City of Air (Lost Cities Saga 1)
6 Magicians' Duel

Thirty minutes later, Leona was almost bored to tears.

Shortly after they entered the mansion they had been escorted to their table for dinner. But since Sebastian had been revealed as much higher ranked than expected, someone at the head table had to be moved so that he could be appropriately seated. Leona and Vincent waved him off, the master did not, too busy looking over the warrior Leona had summoned. Then the young magician paused and turning to their gracious hostess said, "My dear Madame, I am assured that the gentleman whose place I have taken was not unaccompanied. I would hate to separate him from his escort."

The governor's wife in dark green silk with a necklace of rubies, smiled brightly at the young magician and said, "Why, of course! Of course! How thoughtful of you! Right this way, Your Lordship, young master Opal."

Sebastian began to follow but then stopped again and said, "Miss Ruby, if you would be so kind…"

Leona took a step forward before realising what he had said and then stopped. So did the governor's wife, forcing Sebastian to as well and Vincent and Master Opal. Then the master said, "Your Lordship...?"

He ground the words out with effort, jaw clenched, clearly upset but Sebastian feigned innocence as he turned to the governor's wife and asked, "Would that be a problem? I know that she has not yet had her Exhibition but after that display, I daresay she qualifies."

The governor's wife gave him her warmest smile and replied, "No, of course not." Then she extended her hand to Leona, still smiling but in a way that never quite reached her eyes, "Come, dear."

Leona turned to look at the master, but out-manoeuvred he could only nod and so she took the woman's hand and let herself be dragged away. And that was how she got to sit beside Sebastian at the head table, with Tamosi and Persephone behind them, then the Governor's wife on the other side, the Governor and finally Lord Aries with his djinniyeh. He had smiled at her briefly when she sat down but said nothing else and since no one except Sebastian acknowledged her, Leona was forced to sit silently and endure the staring and the murmuring and the conversation going over her head.

"Oh yes, there is legislation on that matter in effect at the moment. I know for a fact that it is being debated in the House of Commons…"

"Have you seen the way their women dress? My word, how utterly inappropriate!"

"I hear the Unionists are causing a stir. They're recruiting Tinkers and magicians alike and warning Her Imperial Majesty off of her own colonies. The gall of these brutes!"

Leona snuck a glance over her shoulder at Tamosi. He was not looking at her but staring straight ahead. Then she felt eyes on her and looked forward to meet the master's gaze. He shook his head only once and she straightened in her seat and tried to look interested in the conversations going on around her. They had moved on to rumours about some kind of alliance between the Nippon samurai clans and elementals...or something like that. It did not take long for her thoughts to wander back to the Carib warrior behind her.

He was not a water elemental. He felt like one, having taken its form, but he was not. Leona could feel the age of him, scent the blood of his death. He wanted something, of course, but she was grateful that he had not demanded it of her immediately. She hoped he would wait until she was back at the master's house.

"Are you alright, Miss Ruby?" asked someone, jerking Leona out of her thoughts.

"What?" said Leona, blinking. Then she turned to the speaker, Lord Aries, started again, and said, "Yes, I'm sorry. I'm fine."

He smiled at her again and then asked, "So, water elementals…I take it you will then be seeking a patronage on your arrival in Londinium? I recommend making appointments with Lady Cancer, Lady Scorpio and Lord Pisces as soon as possible, though I suppose that young Lord Virgo here would have already made the necessary inquiries on your behalf. Why, the Grand Duchess is said to have written to his predecessor within weeks of His Lordship's first birthday!"

Sebastian cleared his throat and straightened his tie. Leona glanced back at him, noticed the way he steadfastly ignored all eyes that turned his way and turned back to Lord Aries. Leaning towards him, she asked, "The 'Grand Duchess'?"

Lord Aries leaned forward as well, smirking now, "His mother, the Vicountess of Tyne. Paola Alessandra Maria Valentina de Milan y Tuscany. Her father is the Duke of Milan. She is a great beauty and quite the socialite, hence the nickname. It is said that if you do not make your debut at one of her balls you may as well give up. But more importantly, for Sebastian of course, is that she is a force to be reckoned with. Why, I have heard it is said that if there is ever a duel between her and a magician, you best lay your bets on her."

Leona glanced back at Sebastian again, who was clearly trying not to scowl, and said with a grin, "She sounds terrifying."

