City of Air (Lost Cities Saga 1)

There was a long silence in the hallway after Sebastian's declaration, which the master broke when he burst out laughing.

"You're mad! And the Zodiac Society as well if they are willing to fund it! You might as well throw in El Dorado, the Fountain of Youth and Atlantis in those plans if you're going to start chasing legends! And that's what they are, boy! Legends!" Master Opal declared, still laughing.

Sebastian's expression did not change. "The Zodiac Society is funding it, and is treating this expedition as a very serious venture in the name of the Empire. And I have even more justification right here, the legends spoke of aether magicians and one such magician is standing in this house with us."

The master scoffed. "History speaks of aether magicians, not just fairy tales. How on earth did you manage to get the Zodiac Society to agree to support you on this? Your father's title? Then they are no different from the Order they disdain!"

"No!" said Sebastian, forcefully, silencing the master's laughter. Then the young magician's face coloured crimson, he cleared his throat and said with considerable more calm, "No. I do not need my father's title or family connections to carry me in the Society. I am Sebastian, Lord Virgo, Sixth member among the Twelve."

The silence in the hallway deepened and lengthened, before finally Leona asked, "What were you talking about when you said that I was an 'aether magician'? And what is this about a lost city?"

All eyes turned to her standing at the door, staring at Sebastian. He stared back at Leona and asked, "You don't know?"

The master exhaled heavily and said, "Let us go into the study. This is not a conversation for the hall."

He led the way into his study and locked the door behind them once they were all gathered inside. Leona seated herself at her usual place before the master's desk, Vincent went to the window looking out to the street, and Sebastian stopped in the centre of the room near Leona's seat while the master went to his chair. Once Master Opal was seated at his desk he took a moment to compose his thoughts, and then he said, "We have been exposed as a house full of liars, I see. Except you, dear Vincent, poor form in a solicitor but rare in a gentleman. I apologise Miss Ruby—Leona, I have not been entirely honest with you myself. I have been withholding information."

Leona did not know what to say to that, but it was not necessary for he continued, "I knew all along, from the first day we met in fact that you were no ordinary magician. You're a type of elemental magician called an aether magician, in that, while ordinary magicians can summon of the first four elements: air, earth, fire and water, you can summon of the essential fifth, the aether or energy that all magicians use in their magic. As you may have guessed, the elementals associated with this fifth are the souls of living things. This is why you can see and interact with ghosts."

At this Sebastian asked, "How could you not have told her? This is dangerous. If anyone else had discovered what she was before me she may have been killed!"

The master shut his eyes until Sebastian stopped speaking and then replied, "I made a mistake. But I had no information, or at least not as much information as you did. All I could do for her was train her to use the elementals that I was familiar with. Of course, there are many taboos associated with the manipulation of the aether anyway that I'm sure you could appreciate."

"Indeed," said Sebastian. "But if you had come to the Zodiac Society even earlier that would not have been an issue."

"Ha!" the master scoffed. "Ha! The Zodiac Society does not have the facilities for such a thing. You think I am unaware but I have been following your progress for many years and I know for a fact that the issue of you all creating a school has not left the debating room since the day it was first proposed when the Society was formed over one hundred years ago!"

Sebastian scowled and looked away. Once the master was assured of his silence then, he returned his attention to Leona. She sat up a little straighter as their gazes met and he said, "Miss Ruby, I sought only to keep you safe. My method was flawed but I also thought it best that you not be burdened by a frustrating search for the already scant information there is left on aether magicians. I can't say that I am truly sorry either, for you are an excellent student, a dedicated apprentice and a powerful magician. If it weren't for the fact that I worried about your age I would have presented you to the Society sooner. As it is, my goal is fulfilled, your first demonstration was witnessed by one of the Twelve, or so this young man claims himself to be."

"I am Lord Virgo," Sebastian repeated. "And that man we met earlier who exposed my secret so ruthlessly is James Tolliver, Lord Aries, First member of the Twelve. He has the same desire as me: to reach the Western City of Air, and I fear now that he knows of the presence of the lost heirs of House Opal he will waste no time in coming here. He…is not a good man. Should he get his hands on Miss Ruby without the other Twelve witnessing the moment I'm afraid that her life will be in grave danger."

The master gave no visible reaction to this announcement, but said instead, "And so it begins..."

