‘You do?’ the king frowned, puzzled.
‘That is wonderful,’ Morgan exclaimed. ‘Tell us what it is.’
There was a hush among the pixies as each one stared at their queen holding their breath in anticipation waiting for her to continue.
‘The stone is the same stone I gave young Buttercup.’ She slapped her forehead. ‘Of course, why didn’t I think of it before?’
She turned to the young prince, eyes gleaming with excitement. ‘Your bride to be holds the answer. The seeds are in the stone I gave her. They are magical seeds, and when planted, that will restore true nature to the kingdom once again.’
‘Go tell Buttercup, Morgan,’ said the queen with a clap of her hands, ‘there will be a wedding today after all.’
Peblo and Flora looked at one another in alarm. Just when they thought things couldn’t possibly get any worse…
Chapter 7
Buttercup paused for a moment to take in her surroundings. She didn’t know which direction would take her back home. Left or right? Everything looked the same no matter which way she turned. Long yellow-green stalks of grass rose like huge trees all around her. She couldn’t see a thing but she had to keep going until she emerged from the sea of green wilderness.
Buttercup shivered. Still cold after her soaking in the river, she shoved the collar of her tunic up around her neck and tightened the buttons. The ground was uneven beneath her feet. Now and then she stumbled into tiny pockets of water filled with mud. The deeper she went however, the larger the sea of grass seemed to become. Buttercup gazed around her, and chewed her nails with anxiety. She’d been walking for an eternity and wasn’t used to it, as pixies always flew everywhere. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Buttercup jumped up at the sound of it but kept going.
Once or twice she thought she heard noises coming from behind her, the sound of something moving in the grass. The noise grew louder. This time when she turned around, two enormous hairy tentacles reached out towards her. They belonged to a huge, scary, black spider with fearsome red eyes. Buttercup opened her mouth to scream but was so petrified nothing came out. The spider lunged towards her. Gasping and sobbing for breath, Buttercup tore through the long grass, her satchel banging up and down on her back as she frantically tried to escape.
‘Run, run!’ the spider shrieked in glee. ‘I quite enjoy a chase.’
Buttercup was no match for the spider. With one broken wing she couldn’t fly, and not used to running, she was already starting to tire. With eight powerful legs crashing through the grass, the creature caught up to her in no time.
‘This will only sting for a moment, I promise you,’ the spider chuckled. Using one of his legs, he pulled at her collar in an attempt to get a firm grip as she struggled and twisted to escape. In a last bid for survival, Buttercup caught her satchel and flung it into the creature’s face as hard as she could. The spider gave a yelp of pain and released its hold slightly but it was enough for her to wriggle free.
Panting hard, Buttercup made a run for it through the grass. She could hear other strange sounds around her but didn’t stop to find out what they were; the spider was still in hot pursuit. She had to get away. Suddenly the high green stalks came to an end. She was standing on bare ground on the verge of the green sea. Buttercup was trapped.
There was nowhere to go. She stared around her aghast; there were huge monsters all over the place; these must be the humans her mother had referred to, running, jumping, some wrestling on the ground and throwing things at one another. Laughing and shouting, some small, some big, all different sizes. She was surrounded.
‘You’re mine now,’ hissed the spider, its hot breath on her neck and at that very moment one of the humans stepped on him, crushing him to the ground.
Buttercup jumped to the side her heart racing in shock, thankful that the human hadn’t seen her, and then rolled out of the way back into the grass out of sight.
Unaware of the dead spider he had just stepped on, the boy resumed playing with his brother and threw the ball back and forth some more before they decided to pack it in for the rest of the evening. As the day drew to a close, little by little the park began to empty. Buttercup stayed in her hiding place, too afraid to move in case she got squished too. She put her hands up to her ears to block out the strange sounds: cars hooting, people talking, bins being emptied, dogs barking, babies crying, the rattle and hum of trucks and lorries. She couldn’t bear too much noise.
