The Fae Princess (The Pacific Princesses Book 2)

by Ektaa Bali

  “Who do we have here?” he sneered, beady eyes greedily taking them in.

  “You are speaking to the Fae Queen!” yelled Lotus from next to her. “The Queen’s word is law!”

  “We call the Bunyip King our leader now, Fae child,” sneered a nasty-looking Yarama gripping Lotus’ arm.

  “He has promised to save us from the Leaf Master!” squeaked one.

  “That’s right,” said the Chief defiantly. “From here to the fire flowers of the western marshes, The Leaf Master rules us all. The Bunyip King has promised to give us back our land!”

  Next to her, Vidya heard Willow gasp, and she hoped he was okay.

  “Can you do that, Fae Queen?” jeered one. “Can you take down the biggest nastiest spirit in the deep dark woods?”

  “Yeah! Show us what you can do Fae Queen!”

  “Show us your magic!”

  “Yeah, show us your powers!”

  There was a chorus of cackling laughter and pointing figures.

  Sweat trickled down Vidya’s spine. “I… I…”

  Vidya knew she was nothing like her father or mother. She had no guardian plant to speak of and had no powers. Where her father, the real King might have been able to stand up to these monsters, she was in no position to do so.

  “Thought so!” shouted one.

  “Take their noses!” cried the Chief, punching his fist in the air.

  A Yarama advanced toward Vidya, while three others walked toward Lotus, Lily, and Willow, the suckers on their hands pointed right at their faces.

  “Noooooo!” she heard Willow cry from next to Lotus.

  “Stooop!” Lily cried.

  “Wait!” she cried, trying to turn her head away from the Yarama who was now standing in front of her, his brown eyes shining with glee. “No!” But the Yarama pressed his suckers on either side of her nose, and she screwed her eyes shut. Her nose went numb, and Vidya heard a loud squelch as her nose was separated from her face. Suddenly, the middle of her face felt very cold. She opened her eyes to find the Yarama gleefully waving her little brown round nose in the air. Vidya now had to breath through her mouth.

  “The Queen’s nose!” he cried, holding it up so they could all see.

  The little red men cheered, clapping their hands above their heads and jumping up and down.

  Lily gave a nasally squeal behind her as, with three more squelching sounds, her friends’ noses were also taken.

  “Give it back!” Lotus shouted. Vidya was turned around by the Yarama holding her and positioned so that she and her friends were in a wide semicircle, with the tribe of Yarama in front of them. Lotus, Lily, and Willow’s noses were all absent, replaced by smooth brown skin in the middle of their faces. Vidya couldn’t help herself. It started as a giggle, quickly becoming a full belly laugh as Willow’s mouth fell open in shock.

  “I’m… so… sorry,” she laughed, “but… you… all… look ridiculous!”

  Lotus clearly couldn’t help himself either, because he let out a small nasally chuckle. Vidya looked at the Yarama who were staring at her.

  “I’m sorry,” she sneered at them. “Is that honestly the best you can do? Steal people’s noses?”

  The ridiculousness of the situation just made her laugh harder, and the Yarama holding her arms fought to hold her still as she bent over laughing.

  “We have an entire Kingdom to save and here you are stealing… our noses!”

  The whole thing was stupid, to be sure. But that might have been the worst thing she could say, because the chief Yarama seemed to take that as a challenge.

  “Take them to dungeons!” he bellowed angrily. The whole tribe cheered as they were led away by their ropes to the back, outside the cave, toward the gaping hole in the middle of the ground. The four Fae kids quickly learned that they had to breathe through their mouths now that their noses were gone, and it was rather annoying thing to have to do.

  They were led down slippery dirt steps into the dark. The Yarama at the front held up a small lantern with a small glowing plant inside of it. It gave off an orangey glow that made the tiny cavern dungeon look even smaller. The Yarama threw them against the dirt walls and tied their ropes around heavy tree roots that protruded through the wall.

  “You can’t do this!” cried Lotus.