Vincent spoke up then to ask, "So what is this talk about legends and lost cities?"

The master exhaled heavily and began, "It is an old tale from the East, one of the first stories about the origin of magic in the world ever written and the most consistent. It tells of five great guardian spirits: the White Tiger, Master of Air and Metals; the Azure Dragon, Master of Earth and Wood; the Black Turtle, Master of Water; the Vermillion Phoenix, Master of Fire, and the Golden Dragon, Master of Life and Death. It is a creation myth for magicians, with the number of elements and the types of animals that make up the spirits varying according to where the story is repeated. In the West we identify four main elements with a fifth, aether. In the East there are five main elements and the sixth concerns aether, or there, chi. These variations are meaningless however, in relation to the legend because the story remains the same."

The master paused once again to collect his thoughts before continuing, "According to the Western tradition, magic is aligned with five elements: air, earth, water, fire and aether, and therefore magicians only can perform magic in relation to affecting one of these five elements. Understanding how these elements are dispersed in nature allows the magician to best manipulate the element he desires. This he does through the elementals he summons, and the greater the presence of the element he needs the greater the elemental he can summon. You all know of the classes of elementals that the average magician can summon? Well, the absolute greatest of these elementals are the Great Spirits who are said to hold the world together and would only appear before the strongest magicians specialising in their particular element. The 'Legend of the Lost Cities' then speaks of the five ancient cities built by magicians to honour the Great Spirits of each of the five elements. However, most important to anyone who follows these legends and His Lordship here, I believe, is the treasure that is said to lie at the heart of each of the cities and the power that is granted to the individual who should retrieve them."

The master lifted his gaze to Sebastian here and said, "In the beginning, five Great Spirits emerged to grant Man the ability to survive in the world. The White Tiger, a craftsman, fashioned the Dagger of Air with a blade of the strongest metal and an edge so fine it would cut the very air and never dull. The Azure Dragon, a scribe, taught man how to write and so doing record the world's history and all that they learned in observing it. With this knowledge then, this Great Spirit created the Book of Earth, a record of all knowledge and the passage of time to the present day. The Black Turtle was a shaman, and taught Man about medicine and healing and divination with its offering, the Water Mirror. The Vermillion Phoenix was a warrior, and taught Man how to hold onto their territories and tame the world with its Fire Staff. And the last and most powerful was the Golden Dragon who taught Man about life and death but could help a chosen few defy it with its gift of the Sorcerer's Stone. To ensure that no being grew too powerful, the spirits exchanged their treasures with their opposite power save the Golden Dragon who decided that he was the only one capable of protecting the Stone. But Man was so pleased by the benevolence of the Great Spirits that they built great temple cities to honour them.

"Yet not all Men were willing to serve the Great Spirits as subjects for all their lives. Some Men sought to take for themselves the powers of the Great Spirits by stealing the treasures they had created. Fearing for the safety of their people, the Great Spirits chose to hide away their cities and with them the treasures of each, granting access again only to the descendants of sixteen families chosen by lottery. The Golden Dragon however, would not give access to his city and the treasure at its heart to all of the families, but the four he had offered from his own city. And then, to further prevent anyone else from accessing his treasure, he turned his city into a tomb, lost to all save a descendant of one of those four.

"Of course this displeased Man, who thought that they should not be denied the power over life and death even if it were so powerful, and they mercilessly hunted down those that showed the unique power of the Golden Dragon, that is to interact with ghosts. They called them 'necromancer' and 'sorcerer' and aligned them with all the evils of the world to justify their slaughter. This forced the aether magicians into hiding, but not before they declared that one day the Golden Dragon would have his vengeance and his heir would rise up and end the reign of Man… Of course, that has not happened, and since it has not the story has become a fairytale told to children and young magicians to keep their behaviours in check." Sebastian's expression remained blank and the master continued, "It is because of this story that I have tried to protect poor, dear Leona. I do not want to call her the last of her kind but so effective was the spread of rumour and slaughter that I do not doubt that she is. Tell me, Sixth, if you are proven right and these treasures do exist and you do find them, what is to become of Leona?"

Sebastian looked over to her and replied, "She will be offered the protection of the Zodiac Society and the Empire. We are in a learned age. No one would dare harm her."

