Princess Ahira

by K. M. Shea

“I have 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 asleep 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. Azmaveth’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 morning 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,” he 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 let 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.

  I frowned, he looked quite serious and almost a little cold. It wasn’t the usual expression he wore when meeting with the sweet tempered Rose and the practical jokester Shammah.

  Azmaveth opened the door and sat back on his haunches. Rose and Shammah were quietly talking but finished after several moments. Zerah was standing a ways down the driveway, his usual mask of snobbery in place.

  I stared at the dragons I thought I had come to know. Rose’s usually rose red scales were an angry blood red that matched her eyes. Shammah’s shiny sea green scales had taken on a sullen gleam, and Zerah’s silver blue hue looked more icy and irritated than usual.

  “Come in,” Azmaveth stiffly invited. Rose and Shammah shuffled inside, ignoring me. Zerah paused in the doorway, lowering his great head to affectionately nudge me. Rose turned and darkly glared at him as he lifted his head up and glided past her.

  We reached the main room of the den and Azmaveth dismissed me. I walked down the kitchen hallway but, as was practice, I stopped and sat down when I was out of sight.

  “The war is not going well,” Shammah bluntly started. “We are gathering all of our available resources, but I don’t think the result will be in our favor. The valkyrie are starting to use higher level curses when they sing. We dragons have no natural defense against that.”

  “We are in trouble,” Rose uttered in a dark voice.

  There was a paused and then Zerah spoke. “Ahira is loved by her country, Ardeo, perhaps we could ask her to rally her people and help us. They are mere humans, but we do need all the allies we can get. Besides, I’m sure they can at least do as much as the gnomes.”

  “Humans can do nothing!” Rose spat. “They are useless creatures who have no point in life except to feed off of others. And Ahira, what could she do? She’s nothing but a princess,” she sneered.

  “Leave Ahira out of this,” Azmaveth growled, shaking the floor. He sounded murderous.

  There was an uncomfortable silence. “The King wants you and Zerah to lead us into battle,” Shammah finally said. “He can’t be at the front lines, being king and all. You’re the next best thing, Azmaveth.”

  “What of the Keeper, how much can he help us?” Zerah asked.

  “Very little. He is utterly useless unless he can break his blasted curse and return to his real form,” Rose scorned. “It’s taking everything he’s got to keep the valkyrie out of the forest.”

  “It is hopeless,” Shammah said, sounding weary and defeated.

  They continued to talk and argue late into the night, but it was Shammah’s words that stayed with me.

  I went to bed that evening, wondering if Azmaveth, Kohath, Zerah, Levi, Behemoth, Tuggles, and all the other friends I had made would be safe.

  This meeting marked the beginning change. After this day those around me began to act differently. Azmaveth had more mood swings than my mother. Some days he would howl for me at all hours, and other days he would be gone from sunup to sundown.

  On the days that Azmaveth was gone Kohath stuck to me like a burr. It was like everything, from beating out rugs to reorganizing the library, was absolutely fascinating and needed supervision. What really weirded me out was that sometimes Kohath wouldn’t even talk when he watched me. He would just sit and stare, as though he were memorizing my movements for a mental collection.

  Whenever Zerah came over he would speak softly, as though I might break. Levi, his steward, would come over for tea every few days. It was a little awkward because I really didn’t know him that well. He would do nothing but uncomfortably stare at the china set as I poured the tea. All the same, he always returned at another date, determined to have tea with me.

  In the midst of those changes Kohath dragged me to a large meadow right before dusk. The fairies danced on the dewy leaves and vibrant grass, occasionally flying across the dusty pink sky. A few of them played in my hair, messing with my braids.

  A little nymph had even ventured far enough out of her stream to greet us. She wrapped a little, blue, webbed hand around my thumb while peering into my face. She occasionally glanced over at Kohath, clearly able to sense his melancholy spirit.

  I played with the nymph and kept quiet. Kohath had something on his mind, and disturbing him wouldn’t help. Sure enough after several quiet minutes he spoke up. “Ahira, no matter what happens, you will be safe. I promise.”

  I turned to face him, careful not to upset the daisy fairy sitting on top of my head. “What?” I asked, barely shifting from my sitting position.

  Kohath refolded a leg and glanced in my direction. “Even if the dragons lose the war, Azmaveth will make sure you are safe.”

  As my eyes bugged out of my skull, and while I thought about the implications of this message Kohath laid down on the dewy grass.

  “The dragons will win,” I surely said.

  “They’ll try,” Azmaveth grimly replied.

  “Dragons are dragons! There’s nothing more powerful than them!” I announced.

  “The valkyrie are messing with the dark arts though,” Kohath shrugged. “They’ve already killed three dragons with death curses.”

  “They’re dragons! They can beat curses,” I shakily promised.

  “No, Ahira. Even dragons aren’t all powerful. They have no natural defense against cruses,” Kohath said. His words reminded me of Shammah’s warning.

  “Well surely there must be something that can help them,” I tisked.

