anything was amiss. He could see Jeremiah and his friends looking his way and sniggering already.
‘I, the Goddess of Fortune and current Gaming champion, shall be using as my player the thief, Lex Trent.’
The applause for Lorella and Jeremiah had been enthusiastic but the audience practically wet themselves when Lex’s name was mentioned. No one had forgotten what he’d done in the last Game? how exciting and thrilling and entertaining the rounds had all been because of him. Through the haze of his intoxication, Lex felt a glow of smug pride. Jeremiah certainly wasn’t looking so pleased with himself now, he noticed. Lex was the favourite, Lex was the champion, Lex was the one who everyone loved…
He got up from his seat and bowed so low that his nose practically touched the floor. Then he straightened up? his head protested at the sudden shift, nausea rose up viciously in his throat and there was an abrupt tapering off of applause as everyone watched, shocked and dumb-struck, as Lex Trent threw up where he stood, before crumpling up to pass out underneath the table.
CHAPTER FOUR
Lex woke up the next morning with a dry mouth, a sore head and sensitive eyes. And, to top it all off, he was in a cell.
‘Howdy,’ said Jesse, who was also in the cell with him.
‘Urghh blurghh,’ Lex replied, unsticking his tongue. ‘Gods, my head!’
The questions what’s going on? and where am I? rose in his throat but Lex refused to ask them because they were… silly. The sort of silly thing silly people said in silly situations. Lex prided himself on always knowing exactly what was going on and exactly where he was. And exactly how he was going to get out of it, too, come to that.
The ‘where’ part was obvious, anyway. Lex recognised a cell when he saw one; after all, he’d been in them before. It was the ‘why’ that took him a moment. He’d been at the feast… with the Gods… and he’d been unwell, suddenly? wasn’t that it? But it hardly seemed fair to lock someone up just because they’d been ill. Lex was just considering the horrible possibility that he had some sort of dire, incurable, highly contagious disease when it all came flooding back to him in rather a sickening way.
‘Jeremiah East spiked my drink!’
‘Yep,’ Jesse replied.
‘I was drunk!’
‘Yep.’
‘I was sick and then…’ The fact that Lex couldn’t remember what had happened after that seemed to be a pretty clear indication of what had taken place.
‘Yep.’
‘Is that all you can say? Yep?’ Lex raged, rounding on him viciously. ‘It’s not even a proper word! That’s the best you can do? Why are you even here?’
The cowboy was sprawled on his bed, leaning back against the wall with his arms behind his head and his ankles crossed, hat tipped back, watching Lex lazily. He shrugged slowly in response to the onslaught of questions and said, ‘Beats me, partner. First time I ever got locked up for someone else getting drunk. Maybe it’s because they don’t want us switching bodies. Or could be because of all this talk of us being disqualified, I guess.’
‘Well, I think it’s an absolute disgrace!’ Lex seethed, imagining the awful scene of his being carried away to prison last night whilst everyone no doubt roared their stupid heads off with laughter. ‘ I’m the victim here! That good-for-nothing, arrogant, snot-nosed brat, Jeremiah East, is the one who ought to be-’ He broke off suddenly to stare at Jesse. ‘What did you just say?’
Jesse shrugged. ‘When?’
‘Just now. You said… You said something about us being…’ Lex could hardly bring himself to say the word, ‘ disqualified! Surely you don’t mean… from the Game?’
Jesse sat up on the bed. ‘Their high-and-mightyships, Kala and Thaddeus,’ he said gravely, ‘are demanding it.’
Lex gaped at him like a landed fish for a moment before managing to croak, ‘ Why?’
‘Underage drinking at an official feast is disrespectful to the Gods, they say.’
‘Since when has any player been disqualified for being disrespectful? Besides, it wasn’t my fault!’
Jesse shrugged. ‘Don’t matter so far as they’re concerned.’
Lex stared at him for a moment longer, trying to get a grip on the awful mixture of panic and rage rising up inside. Then he crossed the cell to grip the bars and shouted as loudly as he
could, ‘I demand to speak to someone in authority right now! Hey! Hey! CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME?’
‘Shut up, kid,’ came the muffled response from behind the closed door that led out to the office.
Lex scowled blackly. How old did he have to be and how many extraordinary things did he have to do before people stopped referring to him as kid?
‘Where the hell is Lady Luck?’ Lex fumed, rounding on Jesse again. ‘Have you seen her?’
The cowboy gave a lazy shrug. ‘Last time I saw her was at the feast.’
‘You mean she hasn’t been here to see me? Not once? Surely she doesn’t think I got drunk on purpose, does she?’
Before Jesse could answer, the office door opened and Lex whirled around expecting and hoping to see his patron Goddess, but seeing Mr Schmidt, dressed in a suit and carrying a briefcase, instead.
Lex stared at him, experiencing an uncomfortable moment of deja vu, for he had been locked up in this very prison right before the last Game and Schmidt had appeared on the scene unexpectedly then as well.
‘You’re not here to testify against me, are you?’ Lex demanded, looking at the lawyer through the bars.
‘The thought had crossed my mind, but no, I’m not. I’m here to help you.’
‘You mean you can get me out of prison and back into the Game?’ Lex asked excitedly, gripping the bars tightly.
‘I can get you out of prison,’ Schmidt replied, ‘but you’re going to have to get yourself back into the Game, I’m afraid.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘There was a special hearing in court today to decide what’s to become of you. Thaddeus and Kala were all for disqualifying you straight out but Lady Luck insisted on there being a hearing.’
‘Why in the name of the Gods wasn’t I there?’ Lex demanded. ‘Surely I deserve a say in the matter, don’t I? I mean, it was my hearing! What about due process? What about habeas corpus? What about the prosecution’s burden of proof? I should have had the chance to tell my side of the story!’
‘The hearing was set early? deliberately early, I should imagine. You weren’t in a? ah? fit state to attend. I volunteered to attend on your behalf.’
Lex pinched the bridge of his nose. He had a thumping headache and all this was not making him feel any better. ‘Did they come to a decision?’
‘The Gods are imposing a penalty round on you. Only if you complete it successfully will you be able to rejoin the Game.’
‘What about Jeremiah? Doesn’t he have to play a penalty round, too?’
‘There’s no proof that he spiked your drink.’
‘But he did spike my drink. He and his friends all did! You saw them!’
‘I saw one young man doing it; I never saw Jeremiah East himself in the act. However, I informed the court that it was my belief Mr East had shared some of the responsibility.’
‘And?’
‘He’s denying it and so the Gods are not prepared to do anything. Lady Luck wanted him disqualified but Thaddeus and Kala refused because there was no eye witness.’
Lex groaned and resisted the urge to shoot his arms through the bars in an attempt to grab the old lawyer by
