by Ektaa Bali
Vidya ran her hands through her magenta curls and looked at her palm. Two curly strands of pink hair had come away and were now sitting in her hand. She smiled and walked over to a patch of earth just beyond her mother’s rose bushes. She crouched down and dug a small hole with one hand and lay the hairs in the ground with the other. She covered it back up, whispering exactly what she had in mind into the soil. “Grow,” she sung in a sweet voice. “The Fae Queen commands you to grow exactly as asked.”
She grinned to herself and walked back over to Lobey and the others, patiently waiting for her on the path.
“Well, are you gonna tell us?” said Lobey, frowning at the patch of soil.
“It’s a surprise,” grinned Vidya. “A surprise for Lotus.”
* * *
The procession made their way into a back corner of the Fae city. Inside a house built inside a large Blackwood tree, a secret door led into a vast space fitted with a kitchen and many cosy beds. The Fae children sat on tiny tables and stools, eating berries and painting on leaf paper with colourful paints. If the Bunyips beat them in battle, they would have trouble finding the secret house in this tree, keeping everyone safe. Asleep, but safe.
Vidya stood in front of the Fae babies and children, their tiny wings fluttering excitedly as they laid their eyes on her silver tiara. She took it off her head and passed it to Lobey, who stepped around the room, allowing them to touch it gently, one by one. They gasped as Vidya relayed the story of how the Old Ones had made her Queen of the Fae. But at the end, Daisy’s question took her by surprise.
“Are we going to die?”
The backs of Vidya’s eyes burned, and ice pierced her heart. She took a deep breath to steady herself, watching a tiny boy prod her tiara with a fat finger, then giggle. She gave Daisy a small smile. “I’m not going to let that happen. We will fight.”
“But the Fae do not—” she began.
“Fight, I know, little one,” interrupted Vidya. “But we have no choice. The Fae children are allowed to defend ourselves.”
Daisy’s purple wings drooped where she sat, and Vidya’s heart drooped with it.
“In a hundred years’ time, the Fae will tell their kids the story of how the Fae kids saved the realm. They’ll sing songs about us. Of this very day. If you’re frightened or worried tonight, think about that.”
Daisy’s face lit up. Dimples and teeth flashed in eager smiles. ‘Yes’ they nodded. ‘A story about us! That’s so exciting.’
* * *
As the older kids left the hidey house, sealing the wooden door behind them, Willow grabbed Vidya’s elbow, and she turned with a frown.
“There’s always a choice, Vidya,” he urged.
“You want me to surrender?” she asked, shocked. “To hand ourselves over. To hand Mahiya, the children over to them?”
“I made a second arrow out of the wood of the Wollemi Pine King,” said Willow, his navy wings twitching anxiously. “We just have to think, there must be some other—”
“I’ve thought and thought and thought, Will,” hissed Vidya. “This is it. If you have any ideas, let me know.” And with that, she turned, spun on her heel, and stomped back up to the castle, fighting tears. Did he think she wanted this? She had no choice. None of them had any choice at all!
When she reached the back door of the castle, Lily burst through, her face ashen with fright.
“Vidya!” she cried. “Hurry! Come and see!”
* * *
Vidya and the others behind her ran to the palace entrance. Against the bright blue of the Fae sky, a thick black blob was flying toward them. With a jolt, she realised it was a Bunyip, but just a single one, and holding something brown and round high in the air.
“It’s Pancake!” cried Willow.
With the cry, Vidya ran out past the doors and down the long path. The others cried for her to stop but they remained hidden behind the door. This would be the first time the others had seen a Bunyip in person. Only Willow followed Vidya at a jog, with his bow and an arrow knocked at the ready. As Vidya ran down the path, she could see that dark figures were looming on the other side of the bottomless sky. The two Fae kids guarding the lawn ran to stand behind Vidya.
As the Bunyip began his descent, Vidya could see Pancake’s round form held tightly by the Bunyip’s two claws. But in Pancake’s hands was a small white piece of cloth, and he was waving it at Vidya.
Vidya and Willow came to a halt at the end of the path, warily watching the Bunyip who was baring his sharp yellow teeth.