"Hardly," said Sebastian, before Lord Aries could respond. "My mother is quite a pleasant person. You only have to fear her if you give her reason, and what Lord Aries quite carelessly left out is that those that fear her have given her plenty of reason. Anyway, I have made contact with Lady Scorpio and she expressed interest in seeing you." Leona's eyes went wide, that was news to her. Oblivious, he continued, "Of course, I anticipate that Lord Aries here will be more than happy to vouch for you as well."

"Certainly," said Lord Aries. "Miss Ruby has a lot of untapped potential. It makes me wonder what else lies hidden in the freedman population of these colonies."

There was a little gasp and those closest to them went silent. Then the governor's wife gave a little laugh, her hands fluttering as she moved and said, "Well, yes, of course we have many programmes in effect to seek out the best ones and give them the opportunities afforded to them as subjects of the Empire. And one has to be careful to catch them early before the wickedness sets in and there's no control."

Leona bit her tongue and felt Sebastian shift awkwardly beside her, along with a number of those around them. Lord Aries did not react but said, "Of course, of course…is that how you were found, Miss Ruby?"

Leona gave a small smile, shook her head and said, "Master Opal found me on the plantation my parents worked. The family who owns it, the Millers, have a son who is a magician. Cedric, he is a fire magician now, I think, I saw him wearing a pin for Lady Sagittarius the other day. Anyway, I was five. Cedric was eight and Master Opal's pupil. The day he found me, Cedric had tried to summon a salamander by himself but he made a mistake and it escaped and nearly burned the whole plantation and my family's home with it. We were all quite fortunate that Master Opal had come that day for his lessons or we might have all been lost. He was so upset he refused to train Cedric again." Then she added, because she could not help it, turning to the governor's wife, "One has to be very careful to weed out the bad magicians before the wilfulness sets in and you cannot control it. Master Opal refuses to teach anyone who cannot take instruction."

Sebastian nudged her under the table with his knee but Leona was smiling and so the others smiled and laughed with her. And then Lord Aries asked, "But what made Master Opal choose you after he dismissed his student?"

Leona felt her heart stop. She had thought that if she had talked around the issue no one would question it but Lord Aries, staring intently at her now was not to be so easily deterred. Of course, it was not too difficult a question to deflect. While untrained magicians were unable to summon elementals, (that required years of reading and practice and failure,) they were able to perform small acts of magic. For one, while most humans could not see the elemental until they adapted a recognisable form, magicians saw them all the time and could interact with them without summoning them. So she replied, "He said that I had begun screaming about the salamander and then the leviathan he summoned to destroy it. He knew at once I had magic for how else would I have known the moving flame had a form?"

"Ah, so it was a fated event, and a fortunate one for you," said Lord Aries. "I must say that he has a very good eye. I imagine that it will pain him greatly to give you up in a year's time but of course he will be quite proud to know that you will be fine. You behave quite admirably for a young lady of only fifteen. Why, our Lord Virgo could learn a thing or two from you."

Sebastian scoffed and Leona said, "Thank you."

Then Lord Aries lifted his gaze behind her and said, "Tamosi…what an unusual undine…but for a moment I could have sworn that you were summoning a water sprite."

Leona's heart skipped a beat again and she dropped her gaze to the lacy tablecloth, feeling her face heat up. He was far too observant for her liking. Then Sebastian said, "I could have sworn I saw her write 'undine'. You must be mistaken, Lord Aries, it was quite dark out."

Leona looked up to replace Lord Aries staring at the young magician, his mouth a thin line. Behind his mask she imagined that his eyes were narrowed. Then he said, "Yes, I must have been."

A servant came to whisper at the ear of the governor's wife. A moment later she knocked her wineglass with her fork and said, "Ah, yes, right on time. Dinner is served!"

Dinner seemed to go on and on. The food was delicious…if one was into food from Albion, which Leona was not and that made it longer. Leona picked and played with her food, shifting it left and right on her plate until it became an unrecognisable mush. When she could stand it no longer, she turned to the hostess and whispered, "May I be excused? I…I need to go to powder my nose."

The governor's wife blinked at her a moment and then said, "Oh! Yes, yes, I'll have a maid take you there. Sarah!"

A Bharatan woman stepped forward, short, round and bronze-skinned, with long black hair looped into a low ponytail at the back of her head and dressed in formal black with a pure white apron. The governor's wife said, "Take Miss Ruby to powder room."