She lay down on the grass and cried herself to sleep. When she awoke it was still dark, to her dismay, she found herself still in the same place, so it hadn’t all been just a bad dream. She felt cold. Her limbs ached all over and her belly rumbled. Tears rolled down her cheeks. All her food was gone and she had nothing left to eat. What am I going to do? Two rose petals floated to the ground, and just as the lights winked out one by one in each of the houses, Buttercup finally came up with a plan.
She emerged slowly from her hiding place in the grass. Her stomach hurt, demanding food. The place seemed awfully huge. And so strange. What if one of those humans catches me? Buttercup shuddered. I better not think about that.
‘Pull yourself together, pixie,’ she spoke out loud, ‘you can do this, I know you can.’
Eyes darting left then right, Buttercup burst across the street and headed for the first house on the block. It was quite dark but the lights from the street lamp guided her along the way. The house was two-storey with red brick on the sides and full of huge glass windows front and back. All she had to do was find an open window and get inside. Buttercup scrambled up the drain pipe and jumped on to the first window sill nearest to the ground.
Her face fell. The window was closed. Figuring she had no time to lose, she quickly jumped on to the next one, lost her balance, and fell into a trash can underneath. The noise drew loud barking from the neighbouring dog. Lights flicked on and the door opened.
A human in a striped dressing gown opened the door. ‘Who’s there?’
Buttercup stayed where she was. Her hands felt clammy and her heart thumped so loud she was full sure the human could hear. Her shoulder ached from where she fell and her stomach rumbled stronger than ever. Suddenly her eyes began to water. The smell of onion wafted up from the bottom of the bin and something else too; garlic and pepper.
Oh no, I’m going to sneeze!
Buttercup pinched her nose in an effort to stop herself from sneezing but the human had given up searching in the dark and had gone back inside. She sneezed once then twice, and then hopped from can to can and from one empty cardboard box to another, pulled herself up out of the rubbish and out into the fresh air again. Buttercup brushed away vegetable skins and stray pieces of plastic from her clothes and then glanced around quickly before moving on to the next house.
Unlike the other houses on the estate, this one was a bungalow but like all the others, the windows were closed. She sighed, frustrated, and was about to give up when a rectangular shaped box attached to the wood below the door caught her attention. It was open slightly on top and she could see some light at the other side. Buttercup scuttled over, reached as far as she could and pushed the latch up fully. Then she crept inside.
It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the gloom. Crouching against the wall so she wouldn’t be seen, Buttercup listened around her for signs of danger. She inched forward step by step. Her heart hammered in her chest. Smells of homemade apple pie wafted through the air so strong it made her eyes water. Buttercup jumped when a clock chimed two. She turned her head, wondering where the noise came from. Humans are indeed very peculiar, wait ‘till I tell the others back home.
There was a door to the left and two doors down the long hallway on the right. The second door stood ajar. Buttercup squeezed through the narrow opening. Her eyes widened. The humans had left the apple pie to cool on the dining room table. She frowned. But how am I going to get up there? It looks awfully high. She could climb the presses to get to the table but they looked ter
ribly high too. Her eyes scanned the room for something to use; the sofa and arm chairs were no good, too far away, she could swing from the curtain on the window but that too was a good distance from the table. Tears of frustration welled in her eyes. She tried to pull herself up from the ground but fell back down again. Her wing sagged uselessly to one side.
The door creaked open behind her but so intent was she in trying to find a way to get to the pie, she didn’t hear anything until suddenly a sweeping brush fell against one of the chairs.
Buttercup spun around in alarm expecting to see an angry human brandishing a weapon, but instead, she spotted a cat. The animal was orange from head to toe with a big fat face and pointy claws. Cats are just as nasty as humans. She ran behind one of the chairs.
‘If you want some pie, I suggest using the brush to get up to the table,’ the cat said.
‘You’re going to help me?’ Buttercup peeped around the chair.
‘Do you want the pie or not?’
The pixie shimmied up the sweeping brush on to the table. It was the biggest pie she had ever seen. She looked around quickly and spied a narrow flat object on the table. Buttercup ran over and dragged the spoon towards the steaming pie. With some effort she scooped out a piece and started on the delicious feast, her legs swinging over the side of the table in contentment. She noticed the cat looking up at her and feeling guilty asked, ‘Won’t you have some?’
