"The late afternoon sun glistened across a smooth cobalt blue lake embedded in a vast tract of dark green trees. The meetinghouse was nestled at the edge of the lake under a huge range of hills. A single storey house, it shone pale cream in its new coat of paint, a few flowers bringing a sparkle of colour to the front. Inside the house were most of the members of the Council of Planets, winding up this session of a meeting and planning when they would gather again. The front door opened and one of the members came out and headed for the unirail that was some fifty metres from the side of the house. He climbed into the cab at the front and fiddled for a while and then climbed laboriously back out and went to a panel set in the far side of the car. Just for a few milliseconds, the trees were lit up by a blinding white flash. The walls of the house vaporised and sped outwards, carried by a shock wave that raced across the lake in a vast arc, rippling the water into froth as it went. Moments later there was a vicious crack that echoed and re-echoed off the hills. The roof of the house collapsed downwards, almost complete, until it rested on the ground as if that had been how it was planned originally."

The Adepts Book 1: Furato

Book 2 - Empath

The second novel is complete and the third is under way.

In the second novel, Punno (Punnito'aani), tells the United Nations where Earth stands; it is not very complementary.  Sadly, his consideration on what might happen to Earth in the event of some inter-planetary conflict comes to pass.

The threat appears, at first, to be local but it doesn't take long to realise that the danger is to the Galaxy as a whole.

Two unlikely heroes appear, one Earthman and one disgraced Adept, the hope of all the Worlds is in their hands.

Watch how the characters develop; those that seem good fade and those that are reviled become admired.

The Cover

Just a note to say that the cover illustration that you see here and on www.davidleyman.com was produced from the brain and skill of one Khairul Hisham.

Credit where it is due, Hish's work is outstanding  -  this really paints the picture of what the book is about.

Thank you, Hish.

See:    http://hishgraphics.com/

The Rules

The Adepts cannot use their abilities to do harm to other people, this is why they have a Chowra to protect them.

Each of the Adepts, except one, has been assigned a planet to observe; they mingle with the local indigenous population and make notes on their social and technological progress.  None of these planets is considered to be sufficiently 'civilised' to become part of the 'Aligned Planets' or the group known as the 'Non-Aligned Planets'.
The observers are not to reveal themselves to the planetary population and are not to interfere with the planet's development.

The Adept looking at us on Earth is Harka'aani.

One of the Adepts has decided that he is too important to be assigned a planet and so looks after things at the 'Home World' as an administrator.

The Adepts use considerable quantities of mental energy to enable their manipulations.  To restock on energy they can take only 'clean' energy.  This is emotional energy that has been discarded by the original user.  You are happy, you smile?  This is clean energy that an Adept will feed on  -  you have finished with it so it does you, or them, no harm to use it.
These are only small amounts of energy, Adepts need lots of energy.
Rage, jealousy, spite create huge quantities of energy but it is filthy; the Adepts believe it will distort them and their mentality if they use it.
They need a large source of clean energy, joyous energy.  They found it.

Sex.

The Teams

Each Adept has a Warrior for protection and some have a Spokesperson.

The teams will consist of two, or three, members.

The Adept has a name ending in 'aani' which means 'capable of controlling with the mind'

The female, or females, in the team have names ending in 'aadu' which means 'belonging to an Adept'.  This is not belonging in the traditional sense but more like 'associated with' or 'partner of'.

One of the Adepts is called Harka'aani, his two team members are Ritta'aadu and Soraya'aadu.  Their names are derived from their original ones:
Harkesteril became Harka'aani (Harki) when he developed his abilities.
Rhittach became Ritta'aadu (Rittu) when Harki took her from Paya
and
Soraya became Soraya'aadu (Sorru) when Harki saw her potential and enlisted her into his team.

The Adepts use their abilities to keep their teams, and themselves, fit and healthy.

Spokesperson

A few of the Adepts are not good with languages.  For this reason they like to have a second companion they know as a 'Spokesperson'.

These girls, they are all female, are highly educated and extremely good at linguistics.

One of them mentions, in a restaurant, that she cannot translate the menu because she is "a 'Spokesperson' not a 'Readperson'; get the waiter to read it and then I will translate."

Payan Warriors

Each Adept has a warrior for protection because they are unwilling to use their abilities to cause harm to others.

Millenia ago the Adepts discovered a planet, Paya, that has a warlike society where the women are the controlling force.  These women are proud of their capabilities with weapons, they practice endlessly and compete, often to the death, to be top in their profession.

These fighters are called 'Chowra' and are ranked according to prowess which is regarded, primarily, as speed.  The very fastest are called Wirra, they are able to produce shock waves from the blades of their swords.  Second rank, nearly as fast but not strong enough in the wrist to produce shock waves or control a supersonic blade, are known as Siggay while the lowest ranked, Howsu, are little more than trainees or, on Paya, fodder for the top ranks to slaughter for practice.

Chowra have no remorse, no sensitivity or empathy to others, no compassion.  They are trained to do one thing  -  kill.  They do it well.

The Adepts

Who are 'The Adepts'?

These are an ancient race that have learnt to manipulate energy, matter, time and space using their minds.  They have taboos and self-imposed rules which can make them vulnerable but there are those who are more flexible and therein lies a threat.