Royal Institute of Magic: Elizabeth's Legacy (9 page)

“Excellent call, Natalie,”
Wren said. Natalie smiled again and left the room.

“She looks young,”
Charlie blurted out, before he could stop himself. “Compared to
everyone else I’ve seen, I mean.”

“She’s fourteen,”
Wren said, as if Charlie’s statement was perfectly acceptable.
She started pouring them tea. “Fourteen is the minimum age to
start the apprenticeship. Biscuits?”

Ben took a sip of his tea, tried
forgetting about Natalie’s green eyes and focused on the map.

“So where do you start
explaining all this?” Ben asked.

“Simple,” Wren said.
“We start at the beginning. What do you know of Queen Elizabeth
I?”

Ben immediately thought of the
current queen and was glad he kept his mouth shut.

“She was queen during the
war against the Spanish Armada, back in the 16th century,”
Charlie said.

“Very good. Our history
lesson starts with her because she was the first to discover one of
the Unseen Kingdoms – Taecia to be precise, which is where you
find yourselves.”

“Unseen Kingdoms?”
both Charlie and Ben said at the same time.

“Twenty-four special
islands shielded by magic innate to the land. Their laws of physics
and energy resemble something you would call magic rather than
science. These islands are as real as England or France, but the
shield means they remain unseen and untouched by the outside world.”

“How?” Charlie asked.
His eyes flashed to the map. “Some of those lands are massive.
Surely a ship must have passed through them at some point?”

“Most of the lands are not
in the path of ships.”

“And those that are?”

Wren smiled. “They detour.”

Charlie puffed his cheeks –
Ben could tell he was trying hard to stay calm.

“That’s it?” he
said. “They detour? Why would they voluntarily choose to steer
round an invisible patch of land? Wouldn’t somebody notice? I
mean, they have all sorts of navigational technology now.”

Wren’s laugh sounded
strangely melodic. “I can understand your frustration, Charlie.
Consider magic as another source of energy, one that is senior to
science. You know the laws of science but not the laws of magic and
therefore you cannot possibly know what can and can’t be done.”

“That makes some sense, I
guess,” Charlie conceded.

Ben, however, had spotted a flaw
in the explanation. “If we cannot see these islands, how did
Queen Elizabeth discover them in the first place?”

“That is not fully known.
It is thought that somebody from the Unseen Kingdoms introduced them
to her. However, it was never documented. I have a feeling Queen
Elizabeth wanted it that way.”

“Who inhabits these Unseen
Kingdoms?” Ben asked. “If these lands are magical, does
everyone have a wand and fly broomsticks?”

“Not quite,” Wren
said with a smile. “The magic comes from the Unseens.”

Ben frowned. “What are
they?”

“The Unseens are magic
inhabitants. It is another word for a non-human entity. They are the
elves, dragons and innumerable other creatures once considered
fantasy. The Unseens have co-existed with humans native to the
Kingdoms for hundreds of years.”

“Are these people –
these humans – just like us?” Charlie asked.

“Yes, but they have become
accustomed to using magic. The Unseens trade it with them in a
packaged form that anyone can use. You may have seen the
Spellshooters already.”

“Those peculiar guns?”

Wren nodded. “That’s
right. They fire spells made by the Unseens.”

Charlie stood up and started
pacing the large office, with his hands behind his back, staring hard
at the floor. Wren watched him with a small smile, continuing to sip
her tea. Ben could almost feel the cogs in Charlie’s head
dusting themselves off.

“I’m beginning to
understand,” Charlie said, his voice infused with excitement
Ben hadn’t heard since this morning’s detective work at
his grandma’s house. “But how much does our government
know?”

“Nothing,” Wren said.
“Elizabeth kept this discovery to herself. She formed the Royal
Institute of Magic to explore these new lands. They conquered and
colonised many of them, forming an Elizabethan Empire within the
Unseen Kingdoms. The two worlds gradually meshed, creating a peculiar
mix of old world magic with modern culture. Today the Institute no
longer conquers and rules, but our political influence is equal to
the native monarchs throughout the kingdoms. We continue to trade and
we are always learning. Most importantly, we are the buffer between
the Unseen Kingdoms and the rest of the world.”

