Princess Ahira (19 page)

             
I
smiled, feeling the tension sliding off me.
“Sor
ry Aaron, it’s been a rough day,”
I said, walking outside so I could sit on the edges of the cave with him.

             
“Wanna talk about it?” h
e sweetly asked.

             
“No,” I said with a big sigh.
“Not really.” 

             
“Oh.
Are you home
sick?” h
e gently asked.

             
I blinked. My day was so busy I didn’t even have time to be homesick.
“No,
not
at all
. Although now that I think about it I do miss my brother
.” 

             
“What’s his name?”

             
“Caspian.”

             
“I take it you two were close?” 

             
“Very much so
. I always tried to get him to skip lessons with me, but Caspian was too studious and not nearly devious enough. It’s probably
just as
well becau
se he’s the future king and all
,” I dryly recalled.
 

             
“That must have been ni
ce
to have a relationship like that,” Aaron wondered
.

             
“It was. We’re an odd match, but we alwa
ys have fun,
” I said with a smile.
I
felt a fiery zing o
f magic in the back of my head.
“Azmaveth’s coming, you’ll want to
scat,”
I said standing up. 

             
“How can you tell?”   He asked sounding interested. 

             
“I don’t know. I
t’s
like a sixth sense I grew out of necessity,”
I said
.

Aaron sweetly smiled at me before galla
ntly reaching out and kissing my
hand. He blushed a deep red
color
and fled to the woods the second he dropped my hand.

             
I chuckled
as I
wiped my hand off in the grass.
(I
f Azmaveth smelle
d Aaron on me I was dead meat.
)

             
I ran as
fast as I could back into the c
ave and quickly filled a bucket with soapy water
so I could start cleaning the sitting room floor.

Azmaveth
was on me within seconds.

             
“Are you okay? What did the valkyrie do to you?
What possessed you to travel off the path!” Azmaveth
raved.
“Kohat
h told me everything,” he added when I stared at him.

             
“I’
m fine,”
I said with a bright smile.  “Kohath saved me before she could do any harm.” 

             
“Are you sure
you’re
okay?”
Azmaveth suspiciously asked. 

             
I
sincerely
nodded. Overwhelmed with a sudden wave of warmth I stood up and embraced the tip of Azmaveth’s muzzle. “Thanks for worrying about me though,” I said. I kissed one of his scales before stepping away.

             
His scales started to gain a faint pink hue as he stared at me with wide eyes. “N-n-n. No problem,” h
e
stammered.

             
“W
hy Azmaveth, are you blushing?”
I teased. 

             
“I am doing no such thing!” Azmaveth protested
, turning even pinker.

             
“Why yes, yes you are!” I said with a grin, enjoying one of the few chances I got to taunt him.

             
“And why would I?” h
e jeered.  “It’s not like
I
, a mighty dragon,
care for
you
, a lowly, not to mention puny, human being!” he joked, adopting his “Zerah Face”, which he used whenever mocking the haughty dragon.

             
“We’ll see about that!”
I
challenged between gusts of laughter.
In spite of what Azmaveth claimed about not caring about me, he stuck to my side for t
he rest of the day. He followed me
everywhere
, it was very cute and enduring, although that one time he tried poking his eye in my bathroom I nearly killed him.

For the rest of the eve
ning we reclined, enjoying each
other’s company. I rested well that night, knowing I was truly cherished.

Keeper Clichés

             
When I woke up
the following morning I frowned. There was something on the tip of my mind that was
dying
to be told. “Ah!” I shouted as I recalled it before striking myself on the head. “How witless can I be?”
I
muttered
as I rushed out of my room and
zoomed
to Azmaveth’s room
,
barefoot and in my nightgown. 

             
I threw open the door and
Azmaveth snapped to attention. “I swear I wasn’t sucking on my claws,” h
e
blearily announced as
he craned his neck in my direction.

             
“It’s just me Azmaveth,”
I said as I crawled up onto his hay bed and tugged on one of his scales. 

             
“Mm. Ahira. What’s the problem?” h
e asked as he
yawned
, his white teeth sparkling in the morning light
.

             
“Yesterday Kohath told me that you dragons co
uldn’t find the Keeper, right?”
I asked. 

