Exodus of the Xandim (GOLLANCZ S.F.)

by Maggie Furey

  ‘Incondor.’ Lameron closed the door behind them and rubbed his hands across eyes that were bloodshot with tiredness. ‘When I broke the news about his wings he went plain crazy, shouting and screaming, and piling curses on all Wizards. He was flailing about, striking out with blast after blast of his Air magic, and I couldn’t get close enough to stop him. As you can see he’s wrecked his bedchamber – I don’t know what we’re going to say to the landlord. Then he called in mindspeech for his bearers, who turned up so quickly that I reckon he must have had something up his sleeve all along. They brought Crombec’s porters with them too, who were plainly unhappy, but too scared of Incondor to say anything.’

  Lameron paused for breath. ‘The long and the short of it is, they blasted a hole in the wall with their Air magic to enlarge the window – I can’t imagine why the people didn’t hear all the commotion downstairs—’

  ‘Because they’re making too much noise of their own,’ Melisanda said. ‘It’s deafening down there. And Incondor’s room is at the back of the inn, so there’s a good chance that no one saw them in the dusk.’

  ‘That must have been it. Anyway, they wrapped him up and pulled him into one of those nets and took off into the night – and what’s worse, that bloody girl went with them.’

  ‘Why in perdition didn’t you mindspeak me when it happened?’

  ‘I tried,’ Lameron protested, ‘but we were both so tired and there were so many others who needed your attention at the same time that I couldn’t make you hear me. It wasn’t your fault – I know you were trying to reach your Healers in Nexis.’

  With an acrid curse, Melisanda sat down on the clothes chest – the only unbroken item of furniture in the room – and dropped her face into her hands. Then all at once, her shoulders straightened. ‘Do you know something, Lameron? After everything that’s happened today, I just can’t bring myself to care about Incondor. If the idiot wants to leave, then that’s his mistake. In truth, he’s done us a favour. We have better uses for our limited time and facilities than to waste them on that ungrateful, arrogant pig.’

  A fleeting frown crossed her forehead. ‘I really did want to get my hands on that girl, though. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if she put him up to this, to get herself out of trouble. He would have been very vulnerable to manipulation just then, having just received the most shattering news of his life. Still, at least we’ve found the real Brynne, and that’s a comfort.’ She smiled wanly. ‘On first impressions, she seems much nicer than the imposter too. She’s packing now – I’ve just been talking to her. Though she’s longing to see her parents again, it’s breaking her heart to leave these mortals who’ve been so kind to her.’

  Melisanda got to her feet. ‘Right now we have far more important things to do than worry about either girl – the nice one or the nasty. I’ll try to get a couple of Wizards from the Luen of Artisans over here from Nexis, to get this room patched for the landlord.’ She looked around at the splintered furniture, the shredded curtains and bedding, and the gaping hole in the wooden wall where the window had been. ‘What a mess – and what a waste when everything is in such short supply. Really, I could strangle that Incondor.’

  ‘But under the circumstances I pity him too,’ Lameron said. ‘What a dreadful thing for him, to be denied the skies for ever.’

  ‘A lot of people were denied their lives today,’ Melisanda said sharply. ‘I’m saving my pity for them.’

  Chiannala had pity for no one but herself. Her life had reached its lowest ebb. Her mind was in turmoil as she huddled by Incondor’s side in a swaying net borne by eight struggling Skyfolk bearers. She was worn out from keeping the winged man’s pain under control single-handed, her hopes and dreams were in pieces, and her future uncertain. Despite the furs in which she was wrapped, she was shivering with cold, and her jaws and ears ached from the rush of the icy wind.

  The massive rift that the crazed giant had opened in the earth was now filled with mile upon mile of dark turbid ocean that heaved and swirled with colossal waves, splitting the continent in half, and she only prayed that the bearers would make it across before their strength gave out. The cataclysmic shattering of the land had also produced wild weather – with savage gusts of wind, rain and hail, and pockets of turbulent air that taxed the bearers’ endurance to the utmost, so that Chiannala could feel their terror beating on her, filling her mind with dreadful images of plunging downward, out of control, and drowning beneath those huge and ravening waves.

