The Fae Princess (The Pacific Princesses Book 2)

by Ektaa Bali

  “There is an old story I would like to tell you,” he said. He fidgeted with the edge of his sleeve this time. Vidya thought he looked quite suddenly exhausted.

  “Willow,” he called. “Find me a book about the creature called, ‘the Bunyip’.”

  Willow shot out of his chair and walked over to the large table set in the corner of the library. On it sat an ancient miniature tree called a Bonsai. Except this tree was different to other Bonsai because of the long vines attached to his sides. In front of the tree on the table sat a wide box filled with tiny green cards made of square leaves.

  “Book Tree!” Willow called in a loud voice. You always had to make sure to speak loudly to the Book Tree, as his hearing had gotten worse in his old age. “I need a book about the Bunyip.” The little Bonsai lifted a vine-arm up. The little fingers on the end of the vine were lifted against his trunk in the way that people did when they didn’t hear what you said.

  “BUNYIP!” Willow practically shouted.

  The Book Tree shook its topmost leaves as if nodding in understanding. His vine-arms shot out in front of him, fingers hovering over the box of leaf-cards, thinking. After a second, he reached into the box and plucked out two cards, holding them out to Willow.

  The navy haired boy accepted the cards and read them out loud.

  “‘The Bunyip: Sightings and Stories’ and ‘Indigenous Legends’.” He looked up at Master Sunny, listening keenly by his blackboard.

  “The first one, Willow, if you please.”

  Willow nodded and returned the cards back to the Book Tree, who took it back and placed it in its original spot within the box in front of him. Willow trotted away from the class into the many rows of bookshelves on the other side of the library. Vidya could see him scanning the shelves, and after a minute he slipped out a small book and brought it back to the class, handing it over to Master Sunny.

  “Let’s see,” he wheezed, leafing through the pages. “Here we go. I can’t quite draw this one as well.” He held up the open book for them to all to see a painting of a large black creature that looked like a cross between a gigantic black dog and a seal.

  From Vidya’s lap, Pancake sat up with interest, then squeaked with disgust.

  “Urgh,” said Toad, flicking her electric blue hair. “Is that a Bunyip?”

  “Indeed. They are creatures of the human realm,” said Master Sunny, turning the book over to read from it.

  “Of the most fearsome of mythical creatures in Australia is the Bunyip. With the body of a large seal and the head of a most gruesome dog, the Bunyip swims and runs with equal strength, patrolling the length of the Murray River, his terrifying call can be heard for miles. Stroll down the Murray river after dark, and be sure that if a Bunyip sets his sights on you, there is no return.”

  Master Sunny snapped the book shut and looked out at them all with a stern eye.

  “This book was written in 1780. Shortly after, the rates of Bunyip attacks in the human realm increased tenfold. The humans were so terrified, in the end, King Fern, Vidya’s grandfather, being the Fae King and guardian of both plants and animals, intervened. He enlisted the help of Queen Talia, the Mermaid Queen of the Western Pacific Ocean, to help.”

  “What did they do?” asked Toad in a hushed voice, “they didn’t hunt them, did they?”

  “Well, as you know, the first rule of the Fae is ‘do no harm unto another living being’. But the Bunyips were not creatures that were open to conversation, they only think of their next dinner. There is nothing else on their minds. So, King Fern devised a grand plan. With the help of the merpeople, to cut the Bunyips off from escaping through the river, the Fae rounded up the Bunyips one by one and brought them here, into the Fae realm, into the secret cave system deep in the Fae forest.”

  “But how did they get them into the Fae realm?” asked Vidya, imagining that rounding up scary creatures and bringing them all the way here would have been no simple task.

  “The Fae pond system,” said Master Sunny, leaning back on his desk with a faint smile on his face. “Brilliant, really. The Fae ponds are small pools that exist all over the Fae realm, and they lead right into secret locations in the ocean. This is the way the Fae people and the merpeople under the ocean have spoken to each other for thousands of years.”

