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.