The Fae Princess (The Pacific Princesses Book 2)

by Ektaa Bali

  No one had an answer.

  “Never,” urged Vidya. “This has never happened to us.”

  “Right,” Lobey said. “We’ve got plenty of weapons, but we’ll put everybody on alert.”

  “I want the young children and the babies locked away at the back of the city,” said Vidya. “I want them as far away as possible from where the Bunyips are going to enter.”

  Lobey nodded. “I’ll start the evacuation.”

  Vidya nodded back. “Off to bed, everyone. Willow, start on that bow and arrow as soon as you can.”

  That afternoon, they woke up, and Willow hurriedly began whittling away at the wood of Wollemi King, with the help of two other Fae kids. Luna and Toad were trying to fiddle with Lotus’ nose, meanwhile, Vidya, Lily, and Lobey examined the black fire flowers.

  “It’s smells bad doesn’t it?” said Lobey, holding one up. “But how do we make it light up?”

  Vidya and Lily exchanged a knowing glance.

  “The Leaf Master said something about how the sun would come up and activate a chemical reaction,” said Lily.

  “But the fire flowers the Yarama had in their little lanterns were lit up, and there was no sun in their dark village.”

  “How many did you bring back?” asked Lobey.

  After a few hours of experimenting with the two flowers Lily had bought back, they were no closer to finding out how to activate the flower. Lily threw her hands up in the air, “I’m out of ideas.”

  “Vidya…” said Lobey slowly, giving Vidya a strange look.

  “The Fae Queen gets certain powers, right?”

  Vidya frowned for a moment. It took her a second to realise Lobey was talking about the fact she was the Fae Queen now. “Right… my father said the King or Queen has greater Fae powers… like…” a memory sparked in her mind. Her father not only had a guardian plant, but he was able to communicate with other plants as well. Not in the same way as a guardian, but enough to get by.

  Vidya looked at the fire flower sitting in the palm of Lily’s hand. “Fire flower, tell me how you light up.”

  Vidya heard nothing. She tried it a different way. “Fire flower, light up,” she commanded.

  The black flower shivered on the spot, then burst into a ball of yellow-orange fire. Lily screamed and dropped it. And there it sat on the grass, a tiny ball of fire.

  “Well, there we go,” said Lobey, clapping her hands. “Lucky you’re the Queen.”

  Vidya only felt relief. They had it. Once Willow and the others were done with the bow and arrows, off they would go into the Bunyip’s nest.

  As the sun sank low in the sky, Vidya kissed baby Mahiya’s forehead and passed her back to Toad. Then she, Lotus, Lily, and Willow walked out of the palace doors together. There was a tension in the air now, a heavy feeling that sat between them. Lobey had offered to change places with one of them so that Lotus or Lily could get a chance to rest and she could offer fresh energy to the task ahead. But the kids all declined, saying that the four Fae kids and Pancake knew each other well now, and all five of them wanted to finish what they had started together.

  They launched themselves across the bottomless sky, the two Fae guards waving goodbye behind them. Vidya looked out over the Fae forest. It seemed darker at that moment, but no movement shifted in between the line of gum trees. She looked up at the small slither of the moon in the sky. This time tomorrow night, the Bunyips would come to stand at that same tree line before flying across the sky to find the Fae.

  Right now, on Vidya’s orders, Lobey and the others were moving the smallest kids to the far side of the Fae city, as far as they could get, away from the forest side. Vidya didn’t want Mahiya or any of the other babies anywhere near the battle. She shuddered in the cool dusk air.

  The team touched down on the other side.

  “This time,” Vidya said as evenly as she could. “When you shoot, shoot to kill.”

  The others nodded silently.

  “We’re ready, Vidya,” said Lotus. “We’ll do what we have to do.”

  “Then let’s go.”

  * * *

  Since it was dark, Willow took the lead again, followed by Lily. Together, as they branch-hopped through the forest, they checked the path ahead for Bunyips and their tracks. It was only a few minutes before they came across the first of them.

