‘No,’ said Mel, almost under his breath. Then he shouted, ‘No! Maybe he ….’ Mel looked over the edge but any hope he might have had about Ludo landing on a walkway evaporated. There was no sign of him anywhere. ‘It’s all my fault. I persuaded Ludo to come with us.’ But before the loss had a chance to properly register, his attention was torn back to their immediate peril. Surging towards them from every direction along the walkways and in the tunnel behind them were the sword-wielding men-at-arms of the Fifth Mystery. Scores of them. Their scarlet robes billowed out behind them as they raced in the friends’ direction. ‘Wren. Grab hold!’ Wren’s attention snapped back as the walkway lurched to one side. ‘Mel! What’re you doing?’ Mel was frantically cutting through the roots that attached their walkway to the inside of the pyramid. ‘It’s the only way. Grab a root. Just one more. Hang on!’ He severed the final root and grabbed on to a free-hanging fibre.