Master Opal made a sound like a scoff and said, "You just warned us about Lord Aries."

"Lord Aries is a brute who should never have been allowed into the Society, but the others are not. I would personally see to it that she is protected. In time it may even be possible for her to have a place among the Twelve," said Sebastian.

Leona went wide-eyed at that, more than a little unconvinced. Freemen were not trusted or accepted as magicians, those that were became soldiers (the men,) nurses (the women,) or teachers (both,) there would probably be public protests at one of them becoming a governor of them all. Master Opal's slightly raised eyebrows were the only indication of his scepticism but there was no trace of it in his tone as he replied, "If I am to agree to assist you, Sixth, I have but one request."

Sebastian's lips became a thin line as he fought against the smile that was threatening to spread across his face. After a moment he gave in and said, "Name it."

"I want to remain as Miss Ruby's guardian, and in the event of my passing, that you appoint my son, Vincent until she comes of age. Londoninum is a different world from our idyllic one here in the colony and I will not have her misled," he replied.

"Of course," said Sebastian, looking the master directly in the eyes. "And as her guardian you would remain responsible for her education until she comes of age, though I cannot imagine that she would not continue to seek your advice after."

The master gave him a small smile and said, "Of course. She is a brilliant and powerful magician, more than you imagine boy. I cannot allow that power into the wrong hands."

"Of course not," said Sebastian.

Leona looked between the two of them and wondered if there was something that she was missing. Then Vincent said, "She has not done her Exhibition yet."

At this both the master and Sebastian turned to look at him, then at Leona beside him. She resisted the urge to take a step back, discomfited by the force of their stare. Then Sebastian turned to the master again and said, "I have already seen her display, all she really needs to do is the written exam, but I think that can be waived."

The master's brow furrowed and he asked, "You can do that?"

"I am a governing member of the Zodiac Society; any demonstration in front of me would count. Though I suppose it would be best to have independent observers, we do not want unnecessary questions down the road."

"Independent? No one in this island is worthy of seeing her true power, it is why I insisted that she practice summoning as we all do."

"Yes, yes, I saw that she can bind them through sheer power, but I agree it would not do to have her demonstrate that before anyone but the Society. We must get her to Londoninum by the holiday's end…the problem is to keep her away from Lord Aries."

At this, Vincent slipped Leona a quick look, to which she nodded and he quietly walked across the room and opened the door. Leona looked between Sebastian and the master, then got up and followed Vincent out. Neither the master nor Sebastian noticed, with the younger magician even taking the seat she had vacated. On the other side of the door, Vincent took hold of Leona's hand and led her further into the house, to the back and the kitchen where Ma De Four and George were waiting for them. As soon as they entered the housekeeper ushered them to the table and said, "I didn't trust that boy from the minute I see him, didn't I say that, George? Not for one minute. I hope Mr Opal is not in there falling for his nonsense. He just like all the rest, come down here and feel they can do what they want—sorry, Vincent, but it's true, even your father was like that when he now come, how else Leona reach here—bur if Mr Opal smart he won't let that boy take Leona out of his sight. And you, Leona, I thought you was told to stay away from that boy?"

Leona dropped her gaze to the table trying to process all that she had heard. Sebastian was a governing member of the Zodiac Society, one of the monsters from her childhood nightmares in human flesh who looked barely any different from any of the boys the master taught. He was also some titled aristocrat, like Lord Aries said, but that was not important. No, the important part was why he had come. Not as Master Opal's student as he claimed but chasing El Dorado, or its equivalent, and while the master said that the story was a fairy tale and had laughed at the boy, they were now in his office making plans to get Leona into Londoninum.

Ma De Four, now at the stove to prepare tea Leona had only half-heard her mentioning, called over her shoulder, "Oh, Miss Ruby, your brother left something for you. I know the foolishness he look to come up here with but he gave it to me before they start their nonsense. It up in your room."

Oh yes, and her brother had been here earlier with Cedric Miller trying to blackmail the master into…well, she never did find out what he wanted. Did Mr Miller come with some offer to "buy her back"? How on Earth had he gotten their parents to agree to his taking Generous on as an "assistant"? She mumbled, "Okay."

Then she realised that Vincent was still holding her hand and her heart skipped three beats. She shot up from her seat at once, wrenching her hand from his as she went, and repeated louder, "Okay!" Then she fled from the kitchen to her bedroom before anyone could stop her.

