Free Magesong by James R. Sanford

the creature's frozen breath.
    "I beseech the Powers," Ephemeris said in the
dragon tongue, the only speech that could be used in that spirit place,
"restore the lost magic of the lost age and reveal to us the final grammarie,
that ultimate power which reigns over all others, the highest of all the
arts."
    " Time is long, and time is short ."  The dragon
spoke in a voice like high wind inside thunder.
    "I have come to make a request.  I seek knowledge of E'alaisenne ,
the sixth of the great elementals."
    The dragon exhaled, covering him with a sheet of frost,
freezing the sweat to his back.
    " Seek then the symmetry of things ," the
creature whispered.
    He gasped for breath then saw that he lay on the floor of
the outer shrine.  Chills racked his body for a moment.  The communion was
always hard, even if you kept it short, but he had been answered.  He felt
elated.  He didn't know what it meant — one seldom did when dealing with the
Unknowable Forces.  Yet it was a good answer, he felt.
    In the evening, the present society met for a brief meditation
in the outer shrine, the seven faces of the inner circle hidden behind white
silk masks.  The initiates then went to the refectory and those of the higher
circles to their rooms, all to be served the evening meal by novices.  Later,
after the tower had fallen silent except for studious murmurings from the
dormitory, Ephemeris went to the private apartments and tapped at Cipher's
door.
    His old teacher came to the door unmasked, his silver under-robe
a match for his silver hair.  Wisps of pungent smoke sneaked past him seeking
escape in the draft of the hallway.  Cipher waved him in with a bony hand and
closed the door quickly.
    "How did you know it was me?" Ephemeris said with
a grin.  He crossed the thickly carpeted room, found a pillow and sat.
    Cipher threw another pinch of incense into the brazier. 
"Your penchant for drama will see you undone.  The secretive and swashbuckling
Ephemeris, arriving by the Sea Gate as if he had recovered the final grammarie
itself.  Honestly, old son, I think the novices must soil themselves every time
you walk by."
    Ephemeris fingered the headpiece of his wand.  "Yes,
that would be quite a coup, finding E'alaisenne ."  He looked at his
old teacher through the scented haze.
    It only took a second for Cipher to get his meaning.  His
overly-large eyes turned feral with the shock.
    "What?  How could — "
    "Wait," Ephemeris said, raising his gloveless
hand.  "I don't know yet; I have to go to Jakavia to be sure.  But I need
to do a little reading first."
    Stunned, Cipher slowly lowered himself to his knees. 
"If this is so," he whispered, "then the lost magic of the age
of power is finally ours."
    "I said that I'm not certain.  And besides, I don't
understand how the six Aevir can be bound together to unleash the old
power."
    "The frost dragon has told me that it will be revealed
when they are in one place.  I've always sensed that it could happen in my
lifetime, but I never really believed until now."  He looked to where his
robe and mask hung near the door.  "If you have really found it, they'll
elevate you to the inner circle."
    "Not if Serendipity gets wind of this.  One word to her
and I'll be ordered to stay here and teach until she can figure it out and go
after it herself.  Anemone is already suspicious."
    "Serendipity knows that her little protégé is easily
excitable," Cipher said, already recovering from the jolt.  "She's
not going to take her too seriously."
    He rubbed his long thin nose.  "So what is it that you
need from an old man who is too frail to travel — other than keeping this quiet
for a while?"
    Ephemeris rose lightly to his feet and went to the brazier
to let smoke flow over his hands.
    "I want to get into the inner shrine," he said,
"I want to see the other imprisoned elementals and know what it is to feel
their presence."
    "That is not possible.  At least it is not worth the
risk of