City of Air (Lost Cities Saga 1)

They moved so quickly, Leona barely had time to breathe or even scream. She could feel the swiftly changing altitude though and that made her grasp desperately at whatever was holding her, noticing only then that she still held the doll. Her captor was some sort of wing creature, but the claws that held her did not feel like the talons of Sebastian's stone gryphon. The world below was black, spotted here and there with the amber glow of jackalantan-light, flambeau and the steam-powered lanterns of the wealthier homes. Then that disappeared under clouds that looked darkest grey and Leona turned her head up at the sky.

It was chilly up here and growing colder by the minute. It was also getting a little difficult to breathe. Off on the horizon Leona noticed a section of the sky had begun to glow in bands of bright pink, cobalt and aquamarine. The sun was coming up. Leona stared at it a moment, then blinked tiredly, her eyes felt as if they were dipped in sand and her limbs were as if they had been dipped in molasses. She tightened her grip on the doll.

There was then a sudden, nauseating shift in direction and Leona turned to find an enormous, black shape materialise in the darkness. Her captor began to descend and that was when Leona noticed the row of blinking lights along its top. A runway! That could only mean one thing; she was being taken aboard an airship!

Sure enough, moments later her winged captor reared backwards and began to descend towards the rows of blinking lights. Leona decided that she did not wish to land face-first on the deck and risk skidding off to certain death and so lifted her feet and braced herself for landing. Her captor brought her down just over the runway and Leona dropped into a run until he released her and she stopped, arms spread, slightly bent over. The deck heaved beneath her and she squeezed her eyes shut to settle her stomach.

Then there came the sound of clapping. Leona opened her eyes to see that a doorway had appeared just ahead, glowing amber and a silhouetted figure stood just within, a man from the shape of him, staring out at her. She straightened, bringing the doll to her chest, feeling the energy pulsing from within. The figure said, "Well done, Miss Ruby. A fine landing, that was. Most of the new lads would have landed on their face."

Leona squinted to see if that would help identify the speaker, though the voice was frightfully familiar and then asked, "Who are you?"

The djinniyeh appeared onto the deck between them and Lord Aries stepped out of the doorway. Leona watched him approach not daring to breathe, feeling the fury building with her heartbeat but without the energy required to funnel it into action. She was also aboard his ship. Angry she was, yes, but stupid she was not.

He walked right up to her, summoning a jackalantan when they were almost face to face. When he stopped he said, grinning broadly, "I've figured out what you are. You're an aether magician. What a scoop! Who would think that your kind still exists?"

Leona bared her teeth and his grin grew wider. Then she felt her energy reserves dry up completely and she lost all the strength to stand. The djinniyeh caught her before she could collapse onto the deck, but Leona would not have felt it if she had. She looked up at Lord Aries as he vision began to blacken around the edges and he said, "But then I should know, shouldn't I? After all, until you came along I was the last."

And then everything went black.

She was tumbling through the sky, struggling to free her foot when someone screamed, "Ka…Leona!" She was in the middle of the street and a wall of water was surging to the ground. "Leona! Stop!" She looked up through the black smoke pouring down from the roof to the rush of cool air and saw a pair of red-orange reptilian eyes staring down at her. She opened her mouth to scream. "Leona," said someone. She opened her eyes.

The light in her room made a faint circle on the ceiling. Leona blinked at it, at the bare beige wall beneath and felt the whole room sway. The dizziness almost made her head hurt. She squeezed her eyes shut and the speaker said, "Wake up, Miss Ruby. That's quite enough of that."

Leona opened her eyes again to find Lord Aries and the djinniyeh at the foot of her bed. The magician smiled when she looked at him and said, "You have been asleep for an entire day. I was beginning to worry that we had overdone it. How do you feel?"

Leona closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her body felt heavy, weighted down, she could barely lift her arms from the bed. Then someone put one hand on her arm, the other around her shoulders and lifted her into a sitting position. The thrum of energy was familiar; she opened her eyes to find the djinniyeh beside her. Lord Aries was still smiling.

"It will take you a while to recover, I see. You did expend quite a lot of energy in our little duel," he said.

Leona thought back to the battle. Yes, she had felt tired and drained at the end. But that was not until she was standing on the deck of his ship.

