'Unwanted Magic" 7

The family finished the grilled burgers and hotdogs and with their hunger sated, they all felt too lazy to continue on the adventure but it was Joey who spoke up. “I’m tired,” he told his mom.

“Then we’ll need to find a nice hotel for the night and continue this trek tomorrow,” she said giving a pointed look to the magical dog.

“Accommodations were not discussed prior to starting the adventure but if so needed, I can provide rudimentary tents and sleeping bags,” Flint advised with a shrug of his doggy shoulders.

“I told you Jane; he’s tricky,” Jack scoffed.

The mom’s eye’s narrowed on the magic dog.

“We will not be sleeping on this hard, cold, ground; at the very least, we’d need beds with good mattress support.”

Joey sighed, disappointed by his mom’s response. “I’m okay with a sleeping bag mom; I think it’d be fun to camp out.”

The mom and dad looked at their son; his eyes were alight with excitement. They couldn’t and wouldn't dim that light.

Jack smiled up at his wife; “I wouldn’t mind camping out; I use to enjoy it as a kid.”

Jane still wasn’t happy at the prospect of sleeping under the stars surrounded by biting bugs but if they both wanted to do it, she’d go along, but she was going to insist her tent be double zipped and mosquito free. “Fine, we’ll camp out but the sleeping bags have to be down filled; extremely so,” she demanded in no-nonsense authority and her eyes seared into the dog's.

Flint wolf-growled and grumbled but in a blink, a campsite appeared with a tent large enough to accommodate the entire family and three down-filled sleeping bags, one adult size and two child sized, were inside it, comfortably cushioned and insulated. “Are we all happy now?” Flint barked.

Jane shook her head. “Not yet; we’ll need a space heater, a couple of solar lamps, and a no biting bugs barrier.”

Flint wolf-laughed, “This is not a vacation resort it is an adventure! I have already accommodated as you requested, a camping experience which I have heard means to 'rough it' in the outdoors."

The mom was about to go paws to toe with that dog to negate the "roughing it " remark but Joey interrupted with his own request,

“Can we have a campfire?” Joey asked in a quiet whisper.

Flint eyed the boy and in the shake of a dog’s tail, a fire pit appeared and on a small table near it appeared a bag of marshmallows, several long sticks to toast them on, squares of chocolate and a stack of graham crackers.

“We can make s’mores!” Joey yelled with joy and ran over to sit down in one of the camping chairs that had appeared around the fire pit. Then he picked up a stick, put a marshmallow on it and began toasting it.

"I'm not done with that argument," the mom whispered to the dog but she followed her son and husband over to the fire pit.

Soon they all were toasting marshmallows except for Flint, in his current form of choice he did not have opposable thumbs so holding the stick was impossible.

Joey noticed the dog's problem and dropped every second one he made into a bowl for the magic dog to enjoy. Flint scoffed them up and although a real dog would have been sickened by the chocolate, he was only in a dog’s form so it didn’t bother him at all.

 

The fire pit was slowly dying out and the stars were dotting the sky when Joey yawned and felt his eyes closing.

Flint nudged the boy’s shoulder and looked at his parents. “I suggest you all get that rest you say you need. Tomorrow we will step into the enchanted village and trust me…you will need to be alert because there is nothing enchanting about it…so goodnight to you all!” Flint woofed then stalked off to a smaller tent of his own.

The parents stood silent digesting the dog’s warning but Joey wasn’t worried about tomorrow, to his imagination it sounded like another day of magical fun. He trotted off to the tent calling out a “Goodnight,” to his parents.

 

Jane looked at her child-sized husband and asked, “What could be bad in a place called enchanted?”

Jack scoffed. “I’d say plenty with that dog leading us into it; it could be filled with a pack of enchanted, possessed dolls.”

“No! Don’t say that,” Jane swatted her husband on the arm,” You know I can’t stand the thought of dolls coming to life and I hated that movie you took me to on our first date.”

“That wasn’t my finest idea, but I thought you’d get scared and want me to hold you.”

“And how did that work out?” Jane grinned.

“Not well; I didn’t know how scared you were of horror movies but I learned fast, as fast as your flailing, fisted hand landed a surprisingly, packed fist in my eye.”

Jane giggled, “Sorry about that.”

Jack nodded. “I know, and the black eye only lasted a week.”

“Jack…?” she whispered.

“What?”

“Do you think it could be possessed dolls in that village?” she asked in a frightened whisper.

“No, of course not,” he said wanting to reassure her but the truth was, he wasn’t sure, “but maybe...you should be prepared for any possibility with that untrustworthy mutt in charge.

“That’s great, not only do I have to sleep in that uncomfortably tent now I have to ward of nightmares all night too?”

“I’ll protect you,” Jack said looking up at her with a magnanimous smile.

 “If I remember correctly; your eyes were closed too when that hideous doll came to life in the movie and that’s why you didn’t see my fist flying at you,” she teased him.

“My memory of that moment is different but…I won’t dispute yours,” he chuckled as they walked into the tent.

Inside, Joey had already fallen asleep in his fluffy, cozy sleeping bag and the soft light from the solar lamp, hanging from a hook at the peak of the tent gave off a warm, incandescent glow and made the tent feel inviting and best of all, there were no mosquito’s buzzing about.

“It’s not so bad in here,” Jane admitted.

“Not bad at all,” Jack agreed and threw himself onto his child-sized sleeping bag and was snoring in less than five seconds.

Jane slipped into her sleeping bag, surprised by the luxurious comfort of it and snuggled into its down-filled softness, and quickly fell asleep.

