Princess Ahira (20 page)

             
“So you see
we
have to go so we can escape!” s
he told me.

             
“Wh
at’s going on?”
Koha
th asked, appearing behind me.
I guess he got sick of waiting for me and came to investigate
what was holding me up
. 

             
“Nothing,”
I dryly said
as Kohath crowded me from behind.
“Cinders is running aw
ay and she’s taking me with her,”
I said
as I
kicked backwards, nailing him in the shins.

             
I cocked my head while observing Cinders with idle curiosity
.
Her mouth hung
open as she stared at Kohath
, who was cursing in pain
. S
he
blinked her beady eyes, and
was speechless for a change of pace.
Obviously someone was smitten. 

             
I grinned and
nudge
d Kohath. “You have an admirer,”
I announced with a sassy grin
when he properly recovered
.

Kohath grimaced. “
I see, that is how a female looks when she finds someone attractive? It’s terrifying
,” h
e said as he
tried to hide
behind me. Thanks to his
height it didn’t work so well.

             
“Who is he?”
Cinders loudly whispered to me, as if Kohath couldn’t hear her. 

             
“Don’t tell her!”
Kohath begged. 

             
“Who is who?”
I asked,
trying to
play dumb.

             
“Him!” s
he said pointing to Kohath’s dark purple hair. 

             
Kohath squeaked and I f
igured I might as well tell her. M
aybe then
I could get rid of her easier. “Kohath.
He’s the
steward for my dragon, Azmaveth,” I supplied as she
drooled. 

             
Kohath pinched my back.
I winced in pain and retaliated by stepping on his foot. 

             
“He’s so handsome!”
Cinder’s dreamily said. 

             
“Um, sure,” I replied
. 

             
Cinders started to walk away from my cave, tha
nkfully, muttering to herself.
“
Perhaps, living here is not so ba
d
, if it means I can see him!” s
he said, turning around to gaze at Kohath
,
who was pee
king out from behind me. 

             
I
waved to her as she
disappeare
d down the road. “That was amusing
.”

             
“No, it wasn’t.
It was disgusting,”
Kohath scowled. 

             
“
No, it was
hilarious
!”
I
grinned
as I shut the door
and fluttered my eyelashes.
“Just think of it this way Kohath, you
’
r
e
finally getting the attention you deserve!”

             
Kohath
objected with a squawk
.
“
I’ve never sought to attention of that, that, that
princess
,” h
e
complained as he followed me down the hallway
. 

             
“I think you deserve it,” I shrugged before we went our separate ways,
Kohath to the lab
and
I
to the kitchen. To my surprise Azmaveth
lumbered
down the hallway minutes later.

             
“Azmav
eth, how is the search going?”
I asked, poking my head out of the k
itchen as I saw him walk past.
He paused
and sat back on his haunches.

             
“Okay. W
e found a white unicorn who claimed that he was the Keeper, he was probably the one that
you met
,” Azmaveth shrugged.

             
I nodded.
“Kohath and I
thought
he lied
too
.” 

             
“
We did conclude that the
Keeper has to be in this section of the
Endless
Forest
. We
need
to keep an eye out for him.” 

             
“Okay.
Kohat
h is waiting for you in the lab,”
I shouted as I disappeared back into the kitchen.

             
“Thank you,”
Azmaveth bellowed
back
before walking
away
. 

             
He and Ko
hath stayed up late that night. A
ctually,
I never heard Kohath l
eave.

It was about a week later before anything interesting happ
ened again.
It was the middle of the day and Azmaveth had sent me out to get some herbs for a potion for him. 

             
I was walking around in the forest, thinking it was pretty odd that Tuggles h
adn’t appeared by my side yet.
Usually the second I entered the
forest Tuggles was with me.

             
I reached the meadow and picked the herbs, set
ting them in my wicker basket.
I rose to leave wh
en I heard a loud, angry voice.
Still not learning my lesson from Trila, the miniskirt spy,
I decided to investigate. 

