Read Euuuugh! Eyeball Stew! for Free Online

if he’d put on weight.
    â€˜There isn’t time!’ said Iggy.
    â€˜Listen!’ Hubba held up a hand to silence them. The three of them stood rooted to the spot, straining to hear. From far down the passageway came the muffled sound of footsteps. The Henna were coming.
    â€˜Quick!’ hissed Iggy. ‘Hide!’
    They looked around the small, dimly lit chamber. There was only one place to hide and it wasn’t going to be pleasant.

Chapter 8
    Mud!
    I ggy didn’t dare breathe – not that it was easy to breathe when you were buried under a mountain of stones and skulls. He knew that if he twitched or moved a muscle he would start a landslide and give them away. The footsteps came closer then halted. Peeping out, he glimpsed a pair of dirty, reddish feet. For a Henna warrior they were remarkably small and not in the least hairy.
    â€˜Iggy? You there?’ called a nervous voice he recognised immediately.
    â€˜Oosha?’
    Iggy’s head emerged from the pile, followed by his neck and shoulders. A moment later Hubba and Snark surfaced too, panting for breath. They crawled out of the heap.
    â€˜What are you doing here?’ said Iggy.
    Oosha glanced behind, worried that she might have been followed. She set down the sack she was carrying.
    â€˜Iggy, you not stay here,’ she warned. ‘You must hurry!’
    â€˜Or they’re going to eat us?’ said Iggy.
    Oosha didn’t answer.
    â€˜You knew this would happen, didn’t you?’ said Iggy. ‘You brought us here deliberately!’
    Oosha shook her head. ‘No! I not bring you – you bring me . I scare to come back.’
    â€˜Scared – why?’
    â€˜Because I scare this happen! I cross with Pappa! “Bad Pappa,” I say, “you not eat Iggy. He save Oosha life.”’
    â€˜Did he listen?’
    â€˜No, he have big temper. Shout, roar, stump his feets. Say Urgs make good stew!’
    Iggy nodded. No wonder Oosha had seemed worried when they talked about returning home. Having a cannibal for a father was enough to make anyone worried. He looked around.
    â€˜How much time do we have?’
    â€˜You go now,’ said Oosha. ‘When Shani sleep they come.’
    â€˜Shani?’
    â€˜God of Sun.’
    When the sun slept – that probably meant they had until sunset. Iggy tried to think. There was only one way out of the cave and that was back the way they’d come, but with guards watching the entrance, how could they escape?
    Oosha emptied out the contents of the sack on the floor. Luckily she’d remembered to bring Iggy’s boo and arrow. Not so luckily it came with a big pile of mud.
    â€˜Quick! You hurry,’ repeated Oosha.
    â€˜You want us to throw mud at them?’
    â€˜Not throw. Make painty face, like this.’ She smeared her face with mud, rubbing it into her cheeks. Iggy understood – it was a disguise! Maybe not a brilliant disguise but the best one they had. If they daubed themselves with red mud, the guards might mistake them for Henna and let them past.
    Ten minutes later they crept along the winding passage towards the cave entrance. Iggy wished the mud had had more time to dry but it was too late to worry about that now. He had his boo and arrows hidden in the sack, hoping that he wouldn’t need them.
    As they neared the mouth of the cave he could hear the two guards talking in low voices. Outside daylight was fading – sunset couldn’t be far off.
    â€˜Wait!’ said Iggy. ‘Oosha, come with us.’
    Oosha looked down. She shook her head sadly.
    â€˜Why not?’
    â€˜This my home. I must take care my father.’
    â€˜He eats people!’ said Iggy.
    Oosha sighed. ‘Still my father. Maybe he learn? I teach him cook vegetable.’
    Iggy tried to imagine Karratop and the Henna sitting down to one of Oosha’s nut-leaf stews. It might even happen one day. Hubba was pulling at his