North! Or Be Eaten by Andrew Peterson Read Free Book Online Page A

feet. Janner scrambled over fallen limbs to his brother before anyone else had time to react. When he saw the source of Tink’s distress, Janner screamed too.
    From a space between two dead limbs on the gully floor—which Janner now realized wasn’t a floor at all—a milky-eyed head emerged. Its nose was moist and wide, its snout long like a horse’s but stouter, and two yellowed fangs jutted down from a mouth full of crooked, sharp teeth: a toothy cow, trapped below them in a gargan rockroach den. What they thought was the gully floor was more like a giant brushpile hollowed out from below.
    Within the cow’s mouth was Tink’s left foot, a foot that would’ve been removed from his body and well on its way to the beast’s digestive system had the cow not beensluggish in the fog of the rockroach’s gassy trap. The toothy cow’s eyes oozed a yellow fluid and rolled around in a drowsy fashion as it worked Tink’s ankle deeper into its maw.
    Janner pulled at Tink’s leg, but the cow’s smaller teeth were angled inward. 1 If the cow had been fully awake, Janner was sure Tink would be yet another member of his family with only one working foot.
    Podo appeared with his sword drawn and whacked at the monster, but the cow’s head was only partially visible through the opening in the branches, and he couldn’t do enough damage to release Tink’s foot from it’s mouth.
    The commotion jarred Nugget out of his trance. The great dog barked and tensed his body, taking in the situation as if he had just woken from a dream. When Nugget saw the cow, he pounced at the opening in the floor, which nearly sent Leeli flying from his back. When he landed, the patchwork of branches where they stood shifted and revealed more of the toothy cow’s head.
    The brothers and their grandfather looked at one another long enough to share the realization that they were about to fall—and then they did.
    Nugget crashed to the ground. Leeli landed in the soft fur of her dog’s flank, and Janner, Tink, and Podo followed, head over heels, slamming into the leafy floor of the gargan rockroach’s den.
    Janner was disoriented but realized that in the fall, Tink’s foot had slipped loose from the cow’s jaws. Then he saw the fear on Podo’s face. The old pirate looked past Janner at something that froze him like a statue.
    The den was crawling with monsters.
    1 . To prevent prey from escaping. It is but one of the many deadly features of the Skreean toothy cow. See illustration,
On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness
, 288.

8
A Thorn of Contempt
    T here were four toothy cows; a hissing, flapping family of cave blats; a horned hound, wounded so that it stood on only three of its legs; and a diggle staggering about, flashing its quills. Piles of animal bones littered the floor, and the skulls of all manner of forest creatures gazed at the Igibys.
    “Don’t move a muscle, lads,” Podo whispered. The toothy cow that had been sucking Tink’s foot leaned against the side of the enclosure, breathing heavily, a sick rattle in its throat. The animals were sluggish, but Janner could see that beneath the daze brought on by the rockroach’s gas, the beasts were fierce and hungry.
    “Wake up, Nugget!” Leeli took his paw in her hands and shook it. “Nugget, please!”
    Nugget lay where he had fallen, a heap of black fur. The dog panted, his eyes glazed, like he was lazing by the fire on the verge of happy sleep. The rockroach’s poison was stronger here. Leeli scooted to Nugget’s head, heedless of the beasts so near, and called his name again.
    Tink sat on the ground and gagged at the cow slobber on his foot. His shoe and the bottom of his pant leg were wet, dripping, and smelly enough that an eager band of flies already buzzed about.
    Nia called through the hole above them. “Boys! Leeli! Are you all right?”
    “Aye, lass, they’re fine!” Podo said, not taking his eyes off the congregation of animals. He lowered his voice. “Boys, draw