‘Cats don’t eat pies.’ He lifted a paw and licked it.
‘Thank you for not eating me,’ said Buttercup before she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. After she had enough she shoved some into her pocket for later, then swung her legs on to the brush and slid back down to the floor.
‘Thank you for opening the flap and letting me back inside,’ purred the cat. ‘My mistress is so forgetful she keeps locking it every night.’
Buttercup sat on the rug in front of the fireplace and crossed her legs in front of her, feeling better than she had felt in ages. ‘What are humans like?’
‘Oh, okay I guess,’ drawled the cat. ‘My mistress brushes my fur every night and she never forgets to feed me.’
Buttercup chewed over this piece of information and after a moment thought that the humans didn’t sound so scary after all. She would tell the queen. Brandydook Kingdom had nothing to worry about. Her eyes fell on the empty plate up on the table. ‘But won’t she be wondering what happened to her pie?’
The cat chuckled. ‘That silly old coot will think she’s already eaten it. Now if you don’t mind,’ he said, putting his paw to his mouth in a yawn, ‘it’s time I had my beauty sleep.’
‘Can I stay here?’ Buttercup implored, not relishing the thought of going out into the darkness again.
‘No, out you go,’ he said pointing to the door.
‘Please, just for tonight.’
The cat arched his back and hissed. ‘If my mistress catches you here, she’ll be so cross, I’ll be made redundant, and forced to live in rubbish bins along with all the other alley cats.’ He sniffed her clothes. ‘And besides—you stink. Now go.’
The cat looked so fierce, Buttercup didn’t wait another second. She bolted from the dining room and ran to the front door, then wriggled through the flap and fell on her face and hands outside on the cold, damp porch.
Chapter 8
BRANDYDOOK
Peblo rubbed his hands together. The moment of truth had arrived. ‘I’m afraid we do not know where Buttercup is, Your Majesty.’
The king stared at him. ‘Why the devil not? Speak up pixie.’
Flora turned to the young prince. ‘I do apologise for my daughter’s behaviour, Your Highness.’ She spread her hands. ‘I really don’t know what’s got into her.’
‘But we must find her,’ said the queen, ‘Brandydook’s survival depends on it.’
***
PRINCE MORGAN
Prince Morgan glanced from one parent to the other in disbelief, unable to understand what had just happened. He paced in front of the hawthorn tree where everyone was still gathered. The pixies were shivering, while heavy falls of snow continued to blanket the ground around them and every tree and bush was bare.
What do I do? What do I say? How could she run off on me like that? It just doesn’t make sense. I am going to be the next king of Brandydook. The prince shuddered. Not if I don’t get married by my next birthday.
‘Come now my son,’ said King Rufus drawing Morgan towards him, ‘do not trouble yourself, there are other pixies much more deserving than this one you know.’
‘Oh don’t say that,’ Peblo implored. ‘We will get her back.’
Morgan glared daggers at Peblo. ‘Look at all the chaos Buttercup has caused by running away.’ He did a sweep of the valley with his hands, ‘the flowers are decaying, and all the trees are dying. We no longer have shelter from the fierce winds and snow and soon there’ll be no food left to eat.’
‘To be fair, your Highness,’ said Flora, ‘Buttercup didn’t know what was going to happen.’
The prince continued as if Flora hadn’t spoken. ‘Buttercup lied and betrayed her kin. If she had stayed and just told me what was wrong instead of running off like a coward we wouldn’t be in danger of losing the kingdom.’ His eyes flashed with anger. ‘Your daughter is not worthy to be my wife.’ He whipped his cloak around him and without another word, flew back to the palace.
The king and queen returned to their home and immediately summoned as many guards as possible to find Buttercup. Peblo and Flora said they would do everything they could to help.
Chapter 9
GOODWIN AND ALUNA
Meanwhile, Goodwin and Aluna were planning a trip of their own.
