Harmonic Magic Series Boxed Set

by P. E. Padilla

  “Okay,” Sam said, “I get it. I’ll try to practice more slowly.”

  “Good,” Rindu said. “It will also make it easier for me to correct your many errors in position.” The monk winked at him.

  Sam sighed. Just when he was feeling good about his progress, here he finds out that he had not even really started yet. They turned to leave the greenhouse, Sam saying a mental goodbye to the creatures there. He knew he would be spending a great deal of time here in the future, if Rindu had anything to say about it.

  “I can’t wait,” Nalia said with a smirk, “to tell your mother that you are so sweet that the butterflies came to you instead of all the beautiful flowers. She will like hearing that.”

  Sam sighed again.

  Chapter 11

  Life had become for Lahim Chode one nightmare after another. He had hope for the future, now that the bastard who called himself the Gray Man was dead and his vanquishers were in charge of the fortress, but he wasn’t sure how far-reaching the effects of his previous treatment would be.

  He had been tortured and neglected for what was probably months. The seer had lost track of time in the dungeons beneath the Gray Fortress, never knowing if it was day or night. If he hadn’t been rescued when he was, he knew he would have been just one more prisoner that had died. As it was, he was the only survivor, and that just barely.

  It was frustrating that he was still bedridden, though he supposed three weeks really wasn’t too long a time as far as these things were concerned. He was feeling better each day. A little better. The pain of his injuries was more bearable and he was able to sleep a few hours uninterrupted each night. He looked forward to being able to get a full night’s sleep. Eventually.

  When he rang the bell frantically this morning, desperate for one of the servants to answer his call, he may have been a bit too insistent, a bit too presumptuous in commanding the young woman to go and get Dr. Walt immediately. What he had to tell the old scholar was important, there was no doubt, but maybe he should have been kinder about his delivery. There was nothing to do about it now. He would apologize to the woman for screeching at her when he got a chance. For now, it was important to tell someone about his viewing.

  He heard footsteps in the hallway, several sets of them. Good, it wasn’t just another servant. Dr. Walt had come to answer his call. Now he would be able to prove his worth. He would be able to feel better about the care given and the cost incurred to nurse him back to health. He would show he had something to contribute.

  The door opened and Dr. Walt stepped in. Right behind him, Sam also came into the room. That was an unexpected, but fortuitous, occurrence.

  “Lahim,” Dr. Walt addressed him, “I was told you had an urgent matter, something you must tell me immediately.”

  “Yes, Dr. Walt. I had a viewing.” Sam’s eyebrows raised slightly before he smoothed his brow and put on a neutral expression.

  “A viewing? I see.” The doctor scratched his chin and pondered for a moment, no doubt lost in his constant ruminations about the nature of the viewings. The old man shook his head slightly, as if to shake off the thoughts, and looked back to Lahim.

  “Oh, I almost forgot. Sam was discussing something with me and offered to come along. I hope that’s okay.”

  “Of course,” Lahim said. “I would like for Sam to be involved. The matter affects him also, maybe more strongly than most.”

  “Well, then,” Dr. Walt said, moving his hands in a circular motion to indicate he wanted to get on with it, “what have you seen?”

  Lahim Chode looked into Dr. Walt’s eyes, face set and serious. “I have seen a new threat, a new evil in Gythe.” He caught motion from the corner of his eye and was sure he saw a small smirk on Sam’s face, quickly hidden in a soft cough.

  “A woman named Ayim Rasaad, an expert energy user, is building forces to take advantage of the confusion, the ‘hole’ in the power structure since the Gray Man’s death.”

  Sam spoke up. “How do you know this?”

  “I have viewed it, heard her in conversation with one of her colleagues. I heard the other say her name. She will track down three items, ancient artifacts. I witnessed her reading an ancient manuscript, but not out loud. I couldn’t see the words, but she described these items as being very powerful. She intends to use them to obtain complete control over Gythe.”

