At first surprised, Sam realized that until she came to Telani, Nalia had never seen a cat. At least, she had never seen one smaller than a pantor, Gythe’s version of a panther or a cheetah. Even though she had become used to Stoker, she had never seen newborn kittens with their eyes still closed and their fur bedraggled and sparse.
“Yes,” Sam answered. “They must have just been born. We can’t send them back to Telani with the house. It would feel too much like abandoning them. How do you feel about adopting a bunch of cats?”
Nalia’s eyes had not left the kittens as they spoke. Sam took her hand and brought it down to the mother’s fur, guiding her to pet the cat. Her furry face turned toward Nalia, eyes squinting tiredly, and she began to purr as her head dipped back down. Sam enjoyed the sight of Nalia’s smile growing on her face. “Yes, I think that is a wonderful idea.”
Nicole found the two fawning over the cats and soon the three of them had transferred all seven into a shallow basket filled with towels. Sam carried the basket to the workshop and put it near a well-stocked food dish and bowl of water. He introduced Stoker to the newcomers and, to his surprise, his old tom sniffed at them, looked up at Sam, and then set about cleaning the mother cat’s fur. The male cat shied every time one of the kittens made a move, but it was a relief that he didn’t react violently. He would have to lock his cat in with the kittens while he sent his house back to Telani.
With the cats secured in the workshop so that they wouldn’t get in the way, Sam and Nalia sat on the ground in front of the house. Sam nodded to her and then closed his eyes and attained the khulim. They linked with each other, and sent the house fully back to Telani. Sam felt a small pang of sadness as the home he had grown to love over the last year and more vibrated out of existence from the world he was in.
“That was strange,” he said to her. “Even though it was partially in Telani, it felt like it was fighting to stay here. Or fighting not to return there. It was much harder to do than bringing us, it, and the workshop here.”
“Yes,” Nalia agreed, “it was odd.”
“Anyway, now that we’ve finished with that,” he said to both of the women, “do you want to go see what everyone’s been up to at the Gray Fortress? Hopefully our friends are still alive. I don’t know how much time has passed here since we were gone. We probably should have asked Shen.”
The women both agreed. Sam leaned back and forth in his cross-legged position in front of the workshop to get more comfortable, preparing to teleport. He angled the staff he called Ahimiro across his knees. “You know, I should really practice this more so I don’t need to sit down and take so much time to travel. It could more useful if I could do it more quickly.” Nalia simply nodded.
“I’m going to teleport us to the road outside the Gray Fortress first,” he continued, “so we can look around. I don’t want to take the chance of appearing in the middle of the keep if there are people there who won’t recognize us. It could be dangerous.” Nalia nodded again.
A few moments later, the three were standing on the road cut through the foliage surrounding the fortress, a place he had memorized while here the last time. Sam had almost forgotten how pale and creepy the strangled, twisted trees of the Undead Forest looked. He saw his mother’s concerned look and gestured toward the Gray Fortress. Her eyes went wide.
It was a massive structure, more imposing by the fact that it was sitting on top of high cliffs. Two hundred feet above where they were standing, the main gate yawned like a terrible beast. Leading up to it was the only practical way to the top of the sheer walls, a series of switchbacks that zig-zagged up the face of the plateau, every inch of the path paved with perfectly cut and fitted stones. Seeing the sight again took Sam’s breath away and made him think once more of how powerful energy must have been used to build the structure and even the road to it.
On top of the cliffs, massive gray walls jutted up, perfectly straight. Sam knew from experience that the huge blocks from which the walls were made were fitted to precisely that they left no reasonable handhold or foothold for climbing. They were nearly impenetrable. Nearly. Thrusing up above the walls was the immense keep itself, the Gray Fortress proper. There was where the Gray Man had held his domain. There was where Sam and his friends had infiltrated and put an end to the villain. There it was that Sam had learned all the terrible truths that still haunted him, that the Gray Man was actually his uncle, brought to Gythe against his will and transformed into someone else, something else.
