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

When Vidya and Pancake woke up, sunlight streamed through the trees—impossibly huge trees as big and as tall as mountains. She stood, rubbing her eyes, staring up at the impossibly blue sky she could see through the bright evergreen leaves. A sweet wind tickled her cheek, and as she cast her eye around her, her heart skipped a beat in her chest. She knew she was not in the Fae forest anymore.

“Pancake,” she whispered. The little quokka’s mouth was hanging open as he stared at their surroundings. “I think… I think…” but she couldn’t say it out loud, so she scooped him and held him close to her, because she needed to feel like something was real and sure. That this wasn’t all a dream that she didn’t understand. Together, they walked through the Old Country, smelling the sweet air, craning their necks at the tallest trees she had ever seen. It felt like her eyes weren’t big enough to take it all in. She wondered if her father felt the same when he came here himself, only a few days ago. She just walked in the direction that felt right, where it felt good to her, and eventually, the trees stopped, forming a ring around a huge grassy plain. It was a clearing. Just as her father had once described to her. The clearing. A smooth flat rock sat just in front of her, out past the line of trees. She gazed at it for a moment, wondering what to do next. And then Pancake took out the now dry golden petal and held it up to her. Her mouth made a tiny ‘oh’, and she nodded. Her father had taught her the old ways of things. She took the golden petal with its faded glow and stepped forward to place it gently on the stone.

“A petal,” she whispered. “From the Flower of Awakening. This is my offering.”

A gentle breeze rustled the leaves on the trees behind her, but nothing happened.

“Old ones,” Vidya whispered. “Princess Vidya of the Eastern Bushland Fae requests your help.” She closed her eyes and waited.

It began as a rumble in the distance, and Vidya’s heart almost leapt out of her chest.

Boom, boom, boom, the steady, heavy beat sounded all around her. The ground beneath her vibrated with each thump, and Vidya realised they were the sound of impossibly heavy footsteps.

And then they entered the clearing, and both Vidya and Pancake had to remind themselves to breathe. Vidya remembered them all from Master Sunny’s classes many years ago. The Old Ones were an important part of their history, and everyone knew who they were.

The Great Echidna arrived first, bumbling in on all fours, but unlike tiny Uncle Jula-wil, she was enormous, with spines twice the length of any man’s arm.

The Great Platypus stood next to her, as big as a cow.

The Great Marsupial Lion was three times the size of any lion she had seen in any book and came and sat in the circle, staring at her curiously.

The Great Wombat was as big as an African hippopotamus.

The Great Kangaroo was twice the height of her father and stood intimidating and muscular.

The Great Thunderbird had brilliant orange plumage and was even taller than the kangaroo sitting on his haunches.

And last slithered in the great Python, as thick as a tree trunk and infinitely long, forked tongue tasting the air.

They all stood in the semicircle around Vidya, and she felt their gazes on her like a heavy blanket. And now that they stood here, she didn’t know quite what to do.

“Only the Fae monarch may call upon the Old Ones, Vidya,” came a whisper of a voice coming from the Great Echidna.

Vidya froze in place. That was true, only the King or Queen of the land could call upon the old ones.

“H-how did I get here then?” she asked uncertainly.

“We would also like to know this,” boomed the Great Kangaroo in a voice that made Vidya jump a little. “And I would also like to know where you got this petal from.”

Vidya swallowed and tried to explain it as best she could. “The Fae kingdom is in danger. The adults have fallen into a magical sleep. And I have just learned that it is because the Flower of Awakening has been taken by the Bunyips and drained of its power. They have wings now and want to wage war on us. They want revenge.”

She was met with silence. A wind rustled the feathers of the Great Thunderbird.

The Great Python let out a hiss. “King Fern sought our counsel two hundred years ago,” he hissed. “We knew that solution would not last forever.”

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

“There is still the matter of the monarch,” grumbled the Great Lion.

“Let us fix that immediately,” said the Great Platypus lightly.

“We announce,” said the Great Echidna. “Thee Vidya as Fae Queen of the Eastern Bushland Realm, until such time as your father returns to assume his throne.”

Vidya stood there, stunned. Pancake let out a soft ‘wow’.

The Great Thunderbird suddenly turned his head toward the sky and let out an almighty piercing call that made the hairs on Vidya’s arms stand up straight. The earth beneath them began to tremble, and in the middle of the semi-circle, the grass began to fall in upon itself, the very earth collapsing to make a small hole. Inside the newly created dip in the earth, something glinted silver.

The Great Kangaroo bounded powerfully up to the hole and bent low, picking up the shiny object. He turned toward Vidya, who gasped when she saw was it was.

A tiara of stunning filigree silver and pink diamonds sparkled in the sunlight. Without a sound, the Great Kangaroo bounded up to Vidya in a single leap and laid the tiara on her head. Up close, he smelled like flowers and sunlight, his russet fur wasn’t one colour at all but a mixture of colours.