  Willow raised his fist up to let the others know to stop, his body rigid with tension. He turned his face to look at Vidya, and she saw his face was ashen and taut with fear. He put a firm finger to his lips, and Vidya looked out to where he now pointed. No less than five Bunyips slinked ahead of them. Moving like sinister shadows in the dark, their fleshy grey wings flapped behind them. They were loitering in a clearing, discussing something.

  Lotus fluttered silently onto Vidya’s branch.

  “Should we kill them?” he hissed in her ear, gripping his bow tightly.

  She shook her head. It would cause a great noise to be sure, and five was too many. Vidya was just about to suggest that they fly into the air and fly to the Bunyip nest when the Bunyips in the clearing made a sudden movement, and as one group, they beat their wings and rose into the air.

  “Forward!” one of them cried. And together they advanced forward in a tight unit. “Right!” the same Bunyip cried, and smoothly, they flew perfectly to the right.

  “Dear mother earth,” breathed Lotus. “They’ve been practising.”

  The gaping hole in the bottom of Vidya’s belly grew deeper. She felt sick. They needed their parents back—they needed their Fae magic back, and right now. She took a deep, silent breath. Willow turned on his branch, and she signalled she should go back the way they came.

  Willow and Lily followed Vidya and Lotus this time, silently moving away from the practising Bunyips. Vidya led them to circle around the group to ensure they would not come close to being seen. Once they were past them and deeper in the forest, Willow took the lead again.

  They passed two more groups of Bunyips practising in the forest. Each team had managed to fly in tight formations and were clearly able to use their wings now. Taking a wide berth around the groups made their trip longer, as they had to be more careful, and soon it was deep into the night, the stars twinkling above them, before they reached the Bunyip’s Nest.

  * * *

  They were all gathered there, great, massive, heaving, black bodies, muscular and pacing, rumbling voices taking up the clearing.

  The Bunyip King stood in front of his wooden throne, addressing the group, waving his massive claws in the air for silence.

  “The Fae took everything from us!” cried the Bunyip King.

  The Bunyips roared in agreement, and the Fae kids covered their ears.

  “Now we will take it back!”

  “YES!” the group cried.

  “Tomorrow,” said the Bunyip King quietly.

  But during his speech, Vidya heard another voice.

  “Vidya….” Came the familiar voice in her head. “I feel you close by.”

  “Flower of Awakening!” Vidya said quickly in her mind. “I’m here! I’m here to save you! I have a bow and arrow from the wood of the Wollemi King…. and a fire flower. The reaction between them should create the magic you need to recharge!”

  “Tired…” was all the flower said.

  “Hold on!” Vidya cried desperately in her mind.

  “Let’s go while they’re distracted,” said Lotus, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “Let’s go.”

  Vidya frowned at Lotus. There were deep bags under the older boy’s eyes that she had not seen before. A bad feeling gnawed in the depths of Vidya’s belly, and it only increased the urgency of what they were there to do.

  They edged around the Bunyip Nest, closer to the entrance of the cave where the golden light now looked dangerously faint.

  Before they had left, they’d decided on a simple plan. Willow, who had the least chance of getting this wrong, would shoot the fire flower into the wall of the cavern near the Fl
ower of Awakening. Vidya would then command the fire flower to set itself alight, and then they would leave, quick smart, letting the magic do its thing.

  The Bunyips seemed to all be looking right at the Bunyip King, and caught up in his moving speech, they didn’t notice Willow as, crouched low, bow and arrow held at the ready with the fire flower already stuck to the tip, shot toward the cave, Vidya and Pancake close behind.

  Vidya couldn’t help but smile as she saw how far Willow had come. He had started off as a reluctant member of the team to becoming the very person upon whom the whole mission relied upon. And he did it with square shoulders and a set jaw.

  They entered the cave, Vidya’s heart pounding in her chest. She would finally get to see the Flower of Awakening in person!

