by Ektaa Bali
She paused and sipped from her glass. Vidya could not help but stare at her Nani. How could things get any worse?
Nani pointed through the glass to the nearest tree. Vidya could just see it by the dim light of the lantern. It was a sapling—a young tree with thin branches still growing in a pot. The gnarled branches on this tree were still, they were not swaying at all. In fact, they drooped downward and made the little thing look rather sad. Tiny spindly hands rested on either side of it. No, Vidya saw, no hands at all, just one hand. It only had the one.
“My saplings are dying,” said Nani.
Vidya’s head whipped to stare at her. Dying was not a word the Fae knew. Plants, trees, and flowers did not die under their care. The magic that kept them alive was too strong, and they were good guardians of their trees. They knew them in and out, and plants thrived with the Fae.
“I’ve tried everything, my love,” continued Nani. “But the saplings just won’t grow. They get tired and droop, they stop growing and eventually….”
She did not have to finish her sentence because Vidya could see for herself. She had seen plants die in the human realm.
Nani took a deep breath and looked sternly at Vidya. “It is not only my trees, Vidya. I have seen it happening to the other plants in the royal greenhouses.”
Ice trickled down Vidya’s chest, and she stared at her grandmother in disbelief.
“How?” asked Vidya, horrified. “Why?”
“The Fae magic is faltering, Vidya,” said Nani, sighing. “I cannot imagine why, or how. Or even how we can fix it. But that is the truth. Fae magic…. it’s trembling and failing. And I think… Somehow, this beast in the forest is connected to our situation. It cannot be a coincidence.”
Vidya’s mind raced. The beast in the forest was interfering with their magic somehow? What on Earth could it be? Nothing was strong enough to do that. Nothing! The Fae had been here since the earth was new, since the land emerged from the sea, and nothing in that time had ever threatened their magic before. What on earth could it be?
“Your mother is busy with baby Mahiya,” continued Nani. “We will have to pull our weight and work together.”
Vidya agreed, baby Mahi was only a new baby, and with sparks flying from her every other second, she needed great care to look after. Her mother would be busy for quite some time.
“I can help,” said Vidya. “I can research in the library, see if there’s anything there.”
Nani smiled warmly and patted her shoulder.
“That’s a good place to start. You were always my clever girl,” she said, getting to her feet. “Now, I have some work to do of my own. Your father will not have wanted me to tell you all this, Vidya. He might think you are too young. But the thing is, Fae magic is strongest in our children. If it is fading, the children will be the ones we look to for magic. I think it’s good that you know.”
Vidya nodded. She had a lot to think about.
They stood and made their way back toward the entrance of the greenhouse with Vidya’s hand clasped firmly in Nani’s.
“Are they telling you anything?” asked Vidya. “Are the Devil’s Fingers telling you anything about the Fae magic changing?”
The older lady kept her eyes moving between the deadly trees on either side of the path but nodded.
“They feel something, alright. The dark trees can feel it more than the others. They know something is there, but far away and faint. They just can’t tell me anything specific. If I’m honest, I feel a bit off too. Like something is weighing me down, making me tired.”
Vidya sighed, thinking about how useful having a guardian plant would be right now. “I hope I find my guardian plant soon. I’d even be happy if it was the skunk flower right now!”
They reached the entrance, and Nani took her key out again, undoing all three locks. As she opened the door, light spilled through, and Vidya squinted at the sudden brightness. When her eyes adjusted, her grandmother reached forward and hugged her tightly.
“I remember thinking the exact same thing—” she leaned back and tugged Vidya’s chin lightly, “—with the exact same sad face. I found my guardian when I was twelve. It’s late, to be sure, but it was only because my old friends are rare and dangerous trees. So it stands to reason, that when you find yours, it will be a plant you never expected. Something rare and wonderful. Little known to most people. There are some wonderful plants out here, Vidya. I just know when you find out what it is, it will be well worth the wait.”