"Yes, Miss," said the maid with a bow. Leona stood and immediately followed, just catching Sebastian's hand sweeping across hers.

She stopped and looked back at him in question, and he whispered, "Where are you going?"

Leona replied, "I'll be back." Then she turned again and walked away, Tamosi at her heel.

Leona took as long as she could in the bathroom, Tamosi standing guard just outside the door with the maid. She twisted and turned looking over her reflection. She played with her hair and watched the light reflecting off of her borrowed jewellery. She lay back on the fainting couch and counted the tiles on and then traced the design of the ceiling. Just as she was about to start checking how long she could hold her breath, the maid asked, "Does Mister need help?"

Leona sat up, confused. Mister? There was a low rumble of reply and she went to the door, opened it a crack and peered out. Lord Aries stood there staring right back. But to the maid he said, "I was looking for Miss Ruby, your mistress is worried."

Leona stepped out into the hall at once and said, "I'm here."

Lord Aries smiled, "Ah, yes, finally. We were frightened that you had fallen in…though I suppose the real trouble was that you are not enamoured of my homeland's cuisine."

Leona blushed and replied, "Not really."

Lord Aries gave a nod and said, "That's quite alright. For non-natives it can be an acquired taste. Do not fear, you only have to endure it for another hour." Then turning to the maid he said, "I will lead her back. You may go."

The woman bowed and hurried away. Leona watched her go and turned again to Lord Aries. He waited until the maid was out of sight to say, "You did try to summon a water sprite."

Leona felt her heart rate pick up, but she willed herself to be calm as she looked at him and said, "No, I didn't."

He lifted an eyebrow at her and said, "I checked before I came here. The pentagram is still there. You wrote 'water sprite'."

Leona clamped her mouth shut, heart racing wildly now. She wondered mildly if he could hear it. But Lord Aries just smiled and said, "The reason you gave for Master Opal's attention is commendable and plausible…but, frankly, Miss Ruby, you are a freedwoman. No one takes notice of freedmen unless they display extraordinary power. And that John Opal…everything I've heard suggests that is not the kind of man who would take notice of someone who did not. Not to mention that I have never seen Sebastian stare at anything so intently in my life…what are you, Miss Ruby?"

Leona said nothing. What had he heard about Master Opal? Who had he heard it from? Was he checking up on them? Was this because of Sebastian that troublemaker? At her troubled expression, Lord Aries' smile grew wider. A moment later the djinniyeh appeared and Tamosi stepped away from the wall behind her. Leona glanced between the two and then the woman said, "The boy is coming."

As if on cue at that exact moment, Sebastian did come running around the corner, Persephone in tow. Leona let out a relieved breath she did not remember holding. He slid to a stop when he saw them, straightened and said, "Miss Ruby, if you would be so kind…"

Leona started towards him and the djinniyeh launched only to jerk back when Tamosi swept between them with a watery war club raised high. Even Lord Aries took a step back at the movement, stunned, and Leona took advantage of the distraction to run to Sebastian. He grasped her hand and led the way back to the dinner party at a brisk walk, which slowed to an easy stroll once they were at the dining room. He released her hand only as they got there and they re-entered the dining room and resumed their seats with a smile. Sebastian made apologies and claimed to have not seen Lord Aries. Then Tamosi entered and took his place behind Leona's seat again. She snuck a glance back at him to replace that he was unharmed.

Lord Aries arrived a moment later, with the djinniyeh behind and both quietly took their places. Leona noticed that the djinniyeh looked a little wet and could not help the smile that formed. Sebastian nudged her with his knee and she ducked her head to hide her laugh.

As threatened, the dinner continued for another hour and when the final dishes were taken away, Leona practically burst from her seat ready to run from the house to the steam car. But of course she could not because now there was to be dancing and the governor's wife led them all off to the ballroom. It was then that Master Opal finally had an opportunity to draw her aside, which he did by taking her out onto the dance floor, saying as he took her hand, "Come along, Miss Ruby. I'm not a young man anymore so let me get my dancing in early."

They were nearly to the middle of the dance floor when Leona replied, "But I never really learned to dance."

"The gentleman always leads, Miss Ruby. Just follow my lead," he replied.

The first dance was a waltz and as they began to spin around the room, Master Opal said in a low voice, "I saw you leave earlier and then both Lord Aries and Lord Virgo followed. What happened?"

