by Steve Cole
Gipsy placed a hoof on his shoulder. “At least we caught the dinos who did it – and your farmer friends will soon be well again.”
Yokul nodded. “That’s wonderful, of course – but it won’t feed those starving dinosaurs.”
“True,” agreed Arx with a smile. “But I wouldn’t give up on your harvest just yet. We might just be able to save it – with help from the fearblooms.”
Leefer looked at him oddly. “Huh?”
“The fearblooms can resist poisons and pollution, and their sap heals infections – right?” Arx approached one of the plants and held out his arm; the fearbloom chomped it politely, leaving a smear of yellow. “Perhaps it will heal the crops too?”
Teggs whistled, impressed. “Sounds like a theory that needs putting to the test!”
“Quick, Leefer,” said Iggy. “Have you still got that crop sample?”
“Sure do.” Leefer reached into his dungarees, produced the battered, wizened plant he’d managed to pluck from the mud and tossed it over.
“OK, here goes . . .” Arx took the measly crop and dipped it in the fearbloom sap. Within moments, the shrivelled leaves grew fatter and greener. “There! It will need to be mixed with other ingredients to make a proper antidote, but . . .”
“It’s a miracle,” Frisbee declared, carefully cradling the puffed-up plant. “Noxia-4’s harvest will be saved!”
“Yahooooo!” Leefer started dancing with the fearbloom once more, and Yokul joined in.
“Arx, you’ve proved it again,” said Gipsy, kissing the triceratops fondly on the cheek. “You’re the brightest spark in space.”
“He certainly is!” Iggy smiled. “And I’ll prove I’m the best mechanic in space – by building a special, super-sized sprinkler underneath the Sauropod. Then when Arx has cooked up enough of that antidote stuff . . .”
“We can fly around the planet and spray the fields.” Teggs beamed. “That’ll bring the crops back to life. When Krokk, Gucklock and all the others are fit again, we’ll take them straight to space prison.”
“And let DSS experts dismantle that warship safely,” Arx added.
“Looks like everything’s coming up roses,” said Teggs happily. “And while I’m certainly no farmer, my crew is the cream of the crop – and my hopes of starting a new adventure soon are growing all the time!”
As the astrosaurs danced about with the farmers, celebrating their great victory, they couldn’t know that they were indeed poised on the brink of another adventure.
Perhaps the greatest and most incredible adventure of all . . .
About the Author
Born in 1971, Steve Cole spent a happy childhood in rural Bedfordshire being loud and aspiring to amuse. He liked books, and so went to the University of East Anglia to read more of them. Later on he started writing them too, with titles ranging from pre-school poetry to Young Adult thrillers (with more TV and film tie-ins than he cares to admit to along the way). In other careers he has been the editor of Noddy magazine, and an editor of fiction and nonfiction book titles for various publishers. He is the author of the hugely successful Astrosaurs, Cows in Action, Astrosaurs Academy and Slime Squad series.
ALSO BY STEVE COLE:
Read all the adventures of Teggs, Gipsy, Arx and Iggy!
1 Riddle of the Raptors
2 The Hatching Horror
3 The Seas of Doom
4 The Mind-Swap Menace
5 The Skies of Fear
6 The Space Ghosts
7 Day of the Dino-Droids
8 The Terror-Bird Trap
9 The Planet of Peril
10 The Star Pirates
11 The Claws of Christmas
12 The Sun-Snatchers
13 Revenge of the Fang
14 The Carnivore Curse
15 The Dreams of Dread
16 The Robot Raiders
17 The Twist of Time
18 The Sabre-Tooth Secret
19 The Forest of Evil
20 Earth Attack!
21 The T. Rex Invasion
22 The Castle of Frankensaur
Read all the adventures of Teggs, Blink and Dutch at the Astrosaurs Academy!
1 Destination: Danger!
2 Contest Carnage!
3 Terror Underground!
4 Jungle Horror!
5 Deadly Drama!
6 Christmas Crisis!
7 Volcano Invaders!
8 Space Kidnap!
Meet the time-travelling cows!
1 The Ter-moo-nators
2 The Moo-my’s Curse
3 The Roman Moo-stery
4 The Wild West Moo-nster
5 World War Moo
6 The Battle for Christmoos
7 The Pirate Moo-tiny
8 The Moo-gic of Merlin
9 The Victorian Moo-ders
10 The Moo-lympic Games
11 First Cows on the Moon
12 The Viking Emoo-gency
If you can’t take the slime, don’t do the crime!
1 The Fearsome Fists
2 The Toxic Teeth
3 The Cyber-Poos
4 The Supernatural Squid
5 The Killer Socks
6 The Last-Chance Chicken
7 The Alligator Army
8 The Conquering Conks
Visit www.stevecolebooks.co.uk for fun, games, jokes, to meet the characters and much, much more!
THE FOREST OF EVIL
AN RHCP DIGITAL EBOOK 978 1 448 10189 4
Published in Great Britain by RHCP Digital,
an imprint of Random House Children’s Publishers UK
A Random House Group Company
This ebook edition published 2013
Text copyright © Steve Cole, 2011
Cover illustration by Dynamo Design © Random House Children’s Books, 2011
Map copyright © Charlie Fowkes, 2005
Interior illustrations by Woody Fox © Random House Children’s Books, 2011
First Published in Great Britain
Red Fox 9781849413954 2011
The right of Steve Cole to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
RANDOM HOUSE CHILDREN’S PUBLISHERS UK
61–63 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA
www.randomhousechildrens.co.uk
www.randomhouse.co.uk
Addresses for companies within The Random House Group Limited can be found at:
www.randomhouse.co.uk/offices.htm
THE RANDOM HOUSE GROUP Limited Reg. No. 954009
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.