  “Yeah, especially with that koala riding that toad out there,” mumbled Willow.

  That single sentence made all five Yarama in the cave freeze on the spot.

  “What did you say?” asked a Yarama in a quiet voice, totally absent of any sneer.

  Willow looked up in surprise to find five Yarama staring at him, poised in various states of action.

  “I… I saw something in the forest?” he said, trying to speak clearly without his nose.

  “What did you see?” asked the same Yarama, stepping closer to him now.

  “I… I… saw… a… koala… on a toad,” stammered Willow, looking to Vidya for support.

  “Alert the chief!” cried the Yarama. “Alert the chief, the Leaf Master is here!”

  The Yarama scrambled as fast as they could out of the cave.

  The three Fae kids exchanged fearful expressions.

  “What could be so scary that even the Yarama are afraid of it?” asked Willow, blowing a raspberry.

  “Have you heard of the Leaf Master?” asked Vidya to Lotus.

  The older boy shook his blonde head. “Nope, never.” He pulled at his ropes, but they held fast.

  “I sure hope Pancake is okay,” said Vidya. “I hope he’s far away from here.”

  “I don’t!” said Willow. “I hope he comes out here and saves us!”

  “Willow,” groaned Vidya. “But you’re right, I hope so too.”

  “But did you guys see?” Willow said excitedly. “Look at that flower in the lanterns. That Chief Yarama said ‘fire flowers of the western marshes!’ I saw them on the map!”

  “What about them?” asked Vidya glumly, tugging on the black ropes.

  “Fire,” urged Willow. “Fire and earth together! What King Wollemi was talking about!”

  Recognition sparked with Vidya. In all the hustle of being captured by the Yarama, she had forgotten why they were even here.

  “That’s the missing piece of the puzzle!” Vidya exclaimed, clicking her fingers together. “Good one, Willow. That’s exactly how we complete the spell.”

  “Good one, Will,” echoed Lily. “But we can’t get to the marshes if we’re stuck in this place. And it’s gone all quiet outside, I wonder what’s happening.”

  They sat in an uneasy silence, mouths open for breathing, for what seemed like forever, listening to the sounds of the Yarama scurrying outside. Very soon, outside, it went quiet. The four prisoners looked at each other fearfully by the orange light of the lantern.

  But it wasn’t long before a shuffling sound by the entrance made them freeze.

  14

  Fire Flowers

  When met with a dangerous plant, the wisest course of action is to be polite.

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

  * * *

  “Is it a ghost?” breathed Lotus.

  “Ghosts don’t make noises,” whispered Willow.

  Pancake’s brown face appeared around the corner, and the Fae kids groaned with relief.

  “Thank the earth, Pancake!” hissed Vidya.

  “Why are Yarama so scared?” asked Pancake. “They running back into their cave.”

  “Oh nothing,” said Vidya and Lotus hurriedly.

  Pancake cast them a confused look but shook his head.

  “Well, lucky Pancake is here,” he said pointing to his mouth. “I have very sharp teeth.”

  It didn’t take Pancake long to chomp through the ropes that held them.

  “Nice one, Pancake, thank the earth you came back!” said Lily.

  “I wasn’t gonna leave you here!” he said.

  “But come on,” said Vidya. “Let’s get out of here,”

/>   Vidya grabbed Pancake, shoved him back in her front pocket, and followed Willow, Lotus, and Lily up the dirt stairs into the night air. Not a single Yarama was in sight. The little dirt clearing in front of the cave was empty.

  “The air feels weird,” said Lotus, rubbing his arms.

  A chill had begun to seep into Vidya’s chest.

  “I have a bad feeling,” she said softly.

  “Let’s get into the cover of the trees,” hissed Lily. “The Yarama have gone into hiding, we should too.”

  They used their wings to flutter themselves quickly across the clearing and into the darkness of the large gnarly trees.

