Rindu watched in horror as more energy than he had ever thought possible swirled around Chetra Dal. The awkum master was levitating the artifacts in front of him, turning them in a slow circle, and the energy built with each rotation. Rindu knew that the only component of the energy he could see was the rohw. How much greater would the display be if he could see the awkum as well?
Rindu tore his eyes from the energy and glanced at Sam. He and Nalia had gripped each other’s hands, squeezed, and then released. With the wall of force against them, there was not much else they could do. Sam straightened and looked into Chetra Dal’s eyes. He would die with honor. As Rindu looked to each of the others, he saw that all of them were standing straight despite their injuries. A feeling of pride washed over him.
“It has been my honor to have fought by your side,” he said, holding his hands in salute and turning to make eye contact with each of them. All of them, in turn, saluted back, even Emerius.
With few precious seconds left, Rindu generated as much rohw as he could pull from his surroundings. He battered at the shield around Chetra Dal, but it might as well have been a gnat flying into a man’s armor. First Sam, then Nalia, then the other Zouyim added their power to his, but still it was not enough to break Dal’s shield.
It had no effect. He was simply too powerful, or the artifacts were. Still, he tried and tried until his head felt as if would explode from the energy rushing through him.
Finally, Chetra Dal looked Rindu in the eyes, seeming to have gathered the power he wanted, a hurricane’s force of magic with the sole intention of destroying them and the fortress walls, maybe the cliffs themselves.
“Goodbye, my friend,” Chetra Dal said. “I truly wish it could have been otherwise.”
And he let loose a tidal wave of energy the magnitude of which had never been seen on Gythe.
Chapter 45
Sam could see the rohw component of the energy Dal had been gathering. It swirled and coalesced into a wall of force fifty feet high and stretched as far as he could see to either side. How was that much energy even possible?
It began to push out from Dal toward Sam and the others. Toward the fortress. It started slowly, but began to pick up speed with every foot it advanced. There were only seconds until it struck them, and he knew it would tear them apart completely. This was the end. The thought resonated in his mind, bouncing around and becoming larger, louder.
Resonated.
Sam’s mind whirled. He searched for the elusive thought that had tickled his consciousness. Resonance. Rindu had been working with him, trying to impress upon him the importance of resonant frequencies. What had he told him?
Resonant frequencies were related, kindred energies that could meld, add to each other, be controlled. Resonance and Harmonics, weren’t those the things Rindu had been trying to train him in? Could he use them?
The force tidal wave was almost upon him. The rohw users were still linked, their energy pooled into a vast reservoir of power. Could he use it?
Sam closed his eyes and sank into himself. His mind locked onto Rindu’s training, a small part of him sensing the impending impact of Chetra Dal’s power. It was almost upon them, but within his calm balance came an understanding of it. He could feel the frequency, feel the vibration of it, even feel what had to be the awkum, a dark and mysterious component that now somehow made sense. All his training suddenly harmonized within him but more importantly, an eerie familiarity with the new magic awakened in him.
He put himself deep within it and in so doing, became part of it. As the edges of the power touched him, it all snapped together in his mind. Instead of resisting it, he simply let it into himself, absorbed it, welcomed it as if it were he himself. And in the comfort of the sameness, he added his own pool of power to it. Rather, he added the rohw of all his friends.
It magnified Chetra Dal’s power tenfold.
Without thinking about what he was doing, Sam found his body moving with a supple grace, as if he was catching an egg gently tossed to him, moving with the trajectory of his precious gift so as not to allow it to break. He accepted it, swayed with the force of it, and then, gently at first but then with greater insistency, he threw it back from whence it came.
Right at Chetra Dal.
The ex-Zouyim master’s eyes widened as he saw what had been done. He had time only to whisper, “But…that is impossible,” before the force, magnified beyond what it had been, struck him and his army full force.
Rindu was amazed. He had thought the colossal wall of force generated by Chetra Dal and the artifacts would have crushed them to powder on the way to destroying the walls of Whitehall. All his attempts to influence it, even with the combined rohw of all his friends, were useless. He continued trying, though it seemed a meaningless act of defiance.
Until the power was yanked from his control. By Sam.
The monk could see the energies within the wall. It was eerie to see only the rohw half, with empty spaces that had to have been filled with the awkum. Still, the rohw, glowing more brightly than anything he had ever seen, was enough to track the tidal wave’s movement as it rushed toward them, gathering speed.
He watched it with wide eyes as it came, felt its intrusion into his aura. Rindu was not fatalistic, but he knew it was the end of their lives, the end of life on Gythe as all had known it. It saddened him, but he was content with death rather than to see his entire world subjugated by another madman. Once in his life was enough.
The swirling wall of power came, and he threw his shoulders back, lifted his chin, and waited for his destruction. It was a good day to die.
And then Sam was there, standing to his right and just in front of him, swaying as if he was a sapling in a strong wind. He moved his hands in a circular motion and seemed to catch some of the energy coming against them.