Leona looked towards where she had last seen Sebastian, standing with the governor, his wife and Lord Aries by the door, and said, "Lord Aries suspects something. He's been getting information on you and he said that he checked my summoning and he knows I meant to summon a water sprite."

The master's eyes widened slightly at this and he asked, in a harsh whisper, "Does he know for sure?"

"I don't think so," said Leona. "But then Mr Tyne showed up and Lord Aries' djinniyeh tried to attack me-don't worry, Tamosi took care of it."

The master was silent for a turn around the room and then sighed and said, "Miss Ruby, I have failed you in your education if you think that you can attack a powerful magician like that Lord Aries and believe that the matter is settled after one round. That he attacked first is irrelevant. We must get out of here."

"What?" Leona asked, heart-rate picking up again.

The master said nothing, just took her by the hand and started walking to the exit. She looked around for Vincent and saw him disentangling himself from a pretty red-haired woman in a dark blue dress. He caught up with them at the front steps and asked, "What's the matter? Where are we going?"

"Home," said the master, leading on.

Leona looked behind them to see if they were being followed but there was only George and Tamosi. They were not running but walking quickly to the front gates, now deserted save for servants and constructs awaiting the guests still inside. The moment they crossed them, George reverted to his previous state and Tamosi collapsed, the water flowing out into the drain. As a ghosts and not a water sprite he could not cross the threshold of his own territory. It was a shame though, he was an excellent bodyguard while he lasted. Perhaps one day, Leona would make the return journey to the estate and repay the favour.

When they got to the steam car, George quickly set about starting it up while Vincent opened the door and set about helping Leona hurriedly stuff herself and her voluminous bustled skirt in. Then she asked, "Shouldn't we wait for Mr Tyne?"

Vincent stopped then to look back and just caught sight of his friend at the top of the stairs. He hailed him, waving his hat frantically a moment, and the young magician immediately ran down to meet them. That was when George finally got the car started with a cough and rumble. Vincent and his father climbed in then and Vincent asked, "What's happened?"

Master Opal looked at Leona and said, "Miss Ruby here just insulted a powerful magician. I thought it best we made an early exit."

Before Vincent could say anything to this, Sebastian threw open the door and climbed in. To Master Opal he said, as if he had been privy to the conversation all along, "He will not follow us immediately, but I think it is best we took a trip out of the city for a few days. I will make contact with some associates of mine as well…I wonder if it would not be best for us to leave the island altogether."

"Leave the island?" exclaimed Vincent and Leona in unison, eyes wide.

The master shook his head and said, "I do not think we need to go that far."

Sebastian was shaking his head in turn and said, "You do not know James Tolliver. That attack was not meant to harm but to expose. He did not replace out her secret but he did replace out that she is stronger than she looks. When he chooses to retaliate he will not spare the blow."

They all exchanged glances and then Master Opal called, "Home, George."

Ma De Four was waiting up for them when they arrived, to help Leona undress for bed and make Master Opal's tea. By unspoken agreement they gave no hint of the earlier excitement and so were all smiles when they stumbled through the front door. Leona gave a full report of the dinner's lighter moments and her brief dance with Master Opal while she changed for bed and then accepted her cup of tea with a grateful, tired smile and a yawn.

"Sounds like someone had a ball," teased the housekeeper as she turned to leave.

Master Opal and Vincent were already in their respective rooms, with Sebastian in the study packing up the Opal family records. He had already composed a telegram to some mysterious associates on the ride back home which he would send the next morning. Master Opal had also announced that he would contact a colleague, another migrant from Albion, who had an estate further inland and would be happy to keep them for a few days. He intended to inform Ma De Four of their sudden departure before she left that night.

Leona thought back to Lord Aries and the djinniyeh in the hall and the trouble to come and said, "Yes, we did."

It was still dark when Leona opened her eyes. No, that was not right. It was darker.

Leona sat up in her bed and turned her head to the window. No light came through the curtains, even after her eyes adjusted, and after a moment she remembered that there was no moon out. But what happened to the streetlights?

She threw off the covers and picked her way across the floor to the window. Drawing back the curtains, she put her head against the cool glass and tried to make out what had happened. It was pitch black out, not a light shone, except maybe from the stars. And it was silent. There were no dogs barking, or insects singing or bats calling to each other in the night. It was more than a little odd.

