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

No one knew their names, they were only known by their titles. They were the gigantic ancestors of the animals that currently roamed the Australian continent. The megafauna. These were the only ones left.

King Farrion acknowledged them one by one with his eyes, as his father had taught him.

The Great Echidna was as big as a hippopotamus, her long spikes glinting dangerously in the low light.

The Great Platypus, as large as a bull, gazed pleasantly back at him.

The Great Australian Lion was twice the size of lions normally found in African jungles and majestically sat on his hind legs.

The Great Wombat was as large as any elephant Farrion had seen and stood serenely still.

The Great Kangaroo stood taller than the height of two grown men standing on top of each other, intimidating with his strong, muscular chest.

The Thunderbird was taller still, with his extraordinarily long neck, and powerful muscular legs.

The Great Python, well over ten metres long, was mostly coiled, with his head raised, tasting the air with his tongue.

Farrion gulped under their heavy gazes. He took a steadying breath that moved his shoulders slightly and held out his glass vial. In it, sat a tiny shining crystal.

“Old ones, I present my offering. A crystallised tear of a Fae seeing the love of his life return to him.”

He bent down and with both hands set it on the flat rock in front of him.

“This is a most precious gift, Farrion,” said the Great Kangaroo in a deep, resonant voice. “What is it that ails you?”

“I… feel something in the air. Something dark. I cannot quite place it. I have never felt this before. It is sinister and unwavering. Haunting.”

A wind blew through the clearing, and Farrion was reassured by the familiar smell of the eucalypts. His beating heart slowed, and spoke his mind.

“I think something is coming for the Fae. I sense a change in the air and… in myself.”

“This is troubling,” came the mild voice of the Great Echidna. “Are you sure it is not just some unrest in the Fae forest?”

Farrion shook his head slowly at her. “No, I—”

He paused. This thing he had been thinking—too fearful to say out loud for many days now needed to be said. He could not keep it in the dark any longer. They needed to know.

“There is one more thing.”

He took a deep breath.

“I feel the power of the Fae weakening.”

For the first time in his memory, Farrion saw the Old Ones exchange uncomfortable glances.

“This is troubling news, Farrion,” hissed the Great Python.

“Things begin…” droned the Great Wombat. “And so, things must also end.”

Silence. Farrion frowned. Did he mean that this meant the power of the Fae was ending? That they would be gone? No, he couldn’t possibly mean that. The line of the Fae could not end with him. He wouldn’t allow it.

“There must be a source,” he said quickly. “Some reason for it that I can stop—”

“Then,” interrupted the Great Python, “if there is a cause, you must find it and create a solution.”

The same power that kept the Fae alive was the same power that kept the earth alive. The same power that kept the Old Ones alive. Farrion spread his hands out in front of him.

“The power of the Fae is tied to the land. The very earth itself. How could anything tamper with that?”

“Summer may follow spring,” boomed the Great Thunderbird. “But winter must follow autumn.”

What on earth does that mean? Farrion thought, astounded. He had expected some type of answer, or show of support, not riddles telling him this was as natural as the seasons!

“I do not know what to do,” was all he could say.

“We have seen every age, Farrion,” said the Great Echidna. “There comes a time in every age where a King’s rule is challenged. You must look deep within to find the heart of what it means to be Fae. And there you will find your answer.”

Farrion gaped at her and then remembered who he was speaking to and closed his mouth.

“The very existence of the Fae is being challenged, Old one. This is a problem I do not believe the Fae have ever seen before.”

“There was one time,” boomed the Great Thunderbird. “A time even none here remember.”

A time before the Old Ones themselves? This talking in riddles was not helping. His people were at risk. Everything was at risk.

“I can feel it, Old Ones. I feel something coming. Something big. Something that seeks to bring down the Fae.”

There was silence.

Then the Great Kangaroo spoke in a voice that Farrion felt in his bones.

“This tells me one thing, Farrion.”

Farrion waited, holding his breath.

“That you must prepare for war.”

1

The First day of Spring

To be Fae is to hear the whispers of trees as one would hear their own thoughts. It is to feel the earth beneath your feet as one would feel their own heartbeat. It is to see the dance of all the things that make up the world and know that dance, dances within you.

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

Deep in the bushland off the Eastern Australian coast, behind a door hidden inside a eucalyptus tree, lies the Kingdom of Eastern Bushland Fae. This is just one of the many hidden kingdoms of the world. Each Fae kingdom differs greatly from the others, and this particular one is marked by its magnificent city in the sky.

Through the tree-portal, you will find yourself in a lush green forest like no other. This is the Fae Forest, and the deeper you wander, the stranger and more tricksy the creatures and plants become. There are goblins who will steal your nose, trees with long fingers that will snatch bags from unsuspecting travellers, and worst still are the cunning spirits who pretend to help you but will only lead you deeper into danger.

If you are lucky enough to find the path that leads out of the forest, you will find that