SandRider by Sage Angie

Author:Sage, Angie [Sage, Angie]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2015-08-16T07:00:00+00:00

THE APPRENTICE RACE

A massively powerful shove from Romilly took Tod by surprise. The Wiz shot forward and set Tod off balance; she leaned slightly to the left and, in a shower of Death Wings, she found herself heading straight for the Grot. Tod leaned hard over to the right and pulled the Wiz away from the black spiked runners of the Grot in the nick of time. To her embarrassment, the Wiz continued on its diagonal track, now running fast toward the snow wall that divided the racetrack from the spectators. Panicking a little, Tod leaned too far to the left, the Wiz veered away from the wall and careered once again diagonally across the track, heading for the opposite wall. But this time there was no danger of crashing into any sleds—they were all well in front, heading down Wizard Way in a fine spray of ice. As Tod fought to get control of the zigzagging Wiz, she became aware of laughter and a triumphant yell from Drammer Makken: “Useless!”

Tod wished the snow would swallow her up. But as the Wiz once again shimmied over to the opposite snow wall, she heard Beetle’s voice above the ever-increasing laughter. “Silence! Silence, or I shall restart the race. This is a normal start for the Wizard Tower sled. Do not disturb the rider’s concentration.”

Despite most of the spectators knowing that this was most definitely not the normal start for the Wiz, they fell silent. The relief from the laughter and Beetle’s support gave Tod the clarity she needed. She leaned forward and whispered the words that were written on the little silver wings Septimus had given her when she had become his Apprentice: “Fly free with me.” And then it happened. Tod felt the Wiz’s energy gather into its very center and at last the sled became balanced. Concentrating hard, Tod steered the Wiz into the middle of the track and suddenly, they were off.

A gasp came from the crowd as the Wiz shot down the racecourse in a glint of purple and gold, trailing a rainbow spray of minute ice crystals behind. As the last of the six sleds in front shot around the first bend, the Wiz was rapidly making up lost ground and the crowd’s laughter had transformed to cheers and whoops of excitement. No one had seen the Wiz go so fast before, and by the time it, too, had disappeared, it was generally agreed that the Chief Hermetic Scribe had got it wrong. Tod had been deliberately fooling around in order to give the field a decent chance—and provide an entertaining start to the race in the bargain.

The Wiz hurtled down Snake Slipway and as the sled swooped around to the right in a beautifully controlled turn and entered the Moat section of the course, exhilaration swept through Tod. She felt as she did when she was sailing her boat with the wind filling the sails and the white wake of foam running behind, but now—she dared to risk a quick glance behind her—it was a rainbow-colored ice spray.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.