No, not some of it. Rindu’s mouth dropped open as he saw Sam catch all of it. Perhaps catch was not the correct term. From what he could see of the rohw, Sam was actually matching the power, vibrating his own body at a resonant frequency, making himself and Chetra Dal’s wall of force one. His young disciple was adding his own power to it, melding with it. But not just his own power. It was the power of all the rohw users with him, including Rindu’s own power.
The Zouy smiled as he realized what Sam was doing. Something so daring, so impossible to conceive of, it almost made the master giddy. Sam was attempting to resonate with more power than any ten rohw masters should be able to withstand. Any hundred. Rindu watched as the power whirled around him, whipping his robes and making them pop in the eerie silence of the maelstrom. Then it was past him, circling around the defenders of the Republic and rushing back toward Chetra Dal.
Rindu saw his former master mouth, “But…that is impossible,” before his own power, magnified with the power of his enemies, crashed back upon him and his forces. The result was devastating.
Chetra Dal fared the best, protected by the shields he had put up. His followers did not have that shelter. The power ripped through his army. The group around the ex-Zouy ceased to exist. As the wave of energy traveled to those who had not reached the battle yet, the power lessened slightly, and by the time it got to the main body of the army, it merely tore the bodies of the besiegers apart. It went through the camp like an avenging angel, causing death and destruction that had not been seen since the Great War. When it passed through the other side, the lucky few who were only injured by the spent power dragged themselves from the scene as quickly as their damaged bodies could manage.
The siege, and the besiegers, were no more.
Chetra Dal lay on the ground, his body whole but broken. His shield had kept him from disintegrating, but could not save his life. Rindu saw that his old master had only moments to live.
Rindu walked to Chetra Dal, Torim Jet beside him and the others a few steps behind. He surveyed the scene.
The pieces of the artifacts lay scattered before the awkum master. They would never be used again, and for
this Rindu was thankful. Blood trickled from Chetra Dal’s mouth, and his limbs rested at strange angles as if he had fallen from a great height. He had a crushed look to him, his body appearing fragile and frail.
“Rindu,” he said, coughing up a gobbet of thick blood. “Rindu, my friend and my disciple.”
Rindu went to him and knelt beside him. “I am here.”
“You must understand, Rindu. I want only what is good for Gythe. The awkum—” He coughed weakly, more blood spilling from his lips. Rindu gently wiped it away with the sleeve of his robes. “—is so powerful. It can…unite all Gythe. Bring peace.” He tried to draw a deep breath and winced from the pain. “Promise me, Rindu,” he gasped. “Promise…don’t let the awkum die. Scrolls…in my keep…continue my work. Promise.”
Rindu looked at his former master, but could not focus on him. His eyes were blurry, and he had to wipe tears from them to see clearly. He wondered at the reason. Was it the loss of a great Zouyim master, or was it the pitiful sight before him? Was it pent-up emotions from nearly dying, or happiness that Gythe would have a chance to be the architects of their own future? All he knew was that his heart ached as it had not ached since Ylleria, his wife, died. He turned his thoughts back to Chetra Dal and his plea.
“No,” Rindu said.
Chetra Dal’s eyes grew wide and he sputtered. His mouth moved, but no sound came out. Two rattling breaths were all he had left, and when they were spent, the former Zouyim master Chetra Dal was a lifeless husk on ground that had seen so many other lives end.
Rindu turned his head to Torim Jet, his old friend. The old master had tears in his eyes as well, but a firm resolve showed through. His shoulders slumped and he sobbed, but on seeing Rindu, he lifted his chin, straightened his back, and saluted, one fist inside the other. Rindu saluted back and bowed formally.
“It is done,” he said. “Let us leave this place. There is no longer any life here to concern us.”
On his cue, the small party of heroes turned to walk back toward the keep, those less injured supporting their more seriously injured friends.
Ix stopped and reminded them that though she was tired, she could still manage to teleport them back to the keep. The others gathered around her, and in seconds the only evidence that anyone was ever there was the lonely corpse of a once-great user of powerful magics.
Chapter 46
Sam sat slumped in a chair in the large meeting hall the new government had taken for their official place of business. All his friends were there, including the three hapaki and his mother.
“…and what was left of the army has fled,” Danaba Kemp said. “There are maybe two or three hundred left. A scattering of humans and the rest mutated creatures. They won’t trouble us. All the officers were further up in the ranks and were destroyed by the wall of power.”
“Thank you, Danaba,” Dr. Walt said as he stood up and the general sat down. “The last obstacle to the initiation of the new government of Gythe is now gone. In three days’ time, we will officially institute the Republic in a public ceremony. A holiday will be commemorated on the day each year as a remembrance.”
It had been two days since the defeat of Chetra Dal’s army, time enough for the injuries suffered by the heroes of Gythe to be dressed and a multitude of stitches to be sewn. Some in the room had wounds that would not heal fully for several weeks, but they had all made it to the meeting, sort of an informal gathering before all the official committees took over.
Sam sighed. One crisis was over, but now the real work would begin. Could the government they had so carefully crafted withstand corruption? Would there be another tyrant or some other catastrophe to challenge them? He hoped not.
Nalia, sitting next to him, put her hand on his leg and squeezed. He covered her hand and smiled. Maybe now they could spend time just being together, without having to worry about someone trying to kill them.
