‘He’s trying to land that thing on your ship, I think,’ Lady Luck said happily. ‘This should be most entertaining to watch, Lex.’
Lex grinned as his brother tried to manoeuvre the drayfus onto the deck of the enchanter’s ship. Drayfii looked like shaggy hippos with wings. They were extremely placid and obedient creatures. That was what made them good for farm work. And this one had probably been born and bred on the Trent farm. It did not understand sky castles and enchanted ships and it was clearly scared out of its wits. Lucius was trying to get it to fly towards the great silver ship but the creature was obviously unsure which was worse — the ship or the giant castle — and was hovering uncertainly between them, rolling its eyes in fright.
‘They might drop altogether in a minute,’ her Ladyship said smugly.
Drayfii were not used to long flights, especially with so much weight on their backs and in the glare of such a ferocious sun. Lex turned slightly as the door behind them opened and Schmidt stepped out, gasping at the force of the heat. He managed a stiff bow when he saw the Goddess on the deck and then exclaimed in horror when he joined them at the railings and saw the struggling drayfus. Its long shaggy fur must have been making the beast overwhelmingly hot and it certainly seemed likely that it would drop out of the sky at any moment now.
‘Can’t you do something, my Lady?’ Schmidt asked. ‘They’re going to plunge to their deaths in a minute.’
But just as the beast stopped beating its wings, the most extraordinarily strong gust of wind threw the drayfus and its passengers over the side of the enchanted ship. The animal collapsed in a steaming, wheezing heap and the two people were thrown from its back.
‘Now wasn’t that a fortunate thing?’ the Lady murmured, disappointed. ‘That was cheating, Jezra.’
Schmidt hurried over at once to where Lucius was lying curled on the metal deck. ‘Are you all right?’ he asked, grabbing him by the elbow and pulling him to his feet. There was a nasty burn across Lucius’s cheek, down one of his forearms and across the palm of one hand where his skin had made contact with the scorching surface of the steel ship.
‘I’m okay. It’s just… these burns,’ Lucius whimpered, searching round in vain for something cold to press against his blistering skin.
‘Go find him some ice or something, Lex,’ Schmidt ordered.
‘Ice?’ Lex repeated incredulously, gazing around at the heat haze and the towering sandcastle. ‘What do you think I am, a magician?’
‘You’ve explored the ship. There must be something cold in there. At least get them both some water. The heat out here is-’
‘I’m not going to risk missing the beginning of the round,’ Lex said firmly.
‘I don’t think you’ve quite got the hang of this Gaming business, lawyer,’ the Lady said, gazing at him coldly. ‘These two are the opposition. Any misfortune of theirs is beneficial to us.’
Schmidt hesitated, acutely aware of the importance of not angering the Gods. ‘Forgive me, my Lady, but I merely meant to say that-’
‘Morning, friends. What glorious weather with which to begin our little frolic,’ Jezra said breezily, striding across the deck. Lex had not even noticed him arrive. He was dressed in the usual high-necked blue jacket. Like the Lady, he did not ever seem to wear different clothes. In fact, the Gods always looked the same when they took human form. It was also clear that they did not feel the sun as the others did. Jezra was wearing a lot of clothing, but he was not sweating and his long blond hair was dry and hardly moved in the heat haze.
‘Here — you look like you could use a drink,’ he said, reaching out to Lucius with a hand that was suddenly holding a tall glass of lemonade. It looked good. Lex could see the ice piled up inside. There was even a paper umbrella.
‘I’d offer you one, Lex, but you know how these Games are.’
Lex nodded, feeling embarrassed at the spectacle Lucius was making of himself as he pressed the cold glass to the burns on his face and arm, spilling some of the drink in the process. Of course, the lemon in it only agitated the burns even more.
‘What about me, your Lordship?’ Lucius’s companion asked.
He was a large, brawny man, in his forties with hair that was starting to grey. Zachary did not look like an arrogant bastard. But Lex knew that he was one.
