Harmonic Magic Series Boxed Set

by P. E. Padilla

  “We have trouble,” Sam whispered to her. “They’re about to catch the whole meadow on fire. The grass is mostly green, but I think maybe there’s enough dead grass in here for the fire to spread.”

  “My father was correct, then,” she said. “He was wondering why they had not tried to burn us out yet. I am not sure where the twins are, but my father is just over there.” She pointed to a location south of them. “He said he will try to reach the edge and eliminate some of the archers.”

  Skitter, Sam sent, can you find a way out of the meadow, between two of the groups of people? If they start burning the grass with you so close to them, you won’t survive.

  I have already found a place to slip through them, the hapaki sent back. I will try to move slowly outside their ring. Wish me luck.

  Good luck, Sam sent. Be careful.

  Of course. You too. I’ll see you after you take care of these scary men. There was a bit of humor in the last sending.

  Sam hoped they could get out of this one, as the hapaki thought they could.

  While he was thinking, the images from Skitter’s mind suddenly stopped.

  Chapter 39

  Sam gasped.

  Skitter! Sam sent. Are you all right?

  Yes, Skitter replied. Sorry, I should have warned you. It takes concentration to send images to you. I need to pay attention to trying to slip around the humans.

  Oh, okay. Sam took a deep breath. Let me know when you’re safe.

  Yessir, Skitter sent. Sam thought that maybe the hapaki had spent too much time in Sam’s memories. He seemed more and more human all the time. He let a hint of a smile creep onto his face.

  “Be ready, Sam,” Nalia said. “We must be prepared to move when the time is right. Caught between arrows and fire, there will be no second chance to do it correctly.”

  “I understand,” he said. He felt like a whole bucket of worms had been dumped into his belly.

  He reached over and squeezed her arm, looking into those beautiful eyes of hers. She leaned toward him, kissed him quickly, and said, “Do not die, Sam. We have much living yet to do. Together.”

  “Together,” he agreed, and suddenly felt as if he could do anything, would do anything, to make that a reality.

  The entire world seemed to be holding its breath. There was no sound but the soft rustling of the grass in the breeze, no sight but Nalia and their grassy prison. He could smell the greenness of their surroundings, the smell of fresh air and grass that had been trampled and broken, so much like the smell of freshly cut lawn he remembered so well.

  Then, he smelled smoke. Whether it was from the torches or from the grass burning, he didn’t know. He looked at Nalia in alarm, but she didn’t seem to be worried. To fight the panic, he remembered Rindu’s lessons. He closed his eyes, breathed deeply, and calmed his heart.

  He pictured himself in the center of his own vision. Around him, he spread his aura, his energy, in a wide circle. He had done this before. He would sense anything that intruded into his space. Including flames. He felt better knowing that there were none close to him. Yet.

  Sam thought he heard some kind of commotion to the south, but couldn’t be sure. His ears seemed to be searching for things, picking up on sounds and then trying to interpret them. He would have to wait until something more definite happened, until he could clearly see or hear danger.

  I’m safely outside the ring of people, Skitter sent to Sam. I’ll show you what I’m seeing.

  Images rushed into Sam’s head of the same people Skitter showed him before. They still had not put the torches to the grass. They were apparently waiting for the others surrounding the meadow to get into position.

  There was a squishing sound and then something falling to the grass. At first Sam wasn’t sure if he had heard it correctly, but he quickly realized that it was something Skitter had heard with his better-than-human ears. There was no doubt about it, Rindu or the others were on the move.

  “Almost now,” Nalia said. “We will move in just a moment.” She was looking to the south, as if the grass wasn’t there to block her view.

  Sudden shouts broke out and Sam watched through Skitter’s eyes as the men and women in his view dipped the torches to the grass. The brown blades caught fire immediately, and the green weren’t too far behind. Before long, there would be a firestorm heading toward them.

  “Come quickly,” Nalia said to him, tugging on his arm. “We must go this way.”