"Still, I need you to be up now. For one, the crew is anxious to meet my new guest," said Lord Aries. Then he stood and walked to the window. He looked out a moment and then asked, "Do you wish to know where we are?"

Leona looked down at herself and noticed that they had brought the doll with her. She picked it up, hugged it to her side one-handed and replied, "Yes."

"We are at the moment over the ocean, heading north-east on a trajectory that should take us first to the city of New Amsterdam," he replied, still staring out the window.

"New Amsterdam?" asked Leona.

"Yes, we should be there rather early tomorrow morning, depending on the wind or so says the captain," said Lord Aries. "We are already east of the south-eastern tip of the Confederacy."

"Why are we going to New Amsterdam?" asked Leona, trying to conjure an image of the city in her head and coming up with nothing. She had heard of it, of course, in lessons and in books but she had always placed it in the back of her mind with all the other things she could not see and were too distant to have a tangible effect on her existence. (Quite frankly she often doubted that these places, including Londoninum for all the master's teaching were real.) The far more important question was what business did an Imperial magician have in the Union? Was that not treasonous?

He turned back to her and said, "You will understand when we get there. Now, it is late and I have yet to have breakfast. I shall leave you in the care of my dear Noor here." He indicated the djinniyeh and to her said, "Get her something to wear. While it would certainly make her think twice about escape, we cannot have her running around in such a state of undress. We are not savages." The djinniyeh nodded once and left.

Leona watched her go and then asked Lord Aries, "Why…did you do this?" She felt a prickling in the back of her throat that made it difficult to speak. The tears formed immediately but she took a deep breath and willed them not to fall. She did not turn around to look at Lord Aries at the window though. She could not.

A moment later she heard him take a step closer to her cot and then he replied, "John Opal…was not equipped to train you. He had no means, no knowledge of what you truly are and capable of."

Leona looked up at him then. He met her gaze and said, "Despite what you may have come to believe, he also saw you as nothing more than a means to an end. Vincent Opal…well, I suppose his father could hardly control the way the boy reacted to you, and what an easy way to keep you in line. Did you consider young Vincent as a brother? Do you imagine that he saw you as his precious little sister?" Leona pressed her lips into a firm line to avoid snapping at him. She could not stop the way her eyes narrowed into a glare though and at that he smiled and continued, "These people were neither your friends nor trying to help you, Miss Ruby. The day you arrived in Londoninum would have been the last day of your freedom. As long as John Opal, who, mind you, was many years removed from Londoninum's magician society, remained as your guardian you would be bound to him. You would not be able to make a single act, take a single decision or even contribute to a speech without his prior approval. He already had control of you with your parents' blessing but that was power they could remove at any time if given reason. In Londoninum no one would have the power to free you...no one, except perhaps a high-ranking member of the Zodiac Society."

"So you rescued me? Is that what you think you did?" asked Leona before she could stop herself, ire and voice rising. She could feel the heat flash over her skin, her hackles up.

He was maddeningly calm as he replied, "Did I not tell you before that I am like you? Who better to guide you than I?"

"You murdered my teacher and quite possibly a number of my neighbours! What kind of guide is that? Master Opal did not kill anyone when he took me from my parents to teach me!" she replied, glaring at him. She could imagine the magician dying before her right then, smile gone, eyes wide, blood pouring from the side of his mouth, clutching at the spike piercing his chest as he bled out into the floor. She forced her gaze to her lap and bunched the covers in her arms, trying to force the image from her head.

Lord Aries merely shrugged and said, "That was an accident. Now calm down, all this excitement is not going to do you any good in this thin air."

Almost immediately, Leona began to feel lightheaded. She fell back against the pillow propping her upright and tilted her head to the ceiling. Her stomach roiled and the need to vomit nearly choked her. Then there was a knock at the door and a moment later, the djinniyeh returned. Leona swallowed deep breaths until her stomach settled and then turned to look at what the djinniyeh had brought. She stood at the foot of the cot with a bundle of dark grey fabric under one hand. When Leona looked at her, she threw this onto the bed at Leona's side with a scowl and Lord Aries laughed. "Do not be so cross with me, darling Noor. I do not mean to use you so but I can hardly set just anyone as her keeper. At least, not yet."