The talking stopped and Sam looked up. Dr. Walt and everyone else were staring at him. He replayed in his mind what he had been only half listening to.
“Oh, yes,” he said. “I visited Kokitura yesterday morning and Marybador in the afternoon. They are both doing well. I will take them the supplies they requested tomorrow. The work on the temple is progressing rapidly. It’s unbelievable. Any who would like to go with me are welcome.”
“I believe I would like to accompany you,” Dr. Walt said. “It is an historic undertaking, and I would not miss seeing it firsthand.”
There were other requests for inclusion and Sam noted them. “Tomorrow morning, meet me where the supplies are being staged in the courtyard, and we can all go together.”
“Right, good.” Dr. Walt cleared his throat. “If there is nothing further, I suppose this meeting is finished. I just want to say how much your work and sacrifice mean to me, and in fact to all Gythe. Without this group of heroes, we would be under Chetra Dal’s thumb even as we speak.”
Sam had gone to Chetra Dal’s fortress and retrieved the scrolls the awkum master had told Rindu about. They were kept in a very special place, a locked room in the new library Sam had teleported from Kawkibon. Dr. Walt wanted to study them, but agreed that they were too dangerous to allow others easy access.
As people left the room, Nicole came up to Sam. “So it’s done then. The new government will begin functioning—”
“With you as one of the Council,” Sam added.
“—with me as one of the council.” His mother smiled at him. “The enemy is gone, his army destroyed, and things look bright for Gythe. Which brings me to another important issue…”
“Sam has asked me formally if I would marry him,” Nalia said, her smile so wide it made Sam melt. “We are planning a large celebration to coincide with the festivities for the new government. All of Gythe will know formally that he is mine and I am his.” She eyed him dubiously. “Sometimes he does not think clearly, and so he must have reminders.”
Sam pulled her to him with one arm and kissed her. “I need no reminders, but I want everyone to know that I don’t want to go another week without you being officially by my side.”
Dr. Walt came up to them. “Well done, my boy. I don’t believe I have ever been to a Gythe wedding. I am looking forward to it.”
“Thank you Dr. Walt,” Sam said. “Me, too.”
“Oh, something just occurred to me, something I think you will find interesting. Do you recall the library that you teleported here from Kawkibon? But of course you do. That’s a silly question. In any case, there were a few nights there where I simply could not get to sleep, my mind trying to come up with solutions. On those nights, I read a few of the books from that library.
“They were not books on technology or anything that was related to our problem. They were rather light reading, stories and biographies.
“In one, I found the account of how the hapaki were made.”
Skitter’s voice entered Sam’s mind. Made? What does he mean that the hapaki were made? We traveled here from somewhere else. All the ancient stories say so.
“Skitter is asking what you mean by made. He says the old stories say the hapaki came here from somewhere else.”
“Yes,” Nicole said. “The elder hapaki in the rainforest at Syburowq said the same thing, that the hapaki traveled and arrived in Gythe.”
“Ah, well, I don’t know about that,” Dr. Walt said. “I’m just speaking about the journal I read. It says that this Magry Adronis, the chap whose picture is in the library, he was the one who did it. He was the leader of the research facility, as you already know, but he was the leader because he was a top-notch scientist.
“Now, when I say scientist, I mean that in a different way than we normally think of a scientist, Sam. At that time, it meant he was not only a master at technology, but also at using the world’s energy, the rohw, personally. He was, if you’ll pardon the crude analogy, as if Rindu and I were mixed into one person. Fascinating, just fascinating.”
“And?” Nicole said, by now used
to the way the old scholar rambled.
“Oh, yes. Pardon me. Well, it turns out that Adronis created the first hapaki using a lemur-like creature, one that is now extinct. He tried to impart them with intelligence and abilities that could be useful in the war effort, but his attempts failed several times.
“He was about to give up when he decided to make one more attempt. He would use human tissue and infuse it with the rohw and another power—possibly the awkum. He used his own blood and tissue for the project, knowing that it would readily respond to his use of the energy in the process.
“It was a success. He created a handful of these new creatures and named them appropriately as he observed their habits. I’ve already told you that the name hapaki refers to their habit of pushing or shoving stones or other materials used for building their dens and such.
“Once the colony was established, they were able to reproduce. The records don’t go past the culmination of the war, so it is unclear what happened to them, but obviously some survived.”
“But,” Sam said, “what did they do? What were they created for?”
“They were created as spies and scouts,” Dr. Walt said. “With their ability to move quickly, especially in heavy forest or brush, it was thought that they could link with their handlers and let the humans see what they did.”
Skitter’s sending burst into Sam’s mind excitedly. It is like what we did, with me being your eyes. Sam sent back a confirmation.
“The problem, though,” Dr. Walt said, “was that while Adronis bred into them telepathic powers, they could communicate with no one but him. You see, they were created with his own blood, so they were forever linked with him. Even the offspring of the first generation of hapaki could only communicate mind-to-mind with him. The project was considered a failure, and the hapaki that existed at that time were set free in an area of their choosing.”
Harmonic Magic Series Boxed Set Page 136
