The name of the herb rang a bell in Vidya’s mind. Jilungin was one of the plants the Masters had tried to test her with not that long ago. It was a plant that made you go to sleep.
“So, in that cave, all alone with no food or water, the Bunyips had no choice but to drink that Jilungin dreaming potion. And so, they fell into a timeless sleep, unable to hurt another human.”
Master Sunny paused and gazed out the window, fidgeting again with the corner of his robe. He chewed on his lip as if thinking about something troubling.
“But nothing lasts forever…” he murmured.
Vidya’s pink eyebrows shot up in surprise. Had she heard him right?
“What was that you just said, Master Sunny?”
The elderly Fae shook himself, as if trying to get rid of a bad thought. His wings twitched as he turned and, realising that his students were all staring at him, waved a hand at them.
“Nothing, nothing. There is no problem that our King and Queen cannot solve.”
Just as Vidya was wondering if anyone else had caught Master Sunny’s murmured words, she turned to see Lobey watching her with raised blue eyebrows. Vidya shrugged her shoulders at the girl as if to say, ‘the grownups will take care of it’.
3
The Devil's Fingers
“The Fae are the Guardians of the forest. Each Fae guards their own flora. Like old friends, they speak without words, they love without agenda and they grow without judgement.”
—The Book of the Fae, Queen Mab the First, 3333 B.C.
There was a rapid knock on the library door. The students all turned to look as one.
“Princess Vidya?” it was Sage, one of her father’s assistants, peeking around the door, a tired Fae with crisp, light blue wings. “May I speak with the Princess?”
Vidya glanced at Master Sunny, who nodded, and she got out of her chair, placing Pancake into her pocket, and made her way to the door. Sage held out a folded and sealed piece of paper.
“His Majesty the King asks that you take this to the Dowager Queen Subbhya—your Nani,” he rubbed his arms uncomfortably. “She is… with her trees in the last Greenhouse.”
Realisation washed over Vidya, and she nodded her head in understanding. “Oh right, of course.”
Her Nani, her mother’s mother, was guardian of the most dangerous trees known to the Fae. The Devil’s Fingers were carnivorous trees, which, in their case, meant that they liked to eat people. They had that name because the aggressive trees had gnarly hands with which they would reach out and grab passers-by. Once they had their victim, they would snatch them away into their trunk through an opening in the base where rows and rows of sharp teeth were ready and waiting to gobble them up.
The Fae married each other from all over the world to teach each other the way of different plants. Vidya’s Nani had come from India to marry the Fae King of Tonga. Then, Vidya’s mother, Queen Salote, had come from Tonga to Australia to marry King Farrion.
Once they were married, the King realised that his mother-in-law was the only Fae known to be the guardian of the Devil’s Fingers. Because there were so many in the Fae forest here, King Farrion asked her if she would take responsibility of rounding them all up from the forest and keeping them in a triple locked greenhouse at the back of the palace. She agreed, of course, as it would mean she would get to be close to her daughter.
No one was permitted near the triple locked greenhouse where her Nani looked after the Devil’s Fingers, it was far too dangerous. However, over the years, the strange plants had taken a liking to Vidya, and although they were not her Guardian plant, it meant she was one of the few people who could get to her Nani if she was working in there.
Vidya left the library and headed out to the back of the palace into the bright sunlight, walking down the path that led to the greenhouses. A light breeze tickled her cheek as she walked, and Pancake, having recovered from his earlier fright, climbed his way back up to her shoulder to enjoy the sun. Her mother’s pink rose bushes lined the way and made the air smell sweet, and for the thousandth time, Vidya wondered when she would find her guardian plant.
“Darkness…” came a wispy voice.
Vidya whirled around to see a small echidna hobbling along on his hind legs, using a white cane for balance.
“Oh, Uncle Jula-wil it’s you,” said Vidya, relieved, crouching down so she was eye to eye with the elderly marsupial. She was eye to eye only in a manner of speaking, because Uncle Jula-wil, her father’s oldest advisor, had two tiny black eye patches covering his eyes due to the fact that he was blind. No one actually knew how he got around the palace, or how he didn’t fall off the edge into the Bottomless Sky for that matter, but when he was not in meetings with the King, Uncle Jula-wil hobbled around the palace grounds, mumbling to himself.
“Princess,” wheezed Uncle Jula-wil. “It approaches…”
“What do you mean, Uncle?” Vidya asked uncertainly, looking around to see if anyone else had noticed the elderly marsupial, but they were alone on the path.
Uncle Jula-wil tapped the white walking stick impatiently in front of him. “I can feel it in my spines, Princess,” he wheezed. “Change is afoot. Darkness is afoot…”
Pancake squeaked disapprovingly in Vidya’s ear.
“Weird!” cried Uncle Jula-wil waving his stick at Pancake. “What’s weird is a grown quokka riding on the shoulder of a young Fae girl!”
Vidya turned her head to look at Pancake, alarmed.
“Be warned, Princess,” muttered Uncle Julia-wil in a much quieter voice. “Darkness
