Chapter 11

The eldest spoke up. “What would you have the council do? Tom, as you call him, is as powerful as this council. Even then, we might not be able to subdue him. I realize that if Myria has come to him, then she has decided he is good. I am not so easily swayed. We have no way of knowing where he is from or who he really is. I cannot trust that he is good as Myria would think. Therefore, we stay on guard.” Azel shook his head. Idiots! He knew better and also knew that this might be the undoing of the council.

Tom set out the next day prepared to implement his next plan. By the end of the day, he had found and removed another ten of Malamon’s cronies’ powers, looking into all of them, trying to find where Malamon had escaped to. Damn it! Malamon was, it appeared, more paranoid than he thought. It seemed that when Malamon felt they had life force enough to feed him, then they were drawn to him. Sighing, Tom set out to get more of them, hoping that it would force Malamon to try and confront him directly. Reaching out, he felt to see if there were areas that were shielded from him. The result was dizzying. Well over 1000 places. Tom knew that this wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought. Reaching further, he found at least four times that in the rest of the world.

Sighing, Tom went back to work, removing as many as possible. Now he was going to other countries where he found that the balance was still well on the dark side. He had just taken out a slightly powerful one when another appeared, far more powerful than any he’d ever faced.

“Found you!” the man shouted. “It appears that you have taken it upon yourself to defeat us alone, a mistake you’ll soon regret!” With that, Tom was slow to move, smiling to himself. This was just what he’d been waiting for. Reaching out, he felt the four others, freezing each. He kept open and reached for the first. There he found the man’s defenses thick and his thoughts almost mirroring Malamon’s. The man started to throw everything at Tom he could, each missing Tom. Delving deeper, he saw Malamon weak, laying back in concentration. Reaching in as quickly as he could, Tom snapped two, then three, and almost had the fourth when Malamon looked at him.

You’ll pay for that, bastard, Malamon was screaming back at Tom. Taking hold, Tom violently ripped the fourth loose as Malamon screamed, then he was gone.

Damn it! Pulling back, Tom felt the first bolt of fire break through, nearly hitting his arm. Shit! Tom quickly crushed everything magic, leaving the man a sobbing pile of flesh. Drawing the other four near, a shocked and frightened look on each of their faces, Tom ripped all the magic out of them, leaving them all in a neat pile.

Calling the council, the twelve were soon there, probing the minds of all five and wiping their memories clean of magic.

“I finally found Malamon again. I destroyed four more powers from him, but they were all minor powers. The only one I am sure of was his ability to change color; the others I am not sure of.” The council was shocked. He’d found Malamon again that fast? They had to find out more about this man/mage. A few still didn’t trust him, though more than half were on Tom’s side. A few were leaning more toward Tom but not quite enough.