Her bedroom was also at the back of the house, opposite the kitchen, and consisted of her cot bed, a wardrobe, a wash stand and a small dressing table. Vincent and Sebastian had been sharing Vincent's old room upstairs, opposite the master's. Ma De Four usually went home every day and George stayed with the steam car in the port. Her first night in the Opal house, Vincent had snuck out of his room and stayed up with her talking until exhaustion finally took them and the master found them curled together at the foot of the bed. Needless to say he was not pleased but he did not punish them for which Leona was eternally grateful. The bedroom was as big as her home had been and one more person made it a little less lonely. Also, Vincent was nothing like Cedric and those other little boys who would have turned her into a servant. She still remembered the next morning when he taught her to brush her teeth "the proper way", stood on a stool before her washstand and his father's mirror.

As Ma De Four had said there was a small wooden box on her bed. Leona shut the door behind her and leaned against it, staring at the box. With the door closed and window shut, the room was silent and cool. Though Master Opal was generally against the misuse of magic, he did not object to summoning a pair of lesser air and water elementals to regulate the temperature of the house. Of course, this meant that Leona's room was the coolest. Her pores lifted immediately and a shiver went down her spine. The master and Sebastian were probably still talking in his office. She had not heard the door open again after her and Vincent's exit. Vincent was still in the kitchen with the others, talking in low voices, and her skin burned at the memory of his hand in hers. The box remained unmoved.

She took a deep breath and walked over to her bed.

Leona was not the only Ruby child to have a gift, her younger brother Generous, like their father before him was a Tinker. Though circumstances prevented Theophilus Ruby from going off to school to perfect his craft, he got the position in the Miller plantation refinery solely on his ability to coax maximum effort from the constructs and other machinery they used. He could repair something so well it would never imagine malfunctioning again. The roof of their little hut never leaked after the first time he got his hands on it and any of Cedric's toys Mrs Miller threw out for the children of the plantation meant late nights remaking them for his own. And all of it without an ounce of magic…or so they thought.

Some of her ancestors were magicians, and if Master Opal's story was correct, then one of them may have been aether magicians…like her. He had known this whole time what she was. An aether magician, a sorcerer, a necromancer…according to Master Opal's books, necromancy was a dark form of elemental magic that involved forcing the spirits of the dead from their graves, binding them to your will and forcing them to share their secrets. But of course that was awful so it was outlawed and only the wickedest of magicians would ever dare attempt it. In Leona's experience though, the ghosts sought her out and outright demanded that she help them accomplish some goal they could not have been bothered to do while alive. She once nearly drowned trying to help some Carib warrior reclaim a lost sacred stone.

She took a deep breath, held it for a three count and released it slowly. Then she looked at the box on the bed again.

Her brother may be walking around with a complete idiot in her absence but he was still her brother. Once it was discovered that he had the gift like their father, he followed him wherever he could, until he had to be chased from underfoot. Leona had spent many a day of her visits home going to retrieve him from the factory, always under the silent glares of their freeman neighbours. They did not forget what she could do. Some of them blamed her even for the fire that had destroyed most of their homes years before. Leona would only accept partial blame for that. She very well did not know that she was summoning a Greater Water Elemental at the time, but the fire was all Cedric.

Her family blamed her for nothing, they were proud even, for her gift had allowed her to escape the plantation. In time, once she passed her Exhibition and went off to Londoninum for proper training, she would be able to provide for them, even get them a new home. Leona had hoped to use some of that money, including what allowance she saved from Master Opal to help Generous get into school. Had Cedric Miller promised him the money?

In theory anyone with a gift for Tinkering could be sent to the training school in Londoninum where the Tinkers of the world had great factories that produced all the conveniences of the Industrial Age. The cost of the passage to get there however meant that apart from winning a scholarship in an Exhibition it was unlikely that her brother would ever do better than assembler in some minor factory on the colony. She doubted Cedric had or was willing to pay that. She doubted Generous was going to get anything worthwhile from this arrangement with Cedric.

