The Fae Princess (The Pacific Princesses Book 2)

by Ektaa Bali

  The Fae Princess

  The Pacific Princesses: Book 2

  Ektaa Bali

  Blue Moon Rising Publishing

  Copyright © 2021 by Ektaa Bali

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Print ISBN: 9780648983057

  E-book ISBN: 9780648983040

  The author acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the land where this novel was written and based. We acknowledge their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.

  Books in The Pacific Princess Series

  The Unicorn Princess

  * * *

  The Fae Princess

  * * *

  The Mermaid Princess

  * * *

  The Tale of the three Princesses

  For Vidya, the sweetest, most caring little girl I know.

  * * *

  &

  * * *

  For my Nani, Subbhya Wati, for teaching me that when you speak, you should always speak with love.

  Contents

  Untitled

  Prologue

  1. The First day of Spring

  2. Trouble Comes in Threes

  3. The Devil's Fingers

  4. The King's Warning

  5. The Unicorn Princess

  6. Old Enemies

  7. The Bunyip King

  8. Into the Forest

  9. Under the Sea

  10. The Fae Queen

  11. Plans

  12. The King of Trees

  13. Yara-ma-yha-who

  14. Fire Flowers

  15. The Leaf Master

  16. Saving the Flower

  17. A Dark Day

  18. War

  19. The Final Stand

  20. Reunion

  Afterword

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  When the world was new, it slept in the shadow womb of the universe. Then fire came and made things move. Then, water cooled the earth. As time passed, the earth arose from the sea, and the Flower of Awakening saw the light and finally, her song could be heard through the crisp air. The Fae awoke and sprung from the wet earth, with hearts that were whole and pure. When they spoke the language of the earth, and sung its song, the trees and flowers listened and grew tall. The Fae and land were one, and until the end of time, they would sing their songs and watch over the earth and keep it safe. For where there is magic and power, there is a fine and precious balance that must be kept.

  —The Book of the Fae, Queen Mab the First, 3333 B.C.

  Prologue

  King Farrion of the Eastern Bushland Fae strode through the ancient forest. He had travelled for seven days and seven nights through thunder and rain, fire and dangerous caverns to get to this place. A place not visited by any living soul except he and the Fae Kings and Queens before him.

  Access to the Valley of Old was granted only to deserving Fae royalty. There was too much power here and too much to be lost to allow anyone but the most worthy to walk through. King Farrion had only been here twice before. It was only to be used in times of greatest need where wisest of council was required.

  For two weeks now, King Farrion had felt something growing within him. A feeling of dread so awful it made him break out into a cold sweat in the middle of the night. He had never felt anything like it. Sinister and unrelenting, it had made him think of decaying plants, rotten fruit, and sick animals. And to the Fae, beings of fertility and health, this was the worst possible thing he could imagine. He could not understand where it was coming from, or why. All he knew was that feeling was growing. It had started within and it was now all around him. Throughout his sky palace and all through the Fae forest. Something was very, very wrong, and he needed advice. Advice from those who knew All. If anyone could help him, these beings would.

  * * *

  Everything in this forest was unspeakably huge. King Farrion was a large Fae, made of heavy muscle, but he felt like a tiny insect walking through this ancient place, and he felt its magic in his soul. This is how he knew he was in the right place. It was always different, getting to the Valley of Old. The magic that made this place was rooted in the heart of secret magic of the Fae so deeply that it was a secret folded within other secrets.

  King Farrion walked amongst the gigantic gum trees, including the eucalypts, and felt his own heart sing. As guardian of the eucalyptus trees, they called out to him so lovingly that despite his haste to keep moving, he let himself run his hands against their trunks as he passed.

  It would take a full minute to walk around the base of these trees, he marvelled. They had been brought here from another place and time, in an era remembered by none. None, that is, except for those who lived here.

  This was the home of the Old Ones.

  Farrion saw the clearing through the trees. This was it. The sacred meeting point for the Fae and the Old Ones. He paused in the line of trees bordering the clearing and took a deep breath, reaching for the vial he had kept safe on a cord around his neck.

  He stepped out into the clearing in front of a small flat rock and cleared his throat. Clutching the glass vial, he spoke the words his forefathers had handed down to him.

  “Old ones,” he called. “King Farrion of the Eastern Bushland Fae humbly requests your aid and counsel. Please heed my call.”

  It began as a rumble in the distance. Farrion felt the land beneath him vibrate.

  Trying to still his pounding heart, he listened to the deep boom of many heavy footsteps getting closer and closer.

  The trees surrounding the clearing rustled, and all at once—the Old Ones took their spots, forming a large semi-circle before him.

  There were seven of them, and they were huge.

  Towering above him, Farrion craned his head upward to peer respectfully at them all as they looked down at him with assessing, knowing eyes.