“It’s a peace flag,” said Willow, surprised. “Are they trying to negotiate?”
The Bunyip touched down meters from the two Fae, and he set Pancake down on the ground. The tiny quokka bolted toward Vidya as fast as he could.
“Oh, Pancake!” Vidya cried, running toward him. They reached each other halfway, and Vidya scooped Pancake up and kissed him all over his face. He smelled a little bad, but she didn’t care.
“Vidya!” Pancake cried, tears rolling down his face. “I thought I was dead!”
“I didn’t think you were,” said Vidya. “But are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
Pancake looked up at Vidya with wet eyes. “Roughed me up a little. Nothing too bad.”
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” muttered Willow from behind them. “But there is a Bunyip on our lawn.”
“Right,” said Pancake, shuddering, glancing at the Bunyip who was impatiently waiting just meters away. “Read this. He made me write it.”
Vidya unrolled the leaf paper and read Pancake’s messy handwriting.
* * *
Queen of the Fae filth. Surrender to the Bunyip King now and we shall be merciful. Do not surrender, and we will wage a war on your land like the Fae have never seen. I am giving you back this small animal as a token of my generosity.
* * *
Vidya frowned at the note.
“They want us to surrender?” asked Willow, reading over her shoulder.
But before Vidya could reply, the Bunyip interrupted in a rough, jeering voice.
“That’s right,” he said snapping at them. “Invite us in to take over the palace and it make it ours. And we will spare your lives.”
“Are you the Bunyip King?” asked Vidya.
“No. I am his General,” the Bunyip sneered. “What is your answer?”
Vidya didn’t even need to think about it. She scrunched the note in her hand.
“Never.”
The Bunyip General threw his head back and let out a terrifying roar. Vidya clenched her jaw, determined not to clap her hands over her ears. She did not want to look scared in front of her enemy.
“I will meet you on the battleground tonight, Fae children,” he sneered. And with that, he leapt up into the sky, flapping his grey wings powerfully, gaining height more quickly than any Fae ever could, and then he was back into the Fae forest, disappearing into the shadows.
Vidya was fuming. She put Pancake on her shoulder, turned on her heel, and strode back into the palace.
Vidya lifted Pancake from her shoulder and turned him in her arms to look at her.
“War is no place for a quokka,” she said gently. “You need to go to the hidey house with my parents and Mahiya.”
“But I want to help!” he squeaked sadly, looking at his feet.
“You’ve done enough, my friend.” Vidya smiled at him. “And almost died while you were at it.”
Pancake nodded sadly. “Keep the children company, okay?”
She placed him on the ground, and he lumbered away. She had only just gotten him back, and now she was sending him away. It made her heart ache to look at his small form scuttling away into the palace, but it had to be done.
Lobey and the others awaited her just inside the palace entry, wide eyed.
“That was a Bunyip?” asked Lobey, gulping.
“Yes,” said Vidya fiercely. “And tonight, we will destroy them all.”
Mouths dropped around her as Vidya pac
ed up and down the entrance hall, talking out loud.
“Once they cross the bottomless sky tonight, they will kill us all. Our spell didn’t work. The Flower of Awakening is too weak, and we have no choice.”
Vidya pointed at Luna. “We’ll need to collect ideas, everyone. We’re going to booby trap this place to the nines.”
She pointed at Lily. “Lil, collect stink flower bulbs. As many as possible. Take a few kids to help you.”
Lily nodded vigorously.
Then she pointed at Lobey. “Lobelia.” Lobey snapped to attention. “I want to you to release the Devil’s Fingers.”
“All of them?”
“Every single one.”
18
War
Thou Fae must never harm another living being, lest it be to save that being’s own life.
—The Book of the Fae, Queen Mab the First, 3333 B.C.
* * *
As the last rays of the sun disappeared for the night, in a tiny back corner of the city, behind a secret door, Toad, Luna, Daisy, and the young children huddled next to each other in a group. Daisy held Pancake in her arms, rocking him like a baby. Together, they sang old songs their parents had once sung to them.