Leona reached for the bundle and when she pulled it unfurled into a dress with a high collar, black trim, parallel rows of buttons across the breast and a bustled skirt. She looked up at Lord Aries in question and he said, "You will wear this at breakfast. Do not be late."

Then he nodded at Noor again, an unspoken command to keep watch as Leona changed, and went to the door and left.

Leona looked down at the dress in her hands and then up at the djinniyeh. She stared back, expressionless, but the fire in her eyes seemed to flare and Leona quickly looked away. Before she had had Tamosi, however briefly to keep the djinniyeh at bay. Now…well, she did not think that she had dreamed her flight to this ship…or whatever she was in. She thought again of the master lying in the middle of the street in Vincent's arms, of Vincent's frightened eyes, of Sebastian reaching for her in the dark. She thought of her neighbours in the darkened street, of her brother's apologetic smile, of her mother that last holiday that she had gone home and the way she had quickly removed Leona's hands from her own and walked away. Her father had put to words what her mother could not, "You not like this no more, Leona. We sent you away to get away from this." She thought of never seeing them again, of never becoming what they expected her to be despite everything and cried.

It took Leona a good half an hour to recover from her crying fit. She did not think that she had ever cared for Master Opal that much and yet for a time she had barely been able to breathe while she cried, nor control the flow and force of her grief, of the hiccuping, choking sobs she took into the covers, soaking them in her tears and saliva. He had been stern and aloof with her at times, scolded her more than she thought necessary when she made a mistake and even, on one memorable occasion, took a cane to her backside for attacking another student with a gnome when he called her a nasty name. (She had certainly not been joking with Sebastian about the caning.) But then he had also been quite gentle and forgiving and encouraging. He took great pains to protect her from the worst of the world, never taking her anywhere he thought her presence might cause a stir unless absolutely necessary and coddling her to the point of spoiling so that Ma De Four once complained, "If you keep this up, the child will grow up to be an idiot and what good will that do?" He left her to fend for herself more often after that, but never too far off to hear her shout if there was trouble and always only with the students he had already instilled the fear of the gods in. It was annoying at times, yes, but to her it showed that he cared. And now he was gone. She could not stop the tears even if she wanted to.

When she had had enough, the djinniyeh re-entered the room, dragged her out of bed and took her a short walk down the narrow corridor outside her room to what looked like a set of communal showers for a bath. Leona had no energy to resist and welcomed the opportunity to wash away the evidence of her grief before she saw Lord Aries again. She refused to let him see her cry.

In the shower, she stood under the water for as long as she dared, wondering all the while if the fire elemental in human form would come in to get her. The djinniyeh had come out of her encounter with Tamosi well enough so the shower would be nothing. Yet Leona hoped that Lord Aries would call his servant away and that they would both forget about her for the rest of the trip. She did not care to meet the rest of his crew. She did not want to see their faces or know their names even if they already knew hers. If she had to crash the ship to escape it would be much easier not to remember the people she would have to kill. As if she could kill them. When her fingers began to wrinkle, Leona washed her hair out and watched the glass splinters and wood chips and bits of dried dirt swirl away into the drain. But her eyes still felt swollen, her throat was raw and every time she swallowed she felt the tears building again.

The djinniyeh knocked at the door. Leona knew that it was her even without speech and turned off the water. Her hair puffed out atop her head as the water drained out and she wondered how she might dry and detangle it and if Lord Aries had thought to command the djinniyeh to get her a comb in addition to the dress. Ma De Four had always helped her comb her hair. Of course now Ma De Four was out of a job after so many years and would have to find some other person's hair to comb. Would the new person be as grateful for the help as Leona was?

The djinniyeh walked her back to her room but did not enter with her. Leona dried her hair out with her towel and looked around the room for a comb. In addition to her cot there was a trunk, a small table with a single drawer, a stool and a mirror and hair brush on the table top. Leona took the hair brush and did as best as she could to straighten her hair before it dried into a bird's nest, then wove the thick mass into a single braid. It barely made it but she was working without the benefit of hair pins and Ma De Four's magical fingers. A quick glance in the mirror suggested that it did not look too terrible, and so Leona turned her attention to the dress on the bed.

The djinniyeh had also procured a chemise, bloomers, stay, stockings and shoes. Leona wondered a moment where they had come from and then decided that it was better than wandering around in her nightgown. That had been ruined anyway. When she took it off she found tears and holes and burns everywhere. Of course the dress was just a little too big for her, but only by so much and so Leona was fastening the last button when the door opened and the djinniyeh looked in.

