Princess Ahira (22 page)

             
“
Holes are nice
,” she said with a nod.
“Who are his parents?”

             
I paused, another questio
n I didn’t know the answer to. “I’ve heard they were a
beautiful hum
an lady and an ugly dwarf man.
His father died, and shortly after
his mother
died too. She
couldn’t bear to loo
k at him because he is so ugly,” I invented.
 

             
“I’m related t
o dwarve
s!” Cinders
excitedly exclaimed
.

             
“Big surprise there.” I muttered.

             
“Does he have any siblings?” she continued
.

             
At this point I was starting to realize how little I knew about my vain
friend. “He has a
pet
mole,” I offered. H
e re
ally didn’t but I wish he did.
Maybe the little creature would bite him.

             
This question and answer period went on for about an hour before Azmaveth came and
forcefully escorted
Cinders back over to Behemoth.

             
“I still don’t get
why you won’t consider trading,
” Behemoth sadly said.

             
“Good bye Behemoth,”
Azmaveth stonily said.

             
“It’s not like Cinders is evil or anything!”
Behemoth got in
before the door was slammed shut in front of
him for the second time
.

             
“Dragons,
” I said, shaking my head.

             
“Indeed!” Azmaveth added.

A Moody Kitten

P
rinces
started
stalking our cave
again
while I was gone at Behemoth’s, herb picking, and doing other var
ious chores earlier that week. Azmaveth
threatened to sta
rt killing them, for the
y
always inter
rupted hi
m in the middle of a so called Important E
xperiment, until we came to an agreement.
I would come up with
a defense system for our cave and Azmaveth wouldn’t hurt them.

He made me throw in two daily ear scratchings before we had a deal.

Now I didn’t want to deal with these princes either, so I was very enthusiastic and eager to come up with prince deterrents.

I decided that first and
foremost
a plan was necessary. So I wandered around our
cave
for a while, getting a lay of the landscape before brainstorming.

             
My first idea was to place signs
with discouraging messages
on our driveway
. That might seem like a stupid idea
, but if these princes were as bright as Lesha
and her pals, the signs just might work. So I painted and pounded signs with catchy phrases in place. A few of my favorites were: Caution:
Ugly
Princess, WARNING – LOOSE RABID DRAGON, and my all time favorite, SAVE YOURSELVES –
the dying message of Princess Ahira
. I spattered the dying message sign with red paint, hoping it could be mistaken for blood.

             
I was pounding the last sign in (
All You Can Eat Human Barbeque TODAY
) when Aaron strolled up the driveway. 

             
He read the sign before smiling at me. “Having prince trouble?”

             
“You have no idea,”
I grumbl
ed.
“Say, are you busy?”
I
inquired
, glancing around the landscape. 

             
Aaron laughed, immediately sucked into my battle plan. “What did you have in mind?”

             
“I was thinking of something along the lines of a
big
trench,” I sweetly smiled
, standing in the middle of the road
, waving my arms
like a chicken for emphasis.

             
“No pro
blem, where did you want it?” h
e asked
.

             
Ever prepared,
I traced out a large circle with a stick. 

“Okay, stand back please,” he pleasantly ordered
. 

I backed up a few steps and immedi
ately the sand started to fly.
A huge du
st cloud swallowed up the drive
way and I closed
my eyes, coughing and sneezing.
After the dust cleared a huge, eight-foot crater
gaped
in my driveway. 

             
Aaron
created a magical grid that
would hold a person if they walked across it. I
t would only collapse if a human, more specifically a royal human,
stood on it.
We
covered it up and smiled with satisfaction at our work. (Thankfully Aaron had also worked into the spell an immunity spell on my part, so
whenever I walked over the hole
the grid would stay up.) 

             
“What next?”
I asked.

             
“How ab
out an alarm system?” h
e suggested.

             
“How would we do that?”

             
“
I could work the entire alarm system into al
l the spells, for example, when
ever the grid
collapsed and trapped a prince the alarm would go off.
We could hoo
k the alarm up to your doorbell. T
he only difference would be is that it would ring quicker for the alarm instead of the door.” 

             
“Sounds good to me,” I said, immensely pleased.

