Harmonic Magic Series Boxed Set

by P. E. Padilla

  As they continued, the light became dimmer with each moment. Finally, with the disappearance of the one thin sliver of light that was left, the forest grew completely dark. The moon was nowhere Tingai could see through the trees. He didn’t realize that Ayim Rasaad had stopped until he ran into her back. She spun, striking him with her shoulder and throwing him back from her. The strength in that one movement almost made him leave his feet.

  “Will we set up camp and wait for daylight?” he asked.

  “No.”

  “How will we find the artifact or the protective measures if we can’t see?” he said.

  “I will find it.” She said. “We have torches. We can light them. I can also generate light of my own. In any case, my sensing of its power is not affected by light. Searching in the darkness may actually prove to be easier because there will be no distraction from what I see.”

  Baron Tingai felt his stomach drop. He had hoped she would allow them to stop and continue when the sun came up again.

  “How many of your outriders and scouts did you lose in the last week?” she asked him.

  “Nine,” he answered.

  “And that means nothing to you? It does not concern you?” In the weak light of a torch one of the soldiers had lit, he saw her silhouette facing him.

  “I’ve been wondering what happened to them, but my soldiers tell me that losing men like that is normal. Wild animals and such.”

  He got the sense that she was staring at him incredulously. “You are a smart man. You cannot be that ignorant.”

  He felt himself flush and anger wriggled in his mid-section. “What?”

  “Your men are simply telling you that so that you don’t get upset at them,” she said. “You really are not familiar with travel in the wild at all, are you?”

  He gritted his teeth “I’m not an outside person. I spend my time inside, in my lab.”

  “I see,” she said. “Well, let me tell you that men don’t just disappear like that. Especially trained trackers. There is someone following us. They are killing your men to prevent them from reporting to us.”

  “But…who would be foolish enough to do that?” he said.

  “I don’t know for sure, but I have suspicions,” she said. “In any case, I am not interested in being attacked as we make camp and try to sleep. We need to finish this and get the artifact before those complications can arise.”

  “Why don’t we send a large force to find the followers and take care of them?” he asked.

  More torches had been lit, so he could see her shake her head at him. “Because they will just evade them. It is better not to play this game. I have sent Vahi to find them. We will leave it to him and we will do our part. In a few minutes, we will continue.”

  When they did continue, it was with Ayim Rasaad out in front as before. Tingai kept back. She insisted on searching for the artifact’s hiding place without any light. He couldn’t move two steps without tripping over a root or getting snagged on a twig or branch. He stayed safely in the midst of the torchlight among her guards. They kept the circle of the yellow glow so that it just showed Rasaad’s shape beyond it, but didn’t affect her focus. They followed her this way for hours.

  The woman seemed to go in circles, though honestly Tingai couldn’t tell if the trees all around him were the same trees or different ones that looked exactly the same. His world seemed to consist of the small sphere of torchlight in front of him. He just wanted to go back to his lab, to his familiar surroundings. This was not the place for him.

  Rasaad moved on, and all the rest followed her. Tingai and her guards were less than twenty feet from her. The bulk of the army was back more than a hundred feet from them, staying out of the way in case their leader changed direction suddenly. The torches for the group Tingai was in were easy enough to spot in the darkness, even through the trees, so the bulk of the force would not lose them.

  There were twelve of the biggest, meanest-looking soldiers Tingai had ever seen surrounding him. Three of them were women. He thought at first that there was only one woman until the other two spoke and he took a closer look. Yes, definitely scary. These were the personal bodyguard for Rasaad. She could probably have destroyed all of them in the blink of an eye, but their job was to make sure she didn’t actually have to fight. As far as he knew, they had never been tested. One would have to be mad to attack someone such as her.

