Harmonic Magic Series Boxed Set

by P. E. Padilla

  Nalia took a deep breath. She opened her mouth to speak, but then took another deep breath instead and let it out in a long, slow exhalation. “Fine. You are correct. There is no other way I can see. Perhaps it is the only way.”

  Sam looked to Ix. “What do you say, Ix? Would you be willing to help?”

  “I will,” Ix said, “if for no other reason than to make amends for my dishonorable actions before. Let me know what you would have me do and I will do my best to help.”

  “Great,” Sam said. “I guess the first thing is to tell you what’s going on. Then we can talk about how you can help.”

  He explained to her briefly about the three artifacts, Ayim Rasaad, Baron Tingai, the assassin Vahi—her eyebrows raised at the mention of a mutant assassin, almost as if she were interested in the rivalry—and the other things that had happened in the last several weeks. When he finished with the assault on Gutu, he stopped and looked at her.

  “What we need is for you to skim for us. If we can overtake Rasaad’s forces and pass them, we can get to Iboghan first, and get Orum. That will effectively stop her quest to use the artifacts because she needs all three to access their ultimate power. We’ll still have the army to deal with, but it will be a major victory for our side.”

  “What you propose just may work,” Ix said, “but how do you propose to have all the people, items, and mounts touch me so that I can carry them along when I skim? I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I am not a large person.”

  “Oh,” Sam said, “that’s the easy part. If you take just me along—”

  “And me as well,” Nalia added.

  “If you take Nalia and me along,” Sam continued, “I can learn the final location where we will stop for the day and then retrieve everyone else.”

  “You are larger than me, Sam, to be sure,” Ix said, laughing, “but still you will find it difficult to be touching everything you need to transport.”

  “That’s not a problem either,” Sam said. “My teleporting works a little differently. I can extend it out from myself, kind of like a bubble, and teleport everything within it. The largest bubble I’ve made for teleporting people is about twenty feet wide, but I think I can do a larger area, if I need to.”

  “Really?” Ix said. “That would be useful. Our talents seem to differ in key ways. Very well, it sounds like what you propose will work. When will we leave?”

  “The morning is soon enough,” Sam said. “I’d rather travel in the daylight so we can see where we are. Welcome to the party, Ix.”

  In the morning, everyone met at a dining hall for breakfast. Dr. Walt and the Zouyim were there, too, with Bao Ling in tow. She chattered contentedly throughout breakfast, asking questions of Palusa Filk and Torim Jet. She sat next to Ix, who seemed to delight in the child and appeared to want to spend every minute she could with her before she left.

  “Nalia arranged for me to be in the room next to hers,” Ix said, “no doubt to make sure no one bothered me.”

  Sam noticed that Nalia was studying her bread a little too intensely. “That was kind of you, Nal,” Sam said. He watched as her cheeks flushed red.

  “It’s okay, Nalia,” Ix said. “I understand. You don’t trust me and you’ll be watching me. That’s fine. I deserve it. I will prove to you that I have regained my honor and changed my ways. You’ll see and then we will be good friends. Eventually.” Nalia’s face was carefully neutral, but Sam knew her opinion on that statement.

  “Bao Ling has told me you started teaching her in your clan martial art,” Palusa Filk said to Ix. “She showed me some of her movements. She shows promise. I think that what she knows will fit in nicely with the Zouyim method for combat. I would like to discuss your clan art with you sometime. It fascinates me.”

  Ix bowed her head to the Zouy. “I would enjoy that, Palusa Filk.”

  When breakfast was finished, Sam, Nalia, and Ix went to the stables. Shonyb, Cleave, and a manu bird were readied for the three.

  “Why are we taking mounts?” Ix asked.

  “I figure that in between skimming, we will want to scout around and get our bearings. From how you described your talent, it didn’t seem like you were able to target a precise location. Between scouting and analyzing the ley lines and vortices, we should be able to keep on course, more or less. We may not need to ride, but I figure it’s better to have mounts and not need them than the other way around.”