  No one knew their names, they were only known by their titles. They were the gigantic ancestors of the animals that currently roamed the Australian continent. The megafauna. These were the only ones left.

  King Farrion acknowledged them one by one with his eyes, as his father had taught him.

  The Great Echidna was as big as a hippopotamus, her long spikes glinting dangerously in the low light.

  The Great Platypus, as large as a bull, gazed pleasantly back at him.

  The Great Australian Lion was twice the size of lions normally found in African jungles and majestically sat on his hind legs.

  The Great Wombat was as large as any elephant Farrion had seen and stood serenely still.

  The Great Kangaroo stood taller than the height of two grown men standing on top of each other, intimidating with his strong, muscular chest.

  The Thunderbird was taller still, with his extraordinarily long neck, and powerful muscular legs.

  The Great Python, well over ten metres long, was mostly coiled, with his head raised, tasting the air with his tongue.

  Farrion gulped under their heavy gazes. He took a steadying breath that moved his shoulders slightly and held out his glass vial. In it, sat a tiny shining crystal.

  “Old ones, I present my offering. A crystallised tear of a Fae seeing the love of his life return to him.”

  He bent down and with both hands set it on the flat rock in front of him.

  “This is a m
ost precious gift, Farrion,” said the Great Kangaroo in a deep, resonant voice. “What is it that ails you?”

  “I… feel something in the air. Something dark. I cannot quite place it. I have never felt this before. It is sinister and unwavering. Haunting.”

  A wind blew through the clearing, and Farrion was reassured by the familiar smell of the eucalypts. His beating heart slowed, and spoke his mind.

  “I think something is coming for the Fae. I sense a change in the air and… in myself.”

  “This is troubling,” came the mild voice of the Great Echidna. “Are you sure it is not just some unrest in the Fae forest?”

  Farrion shook his head slowly at her. “No, I—”

  He paused. This thing he had been thinking—too fearful to say out loud for many days now needed to be said. He could not keep it in the dark any longer. They needed to know.

  “There is one more thing.”

  He took a deep breath.

  “I feel the power of the Fae weakening.”

  For the first time in his memory, Farrion saw the Old Ones exchange uncomfortable glances.

  “This is troubling news, Farrion,” hissed the Great Python.

  “Things begin…” droned the Great Wombat. “And so, things must also end.”

  Silence. Farrion frowned. Did he mean that this meant the power of the Fae was ending? That they would be gone? No, he couldn’t possibly mean that. The line of the Fae could not end with him. He wouldn’t allow it.

  “There must be a source,” he said quickly. “Some reason for it that I can stop—”

  “Then,” interrupted the Great Python, “if there is a cause, you must find it and create a solution.”

  The same power that kept the Fae alive was the same power that kept the earth alive. The same power that kept the Old Ones alive. Farrion spread his hands out in front of him.

  “The power of the Fae is tied to the land. The very earth itself. How could anything tamper with that?”

  “Summer may follow spring,” boomed the Great Thunderbird. “But winter must follow autumn.”

  What on earth does that mean? Farrion thought, astounded. He had expected some type of answer, or show of support, not riddles telling him this was as natural as the seasons!

  “I do not know what to do,” was all he could say.

  “We have seen every age, Farrion,” said the Great Echidna. “There comes a time in every age where a King’s rule is challenged. You must look deep within to find the heart of what it means to be Fae. And there you will find your answer.”

  Farrion gaped at her and then remembered who he was speaking to and closed his mouth.

  “The very existence of the Fae is being challenged, Old one. This is a problem I do not believe the Fae have ever seen before.”

  “There was one time,” boomed the Great Thunderbird. “A time even none here remember.”

  A time before the Old Ones themselves? This talking in riddles was not helping. His people were at risk. Everything was at risk.

  “I can feel it, Old Ones. I feel something coming. Something big. Something that seeks to bring down the Fae.”

  There was silence.

  Then the Great Kangaroo spoke in a voice that Farrion felt in his bones.

  “This tells me one thing, Farrion.”

  Farrion waited, holding his breath.

  “That you must prepare for war.”

  1

  The First day of Spring

  To be Fae is to hear the whispers of trees as one would hear their own thoughts. It is to feel the earth beneath your feet as one would feel their own heartbeat. It is to see the dance of all the things that make up the world and know that dance, dances within you.

  —The Book of the Fae, Queen Mab the First, 3333 B.C.

  * * *

  Deep in the bushland off the Eastern Australian coast, behind a door hidden inside a eucalyptus tree, lies the Kingdom of Eastern Bushland Fae. This is just one of the many hidden kingdoms of the world. Each Fae kingdom differs greatly from the others, and this particular one is marked by its magnificent city in the sky.