Leona turned around and a jackalantan bloomed over her head. She looked up at it with a finger to her lips and it dimmed. Then she went to the door and walked out into the hall.

Everyone else was asleep, even Sebastian who had apparently not made it out of the master's study. She could just see his head on the master's desk, cushioned by his hands. Leona drew the door closed and continued into the parlour where the bay windows looked out onto the veranda and the street. Not even ambient light filtered through the curtains. What had happened to all the jackalantans? How could they all go out at once?

She turned back to her own light and willed it dimmer until it was no brighter than cooling embers. Then she went to the window closest to the door and shifted the curtains aside a little. Nothing. Darkness. The sky looked darkest grey and the earth was black. Leona looked left and right, squinted and opened her eyes as wide as she could manage, all in vain. She sighed and dropped away from the window onto the arm of an armchair.

It was odd, yes, but the master and Sebastian were both still asleep. Quite likely there was a perfectly reasonable explanation and Leona was being paranoid. An image of the djinniyeh and Lord Aries flashed into her head and she squeezed her eyes shut. No, it was nothing. She opened her eyes again and then stood and turned to go back to bed. And that was when the house exploded.

Leona had just looked up at her jackalantan, willing it brighter when she felt a sudden surge of energy. It was aether, stronger than anything she had ever felt before and a moment later something massive slammed into the floor in front of her and she went flying through the air in a cloud of splinters and furniture. The sound came a moment later, a thunderous boom that echoed through her chest and set her ears ringing louder than a church bell. Leona folded over as she went back but her landing was soft as she fell into a wall of water that surged around her like a blanket while soaking her through. It fell away a moment later and she was left dripping wet in the middle of the street staring up at a tornado on fire.

The house was gone. This Leona could see now in the light. Master Opal, Vincent, Sebastian, George in the car port…nothing was left, nothing that she could see and what remained was quickly ablaze. Of course, Master Opal and Sebastian were magicians, protected by the aether but Vincent…Vincent!

She ran across the street as quickly as her legs could carry her, feeling a twinge in her chest around her ribs as she did so and started climbing what was left of the fence to get back in.

She could feel the heat on her face, the broken glass, crumbled stone and lots and lots of splintered wood along the wet pavement and lawn. The tornado was still rotating in place where it landed in what had been the middle of Master Opal's house. Leona scrambled over the lawn and what remained of the front steps but before she could go any further someone grabbed her about the waist, lifted her into the air and started carrying her back again.

She screamed, though she could not hear it, and started pounding on the arm to no avail. The person carried her back to the street and put her on her feet and only when she turned to scream at them did Leona realise who, or rather what it was: Persephone, Sebastian's golem. She turned again and spotted him across the street leaning heavily against a neighbour's fence post. She marched over at once and screamed at him, "Vincent! You have to get in there and save Vincent!"

He reached for her arm with one hand, a trickle of blood by his mouth, face twisting in pain and mouthed something. She could barely see it in the darkness and it did not matter anyway because it did not look like something she wanted to hear. She turned and lunged again for the house and this time he grasped her arm and pulled her back. She turned to shake him off but he pointed past her and when she turned again she saw his golem charging into the wreckage.

Of a sudden there was a blast of air behind them and Leona swung around, fearing another attack. She noticed then for the first time that their neighbours had spilled out into the street, bathed red-orange in the glow of the flaming tornado, staring open-mouthed and wide-eyed at the carnage in their bedclothes, and in front of them was Vincent with George.

"Vincent!" she cried, her vision blurring with tears. She wrenched free of Sebastian to run to him and he caught her in his arms and squeezed her tight. The twinge in her chest became a definite ache that had nothing to do with her attraction. If Vincent said anything, for she felt his lips at her ear and the side of her head, she still could not hear it. The ringing in her ears was beginning to give her a headache. She had been wounded and badly too.

Another rush of wind that meant George had taken off again to go back into the house. Leona turned to watch him go and realised that Master Opal must have set the air elemental to protect his son instead of himself. Vincent certainly did not look harmed. She pulled away from him to check before he grasped her hands and pushed them away. But George had gone back into the house, so that meant that Master Opal was still alive.