  “That is good reasoning,” Ix said. “Are we ready, then?”

  Sam and Nalia both nodded. “I’ll teleport us to Gutu. We can start there, skimming the path that Ayim Rasaad’s forces took. It seems like the most logical way to do it. Hold on just a minute. My teleporting is not nearly as fast as yours.”

  Sam sat on the ground and entered the khulim. Within two minutes, the three humans and their mounts appeared at the camp they had set up outside of Gutu.

  “Okay,” Sam said, “let’s get started.”

  It took a few minutes to figure out the best way to ensure that there was contact between Ix and the rest of the party. Sam and Nalia simply grabbed hold of one of her arms each, but the assassin had to touch the mounts or they would be left behind. They finally settled into position with all three mounted, Ix pulling up a pant leg to expose the skin on her leg to contact the manu bird, and her grabbing a handful of rakkeben fur to complete the connection. Checking to make sure Sam and Nalia were holding her arms, she teleported them north, and they were off.

  Sam noticed as they jumped that first time that it felt different than his method of traveling. With him, he felt comfortable, in control, and at peace with his surroundings. In fact, that was the whole basis of how he teleported: he became one with the vibrations of the particular place to which he would travel.

  Ix’s method, on the other hand, was so fast it took his breath from him. He had the sudden sensation of falling, as if the ground he was standing on instantly disappeared and he was in free fall. It was disconcerting, but kind of fun, too. He got that stomach-in-his-throat feeling like he did when on a roller coaster going down a steep decline.

  They appeared in the middle of a road. Sam’s stomach settled back to its normal location. “Wow!” he said. “That’s much different than when I do it.”

  “Yes,” Ix said. “Your way is much slower. I honestly don’t know how you have the patience for it.”

  “It works for my purposes,” he said. He looked around at the trees surrounding the place they were standing. “How far did we go?”

  “Who knows?” Ix said with a shrug. “It’s more important to me to keep from teleporting us into a tree or solid rock…or a person. My main focus is to cast my senses out ahead of us to prevent something catastrophic. I figure we will know when we get close to the ones we seek. Actual distance is irrelevant.”

  “It is not irrelevant,” Nalia said. “We must know how far we travel so that we may know how long it will take to get there.”

  “Oh, Nalia,” Ix said in a honey sweet voice, “let’s not argue. We have plenty of time to catch them.”

  Sam noted the nearby mountains. He would use them as landmarks for determining their course after the next hop. When he was finished looking around, he gave Ix a nod. She teleported them again.

  This time, when Sam looked around, he was able to pick out a particularly large mountain he had seen at the last location. Though he couldn’t estimate how far they had gone, at least he had an idea of where they were in relation to his landmark. He studied this new place as well, picking out another mountain to the north.

  “The road appears to travel due north,” he said, judging his direction based on where the sun sat in the sky. “It seems like the long way around to go northeast.” He thought for a moment and then realized the reason. “Oh, of course. The mountains to the northeast make travel difficult. Going this way is longer, but the route is easier. I seem to recall that there are highways right along here in my world, large roads for vehicles to travel.”

  “Tha
t’s good,” Ix said. “The longer the route, the longer it will take them to get there. We’ll have more time to catch and then overtake them.”

  They continued on, skimming to a new location, analyzing where they were, and then moving on again. Ix became more impatient with every stop they made.

  “We’ll never catch them if you stop and take half an hour to look around every time we get to a new location,” she said.

  “I’m sorry, Ix,” Sam said, “but I want to make sure we’re tracking them. It’s been so long since they passed this way, any sign of them has been obliterated.” He looked more carefully at her. “Are you feeling okay? You look kind of tired.”

  The assassin shook her head and rubbed her eyes. “I am a little tired. I’ve never teleported so many people and things before. Maybe it’s more difficult for me than just skimming myself. I feel as if I have been fighting all day.”

  “Sam can teleport any number of people and things without it being more of a strain on him,” Nalia said.