  “Where is she?” Sam asked.

  “I’m afraid I don’t know,” Chode admitted.

  Sam looked to Dr. Walt and then back to Lahim. He didn’t say anything further.

  Lahim knew when someone thought he was hallucinating but was too polite to say so. He felt his hopes shrink and disappear.

  “I’ll try to find more information, but my viewings don’t work that way. Most often, the information I get is not that which I’m looking for. I’ll try, though.”

  Dr. Walt looked sincerely sorry for him. “Don’t overdo it, Lahim. You are weak yet. Let yourself heal and then you can search for more information. If you tax yourself, your health will suffer. We will take what you say under advisement and I’ll see if I can find records of the artifacts you mentioned. Thank you for telling us. Get some rest now.”

  The two exited the room, leaving Lahim Chode with only his failure. He would have to make them see. What he had witnessed scared him to his core. If the Gray Man was bad, this Rasaad was worse because she would have powerful artifacts at her disposal. He had to find more information, find a way to convince them.

  He took a sip of water, adjusted the pillows on his bed so he was more comfortable, and began to breathe rhythmically. Soon, he was in a state of meditation that was necessary for his mind to relax and become receptive to the information from the matrix, the stream of time and space which included all things. He would find more information. He had to.

  After leaving Lahim Chode’s room, Sam looked at Dr. Walt as they walked along. “What do you think? Is Lahim just dreaming things up for attention or does he believe that he actually sees the future?”

  “I do not believe he does it for attention,” Dr. Walt said. “He does not see the future all the time. What he told us just now seems like it is happening in the present, but far away. From what I have read of remote viewing, that is the way of it. Sometimes it is distant, sometimes forward or back in time, sometimes both.”

  “But do you actually believe there’s something there? I don’t understand this whole time and space matrix stuff he talks about. I know I said I’d try to keep an open mind, but really, it seems like prophecy, like in fiction. Sometimes with the things that can be done with the rohw, it seems like magic, but prophecy? That’s kind of a lot to swallow.”

  Dr. Walt stopped walking and looked at Sam. “It is, I agree. I still tend to base my opinions on things I learned in Telani. Things that are possible there are obviously possible here, even more so I think. The reading I have done on remote viewing says that such things can be done.

  “At different periods of time, governments of one nation or another did research into extra-sensory abilities, trying to get an edge in reconnaissance or combat. Germany, the Soviet Union, the United States, all of these and more had programs to use these types of abilities. Their development and use is documented. If such things are possible on Telani, how much more so on Gythe, where the natural world holds more power. You yourself have said that the rohw is much stronger here. Why not these other things?”

  “I guess you’re right,” Sam said. “It sounds far-fetched to me, but I suppose it’s possible. I don’t know why it bothers me. Maybe it’s because I feel like I’m being manipulated, like my choices aren’t my own. I don’t like anyone telling me how I must live my own life.”

  Dr. Walt slapped Sam on the shoulder. “I totally understand, but I don’t think this has anything to do with free will. Lahim claims to be able to see things in the stream of time. The things he sees don’t seem to be prophecies in the sense that they are unchangeable. For all I know, they are just a possibility. When he se
es something in the present time, though, I think we would do well to consider it. At least until we have more evidence one way or another.”

  “I suppose.” Sam was silent as he started walking again, Dr. Walt following. “Dr. Walt, why have you not trained in using the rohw? You’ve been here so long, studying everything here, I would have thought you’d try it out. I know not everyone has an affinity for it, but my understanding is anyone can meditate and feel the rohw.”

  “Quite right, Sam. I have tried, on occasion, to learn to use the vibratory energy and to come into harmony with it. Because I have no natural talent for it, learning is very slow and, well, not to put too fine a point on it, I’m lazy. I will go through phases wherein I meditate and practice, but then one thing or another happens and I stop. Now that I am settled in one place, not on the run from some enemy, perhaps I will take up the practice again and try it out.”

