Vibrations: Harmonic Magic Book 1

by P. E. Padilla

  As the sun came up, Rindu appeared suddenly at Sam’s left side. Sam’s involuntary jump—and Skitter’s mental chuckle—made him feel the familiar warmth as he flushed in embarrassment. Rindu seemed not to notice.

  “Today,” the master started, “we will try to get you to sense the rohw. Come sit with me.” Taking a seat on the soft grass, he beckoned Sam to sit in front of him.

  “Now, what do you know of the rohw?” Rindu asked.

  “Just what you have told me so far. It is the energy of the universe. It is motion in all its forms, beginning with vibration. It can be converted to other types of energy by a master who has unlocked its secrets, but at its core, it always remains vibratory.”

  “Good. And what can you do with it?”

  “It can do wondrous things, just about anything of which I can conceive,” Sam answered.

  The ghost of a smile played across the Zouy’s mouth. “That is an answer of avoidance. And what can you do with it?”

  Sam stared at the ground for a moment. “I…don’t know. I think we have reached the limits of my knowledge.”

  “Have we?” The master’s unreadable gaze met Sam’s eyes. “Well, then, tell me not what you know but what you think.”

  “I think that I need to know it first, to be able to detect it and feel it. Then, when I know it as well as if it was a part of my body, I would use it as any other part of my body, like another hand. It would not be exactly the same, as using my foot is not the same as using my hand, but it would be an extension of myself. That’s what I think.”

  Rindu steepled his fingers and tapped his lips with them. “Yes, good. You have keen intuition. Now let us train you so your skill will be a match for it. As it is said: ‘The man who gets out of bed in the darkness of night to piss has started his day already.’”

  Sam stared at the Zouy wordlessly.

  “Do you not understand? Nevermind. Let us start. ‘To do something immediately is to do it now.’”

  Sam consciously closed his mouth, which had somehow dropped open. “You just make these sayings up on the spot, don’t you?”

  Rindu rolled his eyes. “‘Wisdom from a stone is wisdom still.’ And the course of wisdom now is to do as I say and not question.” His mock scowl was all Sam needed to get started.

  “Good,” Rindu said. “Relax, and breathe. Have I not told you that in ancient Kasmali, rohw means ‘wind’ or ‘spirit’? Ancient masters knew the connection between breathing and the rohw, so any work with the rohw must start with this. Please observe.”

  Rindu took an exaggerated breath through his nose. The size and shape of his nose made a peculiar whistling noise. Then, after holding the breath for several seconds, Rindu breathed out through his mouth, not forcing the air out but allowing it to flow out of his body on its own.

  Sam noticed that the master was breathing deeply, far into the belly, as he had learned in yoga and qigong on his world. This, at least, was similar to what he knew. When Rindu asked him to breathe for him, he did so, and the master seemed pleased.

  “Good. Now we must detect the rohw and its channels. Picture your breath as it goes deep into your belly. See it circulate through the many channels in your body, circling, always circling, and then returning to the lungs to be expelled. Do not force the breath, let it flow at a pace of its own. Continue to breathe and to picture the breath.”

  After several minutes of breathing and relaxing his body as he did in his normal meditations, Sam felt the familiar “separated” feeling, the light-headed sensation that he was apart from his body but still within it. As he slipped deeper and deeper into his meditation, he felt heat on his face. Thinking that the sun had topped the trees, he opened his eyes, and instantly lost his calm, relaxed state.

  For a moment, just before he lost focus, he saw that Rindu was glowing. Not just glowing, though, but actually putting out heat. He seemed like a small sun, sitting motionless and calm and radiating energy like he was on fire.

  When he looked to the monk’s face, he saw those bottomless hazel eyes fixed on him. He gave a little jump.

  “What did you feel?” Rindu asked.

  “I…you…it was…” Sam sputtered. “I mean, I felt some heat, so I opened my eyes. You were glowing and emitting heat. It was amazing!”