  Kohath shrugged. “We’ll have to depend on the human wizards. The dragons have only a few tools that can be used to break curses, and none of them are dragon compatible.”

  While I tried to sort out what this meant a leafy tree spirit ambled through the meadow, bowing at Kohath and I with willowy limbs.

  Kohath had to be wrong. There had to be a way to keep the valkyrie from winning.

  A few days later I was strolling through the forest, searching for mushrooms. Mushroom hunting is a pretty fun activity, but it’s a lot easier when you have a pig that can sniff them out. Because I had no swine to my name, instead I had to scrounge around on the ground.

  I didn’t mind too much. It was nice to get out of the den for a breath of fresh air, and dirt was never anything that majorly disgusted me. (Unless it was in Azmaveth’s den.)

  I was so concentrated on my dirty task that I barely heard the overtly evil laughter that
drifted through the forest.

  I straightened up and felt my heart increase its pace. “Oh great,” I muttered. “It’s that stupid valkyrie spy, Trila.”

  Now a part of me had a very healthy fear of Trila. But another part of me found her intolerable and annoying. Both parts of me were voicing their thoughts as Trila fell out of a tree, practically landing on me.

  “Hahah! I have found you again you pathetic and wretched human!” Trila laughed.

  I frowned and felt the inside of my skirt for my flute, but she was too fast. In a flash she had me pinned up against a tree. She snatched the flute out of my grasp and scowled.

  “This time I’m prepared too!” she sneered as I gulped. She let me go and I slid to the forest floor.

  “So to beat a puny, human princess you have to be prepared?” I asked, internally horrified. I had to start controlling my tongue, one day it would be the death of me.

  Trila turned an interesting shade of red that clashed horribly with her beetle-like outfit.

  “Impudent girl!” she roared. “I could kill you any moment I want! It’s your allies that are worrisome.”

  “Oh. So it’s Azmaveth you’re scared of.”

  Trila scoffed. “This valkyrie is never scared! Just worried…”

  I picked up a rock and inspected it, appearing to be uninterested and bored with her. “Uh-huh, I’m sure.”

  Trila ruffled her beetle wings and narrowed her eyes. “You, girl, do not understand the severity of the situation! Be grateful that I, not the Grand Master, am killing you!”

  “Pft! Azmaveth or Zerah could sit on her and then there would be no more Great Moron,” I said, tossing the rock aside.

  “It’s Grand Master!” She howled.

  “You say master, I say moron,” I shrugged while plucking a piece of grass. I tried to keep my hands busy so Trila wouldn’t notice they were shaking. I was worried. No one had come for me yet.

  Trila huffed and tried to think of a comeback. Her mind was coming up with a blank so she decided attacking me was the next best thing.

  “Die human!” she screamed as she launched herself at me.

  Poor, poor Trila. She always tries to stab me at the worst possible moment.

  Once again a sword blocked her brandish. This time, to my surprise, it was Levi instead of Kohath who waltzed in to save me.

  “I believe Kohath made it perfectly clear before that this girl was to be left alone,” Levi said in his silky cold voice. “Since you did not listen to him I will administer a proper punishment.”

  Trila screamed but was silenced when an ice casing covered her entire body. A blinding, chilly light appeared and Trila was gone. Only her wimpy blade remained.

  Levi sheathed his sword and walked over to me, shaking his head.

  “One day your mouth is going to get you in a lot of trouble, Princess. Come to think of it, it already has,” Levi sarcastically announced.

  I pinched my face, trying to control my raging emotions before thanking the snobby steward. Levi, however, shocked the petticoats off me by sauntering up to me and pulling me into an embrace.

  “Thanks?” I said into his shirt. I waited for several moments before carefully lifting my arms around Levi’s neck, settling them on his shoulders.

  In spite of the cool air he seemed to radiate he was quite warm.

  “Ahira, Ahira, Ahira,” Levi sighed, disengaging the hug. He lifted my chin up, forcing me to stare into his grey eyes. “Whatever are we going to do with you?” he asked without really expecting a reply. “Ahira, no matter what happens, you must trust Azmaveth and Zerah. No matter what, do you understand?” he asked, holding me by my arms.

  “Yes. But why do you say that?” I asked, struck by how similar Kohath and Levi were acting. It was almost as if they were parroting each other.

  Levi smiled. (Smiled! In all of our awkward tea conversations Levi had never once smiled.) “Nothing. Come, I’ll escort you back to Azmaveth’s den,” he said as he released me and started to walk away.

  After several minutes of silent walking we popped out by the den where Azmaveth was fretting. Levi explained the situation quickly and tersely. Azmaveth snorted, I’m not sure if he was angry on my behalf because a valkyrie attacked me, or if he was just pouting because Levi’s scent was all over me.

  After comparing Trila’s intelligence level to that of a chipmunk, Levi took his leave.

  “Ahira, one of these days you’re going to get yourself killed,” Azmaveth said, entering the den while Levi trekked down the driveway.

