Camille's Adventure

Chapter 20: Meeting the Dufflepods

In the other room, Lucy had found the right spell. She frowned in concentration as she read it.

"A spell that makes the unseen seen.

'Like p in...psychology,'"

The big word was a little hard for Lucy.

"'The h in psychiatry.

Invisible ink and the truth in theology...'"

Back outside the mansion, Edmund found something lying on the ground. "Lucy's dagger!" He exclaimed.

"'The spell is complete, now all is visible."

Lucy continued to read from inside the mansion.

Suddenly, javelin's flew out from the air barely missing all of them. Edmund shot to his feet ready to fight the invisible foe but he was quickly whacked across the face. His head turned to the side from the force. Caspian's dagger was knocked from his hands and his invisible opponent made Caspian hit himself with his hands. Then he was shoved to the ground. All around them the crew members were being knocked down by a force no one could see! Camille's sword flew from her hands and struck the ground beside Edmund's foot causing him to jump. Camille looked at him apologetically, before being slapped across her head.

"Hey!" Camille exclaimed.

"Camille!" Edmund cried in alarm.

"Stop right there or perish." A voice commanded.

Caspian looked around wildly. "What sort of creatures are you?" He questioned in bewilderment as he got back to his feet.

"Big ones," said a big gruff voice somewhere above them. "With the head of a tiger and the body of a......."

"Different tiger!" Another chimed in.

"Yeah!" Several others spoke up.

"You don't want to mess with us," said the first voice.

"Or what?" Edmund asked the creatures boldly.

"Or I'll claw you to death." Another voice replied.

At that moment, the invisible creatures started to turn visible. They were small creatures, smaller than dwarfs, and with one big foot. Two of them carried another one on their shoulders, which explained how they could throw those spears. Apparently, they still didn't know that they were now visible.

"And I'll ram my tusks right through you," said one.

"And I'll gnash you with my teeth," said another.

"And I'll bite you with my teeth. Grr!" Yet another said gritting his teeth.

"You mean squash us, with your fat bellies?" Edmund joked in sarcasm.

"Fat bellies?"  All the creatures questioned they all looked down at themselves and saw they weren't invisible anymore.

"Tickle us with your toes?" Caspian teased with a big grin on his face.

The leader of the group suddenly fell to the ground as his carriers lost their balance. This made the whole crew laugh.

Once everyone had their laugh, Edmund strode over to one of the creatures and held his sword to his neck while Drinian held another to his head.

"What have you done to my sister, you little pipsqueak?" Edmund asked threateningly.

"Now calm down," the one-footed creature peeped.

"Where is she?" Edmund snapped.

Camille walked over to Edmund and put a hand on his shoulder. He calmed down a little.

"You better tell him," one creature said.

"Tell him, chief." Several others chimed in.

"In the mansion." The chief replied.

"What mansion?" Edmund asked swiftly.

The creature nodded to the side as a large building, magnificent in appearance, slowly started to turn visible like an invisible cloak was being drawn off.

"Oh, that mansion." Edmund exclaimed in awe.

Suddenly a voice interrupted the moment. "You know, I'm really tired of you all leaving me behin-" Eustace's sentence was cut off when he noticed the strange creatures.

"The pig! It's the pig, he's back!" The creatures start exclaiming, frantically bouncing all over the place.

Camille laughed, making the boys smile slightly.

"This place gets weirder and weirder." Eustace commented as he watched the creatures.

"Weird? He's calling us weird!" The creatures cried still bouncing around.

Then the creatures started bouncing away from the crew. "It's the oppressor!" They all cried.

Caspian and Edmund spun around and saw Lucy walking towards them with an older man. Camille guessed the man was about 49 or 50, definitely older than Caspian. The man was wearing a brown cloak-looking outfit and had a medium sized beard.

"Lucy!" Edmund exclaimed happily. 

Lucy smiled, "Coriakin this is King Edmund, Queen Camille, and King Caspian the tenth. Edmund, Camille, Caspian, this is Coriakin. It's his island."

The man bowed in respect for the royals. Then the creatures spoke up. "That's what he thinks. You have wronged us, magician."

"I have not wronged you." Coriakin said, striding towards them confidently. "I made you invisible for your own protection."

"Protection?" One asked.

"That's oppressive!" Said another.

They continued to bounce away from Coriakin.

"I have not oppressed you." Coriakin replied calmly.

"But you could've if you wanted to." The creatures tried defending themselves.

Coriakin pulled something from his pocket and threw it at the creatures. "Begone."

The creatures bouncing off yelling, "It's a spell!"

"What was that?" Lucy asked as the man walked back to the front of the group.

Coriakin leaned in and whispered, "Lint. But don't tell them."

"What are those things?" Eustace questioned.

"Monopods, but they call themselves Dufflepods." The man told the boy over his shoulder as he walked back towards the mansion doors.

"Right, of course. Silly me." Eustace mumbled. He followed the others into the mansion.