Leona straightened and looked at her. The djinniyeh gave her a quick sweeping glance and stepped back so that Leona could walk out into the corridor, then turned and led the way to the dining car and the waiting Lord Aries.

There were no windows in the corridor all the way, through at least five turns left and right. It was quite clear that if Leona tried to run she would quickly lose her way. It was also all painted sterile beige, and the floor was covered in green tile. They encountered no others along the way, though from what Leona knew of airships and Lord Aries' statement that there had to be a crew of some capacity. Yet the ship was silent save for the low, steady hum of the engines. She listened for the echo of her footfalls but there was barely a sound.

Leona had never been on an airship before. As a child, looking up at them floating past overhead she had imagined them to be quite unsteady things to walk through and with all that bobbing and weaving like a balloon, oh how must everyone inside be terribly sick by the end of the journey! She remembered hoping that Vincent was made so sick when he got to Londoninum that he would turn back and promise never to leave her alone again. Granted, there was occasional movement, a dip or sway that she caught on the edge of her senses that made her head swim and she would have to reach for the wall but nothing too terrible. The djinniyeh would wait patiently for her to recover at these times and when the girl had settled led the way again without a word.

At this, Leona wondered if the djinniyeh could speak. Surely she could. George did—well, had, and often too even to the extent of teasing her for her affection for Vincent. Perhaps Lord Aries had ordered her silent? Perhaps she simply chose not to? Could Leona choose not to?

Suddenly the djinniyeh stopped and Leona, lost in thought, nearly walked into her. She caught herself just in time, grasping for the wall so that it looked as if she was having another bout of dizziness. They had come to the end of the corridor they were in and before them was a sealed door with a porthole window. The djinniyeh knocked and stepped back. A moment later the door opened to a wall of light.

No, that was not right. Leona squeezed her eyes shut for a beat and when she reopened them it was to find that the room was lined by tall windows that opened to a view of cloud-filled blue sky. Leona felt the draw and followed it through the door to what turned out to be the airship's dining hall. There were more than a dozen rows of tables for six, each covered with silk cloth and delicate crystal glassware and silver utensils glinting in the daylight. Lord Aries sat at the sole occupied table in the room, just before the window with two construct servants gleaming bronze behind him holding water jugs and a napkin over an arm. As her eyes adjusted and her gaze settled on him, he said, "Ah, Miss Ruby! Finally you grace us with your presence. Thank you, Noor."

The djinniyeh nodded and shut the door behind them before going to take her place beside Lord Aries' chair. Leona remained where she stood, staring back at him. Then she noticed that they were not alone. In fact, there were five other people seated at the table with them, two with their backs to her.

The first was a tall, round, dark-skinned man, a freedman, with low-cut black hair, parted to one side and a neatly trimmed beard and sideburns. He wore a white dinner jacket with epaulettes and white gloves so Leona guessed him to be the captain. He also had a thrum of energy that suggested he was a magician. Lord Aries caught her looking and said, "This is Captain Etienne Marcel. Our lives are in his hands for this journey."

The captain nodded at her and said, in accented English that indicated some upbringing in one of the Frankish island colonies, "Good morning, Mademoiselle Ruby. Welcome aboard the AS Sylphide."

Leona thought back to Ma De Four who could sometimes be heard singing in patois while making breakfast and said, "Bon maten, mesi."

He lifted an eyebrow at this but said nothing. Then Lord Aries indicated to the left of the captain and said, "Captain Marcel's first officer is his son, Alphonse." A handsome young man, as dark-skinned as his father but tall and thin and without the facial hair, looking no older than eighteen, nodded at her. Then he smiled and deep dimples formed in his cheeks. As first officer he was also dressed in a white uniform but there was no trace of magic about him. Leona let her gaze skip over him to a third officer, this time female, equally dark-skinned though she also had long, curly black hair which suggested some Carib heritage. She was also a magician. "Madmoiselle Ghislaine Marcel, our Chief Engineer and Captain Marcel's daughter."