             
“Right,”
Azmaveth slowly said,
clearly still trying to wake up
.

             
“Well a few days ago I went into the forest around our
den
and there I met a
unicorn who claimed to be the Keeper.
”

             
Azmaveth was instantly wide-awake. “Really?” he asked. “Are you sure?”

             
“Positive,”
I answered as Azmaveth got up and sta
rted circ
ling his room. “He seemed pretty vain
,” I added.
Azmaveth didn’t hear me. 

             
“Thank you Ahira.
I’m
going to go search for him now. I’ll be back for dinner. When Kohath comes
te
ll him to wait for me in my lab,” h
e said before exiting his room. 

             
I stumbled after him
,
but by the time I
got
to the hallway he was gone.
I sighed and
made breakfast, got changed, and started scru
bbing the tunnel floors again. (It was an endless task.)
I took a break at noon and went outside to catch a breath of fresh air when I saw Kohath amble down the road. 

             
“
Good afternoon
,” h
e said as he raised his hand in greeting.

             
“Hello,”
I
smiled. “What are you doing here?”
I asked as a couple of dragons flew overhead, combing the woods for the Keeper I presumed. 

             
“I’m supposed to go l
ook something up in the library and wait for Azmaveth in the lab.
He won’t be back for some time
,
however
,
s
o I can talk to you for a while,” h
e said with a charming grin that told me I should thank my lucky stars that he was bestowing his time upon me. 

             
“I feel honored, really. Have the
y
found the Keeper yet?”
I asked.   

             
“Nope. Not yet. H
e’s a
difficult unicorn to find,”
Kohath admitted. 

             
“Is it possible that the unicorn I met lied wh
en he said he was the Keeper?”
I asked.

             
Kohath frowned. “It could happen. U
sually unicorns wouldn’t do that though because it could enrage the Keeper
.
They may be dim,
but they’re not
totally without
brains
.”

             
“What does the Keeper look like?” 

             
“He’s
not very impressive
,
”
Kohath bluntly stated.

             
“T
he unicorn who told me he was the K
eeper was quite gorgeous,” I said, feeling
dumb that I had sent Azmaveth and the other
dragons chasing after a liar.

             
Kohath
shrugged.
“It do
esn’t really matter.
T
hey were going to comb this part of the forest
anyway
because this is the
only place that hasn’t gone bad,” he
glanced toward the woods with a wry look.

             
I
smiled
“
I have to go make some tea. You can go in though,”
I s
aid as I walked into the cave.
To my surprise Kohath decided to follow me to the kitchen and wa
tched me make the tea.
We actually ended up having a civil conversation
…
until the doorbell rang. 

             
I sighed and scowled at the direction of the door as I swatted Kohath’s hand away fr
om the cookies I just made.
“Pr
obably a traveling sales
wizard,”
I grumbled as I left Kohat
h and stomped down the tunnel.
My biting welcome mat had stopped working
several days ago when the sales
wizards figured out
that all they
had to
do was
step around the mat instead of on it
to avoid being bitten
. 

             
I opened the door only a tiny crack, just large enough
for me to fit my eye through.
To my surprise Cinder’s large and ugly face filled
the tiny space.
I swung the door open and stepped into the doorframe. 

             
“Cinders?”
I asked.

“Quiet! You must come with me,” she hissed, her eyes darting every which way
. 

             
“What are you doing?”
I inquired. 

             
“SHH!
I finally managed to es
cape from the giant blue dragon,” s
he whispered.

             
“You mean Behemoth?” I
said
, still speaking in a normal volume.

             
“He has a name?”
Cinders asked
,
sounding surprised.

             
I rolled my eyes and slammed my head against
the doorframe in exasperation. “
W
hat did you want
, Cinders
?”

             
“You’re coming with me!
We will escape together!” s
he declared.

             
“I don’t feel like leaving,”
I said in a bored tone.

             
“I have it all planned,” she said, ignoring me.
“We’ll weave through the forest, being careful for the dragons
of course.
You see al
l these dragons?
They’re searching for me, but I
have cleverly avoided them!” s
he
beamed
. 

             
  “Yes, I’m sure you have,”
I assured her
.