  “Up there,” they followed Pancake’s direction into a large tree with thick brown leaves. All three Fae crouched on a sturdy branch, peering down into the clearing. “This is where I hid while I waited.” Pancake said. “Once they put you inside that underground prison, all of a sudden they scrambled out into that big cave.”

  “That would be Will’s doing,” whispered Lotus.

  “Why?” asked Pancake.

  Lotus and Vidya looked at Willow awkwardly.

  “I told them I saw something in the forest,” admitted Willow. “They seemed to think it was this Leaf Master guy.”

  “Apparently he’s being ruling over them,” said Vidya. “The Bunyip King promised to get rid of him, so they told us they serve him now.”

  “Well, I don’t know about you guys,” hissed Lily, “but I sort of don’t feel like hanging around to find out whether he’s gonna turn up or not.”

  “Right,” said Lotus. “Which way to the fire marshes?”

  “West,” Willow pointed to their right. “But wait, what about our noses?”

  “Oh right,” said Lily, screwing up her face. “But I don’t know if it’s a good idea to hang—”

  The sound of drums reached their ears.

  Boom. Boom. Boom.

  Their eyes darted around the clearing, looking for the source. Willow silently pointed to a section of the trees on the other side where two small shadows were emerging.

  Two large green frogs the size of large dogs hopped out into the clearing. Each held a drum in one front limb, and when they reached the centre of the clearing, they sat there, a wide gap between them, banging on the drums.

  Vidya was about to whisper something to the others when a larger shadow hopped into the clearing.

  A gigantic, lumpy, brown toad the size of a horse hopped in, a large, round, cloaked figure riding him, gripping reins to control his movements. From within the black cloak was the large furry face of the biggest koala Vidya had ever seen.

  Vidya had to cover her mouth to stop herself from gasping. Pancake trembled in her pocket.

  The huge toad hopped regally into the centre of the clearing, right between the two smaller frogs. The large, hooded koala figure sat, waiting. Pancake and the four kids held their breaths.

  A small movement on the opposite side of the clearing—where the Yarama were hiding in their cave, caught their eye. The Chief Yarama, the black feather on his cap bobbing with each step, ran into the clearing in front of the frogs, something cupped between his hands. He came to a stop a few meters in front of the robed koala and fell onto the ground, lying flat on his tummy. Vidya saw how rapidly the chief was breathing by the rising and fall of his back, and she couldn’t but help feel sorry for the creature.

  The Koala pulled on the reins, and the gigantic Toad stepped forward over the dirt ground to come to stand over the chief.

  “Your tax is due, Yara-ma-yha-who,” came a dry, raspy voice.

  Vidya’s skin crawled.

  “I have it! I have it, my Lord!” came the Chief’s muffled cry from the dirt. He held out his hands over his head, showing him something.

  “I’ve heard disturbing things, Chief of the Yarama,” said the voice a little more quickly. “I’ve heard that you have been speaking to the Bunyip King about me.”

  “Never, my Lord! Never!” cried the Yarama, his face still pushed into the dirt.

  The robed koala titled his head back and laughed, a raspy cackle. Vidya tried to get a good look at his face, but they were too far from their position in the tree.

  “Let me tell you one thing, Yarama,” sneered the koala. “You will never be rid of me.”

  The Yarama remained silent for only a moment before he spoke into the dirt once more.

  “I have four noses for you this month, Leaf Master. Four!”

  The Leaf Master nodded. “It will do,” he said lightly.

  The Yarama chief pushed himself off the dirt, moved to stand up, and held out his hands, bowing low.

  “Oh no,” Pancake whispered from Vidya’s pocket as they watched the Leaf Master scoop up their four noses and place them in a pocket of his robe.

  “Now,” the Leaf Master announced loudly. “I must deal with the four Fae sitting in that tree.”

  The children did not even discuss it, Lotus was first. He turned, leapt off the tree branch, and hurled himself into the forest, the others frantically following.

