War in Hagwood by Robin Jarvis

Author:Robin Jarvis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Media Teen & Tween
Published: 2016-02-05T22:01:36+00:00

* Chapter 11 *

The Squirrel Raider

TERSER GIBBLE, THE ONCE HIGHLY RESPECTED INSTRUCTOR in the art of wergling, surveyed his former pupils with a disagreeable and superior sneer—at odds with the rest of his appearance. In the days since his infamous betrayal and surrendering of the secret wergling passwords to the High Lady, drastic changes had come over him.

The most striking was the loss of his long, tapering nose that used to whistle when he became agitated. The High Lady had commanded it to be cut off. Now a bandage, torn from his black tutor’s gown, was bound about his head, covering the wound and making him look like a masked highway robber. His once-dignified and proud appearance was gone, replaced by a disheveled, beggarly aspect, and he had developed a nervous twitch of the head.

For several long moments, the children gaped at him as he dusted himself down and methodically checked to see that none of his gangly bones were broken after the fall. Then their mute surprise gave way to resentment and anger.

Bufus was the first to vent it. “Well well,” he began. “It’s Old Gibble. Gibble the Coward, Gibble the Traitor. Why haven’t you dropped dead from shame yet?”

“You left us at the mercy of those thorn monsters!” Kernella joined in. “And you told them to hunt for Finnen! I hate you; everyone back home hates you!”

Master Gibble remained calm and aloof but at the mention of Finnen’s name, he squeezed his eyes shut and his head gave a nervous jerk to the side. Finnen Lufkin had been his most magnificent pupil and showed every sign of becoming a greater wergler than even he. Master Gibble had become rabidly jealous of the boy’s talent and had grown to despise him. It was he who had urged the werling council to banish the boy when he had exposed Finnen’s cheating.

“Does Lufkin still live?” he asked bitterly.

“No thanks to you,” the girl replied. “At least he did when we left him this morning.”

“And those pernicious brutes of thorn and briar?”

“We beat them!” Bufus crowed. “Every single one. Yeah, that’s surprised you, hasn’t it, Bluntface. I bet you thought we was done for.”

The tutor’s eyes glittered. “So, has the council dispatched everyone, even children, to seek me out and bring me to justice?” he drawled slowly. “I shall not be apprehended easily. I am still the Great Grand Wergle Master and you are nothing. What unseasoned folly is this? I credited Yoori Mattock with more sense. I see I was mistaken—the fatuous old oaf.”

“Mister Mattock is dead,” Gamaliel said sharply. “And you’ve got it wrong. We haven’t come looking for you. No one cares about you anymore. You’re the last thing on our minds.”

“Typical of our stinking luck to bump into you,” Bufus added.

Master Gibble would have snorted with derision if he’d still possessed a nose.

“You cannot deceive me!” he exclaimed. “I’m far too wily and sagacious. How easily I see through your clumsy, juvenile perjuries. I am the remarkable Terser Gibble.

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