  The first thing Vidya saw when she entered the cave was the Flower. She sat, golden and regal, the Queen of flowers looking solemn, glowing like a softer version of the sun, wide lotus like petals delicate but strong at the same time. But she did not have more than a second to marvel at it because what they had not counted on was that there would be two Bunyips stationed inside the cave, standing guard.

  Willow let out a gasp as he saw them but did not stop to think. He shot the flower arrow into the wall to the right of the Flower of Awakening, at the same time, the Bunyips let out a shout.

  “Light up!” Vidya hissed to the fire flower, and it did. Bursting in a ball of red light.

  The Bunyips let out a warning roar, but Willow had already begun bolting out of the cave.

  Vidya spun around to follow but as she did, the Bunyips, impossibly fast, darted behind her. She made it back out of the cave but felt a painful grip around the back of her neck. She, Pancake, and one of the Bunyips tumbled together into the dirt.

  “Shoot!” she heard someone cry and felt the Bunyip on top of her give a grunt and fall limp. Vidya disentangled herself from the Bunyip and leapt to her feet, just as the large group outside caught on to the commotion.

  An almighty roar reached her ears as the eyes of one hundred Bunyips turned their attention upon her. Ahead, she could just make out the form of the three others in the trees, waving her on. Willow had his bow in hand as he released another arrow, hitting home on the second Bunyip close behind Vidya. She bolted, fluttering her wings rapidly crossing the dirt clearing to the trees.

  She noticed what was missing a second too late.

  “Vidya!” screamed Pancake. Vidya’s heart stopped in her chest as she turned to look behind her.

  She watched as a Bunyip, with one huge black claw, grabbed the tiny brown ball of fur that was Pancake from where he lay on the ground, like he was nothing but a tiny rag doll.

  “Pancake!” she screamed back.

  “We have to go!” screamed Willow, grabbing a fistful of Vidya’s jacket and pulling her. “Fly, fly, fly!”

  As Willow pulled Vidya into the air, tears streaming down her face, the Bunyip King roared into the night.

  “Let them go! Because tomorrow night—”

  The Fae children flew into the night, cold wind sweeping through them as the Bunyip King’s voice hit them

  “—tomorrow night, you are all mine.”

  “Pancake!” Vidya sobbed into Willow’s shoulder as he held her close, practically flying the both of them. Lotus and Lily came around to help support Vidya, a flutter of yellow, orange, and navy wings surrounding her.

  “He’s gone,” said Lotus dully. “Poor little Pancake.”

  17

  A Dark Day

  “There is a light that exists within that Fae. It is a light that flickers within us all. And in Fae children, that light is a roaring fire, bold and booming and strong. With time, like all things, it fades. And when those embers extinguish, the light moves on to the next Fae.”

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

  * * *

  Vidya sat in her parents’ bedroom, rocking baby Mahiya in her arms. She felt numb. Pancake’s tiny body being swept up by the Bunyips was more than she could bear. She had cried more tears that she had thought was possible. They had returned the previous night; the others carrying her in their arms together. Lobey had not asked when she met them at the door. She had seen Vidya’s face and looked at each of them in turn—then her eyes had gone to Vidya’s empty shirt pocket, and she had known. Silently, they’d carried Vidya up to bed, and the four of them had slept together as she cried herself to sleep. Vidya refused to believe anything bad had happened to Pancake. Something in her knew he was still alive. The light in her mind that was Pancake had not gone out. She would know it if he was gone forever. That much she was sure about.

  And that night, she had a clear vision from the flower of Awakening.

  “Did it work?” she asked the flower as it sat in front of her.

  “I… feel something,” was all the flower would say.

  The vision faded, and Vidya was swept up in hours of dreamless sleep. When she got up, she went straight to her parents’ room to hold Mahiya for a little while.

  “Fingers crossed, Mahi,” she said softly. “Mother and father will wake up soon, and father will tell us what to do about the Bunyips, and we can just go back to the way things were.” She kissed Mahiya on the forehead. “Doesn’t that sound good?”

  Mahiya blinked up at her with wide green eyes and gurgled. Vidya grinned at her baby sister.