He pushed the thoughts out of his head and looked toward his mother. She was still standing there, eyes wide and mouth open, craning her neck to see all of the fortress in front of her. “This…this was where Grayson lived?” she said of her brother. “This was his fortress? The one he gave to you?”
“Yep,” Sam answered. “Kind of cool, huh?”
She didn’t answer, only kept staring.
“The good news is that there doesn’t seem to be anything different, though I’m not sure what we could see from here if it had changed. What do you say we try to go inside?”
Nicole remained silent, but her mouth twisted into a grimace as her eyes followed the tortuous path upward. Nalia answered instead. “Yes, let us go inside.”
Sam reached around his mother and hugged her with one arm. “We won’t use the path. Come on, mom. I’ll teleport us to the room I used to have. Hopefully we won’t surprise anyone, but if we do, at least we can be sure there won’t be too many people in the chamber. It’s not that big.”
He sat down in the middle of the road in his cross-legged posture with the other two closeby. He recalled the unique vibratory signature of the room, the first place he had ever teleported to, and in a few moments they were in the Gray Fortress.
The three appeared in Sam’s old room. He was glad it was unoccupied. It would have been embarrassing to suddenly appear in someone else’s room. Or dangerous.
Adjusting his backpack as he came to his feet and moving his grip on the staff he carried, Sam looked over at the two women. Nalia’s expression was grim, her eyes darting around the room for any hidden dangers, her shrapezi out and ready. She looked prepared for anything. Nicole’s eyes were slightly glazed, trying to catch up with what was happening. They seemed to be scanning the stone walls and the closed heavy wooden door.
“Are you okay, Mom?” Sam asked her. “It’s kind of a lot to come to another world and then to jump around until you land in an old-fashioned castle.”
Her frantic eyes met his and she purposefully took a long, deep breath. “I’m fine. It’s just…different.”
Before Sam could do so, Nalia put one arm around her and gave her a quick hug. “It is to be expected that you would be disoriented. We will be using our own feet for now, so there is nothing to worry about.”
Nicole nodded and exhaled loudly.
Sam went to the door and listened for a moment. “Let’s be careful. We don’t know how long we’ve been gone and we don’t know what the situation here in the fortress is. We’ll go to the main library. If Dr. Walt is still alive, he will be there.”
The other two nodded and they went through the door into the wide hallway. It looked as it did before, plain stone block, the walls sparsely decorated with tapestries of landscapes and battles. The cloth of the tapestries was faded and fluttered weakly in the slight breeze. Only every third torch was lit, so the three moved from shadow to warm yellow light and back into shadow again as they headed toward where Sam remembered the library to be.
When they arrived at the massive double doors to the library without having seen another person, Sam was chewing his lip, unsure what he would find. He noticed that his palms had started sweating and his fingers twitched unconsciously. He firmed his grip on Ahimiro. “Are you ready?” he asked Nalia.
“I am,” she replied.
“Mom, why don’t you step back a bit. If there is trouble, I’d just as soon not have you in the middle of it.”
He waited until she nodded a
nd stepped back toward the opposite wall of the hallway before grasping the door handle and pushing the door inward.
The heavy door groaned in protest as it moved away from him. Sam, staff at the ready, stepped inside and scanned the cavernous room for enemies. Nalia was at his side, shrapezi up and reflecting the firelight.
Movement on the outskirts of the room caught Sam’s eye and made his heart jump. He held his staff in a guard position and prepared to defend himself.
“Oh, Sam, Nalia, what a surprise!” the voice rang out. Dr. Walt got up from the chair he was in and set aside the book he was reading. “You’ve come back so soon? Telani a little too boring for you?” He laughed.
The lanky old scholar was a welcome sight. He was just as Sam remembered, tall and thin, with a permanent hunch, no doubt from bending to read and look at the artifacts that were his life’s obsession. His hair and neatly trimmed beard were white, not for the first time making Sam think of Colonel Sanders. He did not appear to have aged since he last saw him, just less than a year and a half in Telani time.
“Dr. Walt!” Nalia said, sweeping the man into a bone crushing hug. “We were not sure if you still lived. We have been gone so long.”