At the front of the city, high on the roof of the palace, Vidya breathed in the night air and shivered. She stood with Lobey, Willow, Toad, Lily, and a few other Fae kids their age, all with bows slung over their shoulders. Over the past hour, they had watched the Bunyips gather on the other side of the bottomless sky, right between the trees that lined the cliff. They were like black, writhing shadows, darkening the landscape of the once peaceful forest. The Bunyips were quiet. They made no extra noise that carried across the bottomless sky, and calmly paced the length of the cliff.
“Is everything else in place, Lobey?” asked Vidya.
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, Vidya.”
Behind them, and spread out through the whole palace, Devil’s Fingers trees strode about. Somehow, Lobey had named them all. The ones who stood at the top of the castle were the nastiest of the lot and had orders to guard each Fae child with their life. Hers, a fat sturdy black one, was called Timmy, Vidya’s shorter, skinnier tree built for speed, was called Wally, and Willow’s sturdy fellow was Tully.
When the first stars twinkled in the sky, Vidya turned to address the gathered Fae.
“Aim well, everyone. We don’t want to run out of arrows.”
“I don’t feel good about this,” whispered Willow. “I think I already killed one or two last night.”
“Well, none of us are going to feel anything good if we’re dead, either.”
“This isn’t like the last time,” said Lobey reasonably. “Last time, the Fae adults and Queen of the merpeople rounded up the Bunyips and trapped them. We don’t have the same ability.”
“And,” added Vidya, “they’re coming after us this time. They’re out to get us.”
“I can’t believe we’re still arguing about this, to be honest,” said Lobey. “We’re waging war tonight.” She unslung her bow from her shoulder and took out an arrow. “You don’t want to die, Willow,” she said fiercely. “Fight!”
The sky was a deep blue now, tiny bits of orange light just left of the sun in the west.
“Draw your bows,” cried Vidya. “This is it!”
They had prepared two types of arrows. The first was poisoned with the venom of the brown snake. Any Bunyip hit with it would fall to the ground within minutes.
The second type of arrow was not sharp. The end of it was a thin round balloon of a flower that was the stink flower. If you got a bunyip in the eye, the balloon would burst, releasing the awful smelling liquid that made their eyes sting badly for hours. The Bunyips would be practically blinded for the rest of the battle.
Each entrance of the palace was booby-trapped with more stink flowers. Bunyips would not be able to get through any door without getting a face-full of the stuff.
Vidya surveyed the Bunyips on the other side. They had all taken Bilberry juice tonight, and it made Vidya’s eyes super sharp. So, she didn’t need Willow to tell her:
“That’s him, the Bunyip King.”
From out of the black shadows, a huge, dark, silky form emerged. The other Bunyips hurriedly got out of the way, bowing low as their leader came to stand at the edge of the cliff. He stood tall on his hind legs and stretched his arms lazily above him. Vidya saw rows and rows of sharp, spikey teeth glinting in the starlight. He stretched out his wings, and the grey flesh flapped like a triumphant flag.
“He thinks he’s already won,” murmured Lobey. Vidya felt the heat rise in her cheeks, but what emerged out of the forest behind him made her fingers tremble on her bowstring.
A gentle golden glow peeked through the trees. Rays of golden light wavered as if moving to a stride. The Flower of Awakening emerged out of the forest, carried high in the air by two Bunyips on the wide bark of a tree. She sat, a tired queen, her roots dangling over the edge of the bark.
Vidya’s heart beat unevenly.
“Vidya…” she heard the Flower of Awakening as barely a whisper in her mind. “I need…”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” cried Vidya out loud. The others swivelled their heads to stare at her. “I’m sorry, Flower of Awakening!” she cried. “But the evil that took you will pay.”
“Are you… talking to it?” said Lobey in surprise.
Vidya nodded. “I think… I think…” but Vidya could not say it out loud.
“Say it, Vidya,” Lobey lowered her bow and turned to Vidya. “Say it out loud.”
Vidya bit her lip and looked at her feet. It didn’t matter now; she had failed. “She is my guardian flower.” Vidya turned to the rest of them. “The Flower of Awakening is my guardian flower.”
The mouths dropped open, eyes grew big, Willow shook his head.
“Now that is something,” he murmured.