  Incondor stirred and moaned fretfully, and Chiannala, who’d been far too preoccupied with her own plight to have any patience with his wretchedness, was surprised to feel a sudden stab of remorse and a rush of pity. She was not the only one who had lost everything.

  ‘I’m sorry.’ She stroked his brow and, exhausted though she was, strengthened their mental link to still his pain. At least she’d learned that much at the Academy, she thought bitterly. Yet she knew that, in helping the Healers care for Incondor, she had absorbed some far more advanced techniques than her fellow students, even when the Wizards involved had not consciously been teaching her. She had learned how to still pain, bring down a fever, stop bleeding, seal wounds, knit torn muscle and broken bones, and stimulate the growth of healthy tissue. Furthermore, she was certain that, with some trial and error, she could learn to extrapolate and adapt the techniques she had learned to other areas of her Wizardly powers. Maybe all was not lost, despite this setback. Why, if any of the Aerillians could be prevailed upon to teach her their arts, as they had done with Yinze . . .

  At this point Chiannala’s hopeful thoughts ran into a wall. What would it be like in Aerillia? Would she fit in? Would she even be accepted? What if Queen Pandion, wishing to remain on cordial terms with the Wizards, decided to send her straight back to Nexis?

  ‘She won’t.’ Incondor’s mindspeech was faint as a whisper. ‘She’ll feel so sorry for me, crippled as I am, that she won’t deny me your healing abilities and the comfort of your company. I’ll tell her I need you to take care of me.’

  ‘And I will take care of you,’ Chiannala promised.

  Too bloody right, she would! He was her only hope for the future. And if she could get through this night, and the difficult days that would follow, who knew what fate might bring? One day she might still be able to bring her vengeance down upon the Wizards, and make them sorry for rejecting her because she was born a half-blood.

  37

  ~

  LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

  The frontier settlement of Nexis did its best to shelter the survivors from Tyrineld. Many were lucky to be alive. Without the Xandim, the small handful of visiting Winged Folk, the mortal fisherfolk and the Leviathan, many more Wizards would have died in the disaster. The Windeye had called her people together and used the Phaerie flying spell once more. Some of the Xandim had ferried Wizards to Nexis with the news, to find them already preparing for disaster, since the backlash of so many Wizard deaths had travelled all that distance.

  The injured Tyrineldians had been left behind in the settlement, and the Xandim had returned with Nexian helpers carrying ropes, nets, blankets and medical supplies. All the next day the Xandim, each of them carrying a Wizard, had flown back and forth over the heaving, debris-littered stretch of sea where Tyrineld had once stood, searching for survivors, along with the Leviathan, who were strong enough to withstand the turbulence beneath the surface.

  By nightfall, the rescue attempts had finally been abandoned, and the exhausted Xandim flew into Nexis to find the rescued Wizards huddled in small, shocked, shattered groups around massive bonfires that had been kindled outside the town, where a village of tents and temporary shelters had been erected to house the refugees who could not be accommodated in the Nexians’ homes. Luckily, Sharalind had been in the process of setting up advance supply caches for her army in Nexis, so tents, blankets, clothing, food and weapons were all available.

  While others had been seeing to the rescue and well-being of
the Tyrineldian survivors, Avithan, unopposed in his assumption of the rank of Archwizard – even most of the natives of Nexis accepted him as such, perhaps out of respect for his parents, or because of the grim, obsessive mood that had overtaken him since the loss of his family and home – had been giving thought to the future. While his heart was still reeling with shock and grief, and barely able to take in the magnitude of the catastrophe that had befallen his city and his people, his training as the son of the Archwizard took over, submerging his emotions beneath the need to act; using the necessity to secure a future for the surviving Tyrineldians as a shield against the anguish that threatened to overwhelm him.

  He spent the hours after his arrival in Nexis meeting with the most wealthy and established traders and merchants in the settlement, with a proposal to make Nexis the new capital of the Wizard realm. All but a handful, who were easily outvoted, had welcomed his plans with open arms, foreseeing all the possibilities that would suddenly become available for expansion, and the amassment of far greater wealth. Their informal cartel constituted the closest thing to a ruling council within the settlement, and they were more than willing to become co-founders of the new regime.

