The Fae Princess (The Pacific Princesses Book 2) by Ektaa Bali (books to improve english .txt) 📗

Wings fluttered nervously below her, and somewhere, a baby squealed. Fae magic had never been known to fade before. Their magic was as sure as the sun rising every morning.

“How!” cried somebody she couldn’t see. “How could Fae magic fade away?”

Anxious talking broke out.

“Listen!” she shouted. Slowly, they quietened down. “I have an idea why. First, I need the oldest kids to come to me after this meeting. Since the grown-ups are not here, it’ll be up to us to sort this out. Second!” she said loudly as more whispering began. “I need the older kids to look after the younger kids and babies. Do the same things you do every day. Make sure you eat, make sure you feed the babies and change them. Got it?”

Irritated grumbles came from the crowd. “To make sure,” she called over the noise. “The Lady Lobelia, Lady Lunaria and Lady Linaria, will come around to each of your houses and will check on you all while I take care of our problem. Those who aren’t doing what they’re told will be in big trouble when the grownups wake up. Got it?”

Vidya scanned the crowd, meeting as many pairs of eyes as she could to show she meant business. She received nods and small smiles in return. Nodding back, she finished. “Okay, the third thing is, I need anyone who knows their guardian plant to collect as much of their herbs, berries, and leaves, as possible, whatever is useful. I’m going to send Lady Lobelia out with a piece of leaf-paper to mark down who has what guardian plant so see if we can use it in some way.”

Vidya sighed and nodded encouragingly at them all. “We’ll have this sorted, don’t worry. Now, I need the oldest kids up here. You can all go.”

That was good, Vidya thought to herself. I think father would have done it the same way.

The crowd dispersed, and she noticed Toad directing the kids out safely while Lobey gathered up the eldest of the kids.

Vidya waited as Lobey led a small group up the stairs to her. “I’ve sent Luna and Toad down to the city,” she said. “Here are the oldest kids.”

Fifteen Fae kids, a year or two older than Vidya, lined up in front of her, one of them was Willow.

“Here’s the thing,” she said slowly, looking them all each in the eye. “I don’t want the little kids knowing this, but the Fae forest has a big problem. There is a… creature roaming around, defying the King’s Law and attacking Fae.”

Their mouths dropped open in shock, wings twitching anxiously. They knew as well as she did this was a very bad thing.

“We’re safe on this side of the bottomless sky, of course,” she assured them. “But they seem to think it’s linked to the Fae magic draining. The King… the king told me to prepare for a war.”

She was met by stunned silence.

Willow was the first to speak. “We are Fae, Vidya,” he said slowly. “War is something we do not do.”

Vidya swallowed. “These are the words from my father, the King, Willow. Lobey heard it too.”

“I did,” said Lobey, lifting her chin. “He said to prepare for war.”

Willow made a small ‘o’ with his mouth. “Maybe he meant we should prepare for it. As in, defend the palace, right? Not to go out… and hurt whatever it is.”

Vidya chewed on her lip briefly. Perhaps Willow was right. Her father had said ‘prepare,’ not ‘go and fight a war.’ “We need more information,” said Vidya. “What I need is to make sure you all know what we’re in for. Do what you think preparing for war means.”

They all looked at each other uncertainly. What did preparing for war mean?

“Weapons,” said Lobey, thinking out loud. “Bows and arrows.”

“And food,” said an older girl with yellow wings, “Collect all that sort of stuff.”

Vidya nodded. “Good ideas, everyone. By the time anything happens, I’m sure the adults will wake back up and tell us what to do.”

There were nods all around. But in the back of Vidya’s mind, Uncle Jula-wil’s wispy voice sounded in her brain. Darkness approaches. First, the Fae magic was fading. Now the adults were asleep. What came next?

“Lobey made a good point,” said Vidya. “We are Fae children. If we are harmed, we are allowed to defend ourselves.”

The group replied with nods. Of course, they all knew this rule.

“But hopefully we don’t need to,” said Willow.

“Right,” confirmed Vidya. “So… Willow, you’re the best with an arrow, we need anyone who knows how to start making some bows and arrows and get practising with them. Can you be in charge of that?”

Willow nodded unhappily, and Vidya looked out at the rest of them.

“Alright, so what are your names, and what are you good at?” she asked. One by one, each Fae stepped forward and told her their name and if they had any skills yet. One was good at tracking, another was good at boiling potions, another was the fastest in her class. Lobey wrote them down on a piece of leaf-paper.

“Great, so we’ll keep all this in mind… and in the coming days, we’ll see what use we have for each one of you. Everyone will need to pitch in. It’s just us, after all.”

Vidya took a deep breath. She was really just making all this up as she went along. Fifteen pairs of eyes looked back at her. What next?

She was saved from her thoughts as a magical wind whipped through the air, making all their wings flutter. Vidya turned to look through an open window in the wall to her right where a green leaf spun and danced its way through the air. She stepped toward it and grabbed it quickly. She saw her own writing, then turned it over to read the reply.

She grinned. Finally, something she could count on.

“But first,” she said. “Tomorrow at dawn, I’ll choose a couple of you to come with me to escort Princess Sonakshi through the