“For all the good it does now,” said Vidya.
A roar pierced the air, and the Fae children turned to see the Bunyip King, his head thrown back, teeth bared at the sky, roaring into the darkest night air. The other Bunyips followed suit, and the sound rumbled toward them across the Bottomless Sky. The two Bunyips holding the Flower of Awakening laid her down on the ground.
Hearts pounding, sweat trickling down their backs, Vidya and the others drew their weapons.
“Remember,” said Vidya, not moving her eyes away from the Bunyips. “They are not to get further than the palace.”
As one, the Bunyips rose like a black swarm of angry bees into the sky.
“Steady,” warned Vidya.
“Devil’s Fingers!” cried Lobey. “Be ready!”
As the black cloud of Bunyips flocked into the sky and crossed the gap between them, Vidya’s heart felt like it was going to beat right out of her chest. She blinked once, twice, then marked three Bunyips in the sky as hers. They would spread out, she assumed, with a few going for each entrance to the palace.
The Bunyips flew within range, and Willow was the first to let loose an arrow, followed quickly by the others. Vidya shot arrows in quick succession. At least five Bunyips dropped out of the sky. Lobey let out a cry of triumph.
“Go!” Vidya shouted, turning to run into the palace, the others close behind. They heard the roar of injured Bunyips dropping out of the sky, and their hearts leapt with hope.
Other Fae kids continued to shoot from the windows inside the palace. Everyone was spread out to make it as difficult as possible for the Bunyips to find them while still doing as much damage as possible from a distance.
The Fae kids ran through the palace in twos and threes, the Devil’s Fingers following them close behind. The Bunyips landed on the palace roof with heavy thuds. Vidya veered into a side room with Willow, while Lobey and Lily turned into another room.
Roars announced the entrance of the Bunyips into the palace. Vidya and Willow waited in their room with Wally and Tully. The two Devil’s Fi
ngers trees stood guard between the kids and door, waiting, swaying menacingly, their gnarly, bark-hands held up in a fighting stance.
Bunyips rushed past them down the corridor, and the two kids waited for one to see them. In Vidya’s mind, there were only one hundred or so Bunyips in the army. That was only one hundred well-placed arrows. Vidya kept a count in her head. At least five had fallen in the sky. That meant ninety-five to go.
A Bunyip came to a halt outside the doorway to the room she and Willow were in. He snarled, baring his teeth, and leapt forward. Wally and Tully grabbed him, and Willow loosened a stink flower arrow right into his eyes. The Bunyip screamed, but a moment later, a second and third entered. The Devil’s Fingers took a Bunyip each, punching them with their strong barky arms.
“The Fae Queen is here!” roared one of them. Suddenly, ten Bunyips were clambering to get into the room, trying to claw past each other.
Willow and Vidya let loose one arrow after the other. Six, seven, eight, nine, counted Vidya.
Three Bunyips leapt onto Tully, and he was bitten over and over again, bark flying everywhere.
Wally was being overcome with even more Bunyips.
“Out the window!” cried Willow.
The two of them turned and ran to the window, Vidya leapt through first, into the night air, followed by Willow. They turned in the air and shot at the Bunyips, now trying to get outside the window after them, but it was a small window, and only one could get through at a time. Soon, unconscious Bunyips were hanging out the window, plugging it so the others couldn’t get through. The kids turned their attentions to their surroundings.
A whoosh and burst of bright light behind her told Vidya that the Bunyips had tripped the booby-trap of flames that would stop any Bunyips from leaving the palace. The last thing Vidya wanted was Bunyips entering the Fae city and finding the secret hiding spot the babies and adults were sleeping in. They had used the last fire flower and oil from the marshes that Lily had brought back. They had dribbled a tiny line of oil all the way down the length of the back palace wall and laid the fire flower in the middle. Vidya had spoken to the Fire flower firmly, ‘if any Bunyip should step onto the line of oil, she should light up immediately’. Looks like the little black flower had listened, because she heard a couple of Bunyips screaming. But the fire would not stop them from flying over, so Willow and Vidya stationed themselves next to the short wall of flames and shot any flying Bunyip immediately.