  While the able-bodied Wizards scurried to organise supplies and sleeping places, and settle the refugees into their encampment, most of the Xandim found it easier and more comfortable to remain in equine form as grazing was available, whereas human food was at a premium. Corisand made sure that they were settled comfortably, a short way upriver from the settlement where a cluster of scrub willows grew along the waterside and provided a nominal windbreak and shelter. Aelwen and a bruised and battered Kelon were more than happy to perform their traditional tasks of rubbing down cold and weary muscles, and finding their charges comfortable places in which to rest. Following yesterday’s glorious sunset, the weather had deteriorated to cloudy and damp, with a raw chill in the air. Nightfall had been hastened by the heavy sky, and swirling wisps of ground mist threaded between the furze bushes and clumps of stunted trees that lined the river. The scent of autumn and the smoke from the encampment fires drifted in the air, along with the clamour of the settlement, muted by distance.

  ‘Almost like old times, isn’t it?’ Aelwen said.

  ‘Almost – except it’s strange to think that these aren’t animals but people that we’re caring for.’

  ‘It took me a while to get used to the idea too,’ Aelwen admitted. ‘I thought they would hate me but I couldn’t have been more wrong. They were appreciative and grateful for the care we showed them, Kelon. Just as they’re appreciative of what we’re doing for them now.’

  Suddenly Kelon turned to her and, though still keeping her at arm’s length, put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. ‘I’m appreciative of what you did for me yesterday, Aelwen. So far as I know, I was the only one of Sharalind’s mortal forces who escaped. Had it not been for you, I would have perished just like Danel and all the rest.’

  ‘I would never have left you there to die – never.’ Aelwen took a deep breath. ‘Kelon, I’m sorry for everything. I’m sorry I always took you for granted. I deeply regret that I always ignored your feelings for me because I thought I was in love with a memory from my past. I’m—’

  ‘Just a minute,’ Kelon interrupted. ‘Did you say you thought you were in love?’

  Alwen pulled away from him and began to pace. ‘When Taine returned I was overjoyed. I couldn’t believe we’d been reunited after so long. And it was wonderful at first. But as we began to travel together, I soon began to realise how much he had altered; become harder and more pragmatic. All those long years of living on his wits had left him changed, and while at heart he was still a kind man and a good one, he could kill, if need be, without the slightest compunction.’

  She stopped pacing, and sat down on a tree trunk that had been washed up onto the riverbank by last winter’s floods. ‘He just wasn’t the romantic, idealistic youth I’d fallen in love with, and made future plans with – and Kelon, once I was exiled from Eliorand, I found that I had changed too. My priorities were different, I enjoyed stability and security. My life had been completely uprooted, but I wanted somewhere new and safe to transplant myself. I liked my work, and my everyday routines. I could never be a wanderer – and in Taine I saw an adventurer who would never be content with the kind of life I craved. It was nobody’s fault. We were torn apart and plunged into very different circumstances. We both grew up, and grew apart.’

  Kelon came over and sat beside her. ‘And does Taine know all this? Have you spoken to him?’

  ‘Not yet – but he knows.’ Aelwen dropped her face into her hands. ‘In his heart he knows as well as I do that we no longer belong together.’ She looked up at Kelon and smiled. ‘I don’t think he’s realised that his heart lies elsewhere, but it’s only a matter of time. The two of them are more than halfway in love already – they just haven’t quite worked it out yet.’

  ‘Which two?’ Bless him, Kelon sounded indignant that Taine might prefer another over herself.

  ‘Never mind.’ Aelwen smiled. ‘Someone kind, and lovely, and as brave as he is. I hope it works out for them. They both deserve to be happy.’

  ‘And you?’ Kelon asked quietly. ‘Where does your heart lie now?’

  Aelwen reached out and took his hand. ‘Where it has lain for many years – but I was so wrapped up in Taine’s memory that I never saw it. Can you forgive me, Kelon?’