Dr. Walt looked at them, puzzlement on his face. “Nonsense. You have been gone less than three weeks. You just barely left after our…ahem…adventure with Grayson.”
As he spoke, he noticed Nicole as she slowly came through the door. “Ah, you have brought a visitor.” Sam thought he saw a look of confirmation cross the doctor’s face, but it disappeared so quickly, he assumed he had imagined it. The doctor bowed slightly to Nicole and introduced himself. “I am Dr. Walter Wicket, my dear, but everyone just calls me Dr. Walt.”
Confusion painted Nicole’s face. She looked from Sam to Nalia to Dr. Walt. “I’m sorry, but I don’t understand you,” she said. Sam realized that Dr. Walt had been speaking Kasmali.
The scholar gave his head a shake. “My apologies,” he said in English, with his English accent. “Habit, you know.” He introduced himself again.
Nicole’s confused expression changed to one of surprise. “Oh. Sam has told me all about you, Dr. Walt. I’m Nicole Sharp, Sam’s mom. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She crossed the distance and shook his hand firmly.
“Sam’s…mom? Surely you are just teasing me. You must be a sister, a cousin, possibly an aunt. You couldn’t possibly be Sam’s mother. You’re so young.”
Sam caught his mother’s eyes rolling at the compliment. “Sam didn’t tell me that you were such a charmer. I’m his mother. If you don’t believe me, wait until he steps out of line and you’ll get irrefutable evidence.” She winked at him.
Sam interrupted. “Dr. Walt, did you say we were gone less than three weeks? We were in Telani for almost a year and a half. When we got back last time, even though almost seven months had passed here, less than a day had passed on Telani.”
Dr. Walt’s eyebrows looked like bleached caterpillars trying to escape by running up his forehead. “Really? Hmmmm. I suppose that’s logical. As we discussed when you were here before, I believe that the timeframe for the two worlds progresses at the same rate overall, but perhaps it occurs in fits and starts. It is possible that sometimes time goes faster, relatively speaking, here in Gythe, and sometimes it’s faster in Telani. I’m sure that’s what happened. How fascinating.”
Nalia fidgeted, waiting for Dr. Walt to finish. When he did, she spoke up. “Dr. Walt, where is my father? Is he well? I would like to see him.”
“What? Oh, yes, Rindu. It must seem like a long time since you’ve seen him, though it hasn’t been long here at all. Yes, of course. He and I are actually supposed to meet in one of the audience chambers shortly. If you would like to come with me, I’m sure that would be the easiest way to get to him. Perhaps you could help us, you and Sam. And Nicole, of course. The more the merrier.”
Chapter 6
A few minutes later, Sam, Nalia, Nicole, and Dr. Walt entered a small audience chamber several corridors from the main library. They were the last to arrive. Seeing her father, Nalia rushed to him and pulled him into a hug. He tolerated it stoically, making a clumsy attempt to put his arms up to encircle her.
Sam thought about how Nalia had changed in the last year. When he had first met her, she was tough, all-business, a warrior who apparently had no soft side. After being in Telani, though, and especially after spending so much time with his mother, she was much freer with her affection. She had actually become a hugger. He made the mistake of mentioning it one time and the backlash kept her from showing affection for a solid month. He hoped Rindu didn’t say anything or she may revert to her former ways.
The father and daughter spoke quietly for a few minutes, Sam just waving to Rindu from across the room so they could have their time together. He looked exactly the same as when he left. His off-white colored robes swished with his movement, providing glimpses of the soft boots he wore, laced all the way up his calf. His salt and pepper hair, pulled back into a pony tail, framed his angular, asymmetrical face. His eyes were slightly tilted, giving him an exotic look, and sat to either side of his very flat nose that seemed to dominate his features. He showed little expression, as was typical, but the little he did show was enough for Sam to see he was happy to be with his daughter again. The man waved back to Sam and a tiny smile appeared on his face before it was wiped away as if it had never been there.
Sam thought about the difference in how beauty was perceived in Gythe compared to Telani. In this world, Rindu was accounted as handsome while Nalia was considered hideously ugly. In fact, she had worn a mask her whole life to hide her features so as to prevent showing disrespect to others. In Sam’s world, Nalia’s beauty was beyond compare.
