Jeremiah had noticed them now, too, and the three of them raced desperately to the top level. The rope-ladders had turned into mere ropes by this time but that didn’t hinder Lex too badly for he had become adept at climbing up and down ropes as a result of his cat-burglar exploits as the Shadowman and the Wizard. He left Jesse on the level below and started to climb. He was much lighter than Jeremiah and so had less weight to pull. Although the two of them grabbed ropes at the same time, Lex reached the top platform first.
It was shrinking fast, which was unfortunate seeing as he was now at the very top of the tree? high enough that he would have been able to see the ocean all around them had it not been dark. There were three large bookcases up there, filled with books that had all been written by Erasmus Grey. Lex ran his eyes over the spines in frantic search of the right book, very aware that Jeremiah could be only moments behind him and that the platform on which he stood was shrinking.
To complicate matters even further, he could smell the distinctive scent of burning wood. When the walkways began to shrink, some of the lanterns that had been hung from them had fallen off, smashing on the branches and setting the wood alight instantly. The Librarians had not been bluffing when they’d said they would burn the tree to the ground. The Gods were supposed to keep the island lost but, should someone ever find their way on to it somehow and get too close to the forbidden books, the vulture-birds were the only means the Librarians had of protecting it. If intruders were not sucked into the book then the only thing left to do was to destroy the tree, hence the fact that lanterns were hung everywhere and? although the players didn’t know it yet? the library tree’s bark was the most flammable in the world. Just one little spark and it would burst into flames.
Before Lex could find the correct book, Jeremiah appeared on the platform beside him. Lex could have ignored him and carried on looking for the book but that would be to leave winning up to chance? a simple matter of whichever of them happened to spot the book first. And Lex never left winning up to chance. He spun on his heel, put a horrified expression on to his face and shouted, ‘Watch out for that flying tree-snake!’
Jeremiah glared at him. ‘You really think I’m dumb enough to fall for that? There aren’t any flying tree-snakes here!’
‘None except for the one in my pocket,’ Lex replied.
Jeremiah opened his mouth but, before he could say anything, Lex reached into his pocket, drew out the plastic toy rattlesnake he’d put there just for that purpose and threw it at Jeremiah’s head. Perhaps if it had been anything other than a snake the plan wouldn’t have worked. But as Jeremiah had that unfortunate phobia he instinctively jerked back, arms raised over his head to protect himself? and fell right off the edge of the platform.
Thank you, Mr and Mrs East, Lex thought smugly when he peered over the edge and saw Jeremiah gripping a loop of rope that was caught between two branches. His knuckles were white already for he was dangling over an immense height. In addition, the fire had spread further up the tree and was practically licking at Jeremiah’s boots.
‘Sitting duck,’ Lex grinned.
He turned back round to the bookcases and, almost instantly, his eye fell on the correct book. He dragged it out by the spine, pulled the page from his pocket and was just about to insert it into the book and win the round when he hesitated. He’d as good as won the round already for Lorella had been sucked inside a book and Jeremiah was hanging helplessly from a length of rope. There was therefore no rush? other than the fact that the tree was now on fire and the walkways were disappearing. If he was going to win, he might as well win in style. He would rescue Jeremiah first, thereby earning himself some extra hero points as well as bolstering his image as a noble, self-sacrificing, all-round splendid sort of person.
Lex thrust the book into his bag then leaned over the edge of the platform and called down cheerfully, ‘Don’t worry, Jeremiah! I’ll save you!’
The nobleman glared up at him. ‘Don’t! Don’t save me! I don’t need saving; I’m fine!’
‘You don’t look fine, old chum,’ Lex shouted back. ‘Hang in there. I’ll be right down.’