4
The King's Warning
The Fae poets will write sonnets of the way the wind moves through the trees. The way sunlight kisses the petals of a flower. But the thing they will write most about is the way the Fae tend to their guardian plant. A love like that does not exist anywhere else.
—The Book of the Fae, Queen Mab the First, 3333 B.C.
* * *
Vidya woke up with a start and realised she had been drooling on top of an old book called ‘The Legend of the Flower of Awakening’.
“Yuck,” she said, wiping the pages of the book with the sleeve of her dress.
She had been researching about Fae magic late last night, and this book told the story that all Fae parents told their children at bed-time. That, at the dawn of time, the Flower of Awakening sung her song and woke the Fae up from the earth. The Fae then sprung onto the land and learned the song of the flower and came to know themselves. The flower gave them knowledge and wisdom, instructing them they were to be guardians of the earth forevermore. But it was just a bedtime story. A fairytale. A myth.
A noise like the whistle of a bird drew Vidya’s attention to the corner of the room. She was surprised to see Master Sunny snoring, sitting slumped in his teacher’s chair, his chin resting on his chest, rising and falling with each snore.
Vidya looked out the window. The sun was high in the sky. She sat up straight in alarm. She had come into the library after dinner to do some research like Nani had told her to do. Had she actually slept here all night? Why had nobody woken her up and told her to go to bed?
She stretched and looked around the library, and her eyes fell upon a librarian stretched out on her tummy on the floor, purple wings folded around her, sleeping with her head resting on an arm. She recognised her as Librarian Rose, a cranky old Fae who didn’t like her books touched. That was unusual. Why would Rose be sleeping on the floor? Vidya quickly stood and rushed over to the old Fae to see if she was okay, casting her eye about to see if anyone else in the library had noticed. But there was no one else in the library at all. When she reached Rose, she touched her arm.
“Hello, Rose? Are you alright?” she asked.
The librarian made no move, just continued to snore. Vidya stood up.
Had someone tricked the librarians into taking a sleeping potion? That would make a funny joke to be sure, but she just couldn’t imagine anyone doing that. A joke isn’t very funny when the people you’re playing the joke on are too fast asleep to laugh about it.
Looking around and seeing nobody else, Vidya walked toward Master Sunny.
“Master Sunny, are you alright?” she asked in a loud voice. She poked him, but he made no response. She jumped back in surprise. What was going on?
* * *
The door behind her flew open with a BANG, and a blur of electric blue wings rushed toward her.
“Help!” Toad cried as the triplets screeched to a halt in front of her.
“Oh my Earth, Vidya!” cried Luna.
“We have a seriously big problem,” said Lobey in a disgusted voice.
“What’s going on?” Vidya asked, looking at each of them in turn. Outside, she could hear a couple of kids calling out to each other.
“It’s the adults,” said Lobey, walking over to Master Sunny, poking him hard on the forehead. “See? They’re all dead asleep. Won’t wake up.”
“We tried throwing water on them,” wailed Toad. “And then we tried pinching them, but nothing is working!”
Vidya’s mind raced. Her parents. She pushed through Lobey and Luna and ran as fast as she could out of the library, using her wings to move her faster along. She got to the stairs that led to higher levels and shot upward straight into the air, propelling herself into the King and Queen’s rooms.
“Mother!” she cried, racing into her parent’s room. Vidya pushed open the door and found her mother and baby Mahiya snuggled up on her parents’ bed. She walked up to them, feeling the triplets enter the room behind her. Her mother slept peacefully, as did baby Mahiya, who grumbled, turned, and opened her mouth, suckling at her mother’s breast.
“Mahiya is awake, it looks like,” she breathed.
A groan made all four of them look to the far side of the room. Vidya frowned and rushed to the other side of the bed where she found her father lying on the floor. He looked like he had fallen out of the bed.
“Father!” she cried, rushing over to crouch next to him.
“Vidya….” her father mumbled with his eyes still closed. “Vidya…”
“What’s going on, father?” she asked quickly. “What do I do?”
