It was thought that they must be something to do with knowledge, for it was Herman? the God of Knowledge, himself? who had proclaimed the existence of the Lost Islands over a hundred years ago. Lex was therefore unsurprised when Thaddeus announced that there was something called a library tree on one of the lost islands, since books and libraries certainly fitted in with Herman and knowledge.
It was just past ten o’clock at night and the three players were assembled at the edge of a dark beach with the Gods who had brought them there. Lex had no idea where they were and thought, at first, that they were on one of the Lost Islands already. Then he saw the three rowing-boats on the sand and suspected that they weren’t quite there yet.
‘Somewhere on the library tree,’ Thaddeus said, ‘is a book that’s missing one of its pages. You will each be given a duplicate page. The first player to replace the missing page in the correct book, wins.’
The players then each found a page being thrust into their hands by their respective God or Goddess.
‘Go!’ Thaddeus said.
And, with that, the three deities disappeared, leaving the players on the beach.
Jeremiah and Lorella were still clutching their pages uselessly whilst Lex was running towards the rowing-boats. He didn’t know where they were, exactly, or where the Lost Island was in relation to them, but he knew the rowing-boats had to be there for a reason. Without even looking at it, Lex thrust the page into his pocket, grabbed the side of the boat and started hauling it down the beach towards the water. A second later, Jesse was helping him and soon the little boat was bobbing on the dark sea with them inside it.
The moon came out from behind a cloud and suddenly Lex could glimpse land ahead. It wasn’t far away. Probably no more than a twenty-minute trip if they rowed fast. Clearly, the Gods did not intend the actual finding of the island to be the difficult part and so had started them off quite close to it.
Lex and Jesse rowed as fast as they could. The other players were in their boats by now and Lex could hear the splash of oars behind him. Their boat would be moving the fastest, for it had both Jesse and Lex to row it. Lorella would have to row by herself, as her little sprite certainly wouldn’t be able to help, and the same was true for Jeremiah.
Lex’s initial plan was to row the boat all the way around the island, rather than pulling up on to the beach. That way he could try to spot the library tree from the water. He didn’t know what a library tree was but he hoped there would be something about it that would make it stand out to him, otherwise he’d run the risk of going right past it. As it turned out, this fear was completely unfounded for, as they got nearer to the island, a huge, massive, monstrous dark shape began to form before them.
From the water, Lex strained his eyes through the darkness, hardly able to believe what he thought he was seeing. But, as they approached, there was no denying it: the library tree was so gigantic that it covered the entire island. It was bigger than any building Lex had ever seen in the Lands Above. The roots? which were two or three feet thick in places? were clamped tight around the edge of the island, clinging to it like poison ivy, and trailing down into the sea. There was no shore to speak of because it had been taken over so completely by roots. Lex had no idea how big the tree actually was but it must have been at least two hundred feet high.
They had barely pulled up to the island before Lex was leaping over the side, soaking his feet up to the ankles but hardly noticing as he climbed the tree roots up to the land. As soon as his feet touched ground, the island lit up. Or, rather, the tree did. There were hundreds of little lanterns hung about its branches and they all came on as one. At the exact same moment, the silence was broken by a strange, soft warbling sound that seemed to be coming from all around them.
In the soft glow of light, they could see the tree much better. At first, Lex thought it must be dead, but then he realised it was just black, from the tip of its roots to the end of its leaves.
The humongous trunk, some distance away, looked like it was made up of several trunks that were twisted and knotted together. Branches spread out from the centre in all directions. Wooden walkways were lashed to them with thick coils of rope; rope ladders led from one level to the next and rope bridges ran between branches. There was a complete network of paths, bridges and ladders all around the tree.
And everywhere were books. There were shelves attached to some branches and carved into others. Periodically, giant roots thrust down to the ground from the branches like pillars and these all seemed to have been hollowed out and filled with books, too. There were only leaves at the very top of the tree and these were black.
The tree loomed over them like a grim, sinister guardian. Something about it seemed alive despite the fact that it was completely still. The breeze didn’t even rustle the leaves at the top? they just stayed motionless, like they’d been glued there.
‘Well, bless me if that ain’t the strangest darn tree I ever saw,’ Jesse said. ‘Looks like it oughta have a pack of vultures peckin’ at it.’
It did look dead, or burnt, or something. But there was a rich, damp, earthy smell in the air that spoke very much of living plants and there didn’t appear to be any vegetation around except for the tree. The ground was covered in roots and crisp black leaves.
In amongst all the black bark were the occasional splashes of colour. Several large birdcages hung from the branches and in these Lex could glimpse colourful feathers. There seemed to be some sort of songbird in them and they were all warbling away. It was not an unpleasant noise? even if it was unlike normal birdsong? but Lex was sure that the birds were probably some kind of alarm system. Their singing was no doubt alerting someone? or something? to the fact that they were there.
‘Come on,’ Lex said, starting forwards.
The others were probably only a minute behind them and they could not afford to waste time. They needed to find some way on to the tree. This, as it turned out, was fairly easy, for the nearest pillar-like root stretching down to the ground had a rope-ladder attached to it.
Lex clambered over the roots that were raised up out of the ground to get to the ladder. He shot up it and stepped on to the wooden platform. It felt sturdy and strong, and took his weight without so much as a creak. Whilst Jesse climbed up after him, Lex rummaged about in his bag until he found what he was looking for. By the time the cowboy was standing beside him on the platform, Lex had a large pair of cutting shears in his hands.
‘Here,’ he said, passing them to Jesse. ‘Cut the rope ladder whilst I have a look at this page.’
‘Cut the ladder?’ Jesse replied with a frown. ‘Do you reckon we should?’
‘I don’t want the others following us up this way,’ Lex said. ‘It will slow them down a bit to have to look for their own way on to the tree. Do it quickly; they’ll be here any minute.’
So Jesse started work on the ladder whilst Lex examined the page Thaddeus had given the players. It was a copy of a handwritten title sheet from a book entitled: Black Magic For The Darkling Hour. The author was one Erasmus Grey. Lex gaped at the page in astonishment. He knew who Erasmus Grey was. Everyone did. He’d been a black mage long ago? one of the most famous and powerful mages of them all.
People thought the enchanters were powerful now but, really, they were just a pale shadow of the sorcerers and the black mages who had been before them. After all, the enchanters relied mostly on props? their hats and their staffs? to store their magic and to help them wield it. Without those things, what would an enchanter be but a cantankerous old git in a silly robe? In addition, the enchanters tended to keep themselves to themselves. They were very possessive and generally a mean old bunch, but they were not ambitious. They didn’t possess delusions of grandeur or pressing needs to take over the world or impose evil dominion over everyone. Sorcerers and black mages, on the other hand, had been another matter entirely. They were all about evil plans and dark magic and wicked deeds. They didn’t need props for their magic? a wave of their hand was all it took. They’d killed each other off in the end so that only the comparatively mild enchanters remained. And now Lex was holding a page to a book that Erasmus Grey himself had written! No doubt it was full of black secrets and old powers and lost spells!