Vibrations: Harmonic Magic Book 1 (45 page)

Using the information given to them by Danaba Kemp, they would make their way through the forest, moving carefully to detect and avoid traps as they did so. There were also some beasts that were resident in the area, ones that had learned to avoid the traps. That meant that some of them must have an affinity to vibrational energy, since many of the traps the Gray Man would set would be of that sort. They might be forced to battle these creatures.

Once out of the forest, they would determine a way to get across the buffer zone to the cliffs. Rindu implied that he knew a way to get up the cliffs but didn’t go into detail, merely saying, “We will get up the cliffs and to the walls.” Once at the walls, they would have to find a way up, around, or through and into the fortress proper.

That wouldn’t be the end, though. The Gray Fortress was a massive place. They could search for weeks and still never find the Gray Man or Dr. Walt. This, too, they would have to figure out along the way. The entire thing made Sam even more uneasy.

With little else to do, the three remaining party members, along with Skitter who was keeping to himself, curled up early and went to sleep, with Rindu taking first watch.

Sam had insisted on middle watch, since he felt as if he had not done his share during their journey. When Rindu woke him, he rubbed his eyes, rose from his sleeping spot, and took a position at the edge of their camp area where he could watch the Dead Zone and the nearby forest.

A few minutes into his watch, Skitter sidled up to him.
Are you not able to sleep?
Sam sent to his friend.

No. I am anxious
.

Anxious?
Sam sent curiously.
Myself, I’m scared to death and concerned that we’re unprepared for what we will face. And that’s even before we get into the fortress.

The hapaki didn’t respond for almost a minute.
Scared. Yes, I’m scared, too
, he admitted. The lack of any humor in the hapaki’s mind was telling.

Sam scanned the area first and then, when he didn’t see anything, looked at his friend.
Skitter, will you go with the rakkeben? What we will do is more dangerous than anything else we have faced. It’s likely that all of us will die. I don’t want that to happen to you.

I am your friend, Sam, and have said I would stay with you until the end. Who knows, maybe I can help in some way. I know that I’m small and cannot fight well, but maybe I can do something. I can scout. Maybe that will be my contribution.

Sam stroked the fur on Skitter’s head.
I appreciate that. I didn’t mean to imply that you were unnecessary or unwelcome. I would have Rindu and Nalia stay behind, too, if I could. I welcome your company, though it saddens me to bring you into such danger. I have done nothing to deserve friends like you three. Well, four, including Dr. Walt.

Skitter tilted his head and his luminous eyes looked into Sam’s.
It’s not something you
do
to deserve friends, Sam. It is something you
are
. You deserve better friends than me, even if you are only a human.
Humor, though only a tiny bit of it, tinged the sending.

Together, the two friends kept watch over their sleeping companions, conversing little, just enjoying each other’s company. When it was time to wake Nalia for the last watch, Skitter settled down next to Sam’s sleeping spot and was asleep before Sam lay down. With a quick kiss for Nalia, a squeeze of the hand, and a smile, Sam settled into sleep, knowing that despite how much he wanted to stay up and talk with her, he needed rest.

The morning dawned gray and ominous. It didn’t look like it would rain, but it didn’t look like the sun would be making an appearance either. Sam supposed it didn’t matter because once they stepped into the gnarled trees, most of the sunlight would be blocked in any case.

He watched as Shonyb nudged Skitter with her nose. The hapaki nudged her back and patted her huge head with his tiny claws. Her tongue lashed out, once, twice, three times, and soaked the fur on his head and face, giving him the look of a drowned rat. Sam was surprised to feel humor and affection leaking into his mind from the hapaki.

After securing to the rakkeben the supplies they would not be taking and hoisting his pack onto his shoulders, Sam stood in front of Shonyb. The big wolf’s intelligent eyes looked at him, unblinking. A soft whine, almost a whimper, made its way to Sam’s ears from her throat. Sam threw his arms around the rakkeban hugging her shaggy head to him. “Thank you so much, Shonyb. I couldn’t have made it this far without you. I hope to see you again soon. Take care of yourself and if you don’t hear from us, make your way back home.”

He hugged her for a moment more and then released her. With another whine, she licked his face, turned, and headed out into the Dead Zone, the other rakkeben finishing their goodbyes and following her. With nothing left to be said or done, the three humans and the hapaki entered the tangle of the Undead Forest.

50

Entering the trees was like stepping through a portal to another world. Not only was the diffuse sunlight instantly cut off, but the air itself seemed to press in on them ominously. Sam looked at Rindu and found the expression on his face discomforting. If anything, the Zouy’s face was more neutral than normal, indicating to Sam that he was controlling his expression ruthlessly.

I don’t like this place either
, Skitter sent to him, obviously feeling Sam’s own emotions about the place.

No one said a word. They just hitched their packs, scanned the area, and moved slowly toward where the fortress would be. After an interminable amount of time, Rindu called a halt to the procession. He was leading them, using his abilities to keep them heading directly toward the fortress.

“I am moving slowly to prevent us from tripping one of the traps the Gray Man has set. I do not know what form they will take, but because he uses the
rohw
, I assume he will use vibrational energy. It will mean that it will take us most of the day to traverse the forest, but if we make one mistake and set off a trap, we could all be killed. We have little information from Danaba Kemp, so we must be careful.”

The others nodded their assent and followed the Zouy. Not more than fifteen minutes later, Rindu stopped them again with a sharp “Stop.” Making sure the others didn’t move, he faced Sam. “Sam, I want you to carefully open your senses. Close your eyes if you must, but open your senses. Do not project your
rohw
. Can you do that?”