  She headed off toward the south, in a crouch-run. Shonyb and Cleave crawled on their bellies after them. Sam hoped that she knew where she was going. He also hoped the twins had made it out of what would soon be a furnace.

  They broke into a tamped-down section of the grass. It appeared to be the edge of the meadow, but it was still sheltered from sight by the long grass. In the middle of the small clearing were two bodies, both bleeding from holes in their necks. Rindu’s throwing spikes.

  Sam saw motion at the edge of the grass and turned to see Rindu moving toward them in a crouch.

  “This way,” he said. “There are still many archers out there, so continue to stay low.”

  Sam and Nalia followed him. The smell of burned brush was getting stronger and there was a thick layer of smoke forming from the wet grass being burned. The smoke would help hide them. If it didn’t kill them first.

  They passed three more bodies as they followed Rindu. They were almost to the trees bordering the meadow. All they had to do was to get into the cover of the trees and they could escape. There was no way their attackers could outrun the rakkeben once they were able to mount.

  “Where are the twins?” Sam asked. “Did you see them?”

  Rindu shook his head.

  “We can’t just leave them here,” Sam said. “What if they’re hurt? What if they get trapped in the fire? We have to help them.”

  “Shh,” Rindu said. “Yes, Sam, I know. We will not leave them. But we must circle around and defeat the archers who are waiting to kill us as we flee. Only then can we search for Emerius and Inoria effectively.”

  The monk was right, Sam knew. He looked to the trees and then back at the burning grass. The twins wouldn’t have come for him if the situation was reversed, he thought. At least, Emerius wouldn’t. Maybe Inoria would. He supposed it didn’t make a difference. The situation was not different. They needed his help and he would give it. Clenching his teeth, he crouch-ran into the trees and then stopped.

  With all the smoke, it was difficult to see, but he thought he saw movement off to his left. He nodded to Nalia and Rindu and started moving in that direction. Nalia came with him, but Rindu pointed to himself and then off to the right. He would go and take care of the attackers in that direction.

  The smoke ended abruptly, surprising Sam. Fortunately, his appearance thirty feet away surprised the three archers as well. While they froze for a fraction of a second, trying to understand what was happening, Sam was already in action, running at a full sprint toward them, throwing the stick in his right hand at the woman who was drawing her bow back to shoot an arrow at him.

  His stick hit her square in the face. Even above the other sounds, he heard her nose break. She fell backward, the arrow spinning off above Sam’s head. Another woman, this one with a crossbow, had regained her senses and shot a bolt at Sam. Too committed in his run to dodge, he used his rohw to sense where it would be and swing his remaining stick at it. He was happy to hear the thunk of his weapon striking the shaft and causing it to go wide. He was vaguely aware of the man with a bow shooting at Nalia on his left and her deflecting his arrow with one of her shrapezi so that it passed harmlessly to her side.

  Then they were on the three attackers. Sam didn’t stop, but launched himself into a flying kick as the woman with the crossbow was trying to crank back the handle to load another quarrel. He struck her square in the chest, knocking her from her feet and causing the crossbow to fly out of her hands. He dropped his shoulder, rolled to pick up the stick he had thrown w
ithout stopping, and came to his feet as the woman he had just kicked was trying to regain hers. One solid strike on the back of her head and she crumpled into a heap. Sam didn’t use full force for fear of killing her, which wasn’t necessary.

  The man Nalia had gone after was able to draw a sword and had tried to attack the Sapsyr. He was on the ground, bleeding from several nasty cuts, including one that had taken his hand off at the wrist. Nalia held her shrapezi at the ready, looking around for other opponents.

  Sam found the woman with the broken nose lying in the grass, blood pouring from her face. Tears were streaming from her eyes as the blood came from her ruined nose. She looked to be trying to see through the red liquid, but couldn’t. Sam tried to apply the rohw strike to the base of her skull like Rindu did, but it didn’t work for him. Nalia stepped up calmly and punched the woman—softly, Sam thought—on the temple. She collapsed. Nalia rolled her to her side, with her head facing down.