  Ix just stared at the Sapsyr.

  Nalia stared back.

  “Now, now, come on,” Sam said. “Let’s not bicker. Do you want to stop for the day, Ix? We don’t want you to overdo it. We have a long way to go and it’s better to pace ourselves.”

  Ix shifted her gaze to Sam and lost the hostile expression. “I think I’m good for a couple more hops. Then we can rest a little.”

  “Sounds good,” Sam said. “Thank you again for doing this. There’s no way we’d be able to do it without your help.”

  Ix smirked in Nalia’s direction and prepared to skim again.

  After two more locations, Ix could hardly sit straight in her saddle on her manu bird. Sam finished looking around and noting the prominent landmarks and then watched her for a moment. “We’re done for the day,” he said. “Here, let’s dismount and rest for a few minutes. I’ll learn this place and then we can head back to Whitehall for some food and a good night’s sleep.”

  “Do you not want to try to travel on the mounts for at least some further distance?” Nalia asked. “It is barely mid-afternoon.”

  “No. The extra time could be used to rest. If Ix can get the rest she needs, she’ll make up more than a day’s travel in one hop. Let’s go back.”

  Within a few minutes, Sam had memorized the vibratory signature of the place they had stopped. It looked as most of the places they had stopped during the day, a road cut through trees with mountains off on the horizon. He knew they had traveled quite a distance, but couldn’t determine how much. It was enough, he thought. With the distance Rasaad had to travel to get to the next artifact, she would be barely halfway there at this time. There was plenty of time to catch her. Unless he had miscalculated. Forcing the thought from his head, he entered the khulim and teleported himself and the others back to Whitehall.

  After settling in the rakkeben, Sam and the two women went to eat a late lunch. Ix walked slowly, obviously exhausted. He hadn’t thought of that before. They would have to pace themselves more carefully. If Ix became too tired to skim for them, he wasn’t sure they’d be able to get to the drum in time.

  “I will go and rest for a bit,” Ix said to them as she headed toward her room. “I’ll see you at dinner time.”

  Sam gave her a considering look. A little rest was all she needed and she’d be as good as new. “We seem to have an entire afternoon free,” he said to Nalia. “I am going to catch up on some things with Rindu, but I’d like to spar a little later, if you think you might be able to handle being beaten.”

  Nalia smirked at him. “Why, are you going to bring several friends to help you?” She kissed him and headed off in the other direction. “I will be ready when you are. I will visit with Palusa Filk and the girl Bao Ling. Come retrieve me when you feel you cannot stand being bruiseless any longer.”

  With a wave, he headed toward Rindu’s room.

  Chapter 49

  Sam found the Zouy sitting ramrod straight at his little table, doing calligraphy.

  “What do those characters mean?” Sam asked, looking over the scroll on which Rindu was painting.

  Rindu finished the character he was drawing and then set his brush down. “This one is ‘reasoning,’ this one is ‘sufferance,’ and this one,” he pointed toward the last, “is ‘curiosity.’”

  “Curiosity?” Sam said, peering at it. “Really?”

  Rindu rolled his eyes. “No, Sam. It was a joke. It is actually the character for ‘respect.’”

  “Oh,” Sam said, laughing. “I see what you did there. You were poking fun at me for asking questions.”

  “It is said, ‘One question or two are good for learning, but more than three cause tempers burning.’” He eyed Sam from the side to see his reaction.

  “Is that a real saying or something you just made up again?”

  “Perhaps a little of both,” Rindu said, wearing a small, impish smile. At least, it was a smile for Rindu. On anyone else, it would have been only a small twitch of his mouth.

  “You’re in a feisty mood today, huh?” Sam asked.

  “It is a good day, as all days are before our death. Why are you back so soon from your traveling?”

  “We ran into a complication,” Sam said. “Apparently, the more people and things Ix teleports, the more strain on her. She became exhausted from moving us around. We’ll have to pace things better tomorrow.”

  “Why do you not just reduce the number of things she must transport?” Rindu asked.