Aaron
quickly hooked up the spell as I s
at and thought of other ideas.
Next we rigged up a trap so if a princ
e (or sales
wiz
ard) stepped on a patch of moss
that
covered the
road, they triggered two logs that would swoop down and h
opefully knock the princes down
and set off the alarm.
We also assembled a snare so
when someone stepped on a rock they prompted a caldron full of a smelly potion to
pour
over their heads. 

             
Thankfully Aaron was a
ble to work Kohath, Azmaveth, myself
, and
his own immunity into the spell
so none of us would be injured while walking to the cave. I think Aaron was
a little
surprised when I asked that we included Kohath in the immunity spell
. Actually, I was a little shocked myself!

             
We had just finished and were grinning ear to ear with happiness when a dark cloud descended on us. 

             
I glanced up and silently cursed my luck.
Azmaveth was back.
I watched the
stormy dragon glare at Aaron.
If looks could kill Aaron would have been dead and buried
a
decade ago. 

             
“I thought I told
you not to come back, human!”
Azmaveth spat
. I slowly approached him and gently patted his silver claws.

             
“Azmaveth
mind your manners
,”  I ordered, hoping to draw his attention away from the young, blue robed wizard long enough to allow Aaron to flee.

             
Aaron, surprisingly held hi
s own
for once, which amazed me. Magic
boy actually had a spine! “As Ahira’s friend I
thought
I had the right to
visit her,”
h
e bravely told my
dragon.

             
“Leave mage!”
Azmaveth thundered,
his eyes starting to grow murky as
his scales
went from royal purple to night sky black
.

             
Aaron
wisely
lost his courage and
didn’t need to be told twice.
He squeak
ed before scurrying off into the forest.

             
I watched him go before kicking Azmaveth on the claws.
“
What part of ‘mind your manners’ did you not understand?
”

             
“It’s not me, it’s that mage!”
he objected.

             
“
That’s a ridiculous statement. For starters, he didn’t do anything. Secondly,
a
s a dragon you are undoubtedly more powerful, therefore you are supposed to be
responsible and nicer.”

             
“Just keep y
our
friend
away,” h
e snarled as he gazed at my work.

             
“
Your case is a hopeless one,
” I
groaned, leaning against his paw.

             
“
Looks like y
ou got quite a bit of work done,” Azmaveth said while disdainfully sniffing the air.
“But the spells were cast by
that
wretch,” he huffed
.
He wordlessly redid the entire job, his own dark black/purple magic overpowering Aaron’s sky blue magic. 

             
“Be sure to keep
EVERYONE in the immunity spell,”
I told Azmaveth
.

He grumbled, but did as I requested.

             
The rest of the night was pretty quiet, and I enjoyed the peace and harmony that
ruled in our cave.
But I should have known
better
.
My life is
never
completely
without chaos.
   

             
I got up early
the following day
and yaw
ned as I stretched like a cat.
I stumbled out of my bedroom and saw Azmaveth, sitting in the kitchen, flexing his wings as he impatiently waited for me. 

             
“Th
ere you are! Sleeping all day!
Really, you should have been up hours ago.” 

             
“The sun is barely up
,
and who made you Miss Merry Sunshine? What happened to the Morning Monster?”
I
yawned.

Azmaveth rolled his eyes and
ign
ored the comment. “I’m leaving.
I have to speak to the council about Tuggl
es.
I won’t be home until later tonight, perhaps tomorrow m
orning, so don’t wait up for me,” h
e informed me
.

I nodded and dished out some oatmeal he had made for me. 

             
“Good b
ye Azmaveth,”
I
called as he exited the cave.
He didn’t reply and I rolled my eyes as I shoved a sp
oonful of oatmeal in my mouth. My eyes widened as and I
spat the oatmeal out.
I had forgotten what a te
rrible cook Azmaveth was! “Icky,”
I said as I dumped the oatmeal outside before returning to the kitchen to prepare some edible food
for my breakfast.

I
just finished dressing and washing up when the doorbell rang.

             
“I’m coming!”
I yelled as I walked down the tunnels, ty
ing my creamy apron as I went. I threw the door open, greeting my guest,
“
Can I help you
?” 

I stepped outside and my jaw dropped as I lifted my head up to
gaze up at Zerah
.  His silver blue scales were shimmering in the morning light and he eyed me with his grey eyes.