“Fae magic is fading,” he tried to lift his head, but failed and weakly lay back down. “Stronger… in children… prepare, Vidya… keep… safe.”
“Prepare for what?”
The king coughed, fighting the sleep. He choked out a single word.
“War.”
Vidya’s heart turned to ice as her father’s head fell back and he began snoring just like Master Sunny. She looked up to meet Lobey’s eyes, shining with fear.
“He said—”
“I heard what he said, Lobey,” said Vidya roughly, getting to her feet.
“War?” whispered Luna, “Did he really mean war war?”
“Don’t know what other type of war there is, really,” said Lobey dully.
Wings twitched anxiously as the girls stood staring down at the King in silence.
“But the Fae have never fought a… war.” Toad spat the word like it was something gross she had found under her shoe. Vidya chewed on her lip and shook her head in agreement. The Fae had never needed to fight in any way against any sort of enemy. Ill-meaning humans sometimes, yes, but never in the Fae realm.
“But a war against what?” asked Toad softly. The triplets exchanged shrugs, blue wings jostling up and down.
“It’s got to be something to do with what happened yesterday!” Lobey threw her hands in the air angrily. “When we were in class, remember? The commotion Master Sunny wouldn’t let us know about! Something happened right then!”
“No,” said Luna. “It can’t—”
“Lobey is right,” said Vidya, breathing in deeply. Three pairs of the forest green eyes spun to stare at her. They should know, she decided. Everyone needed to know.
“There was an attack,” said Vidya. “Nani told me. It was in the letter I was asked to take to her. Yesterday morning, Captain Silver and her patrol were attacked by something in the Safe Zone.”
“That’s impossible,” whispered Toad.
Vidya nodded. “That’s exactly what I said. But Nani seemed to think that with the Fae magic fading, something is changing.”
“So you think whatever attacked Captain Silver is going to start a war with us?” asked Lobey with a deep frown. “I just can’t imagine this happening, really, I can’t—”
“Well, it is happening,” said Vidya irritably, gesturing at her father snoring on the floor. “Look around us, Lobey. Everything is going wrong. My father wouldn’t just say something if he didn’t mean it. If he says we are to prepare for war, then that is what we will do.”
Vidya’s jaw was set, and she knew she was right. Her father had given her instructions, and so she would follow them. There wasn’t really a choice she could see.
“But, Vidya,” pleaded Luna, stepping forward, wings drooping. “The Fae have followed one rule since we woke up from the beginning of the earth.”
“Do no harm unto another being,” stressed Toad. “War means fighting. It means hurting something. And if it’s true this thing in the forest is out to hurt us, we are not allowed to hurt it.”
But Lobey stepped forward this time. “No,” she said slowly. “We are Fae children. The exception to the first rule is us. Fae children are allowed to hurt other creatures if it means defending ourselves.”
Vidya’s magenta brows furrowed deeply at Lobey’s words. It was true; she was right. Vidya had herself injured a human saving The Unicorn Princess Sonakshi just earlier this year. She had used her bow to shoot an arrow at the poacher, Glen, while he kept Princess Sonakshi under lock and key. All Fae children knew the rule.
“It’s not right,” said Luna, shaking her head.
“None of this is right,” said Vidya. “You heard my father. The King has given us instructions.”
That seemed to shake them out of their fear. The triplets nodded slowly. Whatever was happening, the King’s word was Law, and they had to follow that.
“First thing,” said Vidya. “We should check on all the parents,” she said. “We can’t have people sleeping in dangerous positions, like in a Fae pond, or half out of a tree. Let’s make sure everyone is safe. After that, tell all the kids to meet in the entrance hall of the Palace. Tell them Princess Vidya is calling a meeting.”
The triplets nodded.
“Everyone is probably frightened,” said Luna. “What are you going to tell them at the meeting?”
Vidya chewed her lip. She had no idea, so she just waved her hand at them.
“First, I need to find Nani. I’m worried she’s stuck in with the Devil’s Fingers.”
Luna gasped. “Oh god, what if they eat her?”
