The Secret of the Swords Read Online Free Page A

voice.
    â€˜Where is that pigeon?’ the physician was saying to himself. ‘Sir Walter the Bald is suffering and is in need of a cure.’
    â€˜What’s wrong with Sir Walter?’ asked Tommy. The Old Wrecks hadn’t mentioned that he was ill.
    â€˜Mental confusion,’ said the physician.
    â€˜Poor Sir Walter. He was in the sword chamber very early this morning, checking on his favourite sword, when he thought he heard his old nurse’s voice telling him to hurry back to bed, dearie, and don’t make a fuss. Of course, it was all in his head. Sir Walter’s nurse died some fifty years ago.’
    â€˜Nursie!’ Tommy said, realising one of Nursie’s ‘little darlings’ must have been Sir Walter the Bald.
    The physician gave her a puzzled look. ‘Are you suffering from mental confusion too, girl?’
    â€˜No,’ Tommy assured him.
    â€˜Anyway,’ the physician continued, ‘the most effective cure for mental confusion is to mix pigeon droppings with honey, and apply the mixture to the back of the patient’s neck. Now where is that pigeon?’ The physician lifted his gaze to the sky once more, and wandered off across the courtyard.
    â€˜Quick,’ said Lil. ‘This way.’
    Tommy followed Lil under the low arch leading out of the courtyard and through the castle gate. Once outside the walls, they ran to the edge of the moat.
    Looking down into the murky water, Tommy knew it was hopeless. There was no way they’d be able to spot the sword in the sluggish, weed-choked water of the moat encircling the castle. And even if they did spot it, there was still the matter of the—
    â€˜Aaaaah!’ Tommy screamed in terror as a hideous beast emerged from the water, its enormous jaws open wide to reveal two jagged rows of sharp teeth. ‘Crocodile!’

CHAPTER 7

    â€˜R EALLY, C ROC, ’ said Lil. ‘How many times do I have to tell you to cover your mouth when you yawn?’
    â€˜Sorry,’ said the crocodile. He swam closer to the edge of the moat, where Tommy was kneeling, frozen to the spot. After a sly glance at Lil, he opened his mouth again. ‘Muuuuuurp.’
    â€˜And when you burp,’ the cat added sternly. ‘You’ll make a bad impression on our new sword girl.’
    â€˜She started it.’ The giant reptile sounded sulky. ‘She called me a crocodile.’
    Tommy didn’t understand. ‘But aren’t you a crocodile?’
    â€˜I’m a croco diddle,’ he sniffed. ‘There’s a difference, you know.’
    â€˜I didn’t know,’ Tommy said. ‘What’s a crocodiddle?’
    â€˜Me,’ said the crocodiddle, as if that settled it. ‘What do you want, anyway?’
    Lil explained about the sword and the crocodiddle’s beady yellow eyes lit up.
    â€˜So that’s whose it is! I was just doing a couple of laps in the middle of the night – backstroke, butterfly, that kind of thing – when a sword splashed into the water right behind me. It almost sliced off my tail!’
    â€˜Do you think you could find it, Mr Crocodiddle?’ Tommy asked. ‘Please?’
    The crocodiddle tilted his head to one side. ‘Did you hear that?’ he asked Lil in a loud whisper. ‘She called me “mister”.’ He turned back to Tommy. ‘I’ll see if I can, young Sword Girl.’ He gave her a wide, toothy grin and swam off.
    Several minutes passed, then several minutes more, but the crocodiddle didn’t return. Tommy’s throat felt tight. That was it then. The sword was lost forever at the bottom of the moat. She would be sent back to the kitchen in disgrace. Or worse, she’d be—
    Suddenly the surface of the water began to shiver. Two yellow eyes appeared, then an ugly snout. And there, clasped delicately between the crocodiddle’s pointy teeth, was Sir Walter’s sword. It was draped with