  Sam looked at her.

  “There is no use killing this one,” she said. “This way, she will not choke on her blood.”

  They found three more groups of attackers before they started to see bodies with arrows in them. That was a good sign; the twins had survived, or at least one of them had.

  A few minutes later they saw Emerius bent over one of the attackers, reclaiming his arrows from the body. The fire had burned the grass quickly but then started to fizzle out when it got to the trees, which were too green to catch fire. The ferns and other green foliage under the trees weren’t catching fire, either. It seemed that the danger of being burned alive was lessening.

  Inoria came up from behind Emerius, waving. Oro lumbered behind her. “Are you okay?” she asked them as she came up to the body at their feet so she could remove her arrow. It had gone through the attacker’s right eye.

  “We’re fine,” Sam said. “Have you seen Rindu? He’s finishing up the last of the people who ambushed us, I think.”

  “No,” Emerius said. “We saw some bodies that were probably his handiwork, but we haven’t seen him.”

  Sam noticed that Emerius had a strip of cloth tied around his left arm. It was soaked with blood. “Are you injured?” Sam asked him.

  “Just a minor cut,” Emerius said. “He winged me. I got the bastard, though.”

  “Em pushed me out of the way of an arrow coming at me but wasn’t able to get out of the way himself,” Inoria said. “He saved my life.” She turned to him. “What does that make, six times you’ve saved my life to only four times I saved yours. I’m getting behind.”

  Emerius grinned at her through gritted teeth. “You’ll just have to try harder, sis.”

  Rindu came jogging up to the others, looking as if he had just been wandering the meadow, out on a stroll. “Are we all accounted for?” he asked.

  “No,” Sam said. “There’s still—”

  I’m here, Skitter sent. Right behind you.

  Sam looked back and saw the hapaki bounding through the grass toward them. “Oh. Yes, that’s all of us. Quite the adventure, eh?”

  The party moved out of the burned area, heading south and east again. They traveled for another hour, just to get far enough away so that they weren’t smelling smoke anymore. Sam learned the area and they went back to Whitehall early, needing to wash and to tend to Emerius’s wound. It was only two hours until sundown in any case, so they wouldn’t be losing too much travel time.

  Dr. Walt sat heavily into a cushioned chair in his library, looking over at Torim Jet and Palusa Filk.

  “These meetings are getting harder and harder to get through,” he said. “We don’t have much more than a dozen delegates and it’s already impossible to get an idea across. It makes me understand why dictators just take power.”

  “You do not mean that, Dr. Walt,” Torim Jet said. “It is difficult, true, but it will be worth the work when the new government is formed and operating.”

  “Yes, you’re right, of course,” the old scholar said. “It’s just frustrating trying to design a government from the ground up. It makes me respect the group of men who created the country I come from much more. In fact, I am using what they did as a model for the structure we are trying to set up.”

  “I was glad to see that it was nearly unanimous when deciding if resources will be allocated to rebuild the Zouyim temple,” Palusa Filk said. “It is good to know that the Zouyim are still respected.”

  “Yes, there is that,” Dr. Walt said. “If only we could get them to agree to our other proposals as easily.”

  Torim Jet patted the scholar’s shoulder as he walked toward the door. “Do not worry. Things will become easier, more organized. The beginning is always the hardest part. You will see.”

  “Thank you, Torim. And thank both of you for joining me in the meeting. It’s always nice to have someone else to take some of the focus off me when people start to argue.”

  “It is our honor to help,” Torim said. “Individual local governments would often ask the Zouyim for counsel in matters of governance. Perhaps we will have some small part in the structure you will set up for Gythe.”

  “You definitely will, whether it is a permanent seat on the ruling council or in some other capacity.” Dr. Walt rubbed his eyes and sighed. “I will see you in the dining hall in a couple of hours. I have a few things to look up.”

