The Case of the Wayward Professor by Gareth P. Jones Read Free Book Online Page B

professor. ‘Is that the man with the deep voice?’
    â€˜Goodbye, professor,’ said Arthur.
    â€˜Nice to meet you,’ added Reg.
    The two men got back in the car.
    â€˜Aren’t you staying with me?’
    â€˜I’m afraid not,’ replied Arthur. The engine started. ‘Our instructions were to leave you here. We will return each morn to provide transportation for procurement of provisions. Come on, Reg,
allez
!’
    â€˜A what?’
    â€˜It means go, you nincompoop.’
    Reg let the handbrake off and they drove away, leaving the professor to enter the cottage through its only door.
    Dirk scurried forward. There were two windows on either side of the cottage. Looking through the nearest one, he could see that the cottage was small and squalid and what an estate agent might describe as ‘full of potential’. In other words, it was falling apart. Rosenfield sat down on a rickety wooden chair and placed the silver case on the kitchen table. He pressed a button on the side of the case and the lid opened,blocking out the professor’s face. Dirk needed to see what he was doing, but suddenly he felt a sharp pain shoot through his tail.
    He looked round to see the silver bark-coloured skin of a Tree Dragon. Its teeth were clamped over Dirk’s tail. Its pale green eyes were staring at him wildly.

Chapter Nine

    Dirk tried to swing his tail, but the Tree Dragon’s grip was firm, secured by its claws digging into the ground like roots. Its mossy teeth had penetrated the soft underside of his tail, drawing dark green blood. The pain was immense.
    Dirk opened his mouth and sent a line of fire, singeing his own tail but forcing the Tree Dragon to release him. He leapt on to the dragon’s back, pressing the tips of his claws against its throat.
    â€˜Who are you?’ he whispered, not wanting to attract the professor’s attention. ‘Why did you attack me?’
    â€˜Get off me. You’re ouching me.’
    It was a female.
    â€˜Tell me and I’ll get off your back,’ replied Dirk, holding down the Tree Dragon’s writhing limbs and digging his claws further in.
    She screamed in agony.
    â€˜Who’s there?’ shouted the professor from inside the cottage.
    Dirk released the Tree Dragon, who darted up an oak tree, her body twisting easily around the thick trunk, disappearing into the dense forest.
    â€˜Who’s there? Show yourself,’ yelled the professor, coming to the window.
    Not wanting to be seen by a human, Dirk took after the Tree Dragon.
    Tree Dragons are fast movers in their own territory where they can swing from tree to tree, so it was difficult to keep up. He followed her deep into the forest until she stopped, landing on a malformed dead tree in the centre of a clearing, illuminated by white sunlight cutting through the green leaves.
    â€˜What do you want to know, Mountain?’ she said.
    â€˜Who are you?’ panted Dirk, catching his breath.
    â€˜My name’s Betula Pendula,’ she replied.
    â€˜Charmed, I’m sure,’ he said. ‘Why did you attack me?’
    â€˜You were schnooking on the manuman.’
    â€˜You mean Professor Rosenfield?’
    â€˜What do you know about the manuman?’ snapped Betula.
    â€˜Who are you working for, Bark-back?’ snarled Dirk.
    â€˜That’s enough interroquests,’ she replied.
    â€˜If I don’t get some answers I’m going to open my mouth and burn down that tree and you with it,’ threatened Dirk.
    Betula laughed and said, ‘Come on, bark sisters.’
    The tree began to move, branches slowly peeling away, dismantling itself, lowering Betula down to the ground and splitting into four more parts. What Dirk had taken for a tree was actually four more Tree Dragons balanced on top of each other like acrobats, each one with a different bark-coloured skin.
    â€˜These are my cofrienions,’ said Betula, introducing the Tree