Charlie's pacing continued
unabated. “What about that King Suktar bloke, he must be
powerful if you’re concerned by his threat?”

Wren’s expression was
momentarily serious. “Suktar is an elf king of immense power.
During the years after Queen Elizabeth’s death he took his
mighty army and conquered many of the Unseen Kingdoms. It’s
only in the last century that we have established an uneasy truce.”

Ben felt worn out listening to
the stream of revelations. He stood up and walked past Charlie to the
window. Hills and trees lined the horizon, but it was the town Ben
noticed most. It was such a bizarre mix of old and new. He spotted
several antique cars buzzing along the narrow roads. Were they
running on magic? Ben would have loved to peer into one of the
engines to find out. Flying over the timber-framed houses were enough
mounted creatures to create an aerial traffic jam. Not far off was
the bustling dragon train station.

His parents were out there
somewhere.

“So what now?” Ben
asked, turning back round to face Wren.

“Draven will be working to
convene the Executive Council, to which you will be summoned and
questioned.”

“Is that where they can
figure out if my parents have any spells on me?”

“Among other things, yes,”
Wren said.

Ben glanced briefly at Charlie.
“Let’s do it.”

Wren put down her cup of tea and
stood up. Her tall hairdo sparkled against the sunlight streaming
from the window.

“Draven will also push to
cast a Memory Search.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a powerful
spell that enables us to see your memories like watching TV. It will
replay in your mind as if it’s happening again. We can use it
to search for any hidden memories.”

Ben frowned. “What do you
mean?”

“Your parents worked hard
to keep the Institute a secret. What if you accidentally overheard
something? They may have cast a spell to make you forget.”

“My parents would never do
that,” Ben said with more conviction than he felt.

“I believe you, but Draven
will argue we might be able to learn something.”

“Does it hurt?”
Charlie asked, looking at Wren anxiously, as if it were his memory
being searched.

“Not physically – but
it can be emotionally unpleasant. I can move to block this procedure
if you don’t want it, Ben.”

The idea of a bunch of strange
adults watching his memories like a TV show was not appealing. But if
it had the slightest chance of helping find his parents, he didn’t
have much of a choice.

“I’m okay with the
Memory Search,” he said after a moment.

Wren gave a small smile. “In
that case, I should get going. They will be meeting about you as we
speak and will want to know what you said.”

“How long until I'm
needed?”

“I would imagine this
evening.”

Ben guessed it to be about four
in the afternoon though he hadn’t seen a clock. That left at
least three hours to occupy themselves.

“I thought you two might
like a tour of the place,” Wren suggested, smiling at their
lost expressions.

They nodded enthusiastically and
Wren called Natalie back in. Ben's stomach tightened as she
re-entered, but he met her dazzling smile without showing it. Charlie
suddenly became very interested in his feet.

“I must warn you,”
Wren said, looking at Ben. “Your surname might attract
attention because of your parents. Your arrival was mentioned in an
executive meeting.”

“I was announced in a
meeting?” Ben asked, feeling slightly light-headed.

“Only because we were
looking out for you. We had people in the town searching to make sure
you got here okay.”

So someone
had been
spying on them when they entered
Starbucks. All this because of his parents? It was crazy.

It
wasn’t as awkward as Ben envisioned. Charlie did go bright red
whenever he imagined Natalie’s eyes on him, but thankfully she
didn’t seem to notice or perhaps pretended not to.

“You must have a thousand
questions,” she said in a cheerful voice. As she talked she
curled one of her dark brown locks around her finger. “Is it
true you only found about the Institute today?”

“That’s right.”

“Wow,” Natalie said.
“You’re both taking it really well. Most people would
still be flipping out.”

Ben warmed to Natalie’s
easy-going manner and he even saw Charlie relax a fraction, which in
the presence of a girl as pretty as Natalie bordered on a miracle.

He tried not to stare at her
bright eyes or her pointed ears, but his curiosity soon got the
better of him. He plucked up the courage to ask a question he would
have laughed at yesterday.

“Are you an elf?” Ben
asked, trying to keep a straight face.

Natalie grinned. “I was
wondering when you would ask that. Technically I’m a half-elf.
My grandmother on my mum’s side was an elf.”

