by Alex Bell
‘Will you play for me, Lex?’ Jezra asked softly. ‘Will you trick Lady Luck as she tricked me and win for me instead of for her in a beautiful, spectacular double cross?’
‘My Lord, it would be an honour to win for you,’ Lex said, still grinning at his reflection and silently thanking his whiskerfish poisoning for giving him such a perfect, flawless disguise.
It was not a very difficult thing for Lex to convince Lucius to go along with the scam, for Lucius was afraid of the Ladder Forest even before he knew what the round entailed. There was, to be fair, something a little bit ominous about all those old ladders of various shapes and sizes just stuck into the ground, like trees without leaves or branches. The Ladder Forest was an accumulation of spares to replace worn-out Space Ladders. This was very important for, without the ladders, the two halves of the planet would drift apart and the Lands Above would lose their Gods. Some even said that the ladders were growing - getting taller and older and darker by the year. And that little ones had started sprouting up, too. People stayed away from them in the main, and the tourists gave them a wide berth when they came to gawk at the Space Ladders.
‘I got you into this,’ Lex said charitably to his brother. ‘And now I’m going to get you out.’
‘What about the Gods, though?’ Lucius whined. ‘They’ll be angry—’
‘They expect cheating,’ Lex said dismissively.
‘I know but—’
‘Look,’ Lex interrupted, ‘it’s simple. All you have to do is hide in the enchanter’s closet until the Game is over. You can manage that, can’t you? Otherwise you’ll have no choice but to go out into the ladders yourself.’
So Lucius had agreed to hide in the cupboard - taking Zachary with him since the ferret would have given the game away, for he wouldn’t let Lex pick him up and would always bite him at the first available opportunity.
The timing was perfect, for by the time they arrived at the Ladder Forest, Lex and Lucius had identical complexions thanks to the whiskerfish poisoning. They didn’t do the switch until the night before, so as not to give Lady Luck any more warning than necessary. Lex installed Lucius in the closet with Zachary that evening after dinner, then crept back to the bridge where Schmidt was about to lie down to sleep.
‘Where’s Lucius?’ the lawyer asked when Lex walked in.
‘I am Lucius, Mr Schmidt,’ Lex said, slipping easily back into the respectful tone he had once used every day with his employer.
‘Oh. Well, where’s Lex then?’
‘I don’t know,’ Lex replied, biting his lip and feigning worry as he glanced around the bridge. ‘He said something about going to look for scissors.’
Lex had explained his hair by saying that he’d been unable to find any scissors. He had enjoyed complaining bitterly about his resemblance to Lucius over the past few days, allowing the lawyer to believe he was in a foul temper and proclaiming that he would find something with which to cut his hair if he had to turn the ship upside down to do so.
‘Perhaps I should go and look for him?’ Lex said, fiddling with his hands in an exact mimic of Lucius when he was worried.
‘Lex will turn up,’ Schmidt said. ‘Don’t worry about him. Just go to sleep. And by the grace of the Gods, this will all be over this time tomorrow and we can go back to our lives.’
‘I hope so, sir,’ Lex snivelled. ‘I just want to go home to my farm.’
Lex hid a smile as he lay down to sleep. This was all going so perfectly. He was going to trick Lady Luck, he was going to win the Game, he was going to better everyone. Schmidt would be easy enough to fool, the doddering old twit. And afterwards Lex would be even more notorious and have the great Lord Jezra himself as his patron. Lex had agreed to Jezra’s proposal on the condition that he won the Game as Lex Trent and not as Lucius. He wanted to make his own name notorious, not his wimpy brother’s. Jezra had been more than happy to agree to this, for it would enhance his own reputation once it was known that he had bested Lady Luck by stealing her player right out from under her nose.
The players were due to meet at the edge of the Ladder Forest at sunrise the next morning. When Lex supposedly didn’t turn up, the round would simply commence without him and there wouldn’t be a damned thing Lady Luck could do about it. Ha! How perfectly delicious it all was.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ZOEY
Lex (as Lucius), Schmidt, the prophet and the Gods had been at the Ladder Forest for fifteen minutes when the Judge at last said, ‘Lex Trent is not here. The round will commence without him.’
The Goddess of Luck fluttered her hands agitatedly. ‘I just don’t understand it,’ she said. ‘He should have arrived just in time, he always does.’
‘You’ll have to go on to the companion,’ the Judge said with a dismissive wave of his gloved hand. ‘The object of this final round is to locate the griffin that lives in the Space Ladders. The first of you to return its black feather to me, wins.’
The shock on Lex’s face was genuine, for humans weren’t allowed on the Space Ladders. It was expressly forbidden. Excitement bubbled up inside him and he wanted to laugh with delight at the mere thought of stepping out onto those ladders. But he had a part to play before the sharp-eyed Gods, so he gasped just as Lucius would have done and turned to Jezra with a wail. ‘My Lord Jezra, I beg you! A griffin! It’ll kill me; I know it will!’