  Suddenly, Ayim Rasaad stopped walking. She seemed to be casting around for something, like an animal that had caught a scent. She called for a torch. As one of her guards brought it to her, Tingai followed the man. In the flickering torchlight, he saw the ruddy color of a massive stone formation in front of them. It looked the same as every other water-carved shape he’d seen when it was daylight. Rasaad took the torch from the man who had brought it to her and began to wave it in front of the rock. She walked first to the left for several feet, and then she turned and walked to the right.

  Nodding her head, she waved the torch at the rock as high as she could reach and then squatted down and put it right next to the boulder, very near the ground. Still, her eyes were jumping about, looking for something that Tingai thought probably wasn’t there.

  She handed the torch back to the man and told him to step back a few feet. As the circle of light receded, he could see her close her eyes and breathe in a regular, deep pattern. She put her hands out and moved them mere inches from the surface of the stone. It reminded Tingai of the charlatans who used divining rods to find water. Her hands twitched as they moved, as if feeling some unknown vibration.

  Her hand abruptly stopped. She took two more deep breaths. Then she mimed pushing something very heavy.

  Tingai wasn’t sure if he saw a slight glow or not. It could have been a trick of the light, but he thought he saw something flicker. As he watched, a man-sized hole in the rock materialized. Rasaad slumped as if she had just dropped a heavy weight from her back. Tingai stepped away from the hole, not sure what to make of it. That was what saved his life.

  There was a blur of movement and the guard who was standing next to him, holding the torch, just disappeared. Warm liquid splashed Tingai’s face and, from the metallic taste of the drops that hit his mouth, he knew immediately that it was blood.

  Ayim Rasaad had been fast enough to jump out of the way, her superhuman reflexes developed over years of training saving her life. Tingai knew that he had just gotten lucky. He stumbled behind a tree and then watched in terror as he saw events unfold.

  The thing that had killed the first guard so quickly was going through the others as well. The brief moment it had taken it to destroy him allowed the others to draw their weapons. Some had a torch in one hand and a weapon in the other, but most of them dropped their torches so they could fight with two hands. Two of them had clear enough minds to wedge the torches into rocks so there was enough light to fight.

  Whatever creature was attacking them, it was about one and a half times the size of a man, and humanoid. It didn’t appear to be wearing any clothing and its skin seemed strange. When it stopped for a fraction of a second to determine which of the men to attack, Baron Tingai saw that it had rough skin, the same color and consistency of the rock in the canyon. When one of the guards delivered a strong overhand strike toward the attacker and it blocked it with its forearm, breaking the sword, Tingai realized that it was actually made of stone.

  There were eight guards left and, with how quickly the rock creature was killing them, Tingai knew that he and all the remaining guards would be dead before the main force could even get to them. He hoped that the thing didn’t know where he was, or that he was unimportant enough that it didn’t attack him.

  In a blink, there were only three guards left. How was it killing them at such a rate? His question was answered as the monster moved—more quickly than Tingai could even see in the dim light—and literally tore one of the guards in half with its hands, not bothering to try to block or parry the strike from the mace that was the guar
d’s last act in this life.

  The golem turned and looked right at Tingai. Its blank face showed no expression, didn’t even have a mouth. The holes in the creature’s head didn’t seem to have eyes in it, but they were pointing at Tingai and he knew that it saw him. It started moving toward him, ready to lunge.

  As it readied itself to spring, Tingai noticed movement to the side. Ayim Rasaad was standing there, hands outstretched, a look of concentration on her face. She made a cutting movement with her right hand and the creature moved as it had been struck. Turning its head toward her, it charged the new threat.

  Chapter 36

  By the time Sam and the others got to the bottom of the path, it was completely dark. They stood there, looking for signs of their prey. The light of the partial moon allowed them to see the cleared area at the bottom of the trail, but not much else.

  “I don’t see any lights,” Sam whispered, worried about Rasaad’s scouts. “Do you think they kept moving or do you think they camped somewhere close?”

  “With how thick these trees are, you wouldn’t see any light unless they were right in front of us,” Emerius said. “Stay here a minute. Inoria?”

