The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw by Christopher Healy, Todd Harris Page B

scooting over to the pile of tooth-marked remains. He started rearranging the bones. “Let’s see what they make.”
    “My point is that whatever creature dug this hole is long gone,” Liam said. “So let’s brainstorm; you know it won’t be long before we have to run again. Greenfang’s been breathing down our necks for days.”
    “Yeah, so much for the river throwing him off our trail,” Gustav said.
    “The thornbushes didn’t exactly work either,” Frederic added. “Nor the swamp. Or the waterfall.”
    “Don’t forget the corn maze,” Duncan added.
    “Yes,” Liam grumbled. “How could any of us forget the corn maze?”
    “I’m still picking loose kernels out of my slippers,” Frederic griped.
    “Focus, people,” Liam snapped. “We’ve got a mystery to solve.”
    “Oh, yes. Well, let’s see,” said Frederic. “Who were Briar’s enemies?”
    “You mean besides us?” Gustav asked.

    Fig. 9
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    “Honestly, no one was very happy with her after she annulled our marriage,” Liam said, staring into the flickering flame of his torch. “But who would be the most upset?” His eyes went wide with horror. “My parents.”
    “You really think your mother and father had Briar killed?” Frederic asked.
    “And then blamed me for it?” Liam wondered aloud. “I don’t want it to be true, but I can’t rule it out. No one wanted this royal marriage more than they did.”
    “Then I guess we should head to Erinthia,” Frederic said.
    “Perfect timing,” Duncan said. “Because I just finished putting these bones together. And now we know what kind of creature died here in this cave.” With a flourish of his hands, he presented his work. “It was . . . a skeleton !”
    “Brilliant,” Gustav mumbled.
    “Hmm, those remains are human,” Liam said, inspecting the bones. “Maybe we shouldn’t be in this burrow after all.”
    “And that’s my cue to leave,” Frederic said, crawling between Liam and Gustav to the root-tangled cave opening. Just as he reached the exit, a figure appeared in front of him. Greenfang grabbed him by the collar of his filthy pajama shirt and dragged him out into the open. The bounty hunter tossed Frederic over to Erik the Mauve, then bent down and called into the burrow, “The rest of you can come out now. None of you better make a run for it, unless you want Pete to use your friend here for target practice.”
    The princes crawled out of the hole, one by one, to face the three bounty hunters—and the three giant mongooses.
    “I give you credit for trying,” Greenfang said, squinting at them. “Most folks can’t evade me for even one day, let alone a week. But in the end, all you’ve done is get yourselves tired and me angry. Do you know why they call me the most dangerous bounty hunter in the land? Because I never give up on a quarry. Never.” He squinted even harder. “I once chased a man into a volcano.”
    “Well, you’ve never faced men like us before,” Liam said, staring him down.
    “You mean an overconfident braggart, a muscle-bound doofus, a tiny weirdo, and a beanpole in silk pajamas?” Greenfang said. “Yeah, I’ll give you that. It’s a new combination for me. Now let’s get you to Avondell.”
    “I have a question,” Duncan said, raising his hand. “What do mongooses eat?”
    “It’s mon geese ,” Erik corrected.
    “No, really, it’s not ,” Pete huffed. “It’s mongooses.”
    “EITHER IS ACCEPTABLE!” Greenfang shouted at them.
    Erik cleared his throat and began tying Frederic’s wrists. “Anyway, they eat snakes mostly,” he said. Then he narrowed his eyes at Duncan. “But they’d tear into you if I told ’em to.”
    “Oh, I’m not worried about that,” Duncan said. “I was just wondering if maybe it was a mongoose that lived in that cave. But it can’t be. Whatever lives in there doesn’t eat snakes—it eats skeletons.”
    Pete sighed. “Don’t you people know a bugbear den when you see