‘Hold your tongue!’ Jezra snapped, smacking him round the back of the head. ‘You disgrace me with your cowardice!’
Lex bowed his head in silence.
‘Well, at least my player had the guts to turn up,’ Jezra said to her Ladyship. ‘I guess Lex Trent isn’t as brave as you thought he was.’
‘Lex is the bravest player I’ve ever had!’ the Goddess stormed - Lex could hear the angry pride in her voice and couldn’t help feeling just a little ashamed at the way he was repaying her. ‘You’ve sabotaged him again somehow!’ the Goddess went on.
‘I’m afraid I can’t take the credit for Lex’s untimely disappearance,’ Jezra said with a shrug. ‘Perhaps that enchanter caught up with him at last.’
The Goddess blanched at the suggestion and opened her mouth to say more but the Judge interrupted her: ‘Continue to dispute this between yourselves, if you wish, but as of now the round has commenced.’
With Lex supposedly gone, the players were all now to start at the same time, for a stand-in companion was forbidden to take advantage of the headstart that had been won by the player. The Judge disappeared and the prophet turned and set off in the direction of the Space Ladders.
‘What are you waiting for?’ Jezra snapped at Lex, aiming a kick at him to get him going. Lex hurried off, leaving the Gods to argue.
‘Well, there’s one way to settle this,’ the Goddess of Fortune snapped. ‘You there!’
Schmidt looked up and caught the apple the Goddess threw him.
‘I want to talk to Lex!’
‘My Lady, if Lex really has been compromised by an enchanter then I’ll become trapped in his place,’ Schmidt protested. ‘Punished for something I didn’t do—’
‘That’s the price of being a companion!’ the Goddess snapped. ‘If Lex isn’t here then you have to take his place. I only need a few minutes. Now do as you’re told and swap places with him!’
Unwilling to bring a deity’s wrath down upon himself, Schmidt reluctantly raised his hand and bit into the apple. Of course, Jezra and Lex had not been foolish enough to forget the Binding Bracelets when they were making their plans. They had simply factored them in. As soon as Lex got past all the warning signs that were stuck in the mud around the perimeter of the Space Ladders, he had taken some handkerchiefs out of his bag and gagged and blindfolded himself with them. Then he’d bound himself hand and foot with the rope - which had been no easy feat, considering the fact that he couldn’t see. The ropes didn’t need to hold for long - only a few moments, for Lex had broken off a piece of biscuit and put it on his tongue and he knew that the lawyer would
automatically swallow this almost as soon as they changed places.
He didn’t have to wait very long before he was suddenly standing before the two Gods in Schmidt’s body, the taste of apple still in his mouth. ‘My Lady,’ he gasped. ‘Help me, I don’t know where I am! I woke up in this strange—’
And that was all he had time to say before Schmidt swallowed the biscuit and they changed back.
‘You imbecile!’ the Goddess raged at him. ‘That wasn’t enough time! What did you do, stuff the first piece of food you saw straight into your mouth?’
‘I couldn’t see anything,’ Schmidt protested. ‘He’s tied up and blindfolded. I don’t know where. I doubt Lex knows.’
‘I told you the enchanter would get him,’ Jezra said with a smirk. ‘It’ll take you a while to find him, you know. The Game will be long over by then.’
Then Jezra disappeared, apparently quite oblivious to the fact that the Goddess of Luck was staring daggers at him. After ordering Schmidt on to the Space Ladders, the Lady went to go and look for Lex herself and Schmidt was left standing alone at the edge of the Ladder Forest. The Space Ladders were usually a favourite tourist spot, and parents brought their children to see them stretching away into the dark, inky blackness, but today the area had been kept clear for the Game.
Schmidt laughed softly under his breath and then turned and strode towards the Space Ladders. It was normally forbidden to get too close - people were only allowed onto the carefully positioned viewing platforms. There were warning signs written on wooden boards and stuck into the mud all around, which tended to go along the lines of ‘DANGER’, ‘TURN BACK’, ‘MORTAL PERIL’ and so on. They got the job done anyway. Schmidt weaved between them and carefully rested his hands on the fence that guarded the perimeter. When he looked down over the edge, there they were - thousands and thousands of ladders stretching down towards the bottom half of the planet. It was a maze - there were just so many of them, so many different routes to take. The griffin could have made its home anywhere.
Schmidt couldn’t see the prophet - his black robes camouflaged him perfectly in the dark skies of space. But he could still see Lex, standing below on one of the central platforms, obviously trying to decide which way to go from there. There were rope ladders, wooden ladders and a whole steel staircase all leading off from the one platform, going down in different directions.
‘Hey!’ Schmidt shouted over the edge.
He saw Lex look up. ‘Mr Schmidt?’
‘Wait there for me!’ the old lawyer called.
Then he swung his leg over the fence and stepped onto the uppermost staircase. Lex stared up in horror as he realised that the old fool was actually intending to join him! That was no good - as Lucius, he would be expected to actually be polite! And slow and useless and to lose! He stood there, fuming, trying to remain calm as Schmidt slowly scaled the ladders to catch up with him.