Vidya didn’t want to think about that. “That’s why we have to hurry. You three spread the word about finding the adults and the meeting. Toad, you’re the best with babies, can you come back and look after baby Mahiya? I’ll go to the greenhouse.”
“I’ll come with you,” said Lobey bossily, to which Vidya frowned. “It’s too dangerous,” said Lobey. “At least two of us should go. Plus, I’ve always wanted to see them. Now’s my chance.”
Vidya shook her head and shrugged. Once Lobey got something into her head, she wouldn’t let it go. There was no use arguing with her.
“Fine, you two,” she waved at Luna and Toad. “Be bossy, tell everyone to meet us in the entrance hall in one hour. Got it?”
They nodded, and, blue braids swinging, ran out of the room.
Lobey and Vidya followed, making their way out of the palace and into the garden.
“I need to send a letter first,” said Vidya, veering off to the left where the Messenger Tree sat. A short, fat gum tree created by one of the old Queens so they could communicate easily with other people far away.
Vidya clasped her hands in front of the tree. “Messenger Tree, I need a leaf to send a letter, please.” A second later, a broad leaf fluttered down from high in the branches. Vidya grabbed the leaf from the ground and taking a pen out of her pocket, roughly scribbled a message on it.
She threw it into the air with a jump. Whispering the name of the person she wanted it to go to. With a magical wind, the leaf whipped into the air.
“Who are you sending that message to?” asked Lobey suspiciously.
Vidya watched the leaf as it spun high into the air away from them. “A good friend from the Blue Mountains I haven’t seen in a while,” she said softly. “The Unicorn Princess, Sonakshi of Macuata.”
Lobey looked impressed. “Will she help us?”
“I helped her once, and she has her own unicorn magic. And right now, we need all we can get.”
Lobey nodded, and they continued down the greenhouse path, all the way down to the end.
When they reached the door to the forbidden greenhouse, Vidya chewed her lip. It was locked from the inside. How would they get in? An inkling feeling in her chest made her reach up and knock firmly on the door three times. “It’s me!” she called i
n to the glass. “Princess Vidya looking for my Nani!” She held her breath and waited.
The three locks of the thick glass door opened one by one. Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.
Lobey and Vidya exchanged a worried look. If Nani was asleep, who was opening the door? Without a word, the two girls took three steps back from the door and waited.
The greenhouse door slowly swung outwards with a long creaaaaaaaak and a brown branch snaked out, pushing the door wide open. A menacing dark tree stomped through the doorway, using its roots as feet, its long arm-like branches planted themselves on its trunk, looking like an angry old man with his hands on his hips.
Vidya and Lobey glanced at each other, and before Vidya could do anything, Lobey stomped forward and met the Devil’s Finger front on.
“Listen, you!” shouted Lobey, her own hands on her hips. “No mean tricks, or funny business. We’re here on a mission, and Nani might be hurt. We’re here to see if she’s okay, and you’re gonna let us do that. Got it?”
The tree, the size of an enormous man, remained stock still for a moment. Lobey glared at the tree and the tree glared back, but Lobey did not back down. Vidya felt the strange urge to laugh as the girl and the terrifying tree stared at each other. But quite quickly, the arms of the tree fell to its side, and he turned, using a barky arm to wave them through the door.
Lobey stomped right into the darkness, and Vidya followed, a little impressed.
“No funny business!” Lobey shouted. “Let us through, please.”
Vidya followed Lobey into the dark heat of the greenhouse, the Devil’s Fingers swaying gently on either side of the path. Vidya quickly caught up to Lobey. “How did you know you could do that?” she muttered to the blue-haired girl. Lobey shrugged. “Bossiness comes naturally to me, Vidya, you should know that by now.” But then, in a much softer voice, she almost said to herself, “I just had this weird feeling I could.”
The two girls quickly made their way through the greenhouse, squinting through the dark to find any sign of Nani. They had almost reached the back when they stopped short, Lobey gasped. Vidya strode forward to see what was going on.