  The man’s sister nodded. She patted Oro on the head, said something that made the bear sit back on his haunches and relax, and she followed Emerius into the trees, scrutinizing the ground for signs.

  Nalia came over to Sam and put her arm around him, putting her head on his shoulder. “Are you well, Sam?” she said.

  He kissed the top of her head. “I am now.” He grinned and hugged her. “I wish we could just go and fight them. This chasing but never catching is driving me crazy.”

  “Yes,” she said. “It is frustrating. I am sure the twins will find out where they are and then we can make a decision.”

  “Yeah,” he said, “you’re right. I just don’t like doing nothing as they are getting further from us. I know they’re probably not able to do much in the way of experiments with the captives while they move, but they’re also getting closer to the artifact.”

  Do you think any of the hapaki still live? Skitter sent to Sam. He had come up and curled up near Sam’s feet.

  I hope so, my friend, Sam sent back as he and Nalia sat on a rock outcropping. It’s horrible that such a peaceful people were attacked and carried away like that. We’ll do all we can to get them back, I promise you.

  I know you will, Sam. You are a good friend to me and to the hapaki. You have shown it time and again.

  Sam absently patted Skitter’s head and scratched his ears, anxious to move on with things.

  Time seemed to stretch. The rakkeben had gone off to the edge of the clearing and were lying down. Oro was still sitting where he was when Inoria patted him. Rindu was about twenty feet from Sam, Nalia, and Skitter, in a seated meditation position, unmoving and seemingly unbreathing.

  Rindu’s eyes opened. He tilted his head toward the trees to one side of the clearing. Less than a minute later, Emerius and his sister appeared like wraiths, materializing from the trees, making no sounds that Sam could hear. They walked over to Sam and Nalia. Rindu got up and came toward them as well.

  “They’re not camped anywhere close,” Emerius said. “Their trail is easy enough to follow. With how many people they have, they have trampled the vegetation so badly, we could follow them just by feel if necessary.”

  Everyone was silent for a moment, as if waiting for something. Waiting for Sam to make a decision. He wasn’t sure how it happened, but he had apparently become their leader. Even Emerius was waiting to hear what he would say.

  “They’re making a push for the artifact,” Sam said. “Rasaad probably knows where it’s at and they’re so close she doesn’t want to wait until morning.”

  “She can sense it,” Rindu put in.

  “What?” Sam said.

  “She can sense the artifact,” the Zouy repeated. “In my meditation, I tried to do so, but was unable. However, when I shifted my thinking, searching not for something I could sense but for something I could not sense, I found a strange feeling. It is as if there was a hole in the rohw somewhere, the absence of anything where there should be flows of vibrational energy.”

  Sam found himself speechless for a moment. “You literally sensed nothing? And by sensing nothing, you are saying you sensed something?”

  “That is correct,” Rindu said.

  “Father,” Nalia said, “please do not play games at this time. Can you explain it more clearly to us?”

  Rindu fixed Nalia with that blank expression he wore so well. “It is as if the wind could be seen as a colored smoke. It flows, it swirls, it moves around and engulfs all. If the wind encounters an obstacle, perhaps a very large rock, it flows around it, not occupying that space, because the space is already occupied. In this case, the rohw is flowing around something that does not appear to be there, as if the wind swirled around an invisible rock. We could see the absence of the colored smoke, the wind, and know that something is there, even if we cannot see it with our eyes.”

  “So,” Sam said, “you’re saying that the artifact is hiding itself? It’s not putting out rohw energy but is somehow camouflaged?”

  “That is correct.”

  “But,” Sam said, “how is that possible? Wouldn’t the camouflage have to be done with the rohw? And if it was, then you could see the energy being used to actually create the invisibility, right?”

  “The artifact does not use the rohw,” Rindu said. “Or, it does not use it in any form I have ever encountered. It is something I would very much like to study. It is a power I have never encountered.”

  “Wow,” Sam said. “Anyway, if you can sense the ‘hole’ in the rohw, then we can go straight to it, right? You can lead us there, maybe even soon enough to beat Rasaad?”