‘Mr Schmidt, this really isn’t necessary,’ Lex said once the lawyer had joined him on the platform. ‘I can’t let you put yourself in danger on my account. Please, go back to the ship.’
‘Nonsense, my boy,’ Schmidt said, in the kindliest tone Lex had ever heard him use. ‘I couldn’t abandon you down here alone. Especially since Lex spitefully lost you your companion. Besides, I have to take Lex’s place now that he’s gone. We might as well go on together. Accompanying you is the very least I can do.’
Lex stared at the lawyer. He had not been expecting this. He’d expected Schmidt to be glad of the opportunity to escape the most dangerous round. Surely he couldn’t be that fond of Lucius?
‘I’m grateful for the thought, sir,’ Lex said desperately, ‘but I just couldn’t . . . these ladders will be so difficult for you to climb and . . . The Gods won’t like it if we go on together.’
‘I hardly think that matters now, Lucius,’ Schmidt said. ‘We both know the prophet is going to win, so we might as well travel together.’
Lex just about managed to resist the urge to wring his hands in frustration. He simply couldn’t think of any way around this without admitting to Schmidt who he really was. If they continued together, Schmidt would be sure to guess once he saw that Lex was not permanently cringing in terrified preoccupation with the Space Ladders. Then Schmidt spoke again with a smirk and Lex couldn’t help but gasp when he said, ‘It’s okay, Lex, I know it’s you. You can stop trying to think up a convincing lie.’
Lex’s mouth dropped open in stunned disbelief. ‘How did you know?’ he demanded.
‘I’ve known since last night,’ Schmidt said smugly.
‘What?’
‘I’ve always been able to see through you,’ Schmidt said, clearly well pleased with himself. ‘I can tell the difference between you and Lucius. I admit the hair threw me at first, but I’m accustomed to it now.’
‘Why didn’t you say anything?’
‘I wanted to see what would happen. So where is Lucius, anyway?’
‘On the boat,’ Lex said moodily. ‘Hiding in the enchanter’s cupboard.’
Schmidt laughed. ‘Yes, that sounds about right.’
‘Well, thank you for not telling her Ladyship.’
‘I thought you might be forced to play a penalty round for cheating and that I’d have to accompany you,’ Schmidt said dismissively. ‘That’s the only reason I didn’t say anything.’
‘Huh. Well, what do you think? Rope ladders or metal ones?’ Lex pointed at the ladders leading away from their platform.
‘The metal ones look more stable,’ Schimdt said. ‘Do you know where the griffin is?’
‘No. She used to live on a big chunk of comet that got tangled up in the Space Ladders but she’s probably moved on since then. I think the metal ladders look better, too.’
He walked over to the nearest one and started to make his way down it with Schmidt following behind.
‘How do you know where the griffin used to live?’ Schmidt asked.
‘My grandfather told me.’
‘Just what exactly did your grandfather do?’
‘He was a Chronicler,’ Lex replied.
Well, that explained a lot, Schmidt thought, remembering how Lex had seemed to know so much about magical sky castles and enchanted forests and the Golden Valley. Although Chronicling was now a dying profession, Schmidt knew that in the olden days well-read, well-educated men had often travelled with exploring Adventurers to Chronicle their adventures and expand their native libraries with knowledge about faraway lands. A lot could be learnt from reading the old Chronicles and the Chroniclers were well respected as explorers and glorified storytellers.
‘From what Lucius told me about him, he sounded like a good man,’ Schmidt said as they continued their rather treacherous climb.
‘Yes,’ Lex replied. ‘He was.’
‘I’m sorry about what happened to him.’
He sounded like he meant it, but Lex couldn’t bring himself to reply. The subject was much too painful for him. Besides which, the climb was becoming more frightening now that they were getting further and further away from the Lands Above. The ladders felt less stable and it was colder. The space frost did not stick to their hands like normal ice, but it did cover them like chalk dust, making them sneeze as they went. The one and only blessing about Lex’s whiskerfish problem was that it had completely eradicated his nasal lice without Schmidt ever managing to find out about them.
‘I realise this is a stupid question, but do you have a plan?’ Schmidt asked after about ten minutes. They were clinging to rope ladders by this time. ‘Or are we just going to keep climbing down these ladders in the hopes that we’ll eventually stumble upon the griffin?’
‘I think she’s over there,’ Lex took one hand away from the ladder to point but hastily put it back when the ladder began to turn beneath his weight.
There was an area to the right of them that seemed to jut out beyond the main mass of ladders so that it had been far more ravaged by the elements and was coated in the chalky, glitterin
g space frost.
‘What makes you think that?’ Schmidt asked.
Lex pointed down. ‘The suns,’ he said.
Griffins were attracted to brightness, although they were more comfortable in colder temperatures. Holli’s sun had been rising when they went down into the Space Ladders. But Mahara’s, Heetha’s and Saydi’s suns were all still down below the Lands Beneath, waiting for their turn to come up.