She did not smile at Leona but they exchanged nods. Leona turned her attention then to the two young men whose backs were to her and felt a prickle run up her spine. They looked frightfully familiar, particularly the boy with the medium-brown complexion and dark brown hair just like hers, inherited, it was said from lighter-skinned ancestors sired by planters with roving eyes. Lord Aries smiled widely as her blood ran cold and said, "And I doubt I have to introduce the two young men who we have to thank for your presence here."

Leona felt her heart stop. The two turned to look at her, one smirking, the other keeping his gaze determinedly to the floor. "Mr Cedric Miller, and of course, your brother, Master Generous Ruby."

An image flash of the master lying dead in the street. Something snapped and in an instant, Leona's blood was hot and she charged to her brother, seizing him by the arm and forcing him to his feet. "What are you doing here? Why are you with this idiot? Do you have any idea who that man is, what he's done?"

Her brother shook off her arm and set his mouth in a firm line though he still kept his gaze off her face. His voice was low as he replied, "I have to make my own way too. And Mr Miller is not a bad person or an idiot."

"Thank you, Generous," said Cedric.

Leona glanced down at him and then back up to her brother and said, "He nearly killed us all when we were children! That man just killed Master Opal, my teacher, yesterday! He kidnapped me and you expect me to be happy to see you here? Why are you here?"

Lord Aries cleared his throat and Leona looked past her brother's arm to him. He was still smiling though his eyes were not and his tone was cold as he replied, "I told you before, Miss Ruby, that was an accident. I had no intention of harming John Opal or his son. As for you, your 'kidnapping' was a rescue. As Mr Miller explained to me in his letter, John Opal bought you from your family. Is that the behaviour of an honourable man?"

Leona was so angry she almost could not breathe. She clenched her hands into fists at her side and yelled, "For the last time, he did not buy me! My parents sent me away with him because he was the only one who could teach me!"

The air was suddenly dry. A moment later, Leona's dizziness returned and she squeezed her eyes shut, breathing deeply, to dispel it. When she opened them again, Lord Aries was standing and her brother and Cedric had shrunk back into their seats. Even the captain and his children were looking at her wide-eyed. Then Lord Aries said, "You have no control over your emotions or your power. John Opal was hardly any kind of teacher. Now, I think we have all had enough of your little outbursts. Captain Marcel has been so gracious to offer you space aboard this vessel, a vessel crewed by members of his own family and this is how you repay him? I have been nothing but civil to you, Miss Ruby, and in return I have been insulted, attacked and threatened. I think I can speak for everyone here when I say that I will not stand for it any longer. Rein in yourself, Miss Ruby, before I do it for you!"

Leona drew in a breath and stared at him. Then she snarled, "Let us go!"

There was a click and Leona noticed for the first time a man standing just off to the side. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with thick, hairy arms and a head of curly dark blond hair peeking out from beneath his cap, long sideburns and a thick mustache. Dressed in a long-sleeved white shirt, black vest and slacks and black boots, he did not look as if he could be one of Captain Marcel's crew. He shifted his cap back with the barrel of his gun, revealing a pair of bright green eyes and said, "I believe Mr Tolliver just requested your cooperation, cherie." He had another gun trained on her younger brother.

Leona felt her heart stop again and she glanced back at Generous who was glaring angrily at the man, teeth bared. She put a hand on his shoulder to stop him and when he looked back at her, gave him a warning look. It took him a moment, but eventually he subsided and Leona said, "Don't point that at my brother."

She lifted her gaze to Lord Aries' and refused to look away. Then the captain said, "Your Lordship, I think we all would prefer it if your man did not accidentally put holes in my Sylphide."

The magician shifted his gaze to the captain and after a moment nodded at the man. Leona turned to see the man holster the weapon with a smile and then said to Captain Marcel, "I am sorry. I did not mean to endanger your crew or your ship."

The captain merely grunted at her, staring at the man with the gun. The captain's son was also staring at the man, but his sister was not. She was focussed instead on the table before her, staring at it so intently that it was a wonder it did not catch fire. Then Cedric said, "Hey now, what was that thing she just did?"