The platform was barely big enough for Lex to stand on now and he was just reaching out for the rope when one of the books on the shelf caught his attention. It was one word that leapt out at him: Desareth. When he turned his head to look at it properly he saw that the book was called, The Wishing Creatures of Desareth. This one, like all the others around it, had been written by Erasmus Grey. Lex stared at the book for a split second before reaching out and snatching it from the shelf. He was just stuffing it into his bag when the platform beneath him suddenly vanished altogether and Lex was freefalling for a moment before he managed to grab on to the nearby rope. He received quite a nasty burn as he was only able to use one hand since the other was holding his bag. But, finally, he managed to bring himself to a stop.
The walkways had now disappeared entirely. All that remained were the ropes. The tree crackled and spat in the heat from the flames; books blackened, shrivelled and burned; vulture birds squawked as they flapped away from the blaze; clouds of grey ash billowed in the air around them. Lex looked down and saw that he was not far off a broad branch, so he let the rope go. He fell on to the branch with a thump and? with a bit of frantic scrabbling? managed to cling on to it and then haul himself to his feet.
‘Hey!’ Jesse shouted from further along the same branch. ‘Hey, we need to get outta here! The whole darn tree’s going up!’
‘Yeah, in a minute!’ Lex called back. ‘I have to rescue Jeremiah first.’
He thrust the Desareth book into his bag, pulled out the other one and then ran along the branch to pass both the book and the missing page to Jesse.
‘The second I pull Jeremiah up, put the page back into the book, OK?’ Lex said.
He couldn’t risk taking the book and page with him knowing that Jeremiah might snatch them from him as soon as he was safe, or else find a way to make Lex drop them. If Jesse had them then he could win the round as soon as Lex had saved Jeremiah.
‘After all that grief you gave me about the octopus?’ Jesse said incredulously. ‘D’you really think this is the time for heroics?’
‘It’s not heroics,’ Lex replied. ‘I just want the extra points.’ Then he turned around and ran back along the branch to the end where Jeremiah still dangled helplessly from the rope.
He had been trying to pull himself up but it wasn’t working because he had nothing to grab on to. It was all he could do to cling to the rope. Lex bet his arms must be killing him by now. And surely he must be able to feel the heat from the flames below. They were making Lex uncomfortable and he was aware of ash settling in his hair and flecking his skin as thousands of books burned all around them.
He crouched down low on the branch, leaned over and shouted, ‘Give me your hand!’
‘Will I ever!’ Jeremiah snarled. ‘Go ahead and win the round, Trent! I’m not giving you the satisfaction of being awarded hero points for saving me from a situation that you put me in yourself!’
‘Now, now, what kind of talk is that?’ Lex replied. ‘Don’t be a quitter. You don’t want to die here, do you? Give me your hand!’
‘I will not!’
‘You won’t, eh? We’ll just see about that!’
Lex looked around for a conveniently placed rope but there weren’t any nearby so he swung his bag off his shoulders and rifled through it until he found the elongating cord and the safety harness. He always packed these things with him, just in case an opportunity to turn into the Wizard should arise.
The cord was extremely long but was currently all wound up within itself. All Lex had to do was press a button on the hand piece and the cord would unravel. It was extremely strong and durable and had aided him many times before. Lex released enough cord to make a loop and secure it around the branch before pulling on a thick pair of gloves with grips on their surface specially designed for just this purpose. He looked at the safety harness but then thrust it back into his bag. There simply wasn’t time to fiddle about with all those buckles and straps. The heat from the blazing tree was fast becoming unbearable and the smog of smoke and ash was making them splutter and cough.
‘Just piss off!’ Jeremiah snapped from below. ‘I’ll get myself out of this; I don’t need your help!’
‘Ha! If by “get yourself out of this” you mean cook yourself like a barbecued steak on a skewer then, yeah, you’re doing great. Personally, I don’t think you can hold on to that rope for much longer. Your knuckles are white and your arms are trembling. You can’t save yourself. I know it and you know it. I’m going to swing down on this cord in a minute and I strongly, strongly, suggest that you let go of that rope when I grab you.’
Jeremiah glared up at him savagely. But the truth of it was that he really didn’t have much choice. He, too,
