the tree rattled again. Louder, this time. Angrier.
âSTOP!â Hercufleas yelled at Stickler. He leaped up and almost fainted. Pain screeched through him and his arm made a sound like two halves of a broken plate grating together. The impact of the explosion had cracked his armoured skin. But it didnât matter. His fleamily had landed on the lair of a hibernating rattlesnoak, and Stickler was going to wake it up!
The heroâs agent swatted at the flames until they fizzled out. Then he seized the house-hat and cuddled it to his chest, while at the top of the hill the rattling from the rattlesnoak seed pods reached a frenzy.
âRUN!â Hercufleas bounded forward, fighting dizziness and pain. âITâS WAKING UP!â
Finally Stickler looked down and immediately jumped. The vines around him were moving. They slithered over his feet. One coiled around his ankle. The tip ended in a wide, flat snake head, spade-shaped so it could dig its way up from the ground.
âUgor?â called Stickler nervously. âGet this
thing
off my leg.â
With a hiss, the rattleroot sank its fangs into his foot.
Stickler screamed and kicked with his leg, trying to shake it off. âUgor! Quick! Get it off!â But the paralysing poison was already starting to work. âGerrit oh me! Whash go-ee on, why my shpeeki lie this?â
âHURRY UP!â Hercufleas yelled at the barbarian, as Ugor fumbled another mini-dynamite stick into his Bazuka. It wasnât Stickler he cared about. âJUMP OVER HERE!â he yelled at his fleamily.
Stickler finally reached down and ripped the rattleroot from his foot. Slurring nonsense, he shuffled up the hill to the rattlesnoak trunk. In his delirious state, he must have thought climbing the tree would give him safety. More rattleroots dug their way to the surface and began to swarm towards him. Hercufleas hopped up and down, screaming for Stickler to hurry and Ugor to fire, powerless to do anything but watch.
Stickler dragged himself up the rattlesnoak trunk, using the boles and crevices in the bark for handholds. The poison had completely paralysed his left leg. He balanced the house-hat on the first branch and then clung there, his strength ebbing away, while the ground below him seethed with rattleroots.
Then Ugor fired the Bazuka, and a fizzing stick of TNT struck the hill with an enormous
BOOM
! The rattleroots dug back under the earth for protection as the shock wave slammed into Hercufleas, making his cracked arm buzz in pain.
The explosion rumbled on and on. Why wasnât it stopping? The earth still trembled. All around the clearing, dry leaves and twigs and clods of mud and pebbles bounced up and down, as if everything was becoming a flea. Had Ugorâs dynamite started an earthquake?
The rattlesnoak lurched up into the air â the hill was growing
bigger.
The earth under Hercufleas split and he almost fell into the crack. It was as if the world was turning inside out. Earth and rocks split and tilted. Tree stumps lurched over.
Four enormous
things
burst from the ground over by Onk-Onk, then a fifth. The pig squealed and ran away from the fingers as they wriggled in the air. The rest of the giant hand worked its way up from the earth. The rattlesnoak hill was not a hill at all. It was the top of a head, with two rotten yellow swamps of eyes and fat pupils sitting in the middle of each one like toads and a mouth spitting out mud and roots.
âGiant!â Ugor roared, frantically reloading his Bazuka. âGiant!â
Hercufleas gazed at Yuk rising and rising until he was high as a mountain. This must be where he went each month to sleep â he buried himself below the woodnât.
Ugorâs dynamite had woken him up early.
And he looked very, very angry.
âYUK GUZZLE.â
18
W ithout thinking, Hercufleas attacked.
âWhatever size his enemies, the winnerâs always HERCUFLEAS!â
he screamed.
His next
âSTOP!â Hercufleas yelled at Stickler. He leaped up and almost fainted. Pain screeched through him and his arm made a sound like two halves of a broken plate grating together. The impact of the explosion had cracked his armoured skin. But it didnât matter. His fleamily had landed on the lair of a hibernating rattlesnoak, and Stickler was going to wake it up!
The heroâs agent swatted at the flames until they fizzled out. Then he seized the house-hat and cuddled it to his chest, while at the top of the hill the rattling from the rattlesnoak seed pods reached a frenzy.
âRUN!â Hercufleas bounded forward, fighting dizziness and pain. âITâS WAKING UP!â
Finally Stickler looked down and immediately jumped. The vines around him were moving. They slithered over his feet. One coiled around his ankle. The tip ended in a wide, flat snake head, spade-shaped so it could dig its way up from the ground.
âUgor?â called Stickler nervously. âGet this
thing
off my leg.â
With a hiss, the rattleroot sank its fangs into his foot.
Stickler screamed and kicked with his leg, trying to shake it off. âUgor! Quick! Get it off!â But the paralysing poison was already starting to work. âGerrit oh me! Whash go-ee on, why my shpeeki lie this?â
âHURRY UP!â Hercufleas yelled at the barbarian, as Ugor fumbled another mini-dynamite stick into his Bazuka. It wasnât Stickler he cared about. âJUMP OVER HERE!â he yelled at his fleamily.
Stickler finally reached down and ripped the rattleroot from his foot. Slurring nonsense, he shuffled up the hill to the rattlesnoak trunk. In his delirious state, he must have thought climbing the tree would give him safety. More rattleroots dug their way to the surface and began to swarm towards him. Hercufleas hopped up and down, screaming for Stickler to hurry and Ugor to fire, powerless to do anything but watch.
Stickler dragged himself up the rattlesnoak trunk, using the boles and crevices in the bark for handholds. The poison had completely paralysed his left leg. He balanced the house-hat on the first branch and then clung there, his strength ebbing away, while the ground below him seethed with rattleroots.
Then Ugor fired the Bazuka, and a fizzing stick of TNT struck the hill with an enormous
BOOM
! The rattleroots dug back under the earth for protection as the shock wave slammed into Hercufleas, making his cracked arm buzz in pain.
The explosion rumbled on and on. Why wasnât it stopping? The earth still trembled. All around the clearing, dry leaves and twigs and clods of mud and pebbles bounced up and down, as if everything was becoming a flea. Had Ugorâs dynamite started an earthquake?
The rattlesnoak lurched up into the air â the hill was growing
bigger.
The earth under Hercufleas split and he almost fell into the crack. It was as if the world was turning inside out. Earth and rocks split and tilted. Tree stumps lurched over.
Four enormous
things
burst from the ground over by Onk-Onk, then a fifth. The pig squealed and ran away from the fingers as they wriggled in the air. The rest of the giant hand worked its way up from the earth. The rattlesnoak hill was not a hill at all. It was the top of a head, with two rotten yellow swamps of eyes and fat pupils sitting in the middle of each one like toads and a mouth spitting out mud and roots.
âGiant!â Ugor roared, frantically reloading his Bazuka. âGiant!â
Hercufleas gazed at Yuk rising and rising until he was high as a mountain. This must be where he went each month to sleep â he buried himself below the woodnât.
Ugorâs dynamite had woken him up early.
And he looked very, very angry.
âYUK GUZZLE.â
18
W ithout thinking, Hercufleas attacked.
âWhatever size his enemies, the winnerâs always HERCUFLEAS!â
he screamed.
His next
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