  By her parents’ bedside, she waited and waited and waited. But still her parents did not wake. As they slept on, the sinking feeling in her chest grew and grew into a dark gaping hole. As it reached midday, Vidya had to admit to herself the harsh truth. The spell given to them by the Wollemi Tree King had not worked. She saw the face of the little mushroom Lily had tripped on, the one that had told her she was no Queen and the Leaf Master’s raspy voice played in her mind.

  * * *

  “I’m foolish and I’m selfish.

  I till the soil and dig the land

  And will fulfil your every wish

  All the earth I do command

  Come at me with your best

  And I’ll chop you up

  Good and fresh”

  The Bunyip King would pay for this, Vidya decided. In whatever way she could manage, he would pay.

  A commotion outside made her stand up abruptly, clutching Mahiya to her chest.

  Lobey burst into the room, red faced and panting.

  “We have a problem,” she said. “The twelve-year olds, Lotus and a few others. They’re asleep. They won’t wake up.”

  Vidya’s heart sank even deeper into the bowels of her belly. The Flower was weakening even more, and now even the children were being affected. It would weaken until the youngest children fell asleep. Vidya was ten. She would be next.

  Vidya cast another look at her parents and put down baby Mahiya in her cot with a sigh. “Show me the damage.”

  Lotus was fast asleep on Vidya’s bed. He hadn’t even woken up that morning. Luna had run around the palace and the city to do a tally and found that twenty Fae twelve and some eleven-year-olds were asleep.

  “We’ll have to move them all this afternoon,” said Vidya. “Right to the back of the city. It’s time to move my parents and Mahiya as well. Our plan didn’t work.”

  “You tried, Vidya,” said Lobey gently. “Now we have to fight.”

  “I know, how are the bows and arrows coming?”

  “We have plenty of bows,” Lobey replied, “And the kids are still whittling the arrows and dipping them in the venom. I told them not to stop. We need as many as we can get.”

  “We do,” agreed Vidya.

  “What about the nets?”

  “Done, and in position.”

  Vidya nodded.

  “Lobey, I—”

  “Don’t, Vidya,” said Lobey, her eyes red and shining. “We’re all frightened. We need our Queen to be strong. Would you speak to the little kids? I think they’d like that.”

  Vidya agreed, everything as they knew it was changing, and wh
atever tonight brought was not going to be good. If her mother were here leading the Fae city, she would make sure everyone was calm and that no one was panicking. But your mother would have never failed, said a dark voice in the back of her mind. Your mother always did what she set out to do. Vidya shook herself, pushing the thought away. Mother always did her best, and that’s all I can do as well. That’s what she would want me to do.

  An hour later, Vidya, Lobey, Willow, Luna, and Toad, plus two Devil’s Finger plants, carried the King and Queen and baby Mahiya out of the Palace. All morning, Lobey had directed the strong trees to carry the sleeping Fae to their hiding spot, and the royal family were the last. Vidya had been holding onto hope that they would wake, but it was finally time to admit they were still asleep and hide them away to keep them safe.

  As they strode past the tree houses of the Fae city, Vidya remembered how, just before all the adults had fallen asleep, Nani had told her to help her father find a solution to the mystery of what was going on. Nani had no idea how things had come about. The Devil’s Fingers trees holding Nani in her hammock would not let them move her. Deciding that the fearsome trees would guard Nani better than anyone else, they decided to let it be.

  But walking past the greenhouses had reminded Vidya of something else.

  “Father said that each Fae king or queen is granted another power,” she said out loud.

  Lobey raised her eyebrows. “I was wondering when you’d remember that one,” she said smoothly. “The power to create your own plant? I’ve been wondering which genius King or Queen came up with the Devil’s Fingers.”

  Vidya smirked. “And the stink flower. They had a sense of humour, didn’t they?”

  “Have you decided what it’ll be?” Lobey asked.

  The idea had been creeping in the back of her mind as soon as the Yarama chief had given their noses to the Leaf Master.