“Yes.” Closing his eyes, automatically controlling his breath, and turning his mind inward, he allowed his third eye to open and become receptive to the vibrations in the area. As he mentally looked around him, not moving his physical body, he saw the familiar soft glows and vibrational pockets, along with the ley line they were following toward the fortress.

Looking just ahead of where they were traveling, he saw a bundle of energy pulsing, glowing a little more brightly and then waning, glowing more brightly and then waning again. Tilting his head, he looked at it more carefully. He didn’t know what it was. He had never seen anything like it.

“What is that?” he asked Rindu.

“Ah, so you see it. Good. That, Sam, is a trigger. I have only seen one such device before. It is constructed solely of
rohw
and is designed to constantly derive energy from the surrounding
rohw
. It simply waits until some vibration, such as those emitted by humans or animals, comes within range. When it does, the trigger ‘pops’ and sets off a trap.”

“What kind of trap?” Nalia interjected.

“That is the question, is it not
Iba
? I have an idea, but we will need to back up. I do not know how big the area of the trap is and do not want us to be inside the area when I set it off.”

Sam pondered this for a moment. “But, if we set it off, won’t the Gray Man know? Shouldn’t we just try to move around it?”

“No. And no. I know of no way to detect that a trap has been set off from such a distance, so I do not believe there is a risk of him knowing where we are. As for trying to slip around it, I do not think we should do that either. We do not want it behind us untriggered if we encounter enemies in further in and are forced to retreat. Better to set it off than to have to worry about it later.”

It was a reasonable decision, so the others agreed. After backing up several hundred yards, Rindu lifted his hand, moved it slightly back and forth, and then clenched his fist quickly as if grabbing something out of the air. Sam saw the telltale glow as his fist closed and there was a whooshing sound followed by several thunks that sounded like arrows hitting a wooden target. Rindu looked intently at the area where the trigger was for a moment and then led them forward to see what had made the sound.

There, embedded in several large trees surrounding where the trigger was, were dozens of short arrows, closer in appearance to crossbow bolts than arrows. One had been deflected by the main mass of the tree and had gone through the bark on the side of a tree. It was trapped there, with the point exposed from the other side. A dark stain on the tip made it look like the arrow was dipped in some liquid.

“Poison,” Rindu said. “No doubt deadly. The way this trap worked was very clever. The trigger fed a wall of
rohw
force holding back the mechanism to launch the missiles. When the trigger was affected by the slight bit of vibration I sent toward it, it popped, removing the wall and allowing the mechanism to shoot. There is one trap escaped. Let us move on.”

As they continued, Rindu found more triggers, some of them with projectiles, some with swinging branches or arms lined with spikes, and one that built to a chain reaction that emitted a strong
rohw
pulse that flattened the smaller trees and vegetation for a hundred yards on all sides of it. The force would have been sufficient to kill people close to the trigger.

“I have never heard of that type of trap before. Ingenious,” the Zouy said of the
rohw
pulse trap. “I hope there are no more of those. A strong pulse like that probably still isn’t enough to be felt in the fortress, but anyone in the forest who is sensitive to
rohw
could have felt it.”

Almost as if in response to what he said, they heard a high pitched screeching and rustling noises coming from deeper in the forest. When a dark shape suddenly hurtled toward Sam from the side, his reflexes swung his staff up just in time to deflect the flying creature from himself, causing it to crash into a bush.

Immediately, the creature was up and springing out of the bush, taking flight and fleeing toward where it had come, screeching an almost inaudible sound as it went.

“That looked like a giant bat!” Sam said, scanning the bushes and trees. “Did you see it?”

The three humans looked around nervously, ready for battle. Three more of the dark forms suddenly flew out of the foliage, all converging on Rindu. Two of them extended sharp claws, but the third opened its mouth and screeched at the Zouy. Sam saw Rindu raise his hands and a glow immediately engulfed him. Waiting until the last minute, the monk dove to the side while striking at the screecher with both hands. The glow Sam saw intensified and then flew toward the screeching beast, causing it to go careening off into the bushes. The other two flew by harmlessly.

Sam was astonished. These creatures were obviously related to bats, but with some important differences. They were almost man-sized, being most like the size of an adolescent male human. When they landed, they stood on two legs, but he watched the screecher bound out of the bushes and run on all fours toward them.

Their bodies were covered in fine dark brown fur and their ears and faces looked just like bats Sam had seen, only much bigger. Instead of having small fingers on the end of their wings, though, these creatures had separate arms ending in sharp claws. Their beady black eyes fixed on Rindu and they prepared to attack again.

“Defend yourself,” shouted Rindu, “I am going to try something.” As he spoke, another five of the beasts came out from amongst the trees, three running in their odd four-legged gait and two flying.

The Zouy stood there, appearing to be thinking, trying to figure something out, as the creatures got closer and closer to him. At the last moment, he said something unintelligible and clapped his hands together. Sam saw a burst of light and heard a whine almost too high-pitched for him to hear. All eight of the creatures, looks of pain upon their faces, turned and fled back in to the trees.

Sam remained motionless, breathing hard, waiting to see what would happen next. He checked on Skitter, finding the hapaki curled up at his feet, scared and still wary, waiting. After a few minutes, Sam took what felt like his first breath all day. Looking at Rindu, he was about to ask what happened, but the monk started speaking first.

“Fascinating,” he said. “Those creatures are not only sensitive to vibration, but they use vibratory energy as a weapon. That first one attempted to flatten me with concentrated sound. Luckily, I recognized what it was trying to do and protected myself accordingly. They must have survived the Gray Man’s traps because they can sense the triggers and can fly above the forest.”

“Wait a minute,” Sam said. “You’re telling me that those creatures use sonic weapons? Can such a thing be done? Can sound be used like that?”