  “I see,” Sam said. “I understand that. It’s hard to create a habit. I bounced back and forth with meditating when I first started doing it in Telani. I’d be good for maybe a month but then I’d drift away from doing it daily. It took a good long while to make it a habit. In fact, it still wasn’t something I did all the time until I came here and started training. Let me know if I can help in any way when you decide to start up again.”

  “I definitely will, Sam. Thank you. As for Lahim and his viewings, I think I’ll see if there are any books in the library talking about artifacts of power. Can’t be too careful, you know.”

  As they split up, Dr. Walt going to his library and Sam to his room, he thought about that. The scholar was right, of course. Better to heed the warnings and then have them be false than to ignore them and be stuck with the consequences. Pondering the strange powers in the world, he made his way back to his chamber to think on it properly.

  Chapter 12

  This world of Gythe was fantastic, confusing, frustrating, and scary all at the same time, Nicole Sharp thought. Yep, just like home.

  She had only been here a couple of weeks, but the things she’d seen were amazing. Sure, technology was primitive here, but even the relatively small sample she’d seen of the landscape was beautiful. She thought she might really like to stay here. As if she had a choice.

  Truth be told, she did have a choice. Sam could bring her back home and leave her there if she wanted, but he was firm in his conviction that he would stay here from now on. She had nothing for her back on Earth. No, she would stay with her son and see all the wonders of this new world. At least there wasn’t some maniacal villain like her brother had become, killing people and seizing whole villages.

  Grayson. She still could hardly believe he had been here all that time, had become the most powerful man in the world, had become a murderer. She hoped he was at peace now, after all those years. Sam swore to her that he was lucid and reasonable in the end. He had regained his humanity. She believed Sam. Wanted—no, needed—to believe him.

  “Are you ready to go?” Nalia asked in English. Nicole had been trying to learn Kasmali, but didn’t know much yet.

  “Sure am,” Nicole said cheerfully. She smiled at Nalia, already calling her “daughter” in her mind, though she wasn’t even sure if they had such a thing as marriage in Gythe. She really did love this beautiful, deadly warrior. Well, beautiful to anyone from Earth—she guessed she should refer to it as Telani. Here on Gythe, based on popluar notions of attractiveness, Nalia was horribly ugly. Nicole still found the difference hard to believe. Not for the first time, she wondered if she was pretty or ugly here and what that really meant to her Earthborn sensibilities.

  “Sam went to the workshop to get something out of the storage area,” Nalia told her. “We will meet him at his room and then we will go on to our destination.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Nicole answered. The two left the room and headed toward where Sam’s was.

  He was just stepping out of his door with a sack in his hands when the two women got there. Nicole looked at her son. He had changed from the clothing he had worn when they came here into more Gythian attire: rugged britches tucked into calf-high boots, a sturdy tunic over some type of linen shirt, staff in hand, all wrapped up in a forest green cloak. When did he get so tall, so regal? He looked so much like his father had. Not really physically, though she saw similarities, but in his manner, in the way he held himself. Her heart ached as she looked at him.

  “Mom,” Sam said, “are you okay? You look faint.”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I was just wondering when you got to look so much like a movie hero. Just look at you, with your magic weapon and your cloak.”

  She watched him look down at himself and blush. “Ahimiro isn’t really magic, just porzul wood, harder than steel and great at channeling rohw through. And it’s cold out there. These cloaks are awesome. I always thought they’d get in the way, but they’re warm and functional and pretty cool looking, huh?” He turned in a circle and laughed, cloak flaring out from him as he did so.

  She grabbed him mid-spin and hugged him tight. “I love you, you know. I’m glad you were willing to bring me with you when you came back here.”

  He hugged her back. “Of course. I don’t ever want to be in a different world from you. Again.”

  He looked to Nalia, got a mischievous look in his eye, and grabbed their hands, one in each of his. “C’mon, I can’t wait to show you where we’re going. I think you’ll like it.” He dragged them down the corridor.

