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

for tournaments, in which individuals or
teams tried to knock one another out of the sky, or vied in contests of skill such as fast-paced races on the wing to pick up the most strips of cloth attached to high poles, or hit the most
targets with spears while on the move. They also played a popular game called Yttril, in which teams of three per side competed over a light wooden ring which was skimmed through the air from
player to player and, to score a point, was looped over a tall post with a short crosspiece a little way down, which stopped the hoop from falling all the way to the ground.
    Today the arena was empty of spectators, save for Queen Pandion, various members of her family and the Royal Council, Yinze’s teacher Ardea, and the harp maker Crombec, with his apprentice
Kea. The Wizard’s net bearers dropped him off in front of the Royal Balcony, and he felt very small against the immensity of his surroundings. He trembled as he slung the harp into position
on its strap. His hands were clenched and slippery on the sleek carved wood, and he knew he had to speak before nervousness paralysed his voice completely. He looked up at Kea, sitting above him in
the Royal Balcony, and saw pride and encouragement in her eyes. Steadied and bolstered by her presence, Yinze took a deep breath, and began to introduce the wondrous device he had created.
    He told them, honestly, of his difficulties in reconciling his natural powers with their own, and how he had almost succumbed to despair. He spoke of the dark night when he had almost given up
hope, and of the sudden inspiration that had come to him in the howling storm. He gave a brief account of the actual making of the harp and all the help that Crombec and Kea had given him, and
spoke in more detail of the way he had imbued it with his magic, so that it could form a bridge between the powers of Earth and those of Air. Then he ran out of words, and could defer the
inevitable no longer. It was time for him to finally prove that he had learned what he had come here to learn. Again he looked up at Kea, and was buoyed by the shining confidence in her face.
    ‘Your Majesty,’ he said, ‘and all of my other kind winged hosts in this beautiful mountain city . . .’
    ‘Get on with it,’ called a cold, contemptuous voice from the back of Queen Pandion’s family group. The Wizard cursed under his breath, suddenly more nervous than ever. He had
not realised that Incondor would be there. Then anger won out. He was damned if he would let that slimy bully ruin the culmination of all his months of hard work and learning. If Incondor wanted a
demonstration then that, by all Creation, was what he would get.
    ‘First,’ he said coldly, ‘I will demonstrate that I can use Air magic as a weapon.’ He began to play – not the tune he had intended to use, but a strident, martial
song. Using the music to focus the magic, he formed a blunt spear of air, and hurled it at his tormenter. With a squawk, Incondor tumbled from his seat in a flurry of flapping wings and flying
feathers.
    There was a split second’s startled silence, then the spectators burst into gales of laughter. All but one. During the storm of applause that followed, Incondor picked himself up and
resumed his perch. His face was bone-white with rage and, if Yinze had been looking, he might have quailed at the sight of such naked fury. But the Wizard was enjoying himself now. He did his trick
with the scented blossoms, showering them around the startled and delighted watchers, then he moved smoothly into the rest of his demonstration.
    The previous day, Kea had tied long, silken pennants on the Yttril posts around the arena, so that they streamed out in the brisk wind. The Wizard used his Air magic to make them change
direction, so that they blew out the other way – first singly, one by one, then all together. Kea threw Yttril hoops from her balcony, and he caught them up in his newfound powers, and looped