“I’m sorry for being late,” Dr. Walt said loudly, “but it appears that everyone we expected to be here is here, and a few more besides.” He nodded in Sam’s direction. When he did so, two of the other people in the room noticed Sam for the first time and their eyes grew wide.
Sam whispered to his mother, “Mom, we’ll all be speaking in Kasmali. I’ll try to translate as quickly as I can for you, okay?” She squeezed his elbow and watched as Dr. Walt continued.
“I’m sure Sam Sharp and Nalia Wroun need no introduction. Beside Sam is his mother, Nicole. They will be listening in, if that’s all right.” Everyone in the room nodded enthusiastically.
Sam looked around the chamber. Besides his friends, there were four other people, two men and two women. He wasn’t sure if Dr. Walt would introduce them or explain what the meeting was about, but he hoped so.
Almost as if reading his mind, Dr. Walt began speaking again, “Just so everyone knows everyone else, let me give a brief introduction.”
“Here,” Dr. Walt said, motioning toward a very large man tightly wedged into one of the sturdy wooden chairs at the table, “is Georg Santas, Principle Man of Wethaven.” The obese man nodded his great head firmly, causing his jowls and his four chins to quiver. His piercing blue eyes, looking much too small for his enormous head, seemed to drill into Sam.
Sam waved at him. The man smiled then, and seemed a completely different person, more like a lovable Santa Claus—Sam did catch the coincidental last name—than someone more intimidating.
“From Seamouth,” Dr. Walt motioned toward an impossibly tall woman sitting ramrod straight in her chair, “Fulusin Telanyahu. She serves as of Mayor of that city.” The woman displayed a smile, just wide enough to appear friendly, but not so much as to seem informal. Sam noticed that it didn’t reach her eyes.
“And,” Dr. Walt turned to face the other two leaders, sitting next to each other, “Let me present to you Raire,” the man waved happily, “and Akila Gonsh.” The woman nodded sternly. “They are husband and wife as well as co-Ministers of the city of Patchel’s Folly.”
Sam waved to the two, to the delighted smile of Raire and to another small nod from Akila.
“Sam, it’s a great honor to meet you,” Raire said. �
��I would like to be the first to thank you for all you did in ridding the world of that monster, the Gray Man.”
He noticed his wife’s mouth compressing into a straight line.
“What?” he asked her. “I’m just saying what everyone else thinks. We owe Sam a great debt and I, for one, want to let him know we appreciate it.” Sam got the sense that the man wanted to stick his tongue out at his wife. She just shook her head.
“That very kind of you to say, Minister Gonsh—”
“Oh, please, call me Raire. No need to be so formal.”
“Raire, then,” Sam continued. “That’s very kind of you to say, but my friends did much more important things than I did. I was just along for the ride.”
“Nonsense,” the man said to him. “I do appreciate the hard work and sacrifices of all of your associates,” he nodded to Nalia, to Dr. Walt, and to Rindu, “but you were the one who made the difference, Sam. Why, if it wasn’t—”
“Enough Raire,” his wife interjected, not unkindly. “We have business to discuss. You can tell them all about it later.” She patted his hand affectionately.
“Of course,” he said. “My apologies.”
Dr. Walt cleared his throat. “Right. Well, the purpose for which I have invited you all here is an important one.” He scanned the room, making eye contact with each person there. As his eyes reached Sam and saw him translating what he was saying for his mother, he nodded.
“With the defeat of the Gray Man, there has been a bit of a hole left in the power structure on Gythe, a hole that unsavory types no doubt are planning to fill. I believe we must fill it first.
“The cities and towns all have some form of local government. Even villages have their elders or councils. That is good. Remember, though, that all those forms of local government were in place when the Gray Man began annexing them and using the locations for his own purpose. Some he would simply destroy while at others he would install his own people to rule. Small or large, these local governments were not strong enough to stand up to his forces, let alone his own power.”
Harmonic Magic Series Boxed Set Page 58