Everyone turned to look at him, Leona noticing then that his Sagittarius pin had been replaced with the Aries "v". He ignored them all save Lord Aries who looked both annoyed and bored with the question. Still he replied in the manner of someone of infinite patience, soft-voiced and smiling, "Miss Ruby is an aether magician, Cedric Miller." Cedric's eyes went wide but Lord Aries continued, "She is also vastly more powerful than you can ever hope to be. That display earlier was an example of her ability to boost the effect of her water magic with energy drawn from the atmosphere. If she wanted to, she could make you die of thirst or boil the blood in your veins..." At this Cedric's mouth fell open, but Lord Aries continued in his even tone, "Of course, she would not do so, not intentionally anyway. If there is anything that we should be grateful to John Opal for it is that he forced her to learn to concentrate her power via pentagram."

Leona straightened, lifting her nose in the air as Lord Aries turned his attention back to her. His smile disappeared and he said, "He failed on one critical point though. If that display at the governor's mansion is any indication you would have failed your Exhibition. That was no water sprite."

Leona flicked her gaze over to the djinniyeh and said before she could stop herself, "I would not say so. It proved to be very useful."

"Still a failure," said Lord Aries. "And as such I have no choice on this matter. I will have to take on the role of your instructor."

Leona's eyes widened again and Cedric shot up from his seat, near shouting, "You promised me! You swore to me that you would grant me your patronage! I am your apprentice!" That explained the new pin then, thought Leona.

Lord Aries shifted his gaze to the young man and said, hands raised in surrender, "Calm down, calm down, Mr Miller. Yes, yes, I gave my word and I do intend to keep it. You are from now on my apprentice. When we return to Londoninum I will introduce you to the Zodiac Society as such. However, Miss Ruby here is an aether magician like me and I can hardly neglect her studies any further. Did you not see what just happened? It is imperative that she be properly trained."

Cedric turned to Leona with a glare. She met his with one of her own and tried to look intimidating. It certainly worked on her brother. She did not miss the way that Lord Aries' eyes momentarily narrowed at the young magician though and had a vision of the boy being tossed from the deck of the airship while his patron smiled on. Cedric Miller was an idiot but he did not deserve such an end.

Finally, Cedric said, "Of course, Your Lordship." He smiled at the magician and then turned to Leona, straightening his jacket and said, "Learn well from this man, Miss Ruby. He is wise and powerful and will take you far. Not to a governing seat in the Zodiac Society, of course, but perhaps as my assistant in future. I treat my people well, just ask your brother." He nodded at Generous, then settled back into his seat and drew his napkin and spread it across his lap.

Leona glared at the back of the boy's head a moment, then over to her brother who was still slipping glances at the man who had threatened him earlier. The man had not moved, but was in the midst of checking the bullets in a gun barrel. The other was holstered at his hip. He looked like a cowboy from one of the penny dreadfuls in the library though he was not really dressed like one, no chaps or spurs or hat. Perhaps he was a Confederacy soldier? Then Lord Aries said, "You should have a seat, Miss Ruby."

She started and looked back at him, then the seat he indicated next to him. Leona stared at it and him and then reached for the chair beside her brother. Lord Aries nodded at this and resumed his place. But just as he sat down, he turned to the man and said, "Mr Diamond, if you would be so kind…"

The man grunted but holstered his second gun, straightened his shirt-jacket and walked over to the table. There was a moment where he reached for the chair beside Leona, but at her sharp glance he grinned and walked around the table to sit on the other side of Lord Aries. He let the chair scrape the floor when he pulled it out, then, once seated, put one elbow on the table, the other on his knee and said in a drawl, "Hugo Diamond, at your service. Charmed to meet you, Miss Ruby, are you and your sibling perhaps descendants of House Ruby?"

Leona went wide-eyed and he burst out laughing, though his eyes never left her face. Their colour was a curious thing, flecked with yellow and blue in a manner that reminded Leona of a reptile. Perhaps he was one made human? In their world of magic it would not be that unusual. Another familiar to do Lord Aries' dirty work. He sounded human enough as he said, "Yes, I know about the Order, ma cherie. Way back when my ancestors were House Diamond."

There went the idea of his being a familiar. Leona felt for it and said, "But you have no power."

Mr Diamond shrugged and replied, "I have guns, ma cherie; that is all the power I need."

Leona glanced at Lord Aries and said to the gunman, "So you're his lackey, hired to threaten children?"

He burst out laughing again and said to Lord Aries, "I like this one, she's not afraid to say what she thinks." Then to Leona, "No, I'm not his lackey. We're business partners. He wants to find the city to get his hands on the book and I want to get paid. If this city is as grand as the stories say then there are bound to be things of value for the taking."

