The Nation Charmer-Book 1

Chapter 3

             Dahlia emptied her backpack upside down, searching for something that would help her defeat Dr. Fang. Her belongings spilled out: blankets, T-shirts, a cap and a coil of rope. She stared at the rope, inspiration leaping into her mind.

             As Dahlia tied two knots at the ends and another two knots near the centre, she heard a yelp and Helen flew past her, landing on the ground hard. Dr. Fang turned on Troy and Olive.

             No! Dahlia thought. I’m almost done!

           Her fingers flew yet fumbled exasperatingly as she yanked on the knots she had made. If only the rope would hold! If it broke, all was lost.

             Troy dove out of the way, staining his shirt with grass and leaves. Dr. Fang turned towards Olive with a snarl. The boy swung his club fiercely and Dr. Fang was whacked hard in the chest. He flew towards Dahlia who ducked to avoid getting hit in the head.

             The monster rose again and lunged at Troy. The boy backed away, leading the monster away from Dahlia and Helen.

             “Some help, please?” Troy asked, desperately backing up.

             “How childish you sound,” laughed Dr. Fang. “And how desperate. I love those sounds.”

              He pounced but Dahlia struck first. She leapt on Dr. Fang’s back and managed to flatten him. When the monster reared and howled in frustration, she threw one end of her rope around, catching it deftly in her other hand.

             Dr. Fang roared in annoyance and anger but Dahlia yanked him back. His fangs were too far to cut the rope and he had no other teeth. Dahlia’s rope provided her with a makeshift bridle. Dr. Fang tried to swing his snake tail around but Dahlia ducked. It whistled over her head.

            “Nice work!” Troy cried, gasping for breath as scrambled out of the way from Dr. Fang.

             The monster turned in the direction of Troy’s voice but Dahlia pulled the rope rein again and pulled him up short. It was no harder than getting an unruly horse to obey her.

             Helen grabbed an enormous rock from the ground and threw it with surprising accuracy. It sailed out of her grip and towards Dr. Fang.

             SNAP!

             One of the monster’s fangs broke off and tumbled into the dust. Dr. Fang screamed in pain and disbelief that he had been injured. He reared in defiance. Without the fang there to hold the rope from sliding off, Dahlia lost her grip and fell, tumbling over the ground where she lay still.

              Dr. Fang reared again and began to back up rapidly before he thought better of it. He lunged again, this time at Dahlia. Olive smacked him in the face with his club, sending the monster stumbling backwards.

             Enraged that the monster had tried to kill Dahlia, Troy bent down, searching desperately for anything that he could use as a weapon. His fingers closed on one of Dahlia’s T-shirts. He was about to throw it aside in disgust when he saw the broken fang from the monster’s mouth.

             Troy darted forward and grabbed the fang, still covering his hand in Dahlia’s T-shirt. He slashed wildly at Dr. Fang with his new weapon and sliced him in half.

             THUNK!

             The monster began to melt into a shadow. Every remnant that he had existed vanished slowly except for his old clothes and the fang in Troy’s hand.