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

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 Fingers 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