  Vidya leaned back in her chair and shook her head. If she was to be queen one day, and take over her father’s job, she would have to be just as clever to come up with answers to problems just like this one. She listened keenly as Master Sunny continued.

  “King Fern sealed the Bunyips in this cave. But the cleverest thing was this. In the centre of the cave was a pool of water. Not a Fae pond, mind you, a magic pool full of extra strong Jilungin dreaming potion.”

  The name of the herb rang a bell in Vidya’s mind. Jilungin was one of the plants the Masters had tried to test her with not that long ago. It was a plant that made you go to sleep.

  “So, in that cave, all alone with no food or water, the Bunyips had no choice but to drink that Jilungin dreaming potion. And so, they fell into a timeless sleep, unable to hurt another human.”

  Master Sunny paused and gazed out the window, fidgeting again with the corner of his robe. He chewed on his lip as if thinking about something troubling.

  “But nothing lasts forever…” he murmured.

  Vidya’s pink eyebrows shot up in surprise. Had she heard him right?

  “What was that you just said, Master Sunny?”

  The elderly Fae shook himself, as if trying to get rid of a bad thought. His wings twitched as he turned and, realising that his students were all staring at him, waved a hand at them.

  “Nothing, nothing. There is no problem that our King and Queen cannot solve.”

  Just as Vidya was wondering if anyone else had caught Master Sunny’s murmured words, she turned to see Lobey watching her with raised blue eyebrows. Vidya shrugged her shoulders at the girl as if to say, ‘the grownups will take care of it’.

  3

  The Devil's Fingers

  “The Fae are the Guardians of the forest. Each Fae guards their own flora. Like old friends, they speak without words, they love without agenda and they grow without judgement.”

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

  * * *

  There was a rapid knock on the library door. The students all turned to look as one.

  “Princess Vidya?” it was Sage, one of her father’s assistants, peeking around the door, a tired Fae with crisp, light blue wings. “May I speak with the Princess?”

  Vidya glanced at Master Sunny, who nodded, and she got out of her chair, placing Pancake into her pocket, and made her way to the door. Sage held out a folded and sealed piece of paper.

  “His Majesty the King asks that you take this to the Dowager Queen Subbhya—your Nani,” he rubbed his arms uncomfortably. “She is… with her trees in the last Greenhouse.”

  Realisation washed over Vidya, and she nodded her head in understanding. “Oh right, of course.”

  Her Nani, her mother’s mother, was guardian of the most dangerous trees known to the Fae. The Devil’s Fingers were carnivorous trees, which, in their case, meant that they liked to eat people. They had that name because the aggressive trees had gnarly hands with which they would reach out and grab passers-by. Once they had their victim, they would snatch them away into their trunk through an opening in the base where rows and rows of sharp teeth were ready and waiting to gobble them up.

  The Fae married each other from all over the world to teach each other the way of different plants. Vidya’s Nani had come from India to marry the Fae King of Tonga. Then, Vidya’s mother, Queen Salote, had come from Tonga to Australia to marry King Farrion.

  Once they were married, the King realised that his mother-in-law was the only Fae known to be the guardian of the Devil’s Fingers. Because there were so many in the Fae forest here, King Farrion asked her if she would take responsibility of rounding them all up from the
forest and keeping them in a triple locked greenhouse at the back of the palace. She agreed, of course, as it would mean she would get to be close to her daughter.

  No one was permitted near the triple locked greenhouse where her Nani looked after the Devil’s Fingers, it was far too dangerous. However, over the years, the strange plants had taken a liking to Vidya, and although they were not her Guardian plant, it meant she was one of the few people who could get to her Nani if she was working in there.

  * * *

  Vidya left the library and headed out to the back of the palace into the bright sunlight, walking down the path that led to the greenhouses. A light breeze tickled her cheek as she walked, and Pancake, having recovered from his earlier fright, climbed his way back up to her shoulder to enjoy the sun. Her mother’s pink rose bushes lined the way and made the air smell sweet, and for the thousandth time, Vidya wondered when she would find her guardian plant.