  “It is very weak,” Rindu said. “I expect it will get stronger as we get closer to the actual artifact, but following the trail would probably be more efficient for now. I would have to stop and devote full concentration in meditation every few minutes, which would slow us down. I believe Ayim Rasaad can sense what I can, so following her would be the fastest way to proceed.”

  Sam ran his fingers through his hair. “Okay, then it’s settled. Let’s get moving. If she isn’t going to wait until morning, we can’t either. Hopefully she’ll have been slowed down by trying to find it and by other obstacles and we can catch her before she puts her hands on the bell.”

  Sam lit the tip of Ahimiro to light the way. They followed the trail for hours. It seemed to wander in circles, but Sam couldn’t really tell because after the first fifteen minutes he had lost his sense of direction. Even when he used the trick Rindu taught him, using the ley lines to figure out which way he was going, it didn’t help. The path didn’t follow the lines so he still couldn’t tell where he was.

  “This forest goes on forever,” he said when Nalia asked him how he was doing.

  “Do not exaggerate, Sam,” she said. “You know full well that it only fills the canyon. If we walk in one direction long enough, we will hit the canyon wall, or the Zirquay River.”

  “It just an expre—” he started but then saw her mischievous smile. “Okay, very funny.” He pretended to pout.

  Nalia smiled at him and walked on ahead.

  As was the case since the twins had joined them, Emerius and Inoria scouted ahead, circling back occasionally to speak with the others. They didn’t use torches, but somehow moved about in the total darkness. Skitter was riding on the litter strapped to Shonyb and the rakkeben and Oro were ranging out to the sides, doing whatever they felt like, coming back to check on the humans from time to time. They moved well through the heavy foliage, as well as the humans were moving through the trampled path.

  Rindu seemed preoccupied to Sam. When he asked the Zouy why, Rindu said that he was concentrating on the strange hole in the rohw. He could sense it better as they got closer. He still had to concentrate on it, but he could do it while moving now instead of needing to sto
p and meditate to feel it as before. He was making sure the path was going toward the artifact.

  An hour before dawn, Rindu suddenly stopped. “It has changed,” he said. “Something about the hole in the rohw has changed. I am afraid that Ayim Rasaad may have reached Azgo, the bell artifact.”

  “Are you sure?” Sam asked.

  “No,” the Zouy answered. “I cannot be certain. Something is different, but I cannot confirm that it involves Ayim Rasaad. I believe that it does, however.”

  “Let’s find out,” Sam said.

  They followed the trail as quickly as they could. All the while, in the back of Sam’s mind, he weighed the chance of them being surprised by Rasaad’s forces in an ambush because they were so preoccupied with speed. Gone for the moment were thoughts of the captives. If the ex-Arzbed got the bell, she would be more powerful than before. Tingai would carry on with his experiments as soon as they left this place. They had to catch her.

  The party rushed frantically through the forest, but they didn’t seem to make any progress. To Sam, it seemed like one of those dreams in which he was running from some danger and he moved in slow motion, not going forward, even tripping and falling occasionally. He tried to dispel the negative thoughts from his head, but they persisted.

  The light of the new day lit the tiny patches of sky Sam could occasionally see through the tree boughs. Soon, light filtered in so that they could see better within the tunnel-like confines of the forest. Sam allowed the light to fade from his staff’s tip.

  As sunlight diffused through the leaves, Sam finally saw clearly the devastation the ones they were following had wrought on the vegetation. There must have been thousands of people trampling the underbrush for them to have done that much damage. Sam shook his head. He knew the forest would recuperate; it was just underbrush after all, and not the trees themselves. Still, it was sad to see all the broken plants, the green-brown pulp that was the only thing left of the grasses, ferns, and vines.

  They caught up to the twins an hour later. They were sitting on a rock, waiting for the rest of them to catch up. “Just through there,” Emerius said, pointing between groups of trees that had grown very close together.