  They fled into the forest single file, and did not look back. Lotus ran on his fast feet, propelled forward by his yellow wings. Luckily, he had remembered the direction Willow had mentioned just minutes before when he had asked where the western marshes were. The others ran as fast as they could after him until their legs and wings burned. They ran through the darkness, not looking at what they passed, not looking behind them, looking at only what was ahead.

  “We should be careful!” panted Willow after about half an hour from second position, his navy wings almost making him disappear in the dark. “We don’t know what’s—argh!”

  Lily, in third position, had just tripped and fallen right into him, causing both of them to fall on top of each other over and over again through the leaves and dirt.

  Lotus slowed ahead of them, looking back with a startled frown. Vidya ran forward to help them both up. Willow groaned, rubbing his hip.

  “Sorry, Will,” grumbled Lily, panting and covered in dirt. “I must’ve tripped over a root or—”

  “No, you fell over me,” came a high-pitched squeaky voice from the ground behind them.

  Startled, Vidya looked around at their surroundings for the first time. It was incredibly dark, so the four Fae and Pancake squinted around them, trying to see who had spoken and whether they should keep running. But the voice had seemed rather… friendly, if anything. It was a moment before it spoke again.

  “Oh, sorry, you can’t see me in the dark. I’m over here… no, left… sorry, right… and down!”

  They followed his voice, and Vidya, closest to the thing, stepped forward to find a white sturdy mushroom with a tiny mouth and two blinking human eyes staring back at her.

  “Oh gosh,” she murmured.

  “Gosh, yes,” it replied shyly. Then looking at Lily, “Sorry about making you fall.”

  “Sorry, I kicked you, I guess,” replied Lily politely.

  “Oh, no problem,” said the mushroom. “You’ll be paying me back anyhow.”

  Vidya cast a wary glance over her shoulder at the others. She suddenly did not like this mushroom.

  “How’s that?” she asked carefully.

  “When the Bunyip King rules the Eastern Bushland, the Fae will be our servants,” said the mushroom smoothly.

  They stared at him, and he stared back mildly, an odd smile on his mushroom face. A burning sensation suddenly arose in Vidya’s tummy. She stepped up to the mushroom, crouched down, and looked him dead in the eye.

  “Yeah? Well, I’m the Fae Queen, little mushroom. And when I win, there will be no Bunyips left. They will forget they even existed.”

  The mushroom peered back at her in silence for a moment before he spoke.

  “Why, then, you are no Fae Queen at all.”

  Vidya jerked back as if the mushroom had hit her. She blinked, then stood.

  “Let’s go,” she said to the others. “We’ve already stayed here way to long.” />
  They cast wary eyes about the area but saw no sinister movements in the darkness.

  Willow quickly checked the map, and they adjusted their direction and moved on.

  * * *

  They walked through much of the night, with the adrenaline of the scare of the Leaf Master keeping their tiredness away. Fae wings were not like bird’s wings. They were thin and delicate which meant they could not not fly far for long periods of time. So they were left with walking or branch-hopping to get around. They ate left over ripe bananas from Lotus’ backpack, and Willow gave them all Bilberries to eat, which supercharged their vision again through the dark forest.

  On approach to the marshes, the forest changed. The trees thinned, and the ground became softer. They could see the sky again, and it held the blue-grey light of the coming dawn. Through the big gaps between the trees, the group could see pale wet ground that looked as if it was lit from beneath by a glowing yellow light. The land was dotted with small dark flowers that extended as far as the eye could see.

  “Oooh!” whispered Lily. “So pretty.”

  They came to stand by the last tree, marvelling at the sight of the glowing earth.

  “How lucky are we? I wish the others could have seen this,” said Lotus. “I’ve never seen earth glow with light like this.”

  But Lotus didn’t understand half their luck. Because they had no noses, however, what the four Fae kids could not smell was the strong, ever present smell of natural gas. The type that humans use in stoves. The type that explodes when you light it.

  “But why are the flowers not lit?” asked Willow, crouching down to look at the closest flower. It sat still and black, snuggled into the wet ground. “These are the same ones the Yarama had in their lanterns.”