  “Darkness…” came a wispy voice.

  Vidya whirled around to see a small echidna hobbling along on his hind legs, using a white cane for balance.

  “Oh, Uncle Jula-wil it’s you,” said Vidya, relieved, crouching down so she was eye to eye with the elderly marsupial. She was eye to eye only in a manner of speaking, because Uncle Jula-wil, her father’s oldest advisor, had two tiny black eye patches covering his eyes due to the fact that he was blind. No one actually knew how he got around the palace, or how he didn’t fall off the edge into the Bottomless Sky for that matter, but when he was not in meetings with the King, Uncle Jula-wil hobbled around the palace grounds, mumbling to himself.

  “Princess,” wheezed Uncle Jula-wil. “It approaches…”

  “What do you mean, Uncle?” Vidya asked uncertainly, looking around to see if anyone else had noticed the elderly marsupial, but they were alone on the path.

  Uncle Jula-wil tapped the white walking stick impatiently in front of him. “I can feel it in my spines, Princess,” he wheezed. “Change is afoot. Darkness is afoot…”

  Pancake squeaked disapprovingly in Vidya’s ear.

  “Weird!” cried Uncle Jula-wil waving his stick at Pancake. “What’s weird is a grown quokka riding on the shoulder of a young Fae girl!”

  Vidya turned her head to look at Pancake, alarmed.

  “Be warned, Princess,” muttered Uncle Julia-wil in a much quieter voice. “Darkness approaches. A choice must be made.”

  The little echidna abruptly turned to the left and began walking into the bushes, muttering quietly to himself. Vidya straightened from her crouch and watched him go, her magenta brows furrowed. She shook her head as his long black spines disappeared into the rose hedges. Her father had always insisted that the elderly echidna was not crazy, but when he started saying things like that, how could she not think he was nuts?

  But… said a voice at the back of her mind, think about what happened this morning. First the Spring ritual, then the commotion in the palace during class. And now she held in her hand a special message for her Nani. The adults knew something was going on. Something big. Uncle Jula-wil was trying to tell her something in his own strange way.

  Vidya tugged on a magenta curl as she began walking down the path again. Nani was always honest with her. She would tell her what was going on.

  Sunlight glinted off the glass roofs of the greenhouses. Vidya walked down the rows and rows of them. Most held rare or dangerous plants, and their Fae guardians walked in and out, tending to their needs or harvesting from them for the Fae to eat or use in magical potions. One held the Ghostberry bushes, which made the Fae hard to see when they went out into the human realm. Another held tea tree plants which healed cuts, wounds, and insect bites.

  The Devil’s Fingers were kept in the last greenhouse, furthest away from the palace, behind an iron gate.

  Vidya walked through the gate up to the solid glass doors of the greenhouse. Squinting to see if her grandmother was close by, she rang the metal bell to the side of the door.

  No one was permitted inside without her Nani by their side. Otherwise, you were just asking to be eaten.

  “Coming!” came her Nani’s faint voice. Vidya could see her blurry form hurrying up to the entrance from the other side. Pancake tittered in protest on her shoulder, trying to climb down. Vidya grabbed him and put him in her pocket, safe and sound. He squeaked in fear, grasping the edges of the fabric, peering out over the top of his tiny claws.

  The three locks on the door clanked one by one, and Vidya grinned, feeling so proud that her own Nani was the only one who could handle these dangerous plants. Her heart pounded as the door swung open, but Vidya knew she was safe with her Nani by her side.

  “Oh, lovely girl!” Nani cooed when the door opened. Vidya was swept up in a warm hug. Nani smelled like soil and cinnamon at the same time. She had deep-red wings and hair that reminded Vidya of the colour of a ladybug’s shell, and she wore lipstick in a matching colour.

  “Hi, Nani,” said Vidya as she was released. “I have a message for you from father.”

  Nani glanced at the green paper in her hand and frowned before looking back up to peer at her, brown face concerned, then nodded.

