Princess Ahira (29 page)

Snow White paused and gave the rabbits a meaningful glance. I swear they blushed in response.

             
“
That’s where the problem started.
The rabbits, immune to magical plants, had been eating
the
Dozy Plant, an he
rb that makes you fall asleep. The rabbits, upon finding themselves full,
decided to relieve themselves under the apple tree. Now the apples that
my uncles
ate
did not touch the bunnies’…waste. H
owever the
waste
gave off the fumes from the Dozy Plant
, which contaminated the apples,” s
he finished.

             
“Won’t the effects wear off?”
I
inquired
. 

             
“Not for two years,”
Snow
White
grumbled.

             
“Is there any way you can wake them up?” I asked as I walked over to the apple tree to place some dista
nce between Kohath and myself.
He followed me
, toting the basket filled with Thimy Herb
.

             
Snow White sighed again.
“Yes
, but it’s next to impossible.
I have to find seve
n dwarf women to wake them up.
I’m not even convi
nced that dwarf women exist!” s
he said.

             
“
I wonder how you would
find one,” I mused
out
loud as I studied the dwarves.
“
I mean, what does a dwarf woman look like anyway?”

             
Snow White
brightened up
.  “
I heard that in order to catch one you need to sprinkle gold dust on a patch of mud and they’ll take a bath in it.”

             
“
That sounds more like something a troll would do,” I said, scratching my head.

             
“
Perhaps you’re right,” Snow White drooped.

             
“Maybe we should try mining,” I suggested. “Dwarves like mines, right? They’re always singing about it.”

             
“Oh that’s only in the legends,” Snow White said. “My uncles are jewelers, but they don’t even work in the mines. The dust aggravates their lungs.”

             
“So where on earth would we get ourselves a few dwarf women?” I groaned.

             
“Actually,”
Kohath said as he slung his arm around my
shoulders.
  “
They’re pretty easy to find.”

             
“You mean you’ve seen some
before
?” Snow
breathlessly
asked.

             
“Hm?” Kohath said, responding as if he finally noticed that Snow White was there, with us.
“Oh yes.
They are quite common if yo
u know where to look.”

             
“So?
”
I asked, prodding him.

             
“So what?” h
e replied, blinking as he looked at me. 

             
“So where can we find them?”
I asked.

             
Kohath glanced around.
“
Oh it’s easy. They have a theme song. If you sing it they will come.”

             
“What is it?” Snow asked.

             
Kohath
retracted
his arm
for the
moment and snapped his fingers.
Instantly a big
,
leather bound book
popped into existence
and hove
red in the air in front of him.
He
dropped the Thimy Herb basket and paged through the book
for a few seconds before stopping and ripping out
one of the pages. “Here it is,” he said, handing the page
to Snow
White
. 

             
“So I just have to sing it?” Snow
White
asked.

             
“Yep,”
Kohath said, dismissing the
book with a wave of his hand before picking up our basketful of herbs again.

             
Snow
White
paused, but reluctantly sang the wo
rds.
She
had quite the
pleasant voice.

Dwarf men are dumb, that’s why I’ve sung

Dwarf girls I call, I need you all!

We’re in such trouble, so on the double

Please come and save us and you’ll be famous

             
When the last note faded we
waited, silence met our ears.

“Wow, talk about
dissing males
,” Kohath muttered.

             
I
ignored him and listened.

I could faintly hear the song echoed ba
ck to us in husky, low voices.
Minutes later a band of seven dwarf women plunged through the trees, riding
small,
white donkeys. 

The donkeys were about Tuggles size
and the women were wrinkled with rough skin
. In spite of this
they had lo
ng shiny hair and pretty eyes.
They each wore a billowing
, colored cape
and
a colorful dress
. 

             
“Some o
ne sang?” the lead female dwarf
asked.

             
“Um, yes. We have a situation,”
Snow White
said,
pointing to her dwarf uncles
.

             
“Ah, say no more,” t
he leader said, she and her band each walked over to a male dwarf and leaned over them.

             
“Hey
, they’re going to kiss them,”
Kohath said, elbowing me. 