  The two Zouyim left, passing between the guards that shadowed Dr. Walt’s steps every moment of the day. He hardly noticed them anymore. He hoped Sam and the others could clear up this mess with Ayim Rasaad and he could get the new government up and running so he could fade into the background again. He dearly missed being able to spend his time researching the subjects that were near to his heart.

  Sighing again, he picked up the book he had last been skimming. He had an hour or two to try to find more information for Sam before going to eat. He would make use of every minute.

  Chapter 40

  Nicole followed Max into the depths of the rainforest. She was nervous on so many levels. Most unreasonable was the feeling that she was stepping into danger. That was ridiculous. She had come to know Max, to trust him. Why would he lead her into a trap? For his own racial pride, choosing his people over the strange human? She thrust the thought from her mind. She knew the hapaki to be honorable and fair. They would never do something like that. Max would never do something like that. She hoped she wasn’t broadcasting those thoughts. That made her even more nervous.

  More than anything else, though, she felt like she was about to make a first impression that was of utmost importance to this community, the hapaki in general, and probably to all of Gythe. The task was hers to succeed in, or fail at miserably. That didn’t do a lot for her nerves. She already felt pterodactyls active in her stomach. The feeling was much too big for butterflies.

  It will be fine, Max sent to her along with feelings of comfort. I already explained who you are and what your mission is. They just want to hear it from you. Relax.

  I’m trying, Nicole sent back, but everyone back at Whitehall is relying on me. Sam is relying on me.

  It will be fine.

  She realized her friend had slowed and was stopping. She didn’t see anything different about this section of forest compared to where she was before, but it felt different. That was it, she felt comfortable and welcome. It was the community’s emotions being sent into her mind. It felt wonderful, as if she had come home after a long trip.

  Max, a sending came, awkward as if using the label was something unfamiliar, has told us of you humans. That last word seemed to give the sender even more trouble, as if he—or she—had difficulty pronouncing it. She remembered that both she and Max had to become accustomed to communicating. She had learned to send her feelings, but she wasn’t as proficient as she should have been to speak with hapaki who didn’t understand the humans’ differing form of communication. Well, she had to work with what she had.

  Nicole was not sure if she was supposed to answer. She remained silent.


  The voice sent again. We would like for you to tell us of your people, of your task. We would like to know about you, as well.

  Nicole took a deep breath to steady her nerves. To tell you about myself, and my task, I must tell you of another. Of my son, and of his friend Skitter, the first hapaki in memory to communicate with a human…

  For some reason, Nicole sensed a small feeling of contradiction about what she had just said, but she tried not to let it shake her and continued on.

  The communication was slow and at times difficult, due mostly to the hapaki getting accustomed to the unfamiliar concepts of words, labels, even gender. They muddled through, however, and when three hours had passed—Nicole guessed it had been that long from how far the sun had traveled—she finished all that she had planned to say. She was exhausted, but no longer nervous. The feelings filtering in from the hapaki were cordial, if not friendly, as well as polite and respectful. Even more importantly, as she was communicating with them, a number of the furry creatures had stepped out into the open, many coming from openings to dens she had not seen until the movements caught her eye.

  She remembered the hapaki community she had seen to the far South, the one that had been destroyed and the hapaki taken away. A lump formed in her throat

  Are you well? a hapaki voice came into her mind, one she had not heard before. It must have felt the spike in her sadness.

  She swallowed and sent her thoughts back, I have not told you everything that has happened. We tried to contact another community before yours. She told them the story, sending images of the hapaki dens torn up and the solar tubes destroyed and was not surprised by the feelings of horror coming back toward her.

  We have heard enough, the original hapaki sent. She got the sense that it was the eldest, the most respected hapaki, that was sending thoughts to her. Max had told her that the communities did not have leaders but cooperated with each other to make decisions. Still, the older and wiser hapaki were respected and their opinions given more weight. Of course we will take part in the government—that word was sent with difficulty, also—that is being set up. How could we withhold our vast intelligence from the lesser creatures of Gythe? One of us will go with you as our representative. Is this acceptable to you?