  A small twitch in the corner of Rindu’s mouth appeared and then disappeared quickly. Sam wasn’t sure, but he thought maybe that was as close as the man came to smiling. “Good. Very good. Most Zouy apprentices take years to be able to sense the rohw in others, even one so strong as I. And how do you feel now?”

  “Like I’ve run 20 miles. I feel worn out. Why is that?”

  The twitch returned, and then disappeared again as rapidly. “It is your body compensating. It is using its own energy instead of tapping the rohw from other sources. It will get better, with time and practice. We will work on accepting energy tomorrow. For now, some physical exercise will do well in complementing our energy training.” Rindu’s stomach growled loudly. “After we eat. We have been motionless for three hours, after all.”

  Sam was shocked. Three hours? It seemed like minutes. Looking at the sun being filtered through the dense trees overhead, he saw that it was true. He had a lot to think about. After eating.

  A hearty breakfast of some kind of creamy soup, rough bread, and assorted fruits and vegetables later, Sam was ready for more training. “Will we continue now?” he asked Rindu.

  “No. You and I will continue tomorrow. For now, you will train with Nalia in combat. You must become proficient in physical combat as well as energy use. The Sapsyra have developed combat into an art form, transcending most mortals. She is a living weapon and will help teach you how you can become a better fighter.”

  Nalia came walking up and sat down. Masked head swiveled toward Sam, stopped, and then moved toward Rindu. “I am ready,” she said.

  Sam gulped. He did not look forward to being beat up for the next several hours. Still, maybe he could learn combat. Maybe he was learning already each time she beat him up. Isn’t that how they did it in the kung fu movies? The master punishes the student with rigorous physical challenges and beatings, only to reveal the secret training method the student was going through the whole time? Maybe that was what was happening here. He just needed to keep a good attitude and she would get around to teaching him something he recognized. He hoped.

  “Attack me,” she said to him without preamble.

  Oh no. It’s going to be one of those training sessions.

  Three hours later, he lay panting on the grass, bruises smarting all over his body and small trickles of blood dripping from his lip and over his left eye. Nalia was standing, not breathing hard, clothes unwrinkled, no sweat darkening any of her clothing, looking as if she had been lounging about in the cool forest air the entire time.

  “Do you still not sense how the battle sounds? Do you not recognize a pattern to the way I pummel you?” she asked. “I have been as predictable as a child playing with her siblings, but still you cannot block or evade a single blow. Why are you so incompetent? Are there no warriors in the pathetic world of yours?”

  Irritated, Sam lashed out without thinking. “Yes, at least one. The Gray Man is from my world. Can he fight well enough for you?”

  Her head tilted slightly to the side, as if thinking. Then, without another word, she turned on her heels and walked off.

  Good job. Way to make an enemy of one of the only three people you know here that can help you.

  *****

  Nalia had to go somewhere to be alone. She had preferred it when Sam could not speak her language, when he was just an ignorant savage. She thought once more about the situation she was in.

  She had been trying to act correctly, she really had. She planned on starting with the basics, teaching Sam how to move correctly, how to read combat, how to hear the song. Each day, she told herself, Today I will start teaching him as a novice Sapsyr. Today I will show my father and my order honor. And each day, wh
en she saw the man there in front of her, beaten down from all previous sessions, but anxious that today may be different, she would revert to showing her superiority. Why was it so difficult?

  But today, when she had pushed him beyond what he could endure, today, when he fought back in the only way he could, verbally, he had struck a weak spot. He had injured her, and it was her fault. She did not know what she was angrier about. Was it that he made the cutting remark, or was it that she pushed him until he did so?

  She had always blamed herself for her mother’s death. If she herself would have died, then her mother would have been the one Sapsyr left to carry the Gray Man’s message. Her mother would be alive instead of her. Of course, Sam could not have known that, not have known that his strike had gone so deep, but she wanted to resent him for it.

  The problem was that her actions lately were not as honorable as they should be for a Sapsyr. It was as if all the rage at the Gray Man, and her powerlessness and the running and hiding, were crashing down upon her all at once. And she was taking it out on Sam. She wasn’t even sure if she still suspected him of being a spy or assassin. She was just lashing out because of her own imbalance and lack of peace.