There was a brush of fabric and Leona turned to replace a woman draping a blanket around her shoulders. She smiled gratefully and then looked past the woman's shoulder to see the flaming tornado begin to unwind. Beside her Vincent stiffened. Leona felt her blood run cold. That did not look good at all. From narrow funnel that stretched to the sky, the tornado formed the shape of a massive creature. It took her a moment to recognise what she was seeing, it was a dragon!

Of the highest level of the Greater Fire Elementals, dragons were practically unstoppable and uncontrollable to anyone save for the strongest of magicians. And currently there was only one fire elemental magician capable of summoning such a creature that Leona could think of.

Leona stepped out of Vincent's reach and looked around. The street had been thrown into chaos by the blast. When the Opal house had exploded, the force of it had also flattened the houses on either side of it and seriously damaged the ones directly across the street. The air was filled with smoke that made her eyes water and her throat scratchy. Embers floated on wind currents with bits of paper and leaves to set neighbouring houses on fire. Of her neighbours that were unharmed, some of the men had formed a bucket brigade to save those not yet burned and clear a path to get at possible survivors in the collapsed houses while the women tended to the wounded on the street. There was blood everywhere.

No one save the elementals dared approach the Opal house though. If there was anyone still in there, they were beyond help.

The dragon lifted its head to the sky and spat out a fireball that just missed what looked like an airship sweeping by. But the fireball had temporarily brightened the night and so Leona finally spotted its master, Lord Aries with the djinniyeh standing just at the street corner, barely hidden by a neighbour's towering tree. She did not hesitate. She took off running towards him even as Vincent and Sebastian tried to hold her back.

In her mind she saw no one else but him and the djinniyeh. It helped considerably that she was still deaf. They did not notice her either. The dragon was clearly taxing Lord Aries' control for he did not take his eyes off of it or lowered his outstretched hands or stop reciting the incantation that bound it to his will. Good, she wanted him to be as blindsided as they had been.

She grasped for the aether and it came to her, rushing in from all sides. It came from the trees and the earth, the water in the air and the wind, from the people around her in the street, Vincent and Sebastian, and the elementals, George, Persephone, the dragon and the djinniyeh. At this the djinniyeh turned with a glare and Leona envisioned a great wave washing away the creature and her master into the sea.

Her clothes dried immediately, then her hair, throat and the air. Leona stopped running and watched water begin to bleed upwards from the street and the trees, turning their leaves and the grass below a brittle brown, then from the buckets of those trying to douse the blaze, from the guttering and walls of the surrounding houses, and the skin of those around them. With no moisture to dampen its fuel, the fire blazed brighter, once again lighting up Lord Aries and the djinniyeh's positions. Something broke through the bells in her ear, but distant, "Leona, no!"

The water began to swirl, forming a towering water spout. It was thinner than the dragon's but through the aether fed off of it and everything around. That was when Lord Aries appeared to notice and turned to Leona with wide eyes.

"No! Leona! Leona, stop!"

She turned her head to the sky and waterspout. It pulled away from the ground to reform as a leviathan, easily ten times the size of the one she had unintentionally summoned as a child. It was not the wave she wanted but it would do. She turned her gaze to Lord Aries and it surged downwards at him.

At once he lost control of the dragon, which blasted out another fireball that sailed like a cannon volley towards the city centre. Leona kept her gaze on Lord Aries, who had stopped to look up at the sky. But just before the beast could crush him, the djinniyeh sprouted wings, grasping the magician about the waist and lifted him out of harm's way. The leviathan was forced to pull back up at the last moment and still flattened a nearby house and wall with the force.

Then something grasped Leona about the waist, jerking her back and up into the air. She felt stone and looked down to see talons. When she followed the limb back to the head it was the replace that she was in the grasp of a massive gryphon and perched on its back was Sebastian. He was yelling something at her and pointing to the dragon on the house. Leona turned to look at it, then back at the leviathan which reared up and lunged at the dragon just as the fire beast launched into the air heading inland. If that creature got away the destruction it caused would be unimaginable.

It was halfway across the city when the leviathan caught it about the throat and they went spinning into the heavens, the leviathan growing in size as it fed on the moisture in the air and the dragon's aether. The dragon latched onto the leviathan with its fiery claws and wrapped its long tail around the water beast's massive belly. For a time it tore great rents along the beast's torso, showering the sleeping city below with great cascades of water. The leviathan let this continue for only a few moment though. Then it opened its great maw and clamped down over the dragon's head. After that there was a brief struggle, where the dragon vainly tried to free itself, slashing desperately at the leviathan until it fell limp and bright colour cooled to ember dim. The leviathan held still in midair for a moment longer to ensure that the fight was over, then turned to the sea and dove for it, surging faster and faster overland until they crashed into the dark, calm water with a thunderous boom.

