Princess Ahira (10 page)

I didn’t think much about Azmaveth’s shrinking spell experience
besides feel vindicated that being an inventor magician was a horrid idea
. Perhaps, if I had thought long and hard about it, I would have noticed that Azmaveth was perfectly willing to try out his newly created spells on himself.

Meddling Wizards

About two weeks after the shrinking spell incident Azmaveth came to bother me while I was
cleaning
the den.

“Ahira, I need y
ou to come with me to the woods,”
A
zmaveth whined as he watched me sweep.

“Why
?” I asked without pausing.

“Well, erm. My do I feel ridiculous.
You see
I need to collect some flowers,” he said trailing off.
“And, well,
um…I can’t really pick flowers,” he added helpfully, lifting up a clawed paw to wave in my face.

I stretched backwards, cracking my back as I considered the request.
“I suppose.”  I
reluctantly agreed.
“But why do you need flowers?”
I asked the slightly embarrassed
Azmav
eth.

“They’re used in a
spell,” he answered.

I didn’t think much of it. Azmaveth was always trying to acquire interesting items for a spell. The week af
ter his friends came for a visit
I caught him trying to smuggle my hairbrush out of my room.

I skipped
down the tunnel to my room to grab a shawl before swinging back through the kitchen to get a basket to place the flowers in.

Azmaveth was waiting for me by the front entrance, the doors already open.

I
trotted
past Azmaveth and started down the driveway, swinging my basket as Azmaveth hotly
pursued
me.

“I should lead,” h
e
impatiently called out from behind me.
“It is I, after all, who knows where we’re going!” 

“Right right, just keep moving Azmaveth. I don’t care who leads as long as we leave that filthy den behind!” I sang
as I skipped along side
of him.

After walking a few paces Azmaveth lumbered off the path and delicately stepped
into the forest.
I
followe
d him with an even bigger smile spreading across my face. This was the first time Azmaveth was letting me enter the forest surrounding his home. (Usually if I wanted a breath of fresh air he only let me run up and down the
beaten path that led back and forth between the den and the main road. Why dragons need roads is still a mystery to me
.)

“It’s called the
Endless
Forest
,”
Azmaveth
lectured
as
I danced in place. The forest
was peaceful and quiet with cool, crisp air that
smell
ed
of pine. It was filled with h
uge
, old trees
that
towered over Azmaveth
.
I could practically taste the z
ing of magic.

“What we’re looking for is
in
a meadow,” Azmaveth continued.
“These flowers can only be found
in on
ce place, and that’s Unicorn M
eadow,” h
e explained
.

I ignored him and
grinned at a doe and her
fawn that peeked at us as we trampled past.
Animals were popping out
everywhere.
The forest was alive with the sounds of animals and the songs of birds. 

Azmaveth continued to lead the way
, and no less tha
n ten minutes late
r we approached a small meadow.
In the meadow were some beaut
iful white flowers that oddly resembled
ros
es.
“They’
re called Ever Blossoms,
beca
use they can blossom year round,”
Azmaveth
said
as he settled down in a cat like positio
n in the middle of the meadow.
“An
d I need at least a basket full,”
h
e added as I continued to skip around him.

“N
o problem Azmaveth!” I sang.
I sat down with my skirts fluffed around me as I reached out and careful
ly picked the fragile flowers.
Azmaveth craned his neck and rested his head directly behind me so I could lean against his muzzle.

Azmaveth closed his eyes and
rumbled contentedly as the sunlight bathed us.
I had the basket filled up in no time, but I was in no hurry to leave
.
So instead of telling Azmaveth
I
weaved
a crown of flowers for myself.
(Weaving flowers
another one of my many useless talents I acquired from my flings in the castle kitchen
.)

I finished it and placed it on my head before I started making a m
uch bigger crown for Azmaveth. A few minutes into the project
I gave up
,
realizi
ng I would need more flowers tha
n were in the meadow to complete a circlet big enough for Azmaveth. 

I grabbed the
flower
chain and I climbed
up the side of Azmaveth’s face. H
e s
norted in his sleep
but remained still
enough that he didn’t send me flying. I
scratched at the
base of one of his giant ears and he purred, opening one of his beautiful eyes when I giggled.
My huge
flower
chain was barely long enough to fit around one of his ears. 

I laughed once mor
e as I scratched his ear again.
His nose twitched and he rolled his eyes when he realized I was tying the flowers around his appendage.
“What is it with you and your obsession
of making
me a clean creature?” h
e asked
with unusual complacency
over
the idea
. 

I smiled and didn’t answer a
s he closed his eyes again
.
I shimmied across his forehead, stopping when I was exactly
in the c
enter.
I
just settled down when
suddenly
there was a rush of wings.
I opened my eyes
, Azmaveth was already alert, and watched Zerah drop into the meadow.