  “I thought of that, but Nalia would never agree to just me going. We could probably do without the mounts, but I’m afraid we’ll need them to scout areas once we get further along. Right now, we’re only seeing the road and surrounding trees. Soon, though, it won’t be so easy to find our way. Maybe we can leave the rakkeben and the manu here and then I can teleport back and retrieve them if we need them.”

  “That sounds a reasonable compromise,” Rindu said. “So, you have several hours you were not expecting. That is good. There are things we must work on. With how events have been unfolding lately, you and I have not been able to adequately address your training.”

  “My thought exactly,” Sam said. “I’m yours for as long as you want. What shall we do?”

  Rindu cleaned his brush and put it in its resting place in the cup beside the inkstone. “Come with me,” the Zouy said as he headed out the door.

  Sam followed the monk down corridors and turns he had never seen before. The keep was so large he still hadn’t been to most of it. “Where are we going?” Sam asked.

  “Be patient, my curious friend,” Rindu answered, and walked on.

  After more than half an hour of walking, they arrived in front of large double doors made of thick wood and bound with copper. Sam was sure he had never been here before. From their circuitous route that sloped gradually downward and the stairs they had taken, he knew they must be down very deep in the fortress. Rindu opened one of the doors and motioned for Sam to enter.

  The room was dark. Sam looked at Rindu, still standing in the doorway, framed by the light of the corridor torches. The Zouy looked back at him, waiting.

  Sam focused his rohw on the tip of Ahimiro and caused it to glow. The light opened up a circle in which Sam could see, but all that was visible was the floor itself. He couldn’t see a wall or anything else. Rindu stepped inside the room and closed the door, causing the tunnel of light from the hall to wink out.

  Sam figured the room had to be very large for him not so see the walls in his light. He walked toward the left and after several steps found a wall. It had a torch sitting in a sconce. Sam projected a sharp, intense burst of rohw energy onto the torch head and it flared to life. The new increased circle of light allowed Sam to see the next torch, ten feet away. He lit that one as well.

  Looking askance at Rindu, and getting no response, Sam walked the perimeter of the room, lighting all the torches along the way. When he made his way back to where he started, he began to light the braziers.
They were in some kind of housing, with glass set in a metal framework over the bowls and a shiny, reflective surface lining the bowl’s walls. When he lit a brazier, the light bounced off the mirrored surface and then passed through the glass and illuminate a large area of the room. It was a lantern, he realized, but much bigger than any he’d ever seen.

  He lit the last of the braziers and then looked around. They illuminated the whole area so that it was bright as daylight. The room was massive. The ceiling was not visible for the most part. Where it was, it was at least twenty feet high. The chamber was much longer than it was wide, probably over a hundred feet by maybe twenty-five. At the end, there were targets set in place. They were made of straw and had concentric circles painted on the cloth covering them.

  “An indoor archery range?” Sam asked.

  “It appears so,” Rindu said, “but we will not be using it for that purpose today.”

  The Zouy went to a cabinet near the door and retrieved several clay pots. “Come with me,” he said, and started walking toward the targets at the end of the room. Sam hadn’t noticed, but behind the targets there were hooks hanging from chains. Rindu handed the pots to Sam, grabbed two of the hooks, and pulled them toward the front of the room.

  Sam was surprised when they swung along like they were on a track. Setting the pots down to hoist Ahimiro high, and increasing its light by projecting more energy into it, he saw that there were indeed tracks in the ceiling running the length of the room and the chains were attached to some kind of roller, allowing them to be positioned smoothly anywhere along the track. It was ingenious.

  Rindu picked up one of the ceramic pots. It was the kind usually used for storing water or other liquids, with a handle on each side of the spout. The Zouy put one of the hooks through the handles so the pot was hanging from the chain. He did the same with the next pot, moving it ten feet closer to the room’s door, and likewise with the two remaining pots. When he was done, there were four pots hanging from the hooks, each approximately ten feet apart.