it, Lex realised that knowing where to look for the correct book wasn’t going to be a problem since a map of the library tree was drawn on the main trunk at intervals. It appeared from this that the tree was about twenty-five levels high. Neat labels on the map spelt out which books were kept where. It seemed that they were grouped according to author. Clearly, if you wrote one forbidden book, you wrote a whole bunch of them. Even so, there were many, many names on the map. The authors didn’t appear to be ordered alphabetically but Lex found Erasmus Grey instantly by looking at the top of the map. The book was bound to be at the top of the tree? the Gods wanted to get their money’s worth after all.
Erasmus Grey’s name was, indeed, at the top. Right at the top, in fact. The tree thinned as it got higher and it seemed that Grey had the whole of the top level all to himself.
There was no time to waste. The others would find a way on to the tree in no time, what with the ladders that were everywhere. Lex and Jesse started to climb, both keeping a sharp eye out as they did so. After all, this was a tree full of forbidden books? it had not been built for people to come in and browse. And yet there were maps and walkways. Someone walked around these books from time to time. And, presumably, they fed the strange birds in the cages, too.
Before long, Lex and Jesse passed quite near one. It was the strangest-looking bird Lex had ever seen? somewhere between a songbird and a vulture? and twice as large as any bird had a right to be. It had a bald, ugly head and its large wings were hunched about it gloomily as it warbled softly to itself. It was a colourful thing, with feathers of blue, orange and green. It looked sad rather than aggressive but Lex kept his distance, anyway. From the size of it, it could probably have his hand off if it wanted to.
Climbing the tree was not particularly difficult because there were ladders and book-lined walkways everywhere. The only thing that became progressively less pleasant was climbing the ladders as they got higher and higher up the tree. Resolutely refusing to look down helped but, the higher they got, the more everything seemed to creak in an unpleasant sort of way. The other difficulty, of course, was the fact that the walkways had no railings. Whilst not too much of a problem on the lower levels, as they got higher this started making Lex and Jesse a little uneasy. Or, rather, it made Jesse uneasy. Lex wasn’t bothered? in fact he quite liked heights. He liked heights and thrills and anything that made him feel truly alive. He loved the sense of adrenaline that coursed through his veins when he knew he could fall to his death at any moment.
‘Hurry up!’ Lex said. ‘What are you slowing down for?’
‘I don’t want to fall off.’
‘But the pathways up here are just as wide as they were down there.’
‘Yeah, I know that. But it’s psychological, ain’t it?’
‘Wow? five syllables. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say such a long word before. Stop being such a pansy and keep up with me!’
But even Lex began to slow his pace a little when they got beyond a certain height. They were, after all, running around a gigantic tree with no safety gear whatsoever? no harnesses, no hard hats, no life lines… It was inevitable that they should become more physically tense, especially when climbing the rope-ladders.
They’d been on the tree for about twenty minutes when Lex spotted Lorella down below them. She was climbing a rope-ladder but having some difficulty due to the clothes she was wearing. The grey dress might have enhanced her figure in a very pleasing way but it was not the ideal apparel for climbing, especially as the players all had to drag themselves bodily up on to the wooden platforms when they reached the top, which called for a certain amount of undignified wriggling. In addition, whilst Lorella’s long blue hair might have been striking and beautiful, having it falling loose down her shoulders like that was extremely stupid, for it kept getting in her way. She even jerked her own head back once when she put her hand on the next rung and tried to pull herself up only to find that her fingers were clamped down over her own hair.
Lex laughed? loud enough to be sure she would hear. The enchantress glared up at him, her sapphire eyes icy cold with anger.
‘Get a haircut!’ Lex called down to her, grinning. ‘That’s my advice.’
Lorella opened her mouth to hiss something back at him but, before she could do so, a grey man appeared on the platform above her. At the exact same moment, an identical man materialised before Lex. Presumably, a third one appeared before Jeremiah, too, wherever on the tree he happened to be.
On first glance, the grey man appeared human but, on the second, it was quite clear that he was not. He was a bit too tall and a bit too thin. Everything about him was grey: his hair, his eyebrows, his eyes. The fine suit he wore was grey and so were his shoes? right down to the laces. Everything about him was immaculate? his tie was completely straight and his hair was combed back so neatly it looked like he’d used a ruler to do it. His skin was pale, his cheekbones were unusually high and there was a cool, superior expression on his face.
‘Oh my Gods!’ Lex said in mock horror. ‘You’re a lawyer, aren’t you?’
‘We are the Librarians.’ The two grey men spoke the same words at the exact same moment. ‘We are bound to protect the forbidden knowledge in this tree and to ensure that it never falls into the hands of the lowly and the ignorant. Do not test our resolve. We would sooner burn this tree to the ground than let you remove a single book from its branches.’
‘We’re not here to remove a book,’ Lex said. ‘We’re here to put a page back. You don’t object to that, surely?’
‘Trespassers on this tree will not be tolerated, whatever the pretence,’ the Librarian said. ‘Leave now or remain at your own peril.’
‘Listen-’ Lex began.
But, at that moment, the Librarians disappeared. Lex was rather annoyed about that. He’d hoped that they would try to waylay them physically. He was confident that he would have been able to give his own Librarian the slip, but Lorella surely would have had more difficulty, clinging as she was, halfway up a rope-ladder.
‘That,’ Jesse said, eyes narrowed, ‘was too easy.’
‘Yes, it was,’ Lex replied. ‘I suppose they’ll be sending things after us now.’
‘What kind of things?’
‘Beats me. They’ll definitely be nasty things, though, so keep an eye out, all right?’
‘Yeah.’
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The first thing that alerted them to the fact that something was happening was the groaning creak of metal hinges. The sound seemed to be coming from all over the tree. A few minutes later, Lex began to have a horrible suspicion as to what exactly that sound might have been when he caught, out of the corner of his eye, a flurry of feathers.
‘They’ve stopped singing,’ he said.
‘What?’
‘The birds,’ Lex replied. ‘They’re not singing anymore. When did they stop?’ They looked at each other. ‘I think they’ve been let out of their cages,’ Lex said.
It was impossible to know exactly how many birds were on the tree, but Lex had counted seven already and they had only explored a small proportion. They were big things and no doubt had sharp claws and beaks. If a few of them ganged up together, they would probably be able to peck a person to death if they wanted to.
Lex strained his eyes in the half-light. The little lanterns dotted about the tree were hung on long chains from the platforms above. They gave out enough light to illuminate the walkways but not enough to pierce the darkness beyond. But sometimes there was the occasional draught of air? like something large had just swooped by somewhere close. Or there was a rustle of feathers or a blur of movement detectable only out of the corner of the eye.
‘Let’s just keep moving,’ Lex said.
They made it to the next level? about three quarters of the way up the tree? before one of the vulture birds flew through the branches and landed with an inelegant thump on the walkway right in front of them. Lex and Jesse