"You would loot the city?" asked Leona, eyebrows raised. "After what happened to your ancestors?"

His expression momentarily hardened and he replied, "It is because of what happened to my ancestors that I'm doing this. They were killed for this great secret. I say it is only fair that their descendants retrieve their just due…as freedmen, I dare say you and your brother would agree?"

Leona said nothing. He smiled again and said, "Now, I'm starving, Aries. Where's the food?"

Lord Aries turned to Captain Marcel who lifted a silver bell off the table and shook it gently. A door slid open to their right and a tray table appeared pushed along by a construct, the first of three. They carried out their service in silence and Leona took the opportunity to reach for and grasp her brother's hand under the table. He glanced at her but after a moment squeezed back and whispered, "We're going to be alright." Leona looked at him and he clamped his mouth shut.

The rest of the crew were assembled on the deck, all twenty-odd of them, in immaculate white outfits and stern expressions or gleaming bronze suits that reminded Leona painfully of George. Breakfast had ended more than an hour earlier and Lord Aries and the captain had already taken Leona and the others for a brief tour of the ship. Leona suspected that this was hardly for her benefit, and purely for the effect of showing her both the floating fortress he had procured and that he had a small army at his disposal.

The Sylphide was small by the modern standards of airships, which were more often than not five hundred feet in length and more, powered by great bags of highly inflammable gas and steam engines. At a little over three hundred feet, on the Sylphide lift was supported by Greater Air Elementals manipulating the air pressure in its gas bags through a network of bronze pipes, turning the whole thing into a massive engine, and propulsion assisted by great propellers and a rudder. The whole process was overseen by the captain's daughter who had studied to be a Tinker in the libertine capital of the Frankish empire. Supposedly the ship was not as dangerous as others, but sparks could lead to fires and that was not to be encouraged with them so high in the air. Lord Aries explained that this meant that they could perform only very little magic on the ship and no one was allowed to shoot anyone, but there were other means of enforcing order. He punctuated this with a pointed look out the window and Leona, walking beside her brother, tightened her grip on his hand.

It was chilly on the deck when they finally got around to it, though the sun was high, the sky wonderfully light blue and the clouds, towering like mountains seemed to melt like candy floss from their path. Each time they went through one the air filled with fine mist and the deck pitched and heaved like a ship on the roiling sea. Leona felt her dizziness return with a vengeance and she nearly lost her breakfast until she grasped someone to steady herself, then discovered much to her horror that it was Lord Aries. He smiled down at her and then seized her hand before she could pull it away and led the way out to the waiting crew.

As they were introduced, each greeted Lord Aries with a slight bow and Leona with a nod. She counted seven humans, apart from the captain and his two children, a mixed group of one Bharata, two freedmen, one Qingese and three Saxons. Five of them were magicians of varying levels of power but none as powerful as Lord Aries, or once she thought about it, herself. The constructs outnumbered the human crew, air elementals all, and each wore a suit with wings though Leona supposed this was for the human's benefit if nothing else for they certainly did not need them to fly. Leona studied each face carefully.

The Bharata was a woman, Saraswati she called herself, with long, curling dark hair to her waist, dressed in a white short-sleeved top which scandalously bared her belly and billowy pants around which was wrapped a sari, and a pair of gleaming black, knee-high boots. On her hip was a pair of long curving blades. She also bore a strong resemblance to a certain maid Leona had met at the governor's estate. But of course Lord Aries would have had his people disguised in the governor's household. The two freedmen were both men, one with dreadlocks, Kudjoe, and the other with dark hair shaved close to his scalp, John Henry, and wore long-sleeved cream-coloured jackets and jodhpurs, caps with goggles atop their heads and dark brown boots. They both wore guns like Hugo Diamond. The Qingese was a young man, Baihu, with a long ponytail to rival the Bharata woman's and wore what looked like a long, straight gown with a mandarin jacket that had long sleeves that covered his hands. He had no visible weapon but he was a magician. The three Saxons were two men, Arthur Teach and Calico Le Grand, and a woman, Bonnie Marie-Anne, dressed in airmen uniform similar to that of the freedmen, though the woman wore a long skirt that she hitched to the sides so the hem did not trail the ground and a thick leather belt at her waist. The last time that Leona had seen her, the woman was in a dark blue dress, her long red hair pinned in an elaborate coiffure.