Leona immediately slumped against the stone claws, her chest burning, stomach grumbling, dripping with sweat from the strain. Sebastian lowered them to the ground. The street was still dark, though the still-burning houses provided just enough light for them to see that someone had finally found Master Opal and brought him out of the house. He was still alive but barely, covered in soot and pressing one hand firmly over the left side of his stomach and clutching something in the other. Leona ran to him almost as soon as her feet touched the ground, barely feeling the splinters of glass and wood piercing her bare soles. Then she saw the metal spike sticking out between his fingers.

She stopped so suddenly that Sebastian who had been just behind her crashed into her back and nearly dragged her to the ground. She went down anyway, sinking to her knees, her mouth falling open. Master Opal, chest heaving with the effort to breathe, blinked weakly and turned his head to her. Vincent knelt behind his father propping the old magician's head up with tears in his eyes. The young man's hair was wild about his head and darkened red where he had he swept a bloodied hand through it to keep the ends from his face.

Hours earlier they had been sitting together in low conversation at a dinner table.

The neighbours cleared a path between them. Leona scrambled to her feet at once and hurried to Master Opal's side, her vision blurring again as the tears formed. She reached a hand to him and the spike but Sebastian pulled her hand back and she cried out, "No!"

Then Master Opal lifted the hand not holding the spike towards her. Leona looked down and was surprised to see him clutching the doll her brother had made for her. But it was different somehow, thrumming with energy. Confused, she looked at the master for an explanation but whatever he was saying she could not hear. It was barely light enough for her to make out the words forming at his mouth between his laboured breaths, "…for in…take…for in…"

She looked up at Vincent who looked just as confused, but nevertheless helped his father press the doll to her. Leona pulled her hand free of Sebastian to take it; Master Opal smiled at her again looking her directly in the eyes and then exhaled. The light went out of his eyes, his chest stilled and his body went limp.

There was a pause, a moment when all movement ceased. Leona stared down at Master Opal's unseeing eyes, then Vincent's anguished, soundless cry to the heavens, then the pale, wide-eyed looks of the people standing around them. She could feel the aether surging through them all except one. Even that devil Lord Aries, she was sure she could feel his energy somewhere nearby. Except for Master Opal's, from him there was nothing.

There was a sudden movement and Leona turned to see George's empty suit tumble to the ground as the air elemental was freed from his binding. She gasped and tried to lunge to catch it, screaming as she went, "No!"

Sebastian wrapped his arms about her torso and pulled her back. For one who had previously looked so slim his grip was like a vice, try as she might, Leona could not move. She still struggled until he was forced to release her and she grasped onto Master Opal's shirt and tried to shake him. All the while she screamed, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO, NO, NO!"

She grasped at the aether again, searching for his spirit, searching for the essence of him that had to be around her somewhere because of course he was not finished. He still had to help her. He still had to teach her. He had insisted that Sebastian let him remain as her teacher and guardian…and then she felt it. There was a pulse of something familiar somewhere nearby though her sense of it was weakening by the second. Leona reached for it in the exact moment that Sebastian roughly seized her about the shoulders again and wrenched her free.

The master's body had offered her no resistance when she held onto him and he nearly went with her as Sebastian pulled her to her feet. Horrified she let go and watched him fall lifelessly back into his son's arms. There was another pause, another moment where the world was still and filled with Vincent's wide-eyed look and the narrowed, suspicious and frightened gazes of her neighbours. She had seen that look before. She knew that look. When she was a child it had taunted her everywhere she went on the plantation.

Leona shook herself free of Sebastian and stepped away from him, keeping her gaze trained on the sight of Master Opal in Vincent's arms like a fallen demigod being cradled by his maiden mother. She took another step back and began to shake her head. She refused to believe what she was seeing. She would not believe it. People died all the time but not people close to her. Another step and then something wrapped around her waist with a grip like a vice, solid enough that she could not break free but soft too so as not to crush her.

She looked down at it confused, brow furrowing then back up to Sebastian to replace that his mouth had fallen open and his eyes gone wide. Then she was jerked backwards and up with the force of a catapult into the chilly night air.