by Alex Bell
He reached his hand up and laid it on the griffin’s neck. He had not expected the feathers to be so soft. His hand ran lightly down to grip the single black feather at her shoulder and prepare to pull it out. He was very aware of the cold, the suns below them, the stars around them and the utter silence of space…
Then there was a shing that sliced through the silence, whistled past Lex’s outstretched arm and buried itself deep into the griffin’s chest. She gave an awful cry of anguish and reached up one clawed foot to try to remove the huge sword from her chest before she collapsed to the ground, making the wooden platform tremble. Lex looked up and saw Schmidt staring down at them with a look of horror on his face. And to the right and slightly below the lawyer he saw the prophet.
Lex dropped down beside the dying griffin, almost unable to believe what he’d just seen. Killing a griffin was… well, it was almost like killing a God. The griffins were worshipped on the Globe.
‘Oh, Zoey,’ Lex muttered, running his hands helplessly over her bloodstained feathers. ‘I’m so sorry — I don’t know how to help you.’
Lex knew nothing about medicine. He didn’t know whether he should try to remove the sword or whether he should simply leave it there. He didn’t know whether there was anything at all he could do to help the griffin or ease her pain. But in another moment she was dead. From above, Schmidt shouted a warning but it came too late for Lex to dodge the blow entirely, so the prophet’s stick clipped the side of his head, knocking him back on the wooden planks of the platform whilst the prophet stepped past him and calmly plucked the black feather from the dead griffin.
His head still ringing, Lex shot out an arm as the prophet walked past him, tripping him up so that they sprawled on the planks together, the feather still clutched in the prophet’s hand. Lex tried to wrestle it away but, although blind, deaf and dumb, the prophet was much larger and stronger than him.
‘Lex!’ Schmidt shouted from above. ‘Let him go! For Gods’ sake, just let him have the feather!’
In another moment, Lex realised why Schmidt had been trying to make him stop, as they both rolled right off the edge of the platform, freefalling terrifyingly. They crashed through several wooden ladders before they landed on another, larger platform. Realising that the feather was in his hand, Lex pushed the prophet away, jumped up and ran to the edge of the platform where a metal ladder led up to a series of wooden ones. He put his foot on the first rung and shot up it like a monkey.
But before he could climb up to the wooden ladders, he became aware of a low groaning sound as the planks beneath his feet began to tremble. Within moments the noise had increased in volume so intensely that it seemed to pierce Lex’s eardrums. It went through him with all the force of a physical thing, knocking him down onto his knees, his hands clapped tightly over his ears.
As the planks continued to tremble beneath him, he thought for one wild moment that the Space Ladders themselves must be collapsing. But then something moved into his line of vision and he realised that the noise he’d heard had not been the Space Ladders collapsing — it had been the groan of orbiting planets. Everyone knew that the Globe was the centre of the universe. The suns passed above and beneath it and the other planets in the galaxy orbited around it. Their nearest neighbour was Plenrii — a water planet for the dead. The Globe was the only living planet in the galaxy and the others that orbited it were all said to be underworlds. There were so many other planets out there because there were always more and more people who were dying and the Gods had to keep creating more planets to provide space for them all.
The prophet, Lex and Schmidt were all motionless on the ladders as the underworld came into view like a gigantic blue marble going directly past them on its cold, solitary elliptical orbit of the Globe. Lex could hardly believe his eyes. As far as he knew, this was the first time in the history of the Globe that any living human had ever set eyes on an underworld.
The deafening roar of the orbiting planet caused no problem for the deaf prophet. He took his chance to grip the ladder below and start climbing up towards Lex, who lowered his hands with the idea of climbing to the next platform, but he realised at once that there was no way he could hold onto the ladder and leave his ears unprotected. Nor could he climb the ladder without using his hands, for the way they were shaking and trembling he would have fallen off within seconds. Still on his knees, Lex stared around the small platform, desperately wondering what to do, for the prophet was sure to be upon him at any moment. He staggered up and walked unsteadily to the edge of the shaking platform, intending to kick at the prophet when his head appeared over the 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
THE LANDS BENEATH
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 sa
t 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 the word mercy. He won’t take pity on you.’
Lex picked up on the tone and looked at him. ‘You know this enchanter, don’t you?’
