Exodus of the Xandim (GOLLANCZ S.F.) Read Online Free PDF Page A

for her to find. Instead he smiled easily. ‘Of course,’ he said. He
began to play again, making the tempo more lively and forceful this time. Jaw rigid with concentration, he moulded the music, not making it visible, as he had done in his previous demonstration,
but using it as a focus for the Air magic. He let the power coil around him and tightened it until it formed a network around his body, then he let it spiral upwards, lifting him gently off the
ground and raising him up towards the ceiling.
    Yinze fought down the instinctive clutch of fear in his stomach and kept his attention fast upon the music, looking down at the open-mouthed Ardea with what he hoped was a casual smile.
‘See? With my harp, even a wingless Wizard can fly.’
    His moment of triumph was spoiled by a perilous wobble in the air which jolted his teacher out of her trance. ‘Yinze! Get down here at
once
.’
    The Wizard descended, somewhat faster than he had intended, and hit the ground with a jolt.
    ‘Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?’ Ardea blazed. ‘Air magic is a tricky business, even for an expert. What if you had lost control of the magic and it had smashed
you into the ceiling? Or if you had drifted out of the door and then fallen to your death? Don’t ever do this again, do you hear me? And don’t tell anyone what you did today.’
    ‘But I—’
    His teacher pierced him with her gaze. ‘How many people know about this, Yinze?’
    The Wizard looked at his feet. ‘Only Kea,’ he muttered.
    ‘Well, thank Providence for that.’
    She thought for a moment. ‘Well, maybe you could do it just once more,’ she said. ‘I’ll arrange a demonstration for Queen Pandion and her Council, as soon as
possible.’
    Yinze went cold all over, and his palms were suddenly clammy on the smooth, carved wood of his harp. ‘But—’
    ‘You aren’t ready?’ There was a twinkle in Ardea’s eye. ‘Of course you are – as ready as you’ll ever be. You can go on developing your skills, of
course, but all the Queen needs to know is that you’ve mastered and understood the basics of our powers. Then she might finally be persuaded that there’s some point in sending a
representative to the other Magefolk, and stop procrastinating. She never really believed it was possible, you know, that our magic could cross the boundary of race like this.’ Her grin
transformed her face into an expression of youthful mischief. ‘I can’t wait to see her face. I’ve been telling her for months that you have it in you.’
    Yinze, consumed with nerves at the thought of having to demonstrate his newly mastered powers before the Queen, desperately hoped that there would be some form of delay. Maybe Pandion would be
too busy to witness the antics of her visitor, and he would gain a reprieve in which to keep practising with his harp, which he had rather fancifully named Windsinger. He was out of luck, however.
Before he knew what was happening, his demonstration was scheduled for the following day, in the High Arena, before the Queen, her family, and various counsellors.
    The rest of the day passed in a blur of preparations, working with Kea, Crombec and Ardea in the High Arena to prepare and rehearse his demonstration for the following day. They left him in his
quarters at sunset, telling him to rest and get a good night’s sleep – as if
that
was ever going to happen. After a night spent staring wide-eyed into the darkness, imagining
an endless succession of things that could go wrong, the Wizard picked at his breakfast and went out, on a bright morning with a brisk wind, to meet his fate.
    The High Arena was a natural volcanic crater in the neighbouring mountain to Aerillia Peak. It was a breathtaking sight, with its soaring, craggy walls that provided so many natural perches for
the Skyfolk spectators, and its vast stretch of smoothly polished, almost level floor, from which all debris and dust had been removed. It was normally used