‘You’re of no importance to me,’ the God replied.
‘What’s he here for, anyway?’ Lex asked. He couldn’t stop the sneer this time, for all his new-found discipline.
‘In case this one dies,’ Jezra replied, motioning to Lucius with his thumb. ‘That’s what the companions are for; didn’t you know?’
Lex rolled his eyes and said, ‘Of course I know!’ He had, after all, had the whole thing explained to him by his Goddess. But he suspected Schmidt hadn’t known for he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the lawyer was looking distinctly uncomfortable at the revelation. ‘I meant what is he doing here? I don’t want him on my ship.’
‘ Your ship?’ Jezra repeated with a soft laugh. ‘My, my, that’s a little presumptuous, isn’t it?’
‘Don’t be so rude, Lex!’ Lucius said.
‘Oh, go to hell!’ Lex snapped. Then he cursed himself for the lapse of control. There was just something about his brother that was forever rubbing him up the wrong way. And of course, the fact that they were twins was an insult that he was sure he would never quite overcome.
‘The Judge will be here shortly,’ Jezra said. ‘And then the first round will commence and you’re welcome to try and gut each other like fish, if you like. But until then I’m afraid we all have to be civilised for just a little longer. Just out of curiosity, Lex, how did you manage to get this ship?’
‘Wouldn’t you love to know, Jezra?’ Lady Luck said before Lex could answer.
‘I don’t pretend not to be impressed, my Lady, but you must be aware that there will be trouble to pay later. Still it will make the Game more interesting, I suppose.’
Lex turned at the sound of a door closing and realised that his employer was no longer on the deck.
‘Where’s Schmidt?’ he asked.
‘I think the heat might be getting to him,’ Jezra said, smirking at the Goddess. ‘It looks like the scales may yet be balanced after all, your Ladyship. How careless of you not to explain to Trent how the Binding Bracelets worked.’
‘It wasn’t careless, Jezra. The companion backup is merely a technicality in Lex’s case, so it hardly matters who he brought. Not only will he live through the Game but he’ll come through it with barely a scratch on him. You know that he’s a natural, or else you would not have let me trick you so easily into choosing his useless brother.’
Lex felt an immense swell of pride at that. The Gods were bickering over him. After a moment, Jezra gave an almost imperceptible nod. ‘Yes, well, we shall see.’
The swishing, leathery sound alerted them to the prophet’s arrival. Lex looked up and saw a giant desert bat wheeling overhead. They were huge things, with a wingspan of over twenty feet, impervious to the heat, completely blind and yet able to smell water from several miles away. They were, in fact, the perfect creatures for such a climate. But they still could not compare to Lex’s beautiful enchanted ship with its air-conditioned kitchens and bathrooms and wardrobes and he felt an immense sense of gleeful satisfaction at the fact that he was so far ahead of the others before they had even begun. He had been born for this kind of thing! The huge bat had ample room to land on the deck of the gleaming, metal ship, swooping down with an elegance that was in sharp contrast to the drayfus’s botched landing. The prophet slid from the giant thing’s back and stood there in silence, facing them. A thin, rather greasy man, about thirty years old, scrambled off after him and Lex assumed that this must be the prophet’s companion — Theba, the gangster. He certainly seemed like a gangster. Lex didn’t like the look of the shifty, resentful expression in the man’s eyes one bit and made a note to keep an eye on him because he looked just the sort for foul play. And Lex should know, for it takes one to know one.
A bare second later, the Judge appeared beside the other two. He was dressed in the same grey robes and golden mask as before and, once again, he didn’t utter a word to either of the other Gods or even his own player. It occurred to Lex that perhaps this was why the Judge had chosen a prophet — what with having their tongues cut out they were not exactly the talkative types either.
‘Now that everyone’s here,’ Jezra said, stepping forward, ‘we are ready to commence the first round. You shall all be provided with crystal balls for remote transmission during the course of the Game.’