‘Yes, I know him,’ Schmidt said flatly. ‘I was his servant for two years, so believe me, Lex, when I say you won’t be able to get anything from him. You must stay completely away from him and make sure he never finds out that you escaped.’
‘What do you mean you were his servant?’ Lex asked, staring at him.
Schmidt sighed. ‘Something happened and I had to leave my home when I was a young man. The only way to do that was on board an enchanter’s ship, so I made a deal with him. I agreed to be his lawyer for a year.’
Lex had known from the little things Schmidt had already let slip earlier on in their travels that he must have had some contact with magical peoples. But he’d never dreamt that he had actually once worked for an enchanter. He could be disbarred for that, even now.
‘I’m afraid that, where you always seem to get good luck, I’m often cursed with the opposite. In fact, sometimes I think I must be Lady Luck’s favourite victim. I recognised the enchanter on the docks the morning you stole his ship.’
‘Why didn’t Bessa recognise you?’ Lex asked.
‘She wasn’t his crone when I was with him.’ Schmidt hesitated a moment before going on. ‘After my year of service was up, the enchanter refused to let me leave. He kept saying I had to stay just one more month. By the time two years had gone by I realised he was never going to allow me to go.’
‘But the things you must have seen!’ Lex breathed. ‘Living and working with an enchanter!’
‘The things I saw would make your hair curl!’ Schmidt said sharply. ‘I was barely treated better than his crone. Besides, I became a lawyer to help people, not to swindle, cheat and ruin them and that’s what the enchanter was having me do. The law can be twisted so easily but it’s supposed to be something noble not just another way of destroying people. It sickened me and I knew I had to get out so I managed to convince his crone to help me escape. She’d grown fond of me whilst I’d been living with them, for I showed her more kindness and consideration than her master ever did. So she helped me to run away when we stopped at the Bandy Towns one night. She gave me some magical help that made it easier for me to disappear and after lying low for a while I was able to change my name and start again. But the enchanter banished his crone as punishment for helping me.’
‘How do you know he banished her?’ Lex asked curiously.
‘I met her a couple of weeks ago,’ Schmidt said shortly.
Lex looked at him, puzzled for a moment before he remembered. ‘Matilda?’ he grinned. ‘You really do have bad luck, don’t you?’
‘That’s why she needed to keep the crown,’ Schmidt said. ‘With an object like that she’ll be taken back into the care of an enchanter again, for any one of them would love to get their hands on a royal crown. Crones don’t feel co
mplete without enchanters.’
‘Why did you have to leave your home in the first place?’ Lex asked, quite unable to stop himself from asking the question.
Schmidt hesitated and for a moment Lex thought he wouldn’t tell him. Then, with a sigh, the lawyer admitted flatly, ‘My real name is Marvin Briggs.’
There was complete and utter silence as Lex stared at Schmidt, his mouth hanging open, wondering if he could be dreaming. ‘ Marvin Briggs? ’ he whispered. ‘You almost destroyed a whole province!’
The name of Marvin Briggs was respected by every scoundrel, rogue and good-for-nothing in the Lands Above. The name had even become part of popular culture. To ‘pull a Marvin Briggs’ was to create an unmitigated disaster.
‘Oh, don’t be so stupid!’ Schmidt snapped. ‘Can you see me doing something like that? It wasn’t me. I was set up. Besides, it was a city, not a province.’
Everyone knew the story. Briggs had been a young, opportunistic lawyer in the Leylands who had flooded the black market with Judges’ wigs. Now, Judges’ wigs were in some ways similar to enchanters’ hats except, instead of storing magic, they stored authority. There was something about a Judge’s wig that made anyone who wore it instantly authoritative, so that other people flinched if the wearer so much as raised their voice and almost fell over themselves in their hurry to obey any commands the wig-wearer gave them. As more and more criminal leaders got their hands on Judges’ wigs, the Leylands went through a serious crime crisis and the city almost collapsed altogether. Order was re-imposed only just in the nick of time. Marvin Briggs was exposed by another lawyer but evaded arrest and disappeared. He was never heard of again and no one had the slightest clue what had happened to him.
‘So what happened?’ Lex said. ‘If you didn’t do it, why did you end up taking the blame for it?’
‘It was you!’ Schmidt snarled, looking uncharacteristically vicious for a moment before checking himself. ‘Or it might as well have been. Someone just like you, Lex, except a few years older. His name was Oliver Simp.’