             
As I neared the voice I was able to tell that it was a very angry
Kohath
.
I scowled when I
found
him
.
He was kneeling on the ground, holding on to Tuggles
by the tiny unicorn’s mane
while bellowing in his face.
“What do you think your
doing
over here?”
Kohath yelled, unaware of my presence.  “Do you have any idea about how much trouble you’ve
caused?”

             
“Excuse me,”
I
said, my eyes narrowed into slits.
Kohath’s head snapped up.

             
“What?” h
e growled.

             
“Why are you yelling at Tuggles?” I said, patt
ing the side of my leg to call the small unicorn
.
Tuggles responded by struggling out of Kohath’s hands and trotting over to
me on his short, stubby legs.
He huffed and snort
ed as he rubbed against
me.
I bent ov
er and cuddled the tiny unicorn
. 

             
“Tuggles?”
Kohath asked, his eyes raging with
irritation
as he watched us. 
             
“Tuggles,” I firmly replied
.

             
“Tha
t unicorn which you have name
d ‘Tuggles’
is the root of our problem. H
e is the Keeper who has been irresponsible and absent from his duties, causing mass chaos in the
Endless
Forest
,” h
e spat as Tuggles snorted at him. 

             
I cupped Tuggles gray
velveteen muzzle in one hand. “Is this true?”
I asked.  Tuggles snorted and avoided my
gaze before stomping
a glossy
hoof.
“Why
would he do that to begin with?
  I asked as Tuggles rubbed his small head against my arm. 

             
Kohath stood and stalked over t
o the spot were I was sitting.
“Perhaps it was because of you
.”
 

             
“Me?”

             
“Yes, I’ve never seen the Keeper
so… affectionate before,” h
e said as he k
nelt beside me. “Usually he deviously plots and makes a great pest of himself. How he can handle that in his tiny form even I can only guess.
”

             
Tuggles scowled at h
im and pushed against my side. “Exactly what does he do?”
I asked as I pet one of his smooth ears. 

             
“He’s the most powerful animal in all of the
Endless
Forest
.
He knows everyt
hing that happens in the forest
and protects it from any enemy,
like the v
alkyrie,”
Kohath said.  “That’s prob
ably why no animal has hurt you. Since he obviously
favors you, you are safe wher
ever you go. In the forest at least,” Kohath amended,
cooling down as he watched Tuggles sniff the air. 

             
“So that’s why the griffon did
n’t mind me taking his feathers,”
I said, thinking back to the giant night griffon.

             
“You already knew him then?”

             
“Yes, I
met him that day
.
W
hat will happen to him?”

             
“H
e won’t get in trouble if that’s what you
’
r
e
worried about.
It’s impossible for him to get into
trouble. H
e rivals the most powerfu
l dragons in strength and magic,”
Kohath said as he plucked a piece of grass out of the ground.

             
I stared at Tuggles who snorted, sending his fluffy forelock flying so you could
actually see his bulging eyes.
“You’re jo
king.”

             
Kohath shrugged. “No.
He may not look like much, but remem
ber Azmaveth’s rule of beauty. It
’
s
often a companion to stupidity,” h
e quoted,
he sounded very much like
Azmaveth himself. “But right now he is cursed.”

             
“Bu
t what will they do with him?”
I
repeated
.

             
Kohath sighed. “T
hey’ll pro
bably just make him do his job.
With any luck they’ll allow him to come visit you
,” h
e added as he eyed up the unicorn who
was
practically crawling on my lap.
“I don’t think they’ll have much of a choice, unless they want this to happen again
.”
 

             
“As long as I’m able to see him ag
ain I don’t mind,”
I said as the small
unicorn fell asleep, his
head
on my lap.

             
“Rest assured
,
you will. Y
ou’d never be able t
o get rid of him that easily!” Kohath snorted as he
watched the small unicorn. 

             
I
rueful
ly
s
ighed.
“You should probabl
y take him to the council then.
I don’t want the forest to get any worse, an
d to tell you the truth
this part of the forest has become so
sugar coated its almost stuffy,”
I said as I gently pushed Tuggles off my lap.  The three of us stood up
and started walking down a new path
. 

As we walked something glimmered through the forest. “What’s that?”
I asked, point
ing in the glimmer’s direction.
Tuggles rolled his eyes
,
and Kohath joined him
.