Chapter 4: DragonSlayers For Hire!
 
  "Is everyone here?" Shiva asked, looking around in disbelief at where she
had ended up.  There were wide-open grasslands with small hills and
scattered trees atop them.  She was definitely not in the forest anymore.
  "Man," Maxie said next to her.  "We sure as heck are lost now!"
  "No kidding," Jack agreed.  "Brilliant idea, Miss Rosie."
  "Give her a break," Roger argued.  "At least we got away from those stinky
gnome guys!"
  "Yeah," Sammi chimed in.  "We're safe now."
  "Well," Rosie stated.  "I wonder where we are?"
  "Ribbit!" Tony croaked at her feet.
  "Hey," Cleo said.  "Can we try giving Tony another raisin?  It is really
humiliating for him to be a frog!"
  "Sure," Rosie offered, and reached into the satchel of raisins that Otter
had enchanted.  He put one into Tony's mouth.
  "Woah!" The young boy ferret exclaimed as he transformed back into his
former, furry self!  "Thanks, I needed that!"
  "Tony!"  Cleo yelled and kissed him all over his face.  "You're back!"
  "Hey," Rosie interrupted.  "We have to move out, because we've got to find
out how to get home!"
  "Yes," Maxie agreed.  "And we must defeat the evil dragon Snarl and get
back before Mom and Dad get too worried about us"
  "Well," Shiva said.  "They are probably used to used disappearing from time
to time by now!"  Everyone laughed together at her joke.
  "Which way do we go now?" Cleo asked, looking around the vast landscape in
all directions.
  "I got an idea" Rosie said, as she took a raisin out of the bag and
tossed it high up into the air.  It landed on the ground and bounced a few
times on the grass until it rested.
  "Rosie?" Maxie asked.  "Have you lost your mind?"
  "No," Rosie answered, investigating the raisin.  "The pointed end of the
raisin points that way!" She extended her arm towards a valley off in the
distance.
  "So?" Cleo questioned.
  "So that's the way we'll go!"  Rosie declared, as she started walking in
that direction.
  "Sounds good to me," Shiva replied and followed her, as did the rest of
them reluctantly.
  "Where is Buzz anyway?" Sammi asked as they traveled.
  "He must not have fit into the crinkle sack," Rosie answered.
  "Yeah," Shiva added.  "His wings are too big!"
  "Oh," Sammi whispered to herself.  "Hey, I've got another question!"
  "What is it now?" Rosie replied with a grumpy, tired tone.
  "How come those gnome guys are following us?" Sammi said innocently.
  "Oh no!" Maxie shouted as she and the others turned and saw a dozen or more
of the little beasts approaching them very quickly from behind.
  "RUN!!!" Rosie commanded, and their feet barely touched the ground as they
sped away from the gnomes with all of their might!
 
    (to be continued... to find out more goto:
http://members.aol.com/WildSider/mainpage.html)
[Posted in FML issue 2037]