  Sam checked in with Dr. Walt, who was in one of the libraries, of course. “We’re going to head south for the day. We should be back by dinner time.”

  He absently waved at them. “Splendid. I’ll see you then.” His eyes never left the book he was reading.

  Sam brought Nalia and Nicole to the room next to the library, a small meeting chamber. “This will do,” he said. He set the sack he had brought with him on the ground and directed them to sit on the floor with him and hold one of his hands each. He seemed to breathe more deeply and slowly, and within moments they disappeared from the room.

  As Nicole opened her eyes, all she saw was vegetation. They were sitting in a clearing, a meadow of some kind, in very thick forest. The grass of the meadow was dying out with the season, as were the ferns between the trees. There was a mix of evergreens and trees with most of their leaves gone, leaving skeletal shapes that seemed to complement their lusher cousins. She looked up and saw the bright blue of the morning sky overhead. It was also a bit warmer here than where they came from. Still chilly, but not so much as where they had left. The scent of the living forest wafted in front of her nose. It smelled…green. Like life itself.

  “Oh, Sam, it’s beautiful. I’ve never seen a forest this thick back home.”

  He smiled at her. “That’s not all. This spot, the very spot on which we’re sitting, is where my meditation room was on Telani. This clearing,” he swept his arms out wide to encompass it all, “is where my old house is, the one in Southern California. This is where I first came to Gythe.”

  “But,” she said, “there are so many trees. It’s all desert back home.”

  “I know. Imagine my surprise when I found out it was the same location. It’s kind of crazy, right?”

  “Definitely,” Nicole said.

  “But that’s not nearly all,” Sam continued. “Come on, there’s more.”

  The three stood and Sam took off into the trees. He had a look of concentration on his face and she wondered what he was thinking so hard about.

  Within a few minutes, Sam had slowed and then stopped. Nicole swore she could hear words in her mind, though she knew it was probably just the sounds of the animals and insects in the foliage. Aside from those sounds, it was very quiet here, without all the noises she had always taken for granted back home. She thought about how it was always more quiet in Gythe, without all the background buzzing, roaring, hissing, and other such distractions from modern technology. That was one of the things she loved about this new world.

  It…
been…weeks…not…see…Words did seem to be entering into her mind, and they seemed to be getting louder.

  Nalia…mother…yes…meet…Nicole shook her head, trying to ignore the words. Was she starting to hear voices? She grew concerned.

  Nicole noticed then that Sam had stopped and that he was focusing his attention on the forest floor just ahead of him. There was some activity there, the sound of something moving about.

  “Mom,” Sam said, “I’d like you to meet Skitter, my best friend on Gythe.”

  A small creature covered in reddish-brown fur emerged from the undergrowth just ahead of Sam. It had a wise little face with a sharp nose and large green eyes without pupils. Its face looked almost raccoon-like. No, more like a lemur or some type of small monkey. Its body was shaped like a badger or possibly a raccoon, but with a stiff bottle-brush tail that looked to be wagging. He was the cutest thing she had ever seen.

  “Oh!” she exclaimed. “He’s adorable. Do you think it would be okay to hug him, maybe pet him?”

  Sam looked a little uncomfortable.

  Okay…mother…must nurture…saw…in…mind. The words were insistent in Nicole’s mind.

  She answered the voice with her own voice, within her mind. Who are you? Why are you talking in my mind?

  The small creature froze.

  Sam? the voice in her mind said. She finally understood what was happening.

  No, it’s Nicole, she sent back.

  There was silence, both outside and inside her mind.

  “Mom,” Sam said, “can you hear Skitter in your mind? Can you speak with him?”

  “Yes,” she said, laughing, “I think I can.”

  Can…hug…you? she sent to him.

  Okay, the answer came.

  She carefully picked up the hapaki and hugged him to her chest, stroking the fur on his head. Feelings of contentment leaked out of the little creature into her mind.