  Through the tree-portal, you will find yourself in a lush green forest like no other. This is the Fae Forest, and the deeper you wander, the stranger and more tricksy the creatures and plants become. There are goblins who will steal your nose, trees with long fingers that will snatch bags from unsuspecting travellers, and worst still are the cunning spirits who pretend to help you but will only lead you deeper into danger.

  If you are lucky enough to find the path that leads out of the forest, you will find that you cannot continue any further. In front of you is the edge of a cliff. The drop is so sudden that many an unknowing traveller falls right off, down into the depths of the Bottomless Sky. For in this realm, below the cliff, there is no land at all. Fall into the Bottomless Sky, and you might very well be falling until the end of time.

  But if you are clever enough not to fall, right in front of you, in the middle of the sky, upon a heavy white cloud, you will see the fabled Fae City. The first thing you will see is a garden path leading up to the Royal Palace. It is a beauty of pure silver spires that plunge into the blue sky, magnificent stone turrets, and golden staircases. Behind the palace lies the famous Fae greenhouses where the King and Queen keep the most dangerous and valuable plants known on the earth, guarded by trained captains of the Fae Guard.

  Behind the greenhouses and down a long, paved path lies the Fae city where the buildings, shops, and homes of the Fae are built in and around tall trees full of old magic.

  On the crisp morning of September the 1st, also the first day of the Australian spring, every Fae of the Eastern Bushland kingdom was gathered on the neat green lawn in front of the palace, blinking at each other through the blue-grey light before the dawn arrived.

  They swayed slowly, like sleepy bees, in time to the twinkling music of the flute and thump thud thump of tiny drums being played by Fae musicians. Each green eyed, brown face was turned toward the sky, their patient gazes upon the treetops of the Fae forest. They were waiting for the sun to rise above the trees, because for the Fae, the first dawn of spring was a sacred day.

  The Fae are a colourful community, because even though they each have the same forest green eyes and skin the colour of rich bark, their wings and hair are of a colour unique to them. Rich blues, light greens, bright yellows, and glowing pinks; every colour imaginable was dotted throughout the crowd, making the group look very much like a collection of flowers swaying gently in a breeze.

  Parents rocked on the spot with yawning children, babies were tightly wrapped in colourful blankets to protect delicate wings, but each Fae above the age of seven also held something equally precious in their hands.

  The Fae are the guardians of the plants, and so each Fae is born linked to their own guardian species of plant, their companions for life. It is like having best friends who you can tell whenever they are sad or happy, hungry, or thirsty. And in return for the loving care, the plant gives the Fae special powers. Ghost berries made the Fae invisible to human eyes, Bilberries made them see in the dark like it was day, and Eucalyptus leaves had healing properties. The collection of herbs, flowers, and plants made the morning air smell like roses, eucalyptus, and rosemary, and the Fae breathed in that smell like it was life itself, for, to them, that’s exactly what their plants were.

  At the front of the group there was a slight movement as King Farrion slipped unnoticed into the crowd next to his wife. As he stroked his deep blue beard, the pink-winged Queen Salote turned to him with a sigh of relief.

  “Oh, thank the earth you’re back, Farrion,” she whispered urgently, tugging on his arm. “I was so worried.”

  Farrion smiled lovingly at his wife and placed the Eucalyptus branch he was holding into his jacket pocket. He leaned toward her with a finger outstretched and gently tugged on the blanket of the small bundle in her arms. The tiny newborn Princess Mahiya squirmed in her sleep, a tiny tuft of peach coloured hai
r peeking out. She strained in her blankets, and before the Queen could warn the King, a loud squelch came from her diaper, followed by a tiny spark of orange-red flame that flew out of her nose. Both the King and Queen twitched in surprise, casting each other a wary look. Since her birth three weeks ago, the newborn Princess had erupted sparks at random times, usually with a sneeze or a fart. The Fae were creatures of the earth, not fire, and the reason their new Princess was setting small fires was yet to be discovered.

  And there is another thought Farrion, bemused. One more mystery to be solved.

  “I am perfectly well, my queen,” he murmured. “But there will be much to talk about after the sun arrives.”

  The Queen looked into the King’s weary face and nodded, a small crease forming between her pink brows. As the King’s wife, it was her job as Queen to rule over the Fae city and its people, while it was his job to rule over the Fae forest, the animals, and protect the surrounding realms. She had felt the waning of the Fae magic in her people, just as he had over the last few weeks, and she could tell he had learned something in his meeting with the Old Ones. She had ordered the Fae to stockpile fruits and vegetables and cultivate the land as best they could, but they needed to know more. King Farrion reached around her to ruffle the deep magenta hair of his eldest daughter, the heir to the throne, Princess Vidya.