None of them, including the constructs, looked as if they were solely there to run the ship.

Lord Aries explained during the presentation, "Most of the crew under our Chief Engineer specialises in air elemental magic. In addition to keeping the ship afloat, they also perform minor maintenance like human servants. I understand this is why your Master Opal summoned that knight."

Leona bit her tongue to stop herself from spitting at him for daring to say the name of the man he killed and instead said, "His name was George."

Lord Aries looked down at her a moment and then continued, "Your brother does not have any formal training but he will be an excellent addition to the crew. I understand that he has expressed interest in the workings of the vessel to Miss Marcel. Though he is untrained, she is understandably pleased to have his assistance."

"Mr Miller keeps him as an assistant," said Leona.

"Mr Miller cannot have an assistant," said Lord Aries. Leona looked back at the young man lazily making a jackalantan dance in his palm, unconcerned with the glare Ghislaine had trained on him. Generous stood stiffly beside him, though slightly hunched forward as if the weight of his newly elongated limbs was too much for him. He was too young to be out here with them. He was much too young to be anyone's assistant. But then, at one time, so was she.

She looked up back to Lord Aries and said, "And what do I have to do?"

He stared at her a moment, in her too-big dress and poorly-styled hair and said, "You're not ready yet. That is a conversation for New Amsterdam."

They had stopped at the end of the line and now turned back to face the others, which included the captain and his officers and mildly, Leona wondered who was flying the ship if they were all up here. Hugo Diamond was there too, leaning against the door through which they had come, arms crossed at his chest. He winked at Leona when he caught her looking and she turned her head away to look at the clouds floating by. Lord Aries cleared his throat and said, "Ladies and gentlemen of the Sylphide, this is Miss Leona Ruby, my new ward. She will be accompanying us on this adventure to find the West City. I expect you to treat her with the same respect that you grant me. She is powerful and barely trained and so that makes her dangerous, but I assure you that she will not be any trouble. Is that not right, Mr Diamond?"

"That's right," replied the treasure hunter, with a nod. Leona snuck a glance at him to see that he had drawn his gun again and was pointing it in Generous' direction, not caring that Cedric was in the way.

"Do you agree, Miss Ruby?" asked Lord Aries, now looking down at her.

She looked over at her brother again, swallowed the angry response and said, "Yes, Your Lordship."

"Wonderful," he said. "Well then, captain, full speed ahead to New Amsterdam. The sooner we get through with this journey, the sooner we get to your fortune."

The captain nodded and snapped, "You heard the man! As you were!"

The crew started to disperse immediately followed by Cedric and Generous at Ghislaine's heels. Lord Aries started forward too but Leona stood her ground, glaring at his back. He was halfway across the deck when he noticed she had not followed him and turned to her, head tilted in question. Leona folded her arms and said, "I am not a pet."

He turned fully to face her and said, a half-smile on his face, "Of course not, my apologies, Miss Ruby. Shall we return below decks? There is much we must discuss."

"I don't know anything about the West City, if that's what you're after," said Leona. "You should have taken Vincent if you were hoping for information, or Master Opal if you did not kill him."

The half-smile widened. "I told you, Miss Ruby. Your time was only wasted with that John Opal, as was dear Sebastian's. I figured that out all in a matter of days, Sebastian should have by now. It's time to move on. I have great plans for us."

Leona glared and said, "I'm sure Mr Tyne's told everyone what you did. The red-coats will be looking for you."

He shrugged and replied, "So he must have, but unfortunately they have no idea where we are. I suspect that we shall meet young Seb again, but not for quite some time. Miss Ruby, you have nothing to fear. You are one of the last aether magicians left. I cannot allow anything to happen to you." He walked back to her, grasped her arm and began walking them back to the door, "Now, let's get off this deck before you catch a cold. I'll have Mr Miller prepare us some tea."

Leona had no choice but to let him drag her off the deck. Still, she could not help saying, "You're not going to win. I'm going to watch you pay for what you did."

He did not break his stride as he replied, "You have much to learn, Miss Ruby. I trust that this is the beginning of a great adventure for the both of us."