  Hearing a sound, she turned quickly, ready to kill. She must have been out of sorts for someone to get within 20 yards of her like that before she sensed or heard them. Realizing it was Sam, she lowered her guard and relaxed, standing in a normal, non-threatening manner.

  “I just wanted to say I’m sorry,” he said to her without preamble. “I know that you’ve had horrible things happen in your past, many of them related to the Gray Man. I didn’t mean to attack you like that. I’m tired and beat up and frustrated that I can’t seem to learn what I need to learn, so I overreacted. I know you don’t like me but I don’t know what I did to deserve your enmity. I don’t want to add to the list. I’ll try to be more thoughtful in the future. I appreciate your effort in training me and hope we can continue.”

  He waited for a moment as if for some sign, some acknowledgment. As he began to turn to leave, she did the only thing she could will herself to do, she slowly nodded her head.

  “Thank you,” he said as he turned and walked away.

  After an hour of meditation, trying to regain her center and eject her negative feelings, Nalia stood from her seated position and ate a simple dinner in her room before going to sleep. She was calmer now, but still in no mood for dealing with others. Relaxed from her meditation, she went to sleep and hoped tomorrow she would be able to act more honorably.

  14

  Nalia’s eyes snapped open and she instantly came awake, fully alert. She paused a moment, listening. There was a faint scratching from the other side of the compound. More than that, though, was the feeling she had, one she recognized. It was a sense she had worked on developing over the last three years. There was a wrongness, a trespassing on her aura. She quickly pulled her mask on, which she took off before sleep each night when her room was locked and secure.

  As she passed Rindu’s door, she started despite herself when it swung quietly open and her father emerged, silent and fully dressed. She herself was still in her sleeping clothes, the snug soft material she wore to bed each night. Nodding to her, he moved in step with her toward the main compound grounds.

  They quietly exited the main building and stood motionless in the dim light of the quarter moon. There were many shapes moving about, getting into position for an attack. She had to admit that they moved more quietly than normal soldiers. Assassins or trackers, then. Taking a rough count, she was surprised to see that there were only 20 or so shapes moving. Assuming this was the bulk of the force, there were probably over 30 intruders altogether. This was going to be messy. Silently drawing out the twin blades she brought, she prepared for battle.

  *****

  Rindu breathed in deeply, to the bottom of his abdomen, and then exhaled over several seconds. Focusing his mind and relaxing his entire body, he glanced at his daughter. She had brought her favorite weapons, the shrapezi. Incredibly difficult to use with expert precision, they were very versatile in the hands of a master. Which Nalia was.

  They were just a bit longer than Nalia’s extended arm from shoulder to fingertip and had the general form of a sword, but they were so much more. Instead of a wooden handle, the weapons were all one piece of metal, the handgrip section being heavy thread wrapped around the main straight section of the weapon, approximately two handspans from the end. On the end near the hand grip, the weapon ended in a sharp triangular point with sharpened sides. Surrounding the hand grip, a half moon shaped section of the sword protected the hand and provided more razor-sharp surface for cutting, slicing, and trapping other weapons. It was for this section that the sword was named. Shrapezi meant “iron moon” in Old Kasmali.

  The long straight section above the hand grip was sharpened on both sides and bent into a hook with a wicked point. All sides of the hooked part were also sharpened to a razor edge. There were seven cutting surfaces, or eight depending upon each master’s use of the weapon, and four sharp points that could be used for puncturing. They were made of steel, a rare thing on Gythe. They were worth more than a laborer could earn in his lifetime. The weapons were given to her by the Sapsyra, heirlooms of the order for untold generations, when she had bested twenty-five of her sisters in tests of combat.

  Nalia raised the swords and prepared herself. Rindu focused his mind on the moment, letting his eyes soften to see the energy signatures of the intruders and the area in which they would die. Looking at Nalia’s mask, he nodded. Without delay, they went into motion.