The sil
ver blue dragon frowned
as his eyes went from the flower basket to Azmaveth and myself.

“Interesting,” Zerah said, tucking his wings against his sides.
“
Picking
flowers w
ith your
Princ
ess, I never would have guessed,” h
e said, his eyes taking in our Ever Blossom crowns. 

I considered him
.
“
Do you think if I touched him he would die from shock?” I whispered to Azmaveth.

Azmaveth shot me an expression that told me my humor was sorely misplaced for the moment before he turned back to Zerah, who was ambling over to us with the same enthusiasm
one would use when greeting
a leper.

Before he arrived I snagged
Azmaveth’s decora
tive crown off his ear and tossed
it next
to the basket full of flowers.
As adorable as he
looked with flowers on his head
I had no intention of making him look
childish in front
lord snobby
scales
. 

It never escaped me, however, tha
t Azmaveth hadn’t moved an inch since Zerah. He hadn’t even picked his head up from the ground.

Zerah nodded his head at Azmaveth, who opened both eyes
again before slowly sitting upright.
I
clung to his head and noticed
with great pride that Azmaveth was just the tiniest bit taller than Zerah.
  

“What do you want Zerah?” Azmaveth snapped.

“The Dragon King decided to call up the wizards, witches, mages, and sorceress
es
from Somnio
. T
hey will be crawling all
over the
Endless
F
orest
by nightfall,” Zerah said, ignoring me.
“
I thought you’d want to know. After all, who knows. One of them might set their sights on your princess,” Zerah said with a harsh laugh.

The silver dragon dipped his head before elegantly walking away from us. I frowned as he unfolded his wings and prepared for flight.

“GOOD BYE ZERAH!” I shouted with all of my power just as Zerah began to leap into the air.

I shocked Zera
h, who tripped over his own paws
and nearly went crashing to the ground. He turned to glare at me. I smiled and waved in return.

Zerah muttered under his breath before righting himself and taking off, upsetting the meadow as he beat his giant wings.

Azmaveth growled in his throat. “I don’t know whether you’re extremely foolish, extremely brave, or just
suicidal
,” he said as Zerah disappeared in the sky.

“Just because he has terrible manners doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try to extend a common
courtesy
,” I said as Azmaveth stood up. He snagged the flower basket with a claw and awkwardly passed it up to me.

“You’re so unpredictable,” he grumbled as
he
started to move. His gate was relaxed and smooth as I clung to his forehead.

“
I think he’s crabby because he doesn’t have any friends. He must be
lonley
,”
I announced as
Azmaveth left the meadow and plunged into the forest.

“What on earth makes you say—,” Azmaveth started. He abruptly halted and sniffed the air before twisting his giant head to gaze behind us.

On the very edge of the meadow was a young mage with brown hair and sky blue robes. He was watching Azmaveth, myself, and my flower crown with keen interest.

Azmaveth
rolled his eyes and con
tinued on as the mage trailed us.
“
Oh bother.
It’s one of those dum
b wizards Zerah was talking about,”
Azmaveth said, loud en
ough for the young man to hear. “Don’t worry, they wouldn’t dare hurt anyone here. But they can be extremely
annoying
, over enthusiastic,
and
they tend to get underfoot,” h
e said as he
left the forest, flicking his tail like a cat.

We continued to chat
as
Azmaveth carried me back to the cave. O
nce we reach
ed our d
en
I slipped off
Azmaveth’s giant head
, landing on the ground with a grunt.
As I dusted myself off I
noticed the wizard had followed us home. He met my gaze before scuttling
back into the forest. 

Azmaveth had not noticed the exchange and was rambling about all the useful things he co
uld do with the Ever Blossoms.
He went inside the den as I gave a sigh of e
xasperation and followed him.
Azmaveth ambled on to his lab, still babbling about the flowers, and I finished
my previous task of
sweeping out the main tunnel.

Just as I finished I mentally cursed, remembering that I had yet to check for the day’s mail.

Out
of all the ideas, incredible and not so incredible,
that dragons have come up with
the concept of mail has to be the dumbest. Dragons
have this stupid little system that allows them to pass messages and le
tters to each other every day.
Ten dragons take these messages and de
liver them to whomever you want. A
ll you have to do is stick them in your mail hole, which is
basically a hole in the ground.
It’s
a
ll very useless if you ask me. I mean it’s never like they send anything important! Azmaveth once received a letter from Shammah that described his afternoon tea in
great
detail. Pointless. Completely pointless.

I
walked up our long driveway, (Believe me, it’s really long.
I have to walk up it
every
day.
) pulled back the stone that covered
our mail hole,
and peered in.
A few letters were in there
.
I snatched them
up
before covering the hole and walking
back home
.