“Wouldn’t that make
you a quarter-elf?”

Ben didn’t see anything
wrong with the question, but Charlie shut his eyes and pinched the
bridge of his nose.

“It should do, shouldn’t
it?” Natalie said, proving Charlie’s embarrassment
unfounded. “However, we call any elf with non-elf blood a
half-elf.”

“I pictured elves a little
differently,” Ben admitted.

“You thought we’d
have the whole serene, angelic thing going on?”

“Yeah. I’ve been
horribly misled by the
Lord of the Rings
movies.”

“There are some elves still
like that, but they live secluded from the modern world.”

“Can you do magic at
least?”

“Very little
unfortunately,” Natalie said with a little sigh. “I’m
too human to classify as an Unseen.”

“So I guess you live in one
of the Unseen Kingdoms?”

“That’s right. I live
in Osium, a small country off the coast of Italy.”

Ben thought he detected a slight
accent and she definitely looked Italian with her tanned skin and
dark hair.

“What’s it like
there?”

“It’s a bit like
Italy was a couple hundred years ago and a lot of people, even the
Unseens, speak both Italian and English.”

The idea of a goblin speaking
Italian was almost too weird.

“So if you use magic
instead of science, does that mean you’ve never used a mobile
phone before?”

Natalie laughed. “Not
quite. My parents travel a lot and I have spent half my life in Milan
and London.”

They arrived back at the grand
staircase and Charlie stared at them like Mt. Everest. “Please
tell me we’re not going up again,” he said.

“I’m sorry,”
Natalie said. “You’ll hate me now, but once we’re
at the top it’s all downhill, which makes the tour easier.”

“Are there no lifts?”
Ben asked as they started their ascent.

“Unfortunately not. There
are alternatives, but not for apprentices.”

Ben counted three open galleries
before they would reach the top. Sunshine poured in from the glass
roof, warming his shoulders.

“Wren mentioned an
apprenticeship?” Ben said.

“That’s right.
Everyone here starts with the apprenticeship.”

“How do you enrol? I can’t
imagine you advertise much.”

“Generally it stays in the
family, but when there aren’t enough apprentices we look
outside. We have a division that specialises in recruiting members
who know nothing of the Unseen Kingdoms.”

“Is the apprenticeship
long?” Charlie asked.

“Four years. For the first
two you work everywhere in the Institute. After that there is a test.
If you pass, you are selected to specialise in one of the departments
for another two years before taking a final examination to become a
full Institute member.”

“Sounds like a lot of
work,” Ben said. The exams and tests reminded him of school.

Natalie frowned and Ben caught a
flicker of surprise. “Oh, no, it’s not work. There is a
lot to do, but it’s so much fun. I couldn’t imagine doing
anything else.”

Ben was slightly taken aback by
her dedication. “Wren seems like a good person to work for.”

This was apparently the right
thing to say, for Natalie gave him a dazzling smile.

“She is the most wonderful
person I know,” Natalie said. “She is kind, generous,
wise and, of course, extremely gifted.”

She spoke with such reverence Ben
half expected her to get down and pray.

“Ah, here we are. That
wasn’t too bad, was it?” Natalie said.

They had made it up the stairs
and found themselves on the top open gallery. Looking over the
railing, Ben could just make out the statue in the lobby far below.
The glass roof was actually a huge gable and near its base was a door
that led outside.

“Prepare yourself –
it smells out here,” she said, as she turned the door handle.

The wind hit them and, with it,
the unmistakable smell of hay and manure, making Ben wrinkle his
nose. But the smell was instantly forgotten by the sight that greeted
them. It looked like a farm with paddocks spanning the vast expanse
of the rooftop all around the glass gable. These paddocks were not
filled with cows or sheep like an ordinary farm. There were huge
eagles, horses with wings, animals that looked like a cross between a
bird and a lion and even small dragons, each with its own paddock.
Most were content to eat or bathe, but others were more interested in
talking, creating a cacophony of roars, squawks and growls. Ben
spotted a dozen boys and girls dealing manfully with the mayhem. He
watched in fascination as a couple of them tried dragging a
pint-sized dragon out of a paddock.