‘Are you sure this is the way she went?’ said Aluna in alarm, staring at the turbulent water with large chunks of ice floating downstream.
‘Yes.’ Goodwin shivered and blew on his fingers. ‘It’s so cold, I’ve never seen so much snow before. Come on, let’s take this raft. We don’t have much time.’
‘Do we have to go this way? I mean—can’t we just fly?’
‘It’s best to follow the course Buttercup took if we’re gonna get some idea where she went and besides, the longer we fly, the weaker our wings will become as Brandydook’s life source slowly begins to ebb away.’ He caught her gloved hand and gave her a reassuring smile. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll protect you. This is the best way to find your sister, I promise.’
‘Oh alright then, as long as I don’t get wet,’ she grumbled, stepping on to the log.
Goodwin grinned, delighted she was agreeing to come along. She looked fantastic too. Her face was glowing. She wore a red and white hooded coat over a small pair of black boots and sat huddled next to him, her arm entwined with his. Of course he knew the only reason she sat so close to him was because she was terrified of falling into the water but he didn’t mind.
‘Will Buttercup get into a lot of trouble when she comes back?’ Aluna asked, trying not to look into the water. Her teeth chattered. She huddled closer to Goodwin, clinging tightly on to his arm, her breath coming in fast jerks every time something moved.
Goodwin nodded gravely. ‘I expect so,’ he sighed, ‘but then so will I.’
They were moving fast now, swirling in and out amongst clumps of reeds, stones and rocks. The log raft bounced up and down as they went, speeding along further and further away from Brandydook.
Water splashed on to the raft. Aluna shrieked. ‘Get me off this thing! I can’t stand it anymore. I’m sure I saw something moving in the water.’
‘It’s just a clump of weed,’ he paused and looked around, ‘we’re not moving, it’s the raft, we’re stuck.’
The piece of timber had somehow gotten wedged between two stones and lodged there.
‘What are we going to do now?’ Aluna shouted in horror. ‘We’ll have to fly back.’
‘You go if you want, but I’m going to find Buttercup.’ Goodwin crossed his arms.
Aluna consider
ed this for a moment. Buttercup didn’t really deserve her help after everything she’d done, but she was her big sister and it was up to her to set an example, plus , if anything happened to Buttercup and she didn’t bother trying to find her, she’d never forgive herself.
‘I’ll stay.’
Goodwin smiled in relief, pleased at her change of heart. ‘We need to move this raft. And fast. If you can push the stones away I might be able to pull it out.’
Aluna stared at him. ‘How am I supposed to do that?’
‘You’ll have to go into the water to push them aside. Don’t worry, I’ll be right behind you.’
‘No way,’ Aluna said, her eyes transfixed on the murky depths, ‘I’m not getting in there.’
‘Do you want to help Buttercup or not?’ asked Goodwin, glaring at her with his hands on his hips.
‘But the water’s so cold,’ she whispered. She bit her nails. ‘I hate anything wet.’
Goodwin sighed, and rubbed his eyes. ‘Just go home. I’ll look for her myself.’
‘Alright, I’ll do it,’ she snapped. Clinging on to his arm she put one foot gingerly into the water then the other. She looked down. The water was up to her knees.
‘Ooh it’s freezing.’
Aluna pushed the stones but nothing happened. ‘They won’t budge. And I think I’ve broken a nail.’ She sucked the sore finger and glanced over at the other pixie for sympathy but Goodwin paid no attention to her so she tackled the stones again.
‘Put your weight into it. Come on. Harder,’ he said.
She glared at Goodwin. ‘I’m trying.’ Finally after much puffing, and shoving she felt the stones begin to move. Aluna jumped up and down, delighted with herself. ‘I did it. I did it!’ Suddenly she started to wobble. ‘Whoa. Goodwin help me!’
The pixie reached over to grab hold of her coat but it was too late. Aluna lost her balance and tumbled into the water quickly followed by Goodwin.
Escaping the Prince (Bedlam in Brandydook Book 1) Page 4