             
The ladies leaned closer to the men until their faces were nearly touching.

             
“G
ET UP YOU LAZY SON OF A BUM!” t
he leader
hollered
into one dwarf’s face
. His
features
contorted before he opened his eyes. 

             
The rest of the women were yelli
ng similar expressions into
the dwarve
s’ faces.  They all rose, one by one, and sheepishly rubbed their heads with their grubby hands as they looked around. 

             
“They’re going to kiss th
em huh?”
I wryly asked Kohath
looked truly disappointed
.

             
“I
t
looked like they were going to,” h
e retorted. 

             
Snow White smiled
,
running around her uncles. “Oh L
ethargic, Giddy! I’m so happy to see you’re all awake!” she paused for a moment, turning to face Kohath and
I.
“Thank you for your help!”

             
“
It was our pleasure
,”
I
called over my shoulder
as I walked back toward the path,
Kohath on my heels.  Snow White,
her uncles
,
and the dwarf women
who were still furiously yel
ling in the male dwarf’s ears (“
You id
iot! What did you do this time?”)
slowly disappeared from view as Kohath and I finished the trek home. 

             
I yawned once I reached the
den door. I
t was just pa
st noon but I was oddly tired. “Are you coming in?”
I asked, muffling yet another large yawn.

             
“Sure
, why not,” Kohath shrugged
.
He watched my t
ired face confusion
.
“Are you okay?”

             
“Yes
. Why wouldn’t I be?” I said before
I blacked out and fell to the floor in a heap. 

Bad News

             
I woke up several minutes later to find
myself sitting in Kohath’s lap. “What are you doing?”
I asked as my eyes fluttered open. 

             
Kohath was staring off into the distance
, but a smirk crept across his lips.
“You must have inh
aled some of that Dozy Plant. Y
ou did stand under that apple tree for a while, and humans are easily influenced by
the
Dozy Plant.”

             
“So why weren’t you affected?”
I questioned.

             
Kohath shrugged but turn
ed his face to look down at me.
“Who
knows?
”

             
I
narrowed my eyes.
“Wait a second, how did you wake me up? You didn’t bellow in m
y face like the dwarf women did,”
I suspiciously said.

             
Kohath
avoided my gaze.
My glared deepened and I was about to hiss in his e
ar when I suddenly remembered.
Shammah, Rose, and Zerah were coming over tomorrow.

             
I
yelped and
leaped off of Kohath’s lap
, scuttling away.
“Where are you
going?” h
e called. 

             
“I ha
ve to hurry and clean the den!
Shammah and
Rose are coming over tomorrow!”
I said
, heading for the kitchen
.

             
In record time I had a bucket and broom
and was wreaking havoc in the dinning room
.

             
Kohath slunk out of the library and passed me before angling out of the den, slinking around like a kicked puppy.

             
I, however, was too focused on the task at hand
to notice
and instead viciously swept the floor.

I fell a
sleep scrubbing the
kitchen
that night,
but I managed to wake up in my bed.
Obviously Azmaveth had some how
tossed
me
into my room without waking me.
I yawned and stretched
before glancing
out my door
.
Azm
aveth’s big luminous eye filled
the doorway. 

             
“Good morning,
”
I
sleepily greeted
as I stumbled
into the hallway and embraced the tip of his nose. 

             
“Good mornin
g to you!” he cheerfully
replied
. Somehow his voiced joy didn’t exactly ring true. His eyes didn’t shine with his regular mischievousness.

             
I thought it was odd, but I soon forgot about it when he began bossing me around.
“Shammah, Rose, and Zerah will be here in an
hour. I need you to look your best,” h
e ordered.

             
“Whatever you say,”
I said as I trudged back into my room and shut the door, readying myself for the full day ahead of me. 

             
After preparing myself
and eating a quick breakfast, I
discovered that Azmaveth had l
et me sleep in several hours, making me a little behind schedule. In fact, just as I finished braiding my hair the doorbell rang.

             
When I reached the door Azmaveth, who was already waiting, inspected me with a critical eye before nodding his approval. Turning to face the door he took a deep breath and settled his wings
.