  The expression on Kelon’s face was like the sunrise. ‘If you’ll forgive me for being such an ass and running off with those mortals, we’ll call it quits.’

  They were in a strange land; they were tired, hurt and homeless and the future was uncertain, but as they embraced in the midst of the Xandim they had loved and tended for so long, Aelwen thought that she and Kelon had never been happier.

  Unheard, unseen, Iriana slid back into the shadows among the willows. She hadn’t meant to overhear the conversation between Aelwen and Kelon – she’d come to the area where the Xandim were settling down for the night to look for Corisand, but plainly the Windeye was elsewhere.

  As she backtracked towards the refugee camp, she replayed what she had overheard with mounting ire and indignation. Poor Taine! After everything he had been through, to be so callously abandoned by someone he had loved for so long. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair. How could Aelwen just cast off such a fine, brave, kind and handsome—

  The Wizard stopped dead, her hand pressed to her open mouth. When had her feelings for Taine become so strong? How could she have been so unaware of the secret her heart had been keeping?

  Don’t be ridiculous. He calls you little sister. That’s how he sees you. He’s fond of you, it’s true, but no more than that.

  It was a relief to feel her common sense take over – even though it cost her a pang of unhappiness that showed every sign of increasing over time. She should forget this nonsense – but how could she? It was in her head now. Aelwen herself had put it there:

  ‘I don’t think he’s realised that his heart lies elsewhere, but it’s only a matter of time. The two of them are more than halfway in love already – they just haven’t worked it out yet.’

  Could the Horsemistress have meant Iriana? Taine was already fond of her. With Aelwen out of the picture, maybe . . .

  ‘Iriana! There you are. I’ve been looking all over for you.’

  Avithan. Hearing the accusatory edge to his voice, she felt her guts churn with anger.

  He had a nerve.

  She turned to face him, glowering. ‘What do you want?’

  ‘It’s true, you can see. I heard the rumours, but . . . I’m so pleased for you, Iriana.’

  It rang false. Oh, he was smiling, but the expression was plastered on his face, like a mask. She looked into his eyes, and suddenly she could comprehend, all too clearly, his thoughts. He didn’t want her independent, free, and out of his control. All the years he’d been there, helping her at every turn, even when she didn’t wa
nt or need it, always ready to reach out a hand in case she stumbled or strayed – and it had all just been a way of controlling her.

  And the worst of it was, he probably didn’t even realise what he was doing. He had persuaded himself that she needed him and couldn’t manage without him. Indeed, he’d almost had Iriana convinced until Athina had taken him out of the mundane world, and she’d discovered just how well she could do without him.

  Don’t be hard on him. He just lost his mother; so close to the death of his father.

  That was her soft heart speaking. Iriana the Nurturer, she thought, with a touch of self-mockery. It didn’t change a thing.

  Yesterday he had betrayed her. Yesterday he could have killed her.

  ‘Iriana? Why don’t you answer me? I was worried about you.’

  ‘Were you?’ Her tones were glacial, her fists clenched at her sides. ‘And were you worried when you ambushed me with a sleep spell right in the middle of the battle, and very nearly killed us all?’

  The false smile dropped from Avithan’s face. ‘I was protecting you.’

  ‘Is that what you call it?’ Iriana snapped. ‘Well, you don’t have to protect me any longer, Avithan. I’m sorry, so sorry about what happened to your mother, but it doesn’t alter the fact that you attacked me, as a Wizard and as a person.’

  ‘Attacked you? I was trying to save your life, you stupid girl.’

  Iriana took a deep breath, forcing down the anger. ‘Girl? I’m no girl, and haven’t been for some time. I’m a woman and a warrior, and it’s time you accepted that. Only I could defeat the Moldan, along with Corisand, and that’s what I did – no thanks to you.’

  ‘And I suppose you’ll be throwing that in my face for the rest of our lives together?’

  ‘We don’t have any lives together, and if—’

  Her words were cut short as Avithan grabbed her by the arm. ‘I say we will be together. I’m the Archwizard now, and you’ll do as I tell you, or—’