken them!” Delphie gasped.

      “That’s what we think,” said King Tristan. “And it’s not only the elves who have gone either. The magic Christmas tree has been stolen as well.”

      “And we’ve been so worried about the elves and trying to work out how to rescue them, that we haven’t had time to deliver the invitations for the banquet!” wailed Princess Aurelia. “Oh, Delphie, what are we going to do?”

      

      Delphie’s thoughts raced. Kidnapped elves, a missing tree, invitations that hadn’t been delivered …

      “Of course we have to rescue the elves, but first things first – we ought to try and get these invitations delivered,” she said thoughtfully. “Then at least there can be a Christmas feast even if there aren’t any presents and there isn’t a tree.”

      “Delphie’s right.” Sugar nodded. “Presents and Christmas trees are lovely, but even without them we can have a really good time just dancing and having fun!”

      “That’s true,” said Queen Isabella. “But how are we going to deliver the invitations in time? They have to go all over Enchantia.”

      “I could try to deliver them,” suggested Sugar. “But even flying I won’t be able to deliver all of them by this evening.” She looked at the huge pile on the table.

      Delphie frowned. “Isn’t there anyone who could help you, Sugar?” She asked. “Other fairies maybe …” A picture of the stage back at home flashed into her mind. “What about the four fairies from Cinderella?” she said. “Do they live in Enchantia? Couldn’t they be brought in?”

      “Of course!” said Sugar. “Why didn’t I think of that myself? They’re all friends of mine so I’m sure they’ll help. That’s a brilliant idea, Delphie. I’ll summon them straightaway.”

      Delphie knew that to summon characters in Enchantia you had to perform some of the dance that they did in the ballet they were from. Sugar lifted her wand and the music from Cinderella began to play. She stood for a moment, her right leg turned out, her left leg crossed behind her, and her eyes looking down. As the music speeded up she suddenly stepped forward, full of lightness and energy. She spun around, her arms held above her head, then she jumped straight up and crossed her feet over before landing perfectly in balance. Dancing forward, she took three light leaps.

      Delphie recognised the dance – it was that of the spring fairy and was full of light and life. Sugar spun and leaped, her feet crossing over and over until suddenly there was a flash of green light and a fairy appeared twirling round on her pointes, hands touching lightly above her head. She was wearing a knee length moss-green dress and had delicate gauzy wings. A circlet of leaves sat in her dark hair. She jumped gaily in the air too and did a side-stepping cat leap.

      “Hello, Sugar!” she said giving the fairy a big hug. “I was just wrapping some Christmas presents for tomorrow. What do you need me for?”

      “I’ll tell you when I’ve got the others here too,” said Sugar quickly. “Can you help me? I was going to call the summer fairy next!”

      The spring fairy nodded and she and Sugar began to dance. The music was much slower this time, giving a feeling of long lazy summer days. They stepped together across the floor with long graceful steps, their arms at shoulder-height, stopping with one foot crossed behind the other, their right arms above their heads and their left arms to the side. In one smooth movement they knelt down, sweeping their right arms towards the floor and their other arms behind them. Then they straightened up and moved across the floor with slow, controlled spins, both perfectly in time with each other. Suddenly there was a flash of golden light and a fairy dressed in a golden-yellow dress with a golden circlet in her hair appeared.