Lex had met Carey East just once, almost eleven years ago, when he and Lucius had been six years old. Their parents had been killed about a year previously when a water witch sank their boat, and Alistair Trent had retired from adventuring to look after them. When Carey East came by for a surprise visit one day, he brought presents for both Lex and Lucius and stayed with them until the next morning. Lex had never seen his grandfather so happy and he remembered Carey East being a large, loud, bluff, yet refined man. Of course, Carey East died two years later whilst battling with a sea serpent. But he had been the most famous, the most noble adventurer the world had ever seen and Lex was extremely proud of the association the Trents had with the Easts — a strong, unbreakable tie between two fine families stretching back across three generations…
So, when the gangplank was lowered over the side of the grand ship, Lex was right there beside the red carpet, next to the mayor himself. When Jeremiah appeared at the top of the gangplank there could be no doubt whatsoever that it was him. He was, to put it frankly, the most handsome person Lex had ever seen in his life. People started to cheer and wave flags. It didn’t matter that the only noteworthy thing Jeremiah East had done so far was to appear in view; he simply looked like the sort of person people cheered and waved flags at. The people who didn’t have flags waved their hats. Lex had neither a flag nor a hat so he merely contented himself with grinning stupidly. Usually he would have been a little bit jealous? all right, extremely jealous and irate and resentful? that someone other than himself was basking in the limelight. But when people cheered for Jeremiah and his family, Lex couldn’t help feeling that they were cheering for his family, too. For weren’t the Trents, after all, indistinguishably bound up with the Easts?
Jeremiah momentarily looked taken aback by the crowd’s reaction but then raised his hand to gracefully acknowledge the applause before walking down the gangplank. He wore a royal-blue coat with shiny golden buttons that was probably worth more than all the items of clothing Lex owned put together. He must have been at least six foot, with black hair swept boyishly back from his forehead, blue eyes, white, even teeth and the fine-boned features of a true aristocrat. You could even see it in the way he held himself? with his shoulders back and his head high so that he sort of looked down his nose at everybody. He looked much older, somehow, than his twenty-one years.
‘He fancies himself something rotten, doesn’t he?’ Jesse remarked. He stood on Lex’s left hand side, lounging with his hands in his pockets. ‘Snot-nosed kid, if ever I saw one.’
Lex gaped at him. ‘Snot-nosed-That’s Jeremiah East! He’s refined, that’s all! He’s from one of the most noble families in the world!’
Jesse shrugged placidly and said nothing. Lex turned back in time to see Jeremiah step on to the harbour and shake hands with the mayor.
‘Welcome to the Wither City, Mr East.’
‘I’m very happy to be here,’ Jeremiah replied graciously.
‘This is Lex Trent,’ the mayor said, indicating Lex at his side. ‘He, of course, is-’
‘Oh, a pageboy. How considerate,’ Jeremiah said. ‘My servants have my luggage in hand but you can take my sword if you think you can manage not to drop it. It’s very heavy.’ And with that he unbuckled his sword belt and thrust it into Lex’s arms.
For perhaps the first time in his life, Lex was momentarily speechless and could only gape at Jeremiah in stunned silence, horribly aware of Jesse sniggering beside him.
‘Oh dear,’ the mayor said, flapping his hands in an embarrassed fashion. ‘This isn’t the pageboy, Mr East. This is Lex Trent.’
‘Trent?’ Jeremiah repeated with a slight frown. ‘Can’t say I recall any Trents. You’re not at the Academy, are you?’
Finding his tongue at last, Lex said, ‘My grandfather was Alistair Trent.’
Now, at last, recognition seemed to finally dawn in Jeremiah’s eyes and he said, ‘Oh, the Chronicler’s grandson. I suppose you want my autograph. I’m afraid I don’t have a pen on me right now but catch me later and we’ll see what we can do. I assume we’re to be put up in a tavern whilst we’re here?’ Jeremiah said, turning back to the mayor. ‘We’ve had a very long journey and are anxious to settle in. Can you have someone show us the way?’
And before Lex knew what was happening, Jeremiah had grabbed back his sword and they were all walking away, leaving him standing with Jesse in the crowd.
‘Don’t see what all the fuss is about, myself,’ the cowboy said, before wandering off, no doubt in search of the nearest tavern.
Inwardly, Lex cursed himself. He didn’t know what had come over him. Under normal circumstances he would have said, ‘ I? I want your autograph? Oh, come now!’ in the most obnoxious tone he could muster. But he had been utterly unprepared for Jeremiah’s manner. He had had a nice little image in his head of the two of them embracing like brothers, the crowd going nuts, photographers flashing their cameras, maybe even a bit of confetti thrown their way…
‘Good heavens, it sounds like you were expecting to marry Jeremiah, not merely meet him for the first time!’ Lady Luck said when he expressed his disappointment to her, later.
‘Our grandfathers were best friends,’ Lex protested, turning pink. ‘That should mean something.’
‘Well, perhaps he was just tired from his long journey,’ the Goddess replied airily. ‘I’m sure the two of you will get on like a house on fire at the feast this evening.’
Lex just grunted at this. Jeremiah had not seemed at all tired to him. He had just seemed like rather a jerk, in spite of the shiny gold buttons and the tall, dark, handsome thing he had going on. Lex found it difficult to believe that Jeremiah’s attitude towards him would be in any way changed that evening. He was therefore surprised when Jeremiah caught him as he was passing the Town Hall later that evening and said, ‘Look, Trent, I’m sorry if I seemed a bit abrupt with you earlier. Long journey and all that. And I didn’t realise you were going to be,’ he lowered his voice a little, ‘a fellow player.’
No excuse, Lex thought silently. Everyone knew his name by now because of what he had achieved in the last Game: all the records he had broken, all the things he’d done that had never been done before? like being crowned in the Golden Valley and going down to the Lands Beneath. Those things hadn’t been easy. They had been tremendously difficult and yet Lex had pulled them off spectacularly well. He deserved a bit of respect for that, surely? Even from someone as high born as Jeremiah East. Lex had to resist the urge to say fiercely, ‘I was a king for five seconds, you know!’ just in case Jeremiah didn’t know, which really didn’t seem at all likely.
‘Come on,’ the nobleman said, ‘let me buy you a drink.’
‘I don’t drink,’ Lex replied, still rather suspicious of this sudden change of heart.
‘Oh, that’s right, you’re not eighteen yet, are you?’ Jeremiah said. ‘Well, don’t worry, I expect we can sneak one through.’
‘No, it’s nothing to do with my age,’ Lex replied. ‘I just don’t drink.’
For someone who put such a high premium on having a sharp mind, a quick tongue and always being one step ahead of everyone else, Lex stayed well away from drink and drugs of any kind. But Jeremiah once again seemed to misunderstand him, for he said, ‘Dear me, you are a stickler for the rules, aren’t you? I used to be like that? terrified of breaking a rule and getting into trouble. Don’t worry. You’ll grow out of it in time.’
‘I’m not scared of breaking the rules-’ Lex began at once, rather heatedly for the very suggestion couldn’t have been any further from the truth. If he wanted to drink alcohol then he most certainly would? rules be damned. It was mere coincidence that his own preference happened to coincide with the rules just this once.