The Fae Princess (The Pacific Princesses Book 2) Ektaa Bali (free ebook reader txt) 📖

sat still and black, snuggled into the wet ground. “These are the same ones the Yarama had in their lanterns.”

Lotus walked through the marshes, his boots making a soft squelching sound with each step. The others followed him, curiously looking around at the strange black, leathery flowers.

If they could have smelled the gas in the air, they would’ve immediately known that what they were doing was a very, very bad idea, and they would’ve left immediately. As it was, however, the four kids and Pancake, now balanced on Vidya’s shoulder wandered further into the golden marshes, entranced by the way their feet made small dents in the glowing earth. Lotus paused in his examinations and crouched, placing his hands into the wet, sandy earth.

“It’s warm,” he said in surprise, grabbing some of the earth and squelching it in between his hands. He squinted at the ground, peering at it, bent down low. “What is that? Willow, what do your Bilberry eyes see?”

Vidya felt Willow crouch down behind her. Lily had plucked a black flower and was feeling its leaves between her fingers. She raised it to her face to smell it, then realised she didn’t have a nose with which to smell and let out a sort of half giggle, half sob.

“It smells weird here,” said Pancake watching her, his little black nose twitching in distaste.

“What does it smell like, Pancake?” asked Willow frowning deeply.

“Hmmm,” Pancake tapped a finger to his chin. “Not smelled before, but bad.”

“Like someone farted bad?” asked Lotus. “Or like something else.”

Pancake shook his head. “Not like fart. Just bad.”

“Well,” said Willow. “Whatever it is beneath the earth, it’s shifting, do you see that?”

Vidya squinted at the ground. Beneath the earth, the glow moved unevenly and unpredictably. Vidya was reminded of Mahiya’s sparks, the way one of her sparks would move rapidly and make something catch alight. Lily unfurled the map again to study it in the new light. In the distance, the sky began to lighten with the dawn. But then Willow spoke, and it all clicked together.

“This… wet stuff. It’s not water,” he said with a dark note in his voice.

They all turned to look at him.

He held up the shining liquid he had just rubbed between his fingers. “It’s oil.”

“Guys…” said Lily quietly, shaking out the map. “There’s writing here on the map we didn't see before. Here it says ‘natural gases’ and the map doesn’t call these the western marshes. They’re called the ‘Western Exploding Marshes’.

“Uh oh!” shouted Vidya. “Run!”

They all turned to run back out the way they came but were immediately stopped.

“Oh, there’ll be no running,” came a raspy, sinister voice.

15

The Leaf Master

When all seems lost, look up to the sky and look down to the ground and know that while the earth sings her song beneath your feet, you are never alone.

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

They had been foolish to think that they had lost the Leaf Master in their rush through the forest.

He sat on his gigantic horse-sized toad, whose broad leathery belly inflated like a balloon with every breath. The Leaf Master smirked at them from atop the toad. The two small frogs on either side of him banged their drums rapidly.

Vidya’s eyes went from one to the other, unimpressed. She wondered what type of person had the nerve to bring around their own personal drummers wherever they went. She vaguely wondered if she should make Lotus and Lily play the flute for her wherever she went, and the thought of Lotus dancing with a flute made her choke back a laugh. Looking at the Leaf Master up close, he looked less fearsome than he had been from their position watching him in the tree just a few hours ago. He certainly looked very old, from what Vidya could see of his face within the hood of his robe. His grey fur had started to go a white, almost transparent colour, and his eyes were a watery silver.

He sat in front of them, blocking their exit, surveying them one by one.

“You see,” he rasped. “The explosive marshes remain asleep at night when the sun goes down and the air cools. But once the sunlight reaches them—” he gestured a claw toward the east behind him where the sky was increasingly brightening. “— They will be awoken, and a chemical reaction will take place, igniting the oily ground, and BOOM, everything will go.”

“What do you want with us?” asked Vidya, “We’re here minding our own business.”

“Ah ha,” chuckled the Leaf Master. “This is my domain, Fae child. Meaning, whatever goes on here is my business. And when I see four Fae children in my territory, I have a problem with that.”

“What problem?” asked Lotus angrily, stepping forward. “Just let us go. Our business is not with you.”

The Leaf Master’s mouth stretched into a slow, thin smile.

“But give us back our noses first,” added Willow as an afterthought.

“Ah, so you do want something from me,” sneered the robed koala.

“Well,” he spread his arms out in a grand gesture. “I am nothing if not honest. Solve my riddle, and you may be allowed out of my territory with your noses.”

“And you will no longer terrorize the Yara-ma- yha-who,” said Vidya angrily.

The Leaf Master’s eyebrows flew up under his hood. He blinked, then grinned widely.

“Oh, then it will be an extra difficult one. If you cannot solve the riddle, your noses and your lives are mine. You will live here with me as my servants.”

Vidya’s heart sank. Perhaps she had made a mistake adding in that last part to save the Yarama. The image of the Yarama Chief mumbling into the dirt had stuck with her like a stain on her shirt, and she couldn’t take it back now.

“What’s the riddle then?” asked Willow nervously.

The Leaf Master, in his element, closed his eyes and spread his hands out once again and droned in a deep rumbling voice that gave