 

The next morning, after a filling breakfast was had by all, they were ready to begin the next part of the adventure.

“Who does the dishes,” Joey asked, nodding to the silverware and fine china plates still on the blue and white checkered table cloth that covered the picnic table.

“Not I,” the mom said.

 “Ask the dog,” the dad said with a smirk in the canine’s direction.

Flint eyed the dad with annoyance but in a blink of a dog’s eye, the dirty dishes and silverware disappeared, along with the entire campsite. “Now if you are all satisfied, can we get on with the adventure?” Flint whined.

The dad stretched his child-sized body and did a few knee bends before nodding to the dog. “Yeah; I’m ready to get this over with.”

“Good; then let’s get on with it,” Flint growled back.

The mom and dad picked up their magically, refilling coffee travel cups and Joey picked up his never ending refill of juice/water/ice tea/occasional soda/whatever he asked for to-go cup and said in a happy voice, “We’re off to see dragons!”  

 

The mom smiled at her son’s happiness but over his head, she noticed tiny pinpricks of light sparkling in distant trees and pointed them out to her family.

“Look at those pretty, fairy lights!” she exclaimed.

“No! Don’t say that,” Flint growled, warning her, but it was too late. Two dozen, iron spears flew through the air in their direction from those twinkling lights.

The spears slammed into the ground trapping Flint and the family in an immovable iron circle.

“What’s going on?” the dad asked trying to squeeze out between the spears but there wasn’t even an inch of space between the spears.

Flint shook his furry head and whined, “I’d say, what’s going on is that we’re not wanted here.”

“And I’d say that’s obvious, but who doesn’t want us here?” the dad asked while trying to pull one of the spears from the ground; it didn’t budge.

“The who would be the one your wife called out to,” Flint answered in a sarcastic-woof nodding his big, dog head towards the lights.

“I didn’t call anyone,” the mom defended, “I just pointed out those fairy lights.”

“Stop that! Stop calling her name,” Flint warned, twisting his ears, listening for a specific sound.

“But all I said was, look at those fairy lights,” the mom whispered, not understanding what she’d done.

“Please, stop saying, Fairy Lytes! Why do you keep saying it, and now you made me say?” Flint growled.

“That’s a name?” the mom questioned, still bewildered.

“Yes it’s a name and the owner of it is not the friendly sort of fairy you may be thinking of; she doesn’t like to be bothered, especially by adventure seekers.” Flint wolf-grumbled the last part, not adding it was him she'd have an issue with.

“And that’s why she trapped us here?” the dad asked.

“Yes and look,” Flint did a good imitation of a Pointer with his front paw sticking straight out as a directional arrow, “She’s heading our way. Trust me, this is not a good situation to be in.” he wolf-whimpered, shaking his big dog head.

 

The family looked where the magic dog pointed and saw those tiny, pinpricks of light had become a cluster of light, a large sparkling ball of brightness, and it was moving at maximum speed towards them.

“Will we be okay?” Joey asked grabbing onto his parent hands.

“We’ll be okay son,” the dad reassured him.

“One can never tell with Fairy Lytes,” Flint wolf-grumbled the warning, feeling the dog hairs on his back standing up, sensing an attack.

 

The light burst through the trees and halted in front of the captured family and Flint.

“What is that I see?” the dismembered voice came from the bright light, “Is that Flint hiding in a domesticated beast's form? Does it do tricks? Lay down!” the voice commanded.

Flint felt his limbs obey the command and shook his big dog head. “Okay, yes, it’s me Fair. You can stop the games.”

“Stop? Oh no, this is too good an opportunity Flint,” The light laughed, making a sound like breaking glass.

“What is that?” Joey whispered to his dad and since his dad was the same height as him it was easy to whisper to him.

“I’m not sure son but we should stay quiet.”

 

The light moved around the jail of spears. “You’ve brought me guests Flint? You know I hate guests,” the light said ominously.

“No, they’re not your guests; we’re on a quest, just stopped for a brief rest so…if you let us out we’ll be on our way…far away.” Flint promised.

“A quest…and where does your quest lead to?” the light asked in a softer voice. A kinder voice that fooled Joey into thinking the light was becoming friendlier.

“A quest to see dragons!” Joey spoke up.

“What??!!!” the light screeched and everyone had to hold their ears. It was truly sound barrier breaking and ear drum splitting loud.

Flint had no hands and buried his head under his big paws as he groaned, wishing he’d warned the boy to stay silent. “The boy misunderstood,” Flint howled over the screeching sound, “We’re seeking doubloons; pirate’s gold…silly boy keeps getting the word wrong.” Flint woof-grumbled and the screeching stopped; he hoped she’d believe him. The primary law in these lands was that Dragon’s were to be protected and Fairy Lytes was the mistress of their protection. He hadn’t meant to encounter her so soon on this adventure but entry to Erifsnogard would have them facing her eventually; this encounter was an unwanted bonus.

“A quest for treasure; how droll Flint. Why make a quest of something you can sneeze a magic compass at to find?”

“It was the boy’s request.”

“I see…and who are these others that are not children, although one of them is as small as a child?”

“The boy’s parents insisted on joining the quest.”

“Grown humans past the prime of imagination? Why ever would you allow that?”

“Didn’t want to,” Flint woof-growled.

“Well then, it seems we are in the perfect place for a bargain; aren’t we?”

“No…no bargain!” Flint howled but the spears began to move inward closing them in, making the space tighter, more uncomfortable and he relented.

“What kind of bargain?” he whined but his sinking canine heart told him, whatever it was, he wasn’t going to like it.