  The four unlucky assassins who were closest to the father and daughter never knew what happened. Nalia swirled into motion, making no sound herself except the soft whistle of her weapons cutting the air. When she finished her turn, two men were dead, one with his head separated from his body.

  Meanwhile, Rindu manipulated one man’s energy, literally bursting his heart in his chest as he stood while dancing around another man who was looking at another of the assassins. Maneuvering behind the distracted man, he struck three times, too quickly to be seen, precisely hitting two places in the neck and one place on the side of the head with his fingers. The strikes were not hard, but the contact was enough to send very specific vibrations through the man’s body, destroying his brain and spinal cord. Rindu had already moved onto the next enemy by the time the lifeless body came to rest on the ground.

  With the fall of the four assassins, the others were suddenly aware that they were discovered. One of them yelled orders and the clearing erupted in chaotic motion.

  *****

  Sam jumped as someone in the compound screamed. Rubbing his eyes to try to get his vision to clear, he leapt out of bed and headed out of the cabin in which he was sleeping.

  Skitter, are you all right? he sent.

  I’m fine. I’m hiding in the forest. I have no skill in fighting. The compound is being attacked. There are many humans. I can’t read any memories from any of them. I tried.

  Sam, relieved, sent back: Keep hiding. I’ll see if I can help.

  Be careful Sam. I have grown accustomed to having you around.

  Sam’s half-smile at the momentary humor slid off his face as he heard the screams and saw whorls of motion in the near-dark night. He hadn’t lit a torch or lamp before coming out, so his eyes were still adjusted to the darkness. He could see better by the light of the moon than he would have expected. What was before him was the most frightening thing he had ever seen.

  There were dozens of people dressed in dark clothing, all wielding weapons. One of the men was shouting: “Take them alive. The Gray Man wants as many alive as possible.”

  Closest to him, Sam saw Rindu moving through what had to be a dozen attackers. To Sam’s eyes, the mage appeared to glow faintly as he danced through and around attacks. Mesmerized, Sam stopped and stared. Lucky for him, all of the intruders were focused on the two warriors already fighting, so he was not seen.


  Rindu flowed—there was no other way to put it—under one assailant’s sword strike to his head while simultaneously moving just enough to dodge a horizontal thrust from his left and a diagonal slash from his right. It was inhuman the way he detected and moved around the weapons.

  He was surrounded by at least eight attackers now, in addition to a second ring of more attackers who could not get at him because of their fellows. After the Zouy evaded the weapons, Sam watched slack-jawed as Rindu struck out with his right hand, connecting with a finger strike to one assailant’s head while chopping out with his left hand to strike the neck of another attacker and also delivering a blinding kick to the hip bone of a third.

  To Sam, each point of contact seemed to glow brightly in a quick pulse. Then, without any break in his motion, Rindu focused on four more attackers. He was already incapacitating them as the first three dropped. The recipient of the finger strike dropped to the ground like a stone, and Sam could see how he fell that the man was dead already. The man who received the sword hand strike made a choking gesture, spit out a gout of blood, and wilted to the ground, tripping two of the oncoming attackers. As for the woman that was the target of the kick to the hip, that may have been the most disturbing at all. From the way she screamed and then flopped to the ground, Sam knew that her hip bone was pulverized by that one kick. Goose bumps raced up Sam’s arms and neck.

  Once, Sam had seen a demonstration given by a traveling troupe of kung fu masters from China. He was amazed at the precise, accurate, and blindlingly fast movements. The men seemed superhuman. Their motions reminded him of water, of the waves he sometimes would sit and watch when he visited the Southern California beach. But with Rindu, it was something altogether different. With the kung fu demonstration, the combat was still responsive, still within the bounds of human reflex and intuition, even though it was choreographed to look natural. What Rindu was doing was simply impossible. Right now, he was evading five weapons at a time: a club, three swords, and some type of long knife. Unlike many of the martial arts movies Sam had seen, the assailants all attacked at the same time, trying to coordinate their attacks to catch the Zouy unaware and unprepared. They failed spectacularly.