Taking a deep breath, Leona opened the box and gasped. In it on a bed of straw lay a construct, a wood and metal wind-up doll in a patchwork dress with a head of thick, curly black hair but no eyes. It looked as if it had been assembled of various discarded parts and clothing but that barely mattered. Magicians used them to hold air elementals, like George, but one this small could be no more useful than as a toy. Leona lifted the doll out of the box and sank to the floor before her bed staring at it.

Why was her brother with Cedric Miller? Was it the money? What did Sebastian, well Lord Virgo want in return for all that he had promised her? Did he really expect to believe that it would stop at getting his hands on the Opal family records? And who was this "Lord Aries" anyway? He did not seem as dangerous as Lord Virgo made him out to be. He had not lied.

Leona sat on her bed clutching the doll and lay down. A moment later she was asleep.

Leona opened her eyes to darkness. It must have been late at night, it felt late…or very early in the morning and from the silence around her, almost everyone else in the house was asleep. Leona sat up and groaned. She had fallen asleep in her day dress and now the spines in the stay she had begun wearing in training for her corset clung uncomfortably to her skin. She needed a bath but for the hour a change of clothes would suffice. Thus decided she stood and her brother's gift tumbled to the floor with a clatter.

Leona started but clamped her hands over her mouth to silence the scream that threatened to break free. She did not hesitate. In an instant a jackalantan (or Will-o-the-wisp, Vincent would correct) burst into flame above her head and the room was filled with light that cast long shadows on the furniture. Leona looked down to find the doll had landed face-up, its empty eye-sockets staring back up at her.

What had possessed her brother to give her this?

Somewhere near her door, there was a low groan, the sound of rotting wood straining under the weight of a passing person. Leona stepped over the doll and hurried to the door. She opened it just in time to catch a glimpse of someone who looked rather like Master Opal heading down the corridor towards his office. She stepped back a little and a moment later heard the door open and then shut quietly, then the soft fall of his tread on the carpet to his desk. Leona had been listening for that sound most of her life; she could probably recognise it in her sleep.

What was he doing up at this hour? She could feel the steady pulse of the energy that usually surrounded Sebastian above her in the room he shared with Vincent. Quite likely both young men were asleep. In fact, most of the country was probably asleep.

First things first. Leona went to her wardrobe and divested herself of her day dress, stay and stockings before slipping on her nightgown and robe. Then she went to her door, dismissed the jackalantan and hurried across the hall to the master's office.

"You may enter," said Master Opal before Leona was at the door.

She started slightly, nearly tripping over her feet before turning the handle and walking in.

The room was in near complete darkness. Master Opal sat at his desk, chair turned to the window looking out into the lantern-lit street. The lanterns were jackalantans too, fed by coal though they sometimes died out, their aether spent and had to be replaced by the freemen "maintenance" magicians. Their light illuminated the curtains at the window and the master's face, and Leona nearly gasped at the sight of him.

His skin was unhealthily pale and there were dark shadows under his eyes. But when he turned to look at her, for she had not stifled her surprise completely, he was smiling.

"Come into the light, girl. My eyes are not what they used to be," he said.

Leona did as she was told, not wanting to be scolded though she was not sure that he would. In fact, she was not sure what to make of him as she stepped around his desk to stand in front of his chair.

He looked her over from head to toe and said, "My goodness, how you have grown. I remember when you first came here I could have carried you with one arm! Do you remember? Vincent had a game where he would try to fit you into a travel bag if no one was looking and drag you around the house like some kind of pet…" He trailed off into a chuckle, gaze drifting out the window but looking beyond that.

Leona nodded slowly at the memory and ducked her head, dropping her gaze to her feet so he would not see her blush. Of course she remembered. There was not a memory of her and Vincent that she would ever forget.

The master exhaled then, a sound that was but not quite a sigh and said, "Your Exhibition is in one year. 'All children with magical ability born in the Empire and its territories shall in their sixteenth year complete the National Exhibition which will determine the course of their future education and career in magic, so sayeth His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor.' I remember being so anxious for my examination that I did not eat or sleep the day before and nearly fainted in the middle of it!" Leona lifted her gaze and an eyebrow to find him still smiling at her. "Yes, Miss Ruby, I was a young magician once, I know how things are. But you…you are not anxious. Nothing about magic unsettles you the way it did to me. You know who you are and what you can do and that is why I know that you will do well in Londoninum."

"Mr Tyne said that I can do my Exhibition much sooner than that," said Leona.