  “You’re probably right. I’ll keep you in mind when I need someone to write my epitaph,” I replied, clinging to some scales on the ridge of his neck. (Never walk in a gigantic dragon cave when you can conveniently hitch a ride with a dragon.)

  “Well you’re going to be the end of me,” Azmaveth continued. “I worry about you all day long, and what do you do? You go out and nearly get yourself killed by a valkyrie!” he scolded.

  “Nothing really happened. Well, unless you’re looking at it from Trila’s perspective,” I supposed, griping a purple scale tighter.

  “Humph. You’re just lucky Levi was around!”

  “Azmaveth?”

  “What?”

  “Could you be a doll and STOP LECTURING ME?!”

  “Sorry.”

  There was a long pause before Azmaveth released an indignant snort. “Wait a moment! Why do I have to listen to you?”

  “Because if I go on strike you’ll starve.”

  “Oh, that is very true.”

  I beamed, excited that I won one of our verbal matches for once. My joy lasted until we reached the kitchen.

  “Wait! So? I got along perfectly well before you arrived!”

  “Azmaveth… your dishes were growing mold.”

  “But I—,”

  “Mold, Azmaveth. Mold.”

  Azmaveth grumbled under his breath about high maintenance princesses before halting outside my door.

  I let go of Azmaveth’s scales and slid down his side, pausing to pat one of his silver claws. “Don’t worry. I love you too you big softy,” I said before turning on my heels and entering my room.

  Just when I closed my door Azmaveth’s brain finally processed my words.

  “WHAT?!?”

  I snickered under my breath and hummed a song. Today was a good day.

  Chapter 15Truths Revealed

  One week later, on a gorgeous spring day, I was sweeping dirt out of the front doors. The valkyrie may attack and Tsol may change forever, but I vowed I would face them with a clean cave.

  Azmaveth was skulking around in his lab. It was one of the few moments I had to myself. It seemed like even with Tuggles around evil creatures lurked in the forest. The valkyrie were only the tip of the iceberg.

  I was pleasantly surprised this day when I spotted Aaron strolling up the driveway.

  I waved my arm, waiting until he was closer to say, “Hello Aaron!” (No sense in alerting Azmaveth to his presence.)

  “Good afternoon Ahira,” he smiled. “Can I drag you away from your work long enough to take a stroll?”

  I quickly weighed the option. As long as we stuck close enough to the den Aaron was probably strong enough to protect us from any less than friendly creatures in the area. “Sure, sounds great,” I chirped.

  “We can’t go too far though,” I continued, following Aaron away from the den and into the forest. “If I stray too much Azmaveth will come looking for me. And the woods aren’t really safe anymore either.”

  “I’ve noticed that too,” Aaron agreed. “We wizards have taken to traveling mostly in packs.”

  “You guys will be fighting with the dragons, right? Against the valkyrie?” I asked.

  “We will try,” Aaron grimly said, holding a tree branch back so I could walk through without being poked. “We’ve been asked to help, and it’s not like we can refuse.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The dragons are the ones who taugh
t us magic. They’re much stronger than us. They’ve got better magical artifacts too,” Aaron said, his eyes darkening.

  “They have been around a lot longer,” I reasoned. “I mean, Azmaveth is like… older than my grandmother, and he’s pretty young,” I said, hopping over a small creek.

  “I suppose that is true,” Aarong reasoned.

  “Whew. Can we take a breather? It is hot,” I said, plopping down on a log.

  “Sure. We probably shouldn’t venture much further anyway,” Aaron agreed, sitting down next to me before continuing. “Say Ahira?”

  “Hm?”

  “If Azmaveth is gone sometime, would you mind taking me to see his treasury?”

  “Why?” I asked, turning to gaze at him with a suspicious eye.

  “Because, do you even know the amount of educational treasures he has? Why I bet I would grow smarter just looking at it! I believe he has the treasure of Atkaperns, which allows you to heal warts. I think he also has the silver toothpick which cleans your teeth for you!”

  “Aaron.”

  “Oh, oh! He should also have the Marvelous Mayfair Mender! I’m not sure what it is, but it sounds interesting!”

  “Aaron!” I tried again.

  “And I wouldn’t take anything! I’m sure if I could just see the treasures I could figure out how they work and perhaps make a copy of them!”

  “Aaron!” I all but yelled in his ear.

  “Yes?”

  “I’ll take you!” I smiled once I was convinced I had his attention.

  “You will?” he dreamily said, looking as though I had just offered him the moon.

  “Yes. What are friends for?” I asked with a lopsided smile.

  He paused and his smile wilted. “Yes, thank you.”

  “No problem. Just don’t touch anything!” I warned. “Or Azmaveth will be sure to kill you.”

  He laughed. “Don’t worry about it. I give you my word not to touch a single treasure!”

  I leaned back, stretching my arms before awkwardly fanning my face with a hand. It was still hot and muggy, and I was wearing a long sleeved dress because Azmaveth hadn’t gotten around to getting me some new summer dresses.