top. But his head never did appear. Just moments later there was such a savage jolt that Lex fell over on the boards, narrowly avoiding toppling over the edge. The prophet was not so lucky. He lost his grip on the shuddering ladder, his hands slipped from the rung. Desperately, he flailed to regain his hold but it was too late. In another moment he was freefalling out into the vast, black coldness of space.
Lex couldn’t help but stare — both mesmerised and horrified by the sight of the black figure tumbling over and over, unable to utter so much as a whisper of fear. Twenty minutes went by before Lex and Schmidt were able to remove their hands from their ears and by that time the prophet was long out of view.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Lex slowly climbed the ladder back up to the griffin’s platform where Schmidt stood waiting. They both looked sadly down at the griffin in silence. It seemed a terrible waste just for the sake of a game and Lex found it hard to summon up any regret for the fact that the prophet had just fallen to his death. Served him right.
‘These Games are appalling,’ Schmidt said, breaking the silence at last. ‘I just don’t see the point of them. They’re anachronistic and should be stopped or, at the very least, modernised so that they aren’t so dangerous. Look at what’s happened on this one alone! Theba died in the first round, the prophet died in the third, Zachary is no longer even in human form thanks to you and now this griffin has perished as well. It’s disgraceful.’
Lex agreed entirely that it was a shame about the griffin even if he didn’t care in the least about the other three. He shrugged and said, ‘The Games would be pointless if they weren’t dangerous. They wouldn’t be exciting any more.’
‘I don’t understand that attitude at all!’ Schmidt said huffily.
Lex gently stroked the feather he still held in his hand. When he took it up to the Judge he’d be proclaimed the winner. But victory, somehow, now seemed to have gone a little flat. His eyes went to the three silver eggs still tucked away in the golden nest and, after a moment’s thought, he took a step towards them.
Then he stopped. There was a rush of cold air, a bright flash of white light, angry blue eyes and a tree made entirely out of crystal, from its huge trunk to the very last twig, leaf and bunch of berries clustered along its branches. There was blood at the base, for someone had cut themselves on the flowers… but it was only there for a moment before it was gone. Lex shook his head in bewilderment.
‘What is it?’ Schmidt asked.
‘It’s Lucius,’ Lex said. He didn’t know why he’d said that but he knew it was true. Something had happened to his brother, he could sense it. Perhaps it was a twin thing but he was suddenly absolutely certain that Lucius was in trouble. Before he could think any more about it, Lady Luck appeared on the planks beside them. She looked angry and hurt and Lex guessed that she had somehow found out about his betrayal.
‘I can explain-’ he began, but she cut him off.
‘Explain, Lex? Can you really? After all I’ve done for you too. But it’s backfired on you. For once, I don’t think you’ll like being lucky.’
‘What do you mean?’ Lex asked, a horrible feeling of dread creeping up inside him.
‘The enchanter you stole that ship from — he arrived whilst you’ve been down here. Jezra told him that Lucius and the prophet were playing the Game but that you’d sat this round out and were hiding somewhere, so the enchanter searched the ship for you.’
Lex felt the colour drain from his face. ‘He found Lucius, didn’t he?’ he croaked.
‘I realised it wasn’t you when he started begging for his life. I felt sure you would never beg like that.’
‘Is he still alive?’
‘The enchanter used magic to send him away. So you see how very lucky you really are, Lex. If you hadn’t double-crossed me the way you did then the enchanter would have punished you instead of your brother.’
‘Where did he send him?’ Lex asked. ‘I’ll go and get him back.’
Lucius might have been a wet, whiny wimp but he was the only family Lex had left. And — against his will — he couldn’t help but admit to himself that whatever trouble Lucius was in now was entirely Lex’s fault. His old benefactress, the Goddess of Luck, gazed coldly at Lex for a moment before leaning forwards to hiss, ‘The Lands Beneath.’
Lex heard the sharp intake of breath from Schmidt beside him. ‘The Lands Beneath?’ he yelped. ‘But that’s absurd! Humans aren’t allowed down there with the Gods!’
‘I know,’ Lady Luck smirked. ‘They’ll be very angry with him when they find him.’
‘But he didn’t do anything wrong!’ Schmidt exclaimed. ‘He’s not the one who stole the ship. He didn’t even want to be involved in the Game to begin with! My Lady, I implore you,’ Lex heard the crick as Schmidt bent down on one knee. ‘The injustice of the situation is-’
‘Is something Lex and his brother will just have to live with, I’m afraid,’ the Goddess sniffed. ‘I know you only ever worry about yourself, Lex. That’s one of the reasons I liked you. But if losing your brother will bring you some small measure of discomfort then I’m glad.’
And with that she left Lex and Schmidt standing in silence.
This is a dream, Lex thought to himself. I’m just dreaming, that’s all.
Lex was going to die young on an exciting adventure. But Lucius was going to live to a ripe old age, doddering around his little farm, gumming his food and reminiscing about the good old days.
There had been a conversation shortly after the priest had confirmed that Alistair Trent was indeed cursed with the soulless wake. It was still in the early days so Alistair’s memory had not been too badly affected by that point. He had taken Lex aside one day and spoken to him — quietly, calmly and with just the smallest sad hint of regret.
‘This is going to get ugly, Lex,’ he’d said. ‘Things are all going to change and I just want to… apologise now for the pain I’m going to cause you when I don’t know who you are any more. Try not to hate me for it. I’m sorry to put this on you two boys but… you’re strong, Lex, so I know you’ll be okay but you’ve got to promise to look after your brother. Lucius is a good boy. He’s gentler than you, perhaps, and more open-hearted. But he doesn’t have your inner strength and determination. I know you’re not going to stay here on the farm for ever and I wouldn’t want you to. But Lucius will need to lean on you soon and I want you to be there for him for as long as you can.’
Of course, Alistair Trent had been quite wrong in what he’d said to Lex that day, for Lucius had risen to the occasion when their grandfather’s condition worsened whereas Lex had chosen to run away instead. It had seemed easier to live with cowardliness at the time. Alistair’s illness had brought out the best in Lucius and the worst in Lex. After running away, Lex had realised that he wasn’t the person his grandfather had believed him to be. He wasn’t even the person he’d believed himself to be. But there was no point in moping over it. You couldn’t change who you were or undo past mistakes. Better to embrace greed and selfishness and have done with it than to go on desperately pretending to be brave.
‘Do you understand now, Lex?’ Schmidt asked, breaking in on his thoughts. ‘Do you understand that when you break the rules people get hurt, even if it’s not always you? What you did might have cost your brother his life. If Lady Luck won’t help Lucius, you’ll have to ask Jezra-’
‘Jezra won’t do anything,’ Lex said. ‘Neither will any of the other Gods.’
‘What? Why not?’
‘Jezra made sure the enchanter believed Lucius to be me by telling him I was hiding on the ship somewhere. He wants him sent to the Lands Beneath. The other Gods will never interfere in human matters. Lady Luck might come round eventually or she might not but either way it will be too late for Lucius.’
Schmidt thought about it for a moment before throwing up his hands in defeat. ‘You’re right,’ he said flatly. ‘They’ll never help. You won’t ever see Lucius again. Still, at least you got your feather. You’ll win the Game. And that’s why we’re here, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, it is,’ Lex said, carefully folding the large feather into his pocket. ‘Well, thanks for the lecture. I’m going to go talk to the enchanter now. Perhaps… if I explain what happened he might be prepared to switch us-’
‘No! No, Lex, he won’t. He’ll just send the pair of you down there. Trust me, he doesn’t know the meaning of