"I know," said Master Opal. "And regardless of when you do I expect you to do very well. But Miss Ruby…Londoninum, Albion is nothing like here in the Caribbees. The weather is cold, the people can be colder and you will face things you have never before. As I said before there is no official school of magic but any young magician who passes their Exhibition has two options: seek an apprenticeship with a qualified magician in any number of the fields available in the Empire or join the government service. Fortunately for you I am your teacher. Even more fortunate, His Lordship has graciously offered to become your patron. This means that he will take care of your room and board and try to get you a future position in the offices of the Zodiac Society and the government. But that is the limit of our ability to aid you. Everything else you will have to do yourself."

Leona nodded. She knew this. She had expected this from the first day he had left her in charge of one of his students. "But there is one other way I can help you. I am not at all comfortable with the notion of us being so beholden to young Lord Virgo." He turned away from Leona, took a key from his breast pocket and opened the third drawer on his right. Leona stood silent, watching, waiting. Then he took out a small box, no bigger than a jewellery chest and turning back to her, held it out for her.

Leona took it without a word but he said, "His Lordship can have my family records and whatever he needs on his wild goose chase. That is fine, and his ruin but it cannot be yours…or, more importantly, mine." He sat back in his chair with a sigh and said, "My son, Vincent…he is not a magician. He will never be a magician and if he never marries my family line, House Opal, will end. But I must protect our legacy. Inside that box is that legacy, House Opal's most treasured possession: Zephyrine."

Leona blinked at him and then looked down at the box in her hands. It was made of metal, or at least encased in it but was remarkably light, so much so that it could have been empty. Then she felt the energy it emitted and almost dropped it.

"What is it?" she asked, looking back to the master.

"House Opal was one of four families in the Order of the Stone charged with protecting one of the four treasures I mentioned in the legend earlier—"

"But you said the legend wasn't true, that it was a fairy tale!" said Leona.

"The legend is a fairy tale, the treasures they spoke of are not. But those treasures are long gone, as lost to time as the cities that housed them. All that are left are these relics and the possibility of finding them based on stories made up by much-harassed natives seeking to rid themselves of the Imperial armies," said the master.

"But you have a relic, doesn't that make the story somewhat true?" asked Leona.

"Not necessarily," said Master Opal. "The treasures—The Book of Earth, the Dagger of Air, the Water Mirror, the Fire Staff, and of course, the Sorcerer's Stone—may have come from different places at different times and were linked together by convenience or other circumstance. Certainly they were arranged that way by the time they came under the Order's custody. No one knows how old they are or their point of origin beyond a 'legend' that emerged shortly after they were acquired by the Order…then there was the revolution and the treasures vanished again. They may have been destroyed in the conflict or sold to fund the fledgling republic. All that remains are these relics."

Leona looked down at the box in her hands again and asked, "Zephyrine?"

"House Opal and three others were masters of air magic, more specifically, House Opal controlled a small army known as the White Tiger League. Zephyrine is all that remains of that army," said the master. "She is a Greater Air Elemental and saved my ancestors by leading them to safety while the rebels attacked."

Leona looked up at the master now with wide eyes and asked, "What if Vincent does get married?"

The master met her gaze and replied, "Even though Vincent and I will be with you in Londoninum, you will still need some leverage against those in the Zodiac Society. They must never have complete control of you, Miss Ruby. Your power, especially as it is rare, is too important. Should Vincent marry and have children and those children are magicians then, by all means, this is their legacy and they should be its protectors. But until that time, I entrust this to your care."

Leona looked down again at the box in her hands and then set it on the table. As she reached for the latch, the master began, "No, no, don't bother trying to open it, this box has been sealed, even against us in House Opal since the day Zephyrine led us to safety. I just—"

She cut him off by throwing her arms around his chest, pressing her head just lightly against his heart and saying, "Thank you, Master Opal. I will take care of it. I promise no one but Vincent's heirs will ever have it."

He did not move, but Leona did not expect him to and after a moment released him and took up the box again. Then she asked, "Master Opal, what if the legend is real and Mr Tyne finds the cities or the treasures?"

The master was still sitting as he had when she hugged him, one hand on the arm rest, the other on his lap. For a time he was silent and then he looked up at her and said, "Then for the sake of the Empire and of us all, I hope that he is a good man."