The Case of the Wayward Professor Read Online Free Page A

red eyes appeared in the darkness.
    â€˜You’re not scaring me with your big pretend eyes, Karny,’ taunted Dirk, peering into the darkness. ‘Karny?’ He walked towards the red lights.
    â€˜Turn around, Mountain Dragon,’ said the voice threateningly. ‘You are not welcome.’
    Dirk sprang into action. He darted forward, past the two false eyes, and raised himself on to his hind legs, drawing his claws.
    â€˜You’re not Karnataka,’ he said.
    Behind the wall was a Shade-Hugger, all right, with his brown back and caramel belly, but it wasn’t Karnataka. He was thinner than Karny, with large fearful eyes. In a lilting voice he said, ‘Please don’t hurt me.’
    â€˜Where’s Karnataka?’ demanded Dirk. ‘Who are you?’
    â€˜My name’s Grendel Sheving. I’m Karny’s cousin. I came down from the Midlands to visit but he’s nothere. Are yow with the Dragnet?’
    â€˜Do I look like a Drake?’ said Dirk. The Dragnet was the dragon police force. Its officers were Drab-Nosed Drakes – wingless dragons with big bellies and short tails. ‘Where has he gone?’
    â€˜He’s legged it. The Dragnet have a warrant out for his arrest. I’m looking after the place while he’s away,’ said the dragon, gazing up at the rows of statues. ‘It’s a bit over the top, but it’s a lot more spacious than my place under Dudley. I could get used to this.’
    Dirk could think of a whole string of reasons why the Dragnet might be after Karnataka, but he had always figured that Karny was too smart, or too slippery, to get found out.
    Grendel limped out from behind the voice projector and whispered, ‘There are mutterings of a Kinghorn revolt. There’s a new captain at Dragnet and he’s arresting half the dragon world on suspicion of being Kinghorns.’
    â€˜How do you know all this?’
    â€˜Everyone knows,’ replied Grendel. ‘Where have yow been? They’re filling up the cells with suspects. The Council have been called.’
    The Dragon Council was made up of the six oldest living dragons, all of whom were very old and extremelyforgetful. As Dragon Law required all six councillors for a trial to take place, accused dragons often waited years for their cases to come up, while the councillors came and went, forgetting where they were supposed to be or what they were supposed to be doing.
    â€˜What have they got on Karny?’ asked Dirk.
    â€˜I don’t know, but he’s hardly got a clean slate, has he? He’s a Cuddlums all right.’
    â€˜A what?’ said Dirk.
    â€˜Oh, has he never told you his surname? He prefers all this Karnataka the Great, Karnataka the Brave.’ Grendel laughed. ‘Karnataka Cuddlums doesn’t quite have the same ring, does it? Yes, trouble runs on that side of the family. Yow know what happened to Elsinor?’
    â€˜Karnataka told me, yes,’ said Dirk.
    Karnataka’s brother, Elsinor, had been accused of attacking a remote human village in Romania several years ago. The incident had made the human press, but most right-minded humans had dismissed it as nonsense, knowing full well that dragons don’t exist.
    â€˜What about you? Looks like you’ve been in the wars,’ Dirk said, indicating Grendel’s limp.
    â€˜Oh, this, it’s nothing,’ said Grendel, sitting down.
    â€˜I don’t suppose you have been leaping around thecity recently, have you?’ asked Dirk, reading the Shade-Hugger for any signs of guilt.
    â€˜Breaching the forbidden divide? No way, matey,’ replied Grendel, a look of fear in his eyes. ‘I don’t want to join them Cuddlumses in the Inner Core.’
    Elsinor had protested his innocence to the bitter end, but that hadn’t stopped the Council finding him guilty and sending him on the last journey he would ever make, to the edge of the Outer Core, then