‘I swear they get bigger by the week,’ Lex said, stroking their glossy feathers.
Jesse remained in the doorway. Although it seemed unlikely that anyone would be able to see him from the harbour, they were moored right next to Jeremiah’s boat and they didn’t want to take any chances.
But it didn’t make any difference. There was a ladder that stretched up the entire height of the ship. It was what Lex had had to use to embark and disembark throughout the course of the last Game before he’d had the gangplank put in. Now he didn’t use the ladder and it had never really occurred to him that anyone else might. But he had been petting the griffins and talking to Jesse about them for about ten minutes when a figure suddenly vaulted over the side of the ship and on to the deck? a figure dressed in royal blue with shiny golden buttons on his jacket…
It was Jeremiah.
For a moment, the three of them just stared at each other. The expression on Jeremiah’s face went from shocked to relieved to furious. He opened his mouth to speak but Lex got there first. ‘Look at this. Turns out Jesse isn’t dead after all. Good, eh?’
He wasn’t even bothering to try to be convincing. Jeremiah would never go for it. And it was rather fun watching the nobleman’s face as he realised he’d been had.
‘You monster!’ he said. ‘He was never dead at all! Do you know what my sister has been through this week?’
‘The octopus paralysed him,’ Lex replied, ‘rather than killing him. How was I to know? We genuinely believed he was dead for, oh, the first five minutes. But now I have returned to the ship and found him to be alive. Lady Luck is out spreading the good news as we speak.’ Then a thought occurred to Lex; he frowned and said, ‘What are you doing here, anyway?’
‘I was suspicious!’ Jeremiah snapped. ‘Tess told me about going to your room to give you the Dragon. She mentioned the cowboy’s hat. That was the first thing that tipped me off. And the more I thought about it, the more unlikely it seemed that you would have publicly forgiven me as you did. You laid all that honourable gentleman stuff on too bloody thick, Trent! You’re no gentleman; you’re a cad!’
‘Yes, I am. That’s why I always win.’
‘You didn’t win the last round though, did you?’
The reminder wiped the smile off Lex’s face. ‘I’ll win this one, and the one after that!’ he snapped. ‘I’ll win this Game and have everyone loving me by the end of it!’
‘I’m going to tell people what you’ve done! I’m going to tell them all about how you deliberately tricked everyone into thinking your companion was dead, just so that you could earn sympathy points! It’s a disgrace!’
‘Good luck,’ Lex replied, supremely unconcerned. ‘Like I just said, her Ladyship will have already informed the other Gods that Jesse is alive by now. If you go back and say you saw him on the ship, you’ll just be telling them what they already know. You might know the truth and I might know it, but if you try to say I was aware that Jesse’s been alive this whole time then it will be my word against yours and? trust me? I’m a much better liar than you are!’
Jeremiah glared at him, grinding his jaw but saying nothing. Lex was right. Jeremiah was already walking on eggshells where public opinion of him was concerned, whereas everyone was practically overflowing with love towards Lex. If he tried to accuse Lex of lying now, then people probably wouldn’t believe him and all he would achieve would be to have everyone hating his guts again.
Jeremiah took a deep breath and said, ‘I am going to thrash you in the second round like you have never been thrashed before.’
Lex laughed, profoundly delighted by the challenge, and said, ‘I’d really love it if you’d try.’
Jeremiah looked at Jesse and said, ‘Whatever foul scheme you’ve been party to this week? no doubt concocted by this hooligan — ’ he pointed at Lex before turning back to the cowboy? ‘you did save my sister from harm at personal risk to yourself and I am grateful to you. For what it’s worth, I really am glad you’re not dead. Now,’ he turned back to Lex, ‘give me the Dragon and I’ll be on my way.’
‘Dragon?’ Lex said blankly. ‘What Dragon?’
‘You know full well,’ Jeremiah said between gritted teeth. ‘One of the Wishing Dragons of Desareth, left to my sister by our grandfather.’
‘Oh, you mean this Dragon,’ Lex said, pulling the chain out from where it was tucked into his shirt. ‘You can whistle for it. I’ve decided to keep it.’
Hardly able to believe what he was hearing, Jeremiah said furiously, ‘That Dragon was meant for? and belongs to? the grandchild of a noble Adventurer! Not the thieving grandchild of a mere Chronicler!’
Lex could feel his face going red with genuine anger. ‘If I were you,’ he said quietly, ‘I wouldn’t ever insult my grandfather in my hearing again. You’re nothing more than a passing amusement to me right now but if you make a true enemy out of me, I promise, you’ll regret it!’
‘If you won’t hand over the Dragon, I’ll get it back from you myself!’ Jeremiah said, drawing his impressive sword and starting forwards.
Up until this point, the griffins had remained at Lex’s side, watching Jeremiah warily but not reacting to him. Drawing the sword had been his first mistake and walking forward in such a threatening manner was his second. Instantly, the griffins formed a line in front of Lex, rearing up on to their hind legs so that the sun gleamed off their razor-sharp claws, snapping their beaks and staring at Jeremiah with such a cold, vicious look in their eyes that it was not hard to believe they could rip him apart at any moment. He had no choice but to come to a dead stop in the middle of the deck.
‘I wouldn’t take one more step, if I were you,’ Lex said lazily. ‘You’re upsetting the griffins and they can be a bit… unpredictable when they’re upset. If you back away really slowly and go back over the side of the ship the way you came then they might not kill you.’
Jeremiah looked at Lex and the three distinctly savage-looking griffins standing between them and knew he had no choice. So red with anger that he looked rather like a tomato, Jeremiah slowly backed away. When he got to the edge of the deck, he paused long enough only to look back at Lex and say quietly, ‘I’ll get you for this. And I will have my sister’s Dragon back, one way or another.’
‘Dream on,’ Lex replied. ‘And take my advice? think twice before spiking someone’s drink the next time. Not everyone is just some chump who’ll take it lying down.’
With one last scowl, Jeremiah sheathed his sword and climbed over the edge of the ship. Lex walked over to the rails with the griffins and watched Jeremiah’s descent. When the nobleman was only a few rungs away from the bottom, Lex commanded the ship to rise so suddenly and so quickly that Jeremiah was shaken off the ladder altogether and fell into the cold, salty sea with a splash and a yell.
‘ Now,’ Lex said, turning away from the side with a profoundly smug smile, ‘we are even.’
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The Lost Islands could not be found on any map. This was because they never stayed in any one place for very long. They moved around constantly. No one was quite sure how many Lost Islands there were, although the general consensus seemed to be that there were probably about seven or eight. The reason they were lost was that the Gods moved them periodically. The people all knew this because the Gods had told them so. The Lost Islands were full of forbidden things? things the Gods did not want people to have, but which they didn’t want cluttering up the place, down in the Lands Beneath. So they had stashed them all on the islands. They were extremely dangerous places and, if anyone ever went looking for one and? even worse? actually found one, the Gods had warned that the consequences would be dire indeed.