  “Hmm,” she said. “There is worry in your face, child. Come in and let us see what we can do about it.”

  Vidya followed her into the darkness of the greenhouse. The air was warm and sticky in here, just how the Devil’s Fingers liked it, just like their native home in the deepest darkest parts of the Fae forest. Nani took Vidya’s hand and held up a bright lantern in the other to lead the two of them through the middle of the greenhouse. The dark branches of the Devil’s Fingers swayed threateningly over them. Vidya squinted at them, eyeing the thick brown leathery trunks and watching nervously for signs of sudden movement. She took a deep breath and smelled the sweet perfume they emitted to lure in their prey. It smelled just like sweet mangoes, and she shivered at how easy it would be to fool someone who didn’t know about that trick of theirs.

  Nani bore no signs of nervousness, however. She stomped through the path, chin held high, staring down at the dark trees on either side of her.

  Suddenly, a barky hand lurched out of the shadows, headed straight for Vidya. She gasped and lurched backward, but quick as a frog snapping up a fly, Nani whirled around and gave the Devils’ Fingers a sharp slap with her hand.

  “Oi, you!” she shouted.

  The dark hand fell under her slap and quivered as if ashamed of itself and retreated slowly backward into the darkness of its tree.

  “That is very rude,” said Nani loudly. “If I see anybody else and I mean anybody—” She whirled around to the front this time and pointed to trees on the other side of the path. “—trying anything with my granddaughter, you’ll be very sorry.”

  Even Vidya shrank back, hearing her angry words. Nani sure had a way of putting people in line.

  “Humph!”

  Nani grabbed Vidya’s hand more tightly and began striding down the path again, a little faster this time.

  On the other side of the greenhouse was another glass door leading to a large bedroom, complete with a comfy couch. The wall here was also glass, so Nani could watch her trees as she slept. Vidya sat down on the couch and watched her grandmother pour them two glasses of chilled Ghostberry juice. This was the main juice the Fae drank. It was poisonous to humans, but for the Fae, the sweet liquid made sure the humans would not see them when they ventured out into the human realm. To humans, the Fae would look like parts of the forest, they wouldn’t be able to see them at all.

  Nani sat down on the couch, mopping her forehead with a pink cloth. Vidya didn’t know how she stayed in this damp heat all day and all night, Vidya was already sticky with sweat. She gulped down her juice gratefully.

  “You’ll never guess what’s happening, Nani,” Vidya said, setting her glass down on the side table and passing over the letter. “I didn’t see you at the spring ritual this morning.”

  Nani opened the letter. “No,” she said, “I needed to be
here.”

  Vidya watched her Nani anxiously as the older lady’s eyes moved back and forth across the page. In moments, she re-folded the paper and placed it on the side table, sighing. She rubbed her eyes and cast her gaze out the window where the Devil’s Fingers were swaying.

  “What is it, Nani?” said Vidya in a quiet voice.

  “It is worse than I thought,” Nani said. “I heard about the Dawn Ritual, Vidya, and I thought that was bad enough, but now this…” she waved to the letter on the table.

  “We heard a commotion this morning during class,” said Vidya, sitting forward in her chair. “But Master Sunny would not tell us what it was.”

  “He did not want to scare the children,” said Nani, rubbing her eyes tiredly. “But as Princess, I think you should know. There is a very real risk we are facing here.” Nani leaned forward and looked at Vidya. “There was an attack in the Fae forest today. In the Safe Zone.”

  Vidya sat bolt upright. “But that’s impossible!”

  Nani nodded. “It should be impossible, yes. The King’s word is Law, and his word was that no creature of the forest within the boundary can harm a Fae. But… this very thing happened. Captain Silver and her patrol were attacked by an unknown beast.”

  Vidya’s heart pounded in her chest. Her mind raced, trying to make sense of this new information and trying to add it all up. These things happening together could not be a coincidence.

  “I also have news for your father.” Nani continued. “I don’t want to scare you, Vidya, but as crown Princess, I think you should know the truth. I can feel it in the air. In the trees….”