Chapter 17

Merlin
Gwendydd - sister
Morgenau - brother
Morial - brother
Morien - brother
Mordaf - brother - Naci’s father

New Council Members

Pikon
Corth
Groton
Tydeth
Docal
Clondal - female

Ukobach was cursing even harder. What were those idiots doing? More than half of the guard corps was destroyed. Almost all of the hunters were dead or missing. Scratching his chin, he thought of calling a few of his kin in hell. No, that wasn’t feasible right now. They would most definitely be missed.

Shaking his head, he had to get the two new council members in place. Sighing, he nodded to the two strongest council members as they opened the chambers. A moment later, two mages stepped forward.

“Hail Tydeth, Hail Groton,” Ukobach said as the two male mages entered the chamber. “You both are the next in line for the council. Serve it and the magical realm well!”

Both mages nodded as they bowed to the council leader. “I, Groton, will endeavor to uphold all the standards of the magic realm, Council leader.” The one called Groton stated. Ukobach immediately nodded, smiling, already liking the gruffness of the new member.

Turning to the other male mage, Ukobach waited. The male stated with a sneer and a growl. “I, Tydeth, will endeavor to uphold all the standards of the magic realm as Council leader. At least to the ones that deserve it,” he said this last part in more of a whisper. Ukobach’s eyes went wide at what he heard, which was interesting. These two might be more on his side than he thought. We’ll have to see, yes, we’ll have to see!

Ukobach watched as the two new mages made their way to the side of his allies. Even as he watched, the first two new council members tended to keep less company with the rest of his allies. Shaking his head, he’d still have to watch them. It’s not good to be attacked from within if they plan a coup.

Naci and I exited the tunnel with much less velocity this time. Landing lightly, we nodded to each other as we started setting up the camp. A loud mumbling came from the bag as I whacked it with my hand.

“I believe I need to get the information about this traitor out to the rest of the magical realm,” I told Naci.

“That would be good, husband, though. Can you do it from here?” Naci asked, a look of worry crossing her features.

“I would like nothing better. The problem is that you know they will try to trace it the moment I send it. No, I think it would be better if I did it again.” I replied to her.

Sighing, Naci nodded, thinking a moment. “I think I should go with you, Toman. Alone, you will be far more vulnerable. If you are attacked, I fear I won’t be able to reach you in time.”

I sat with a thump on a chair, my mouth open. When had she started to be this concerned? I was about to answer when the bag started to mumble again. A little mad, I kicked it, eliciting a short scream. “I suggest,” I told the bag. “That if you don’t want worse? That you keep the hell quiet!”

Naci started to giggle at my words as I looked at her confoundedly. Slowly, a smile crept across my lips as I nodded to her. “We need to plan for the next assault Naci. The last worked far better than I hoped.”

“I was glad to be of a little help, husband,” Naci replied with a large smile.

“A little?” I said in surprise. “Naci, you were far more than a little help. I’d dare say that it went as well as it did BECAUSE of you.”

Naci’s head snapped up as she stared at me. Then she launched herself at me, taking me, the chair, and herself to the ground. Kissing my entire face, she suddenly stopped, standing, blushing furiously.

“I’m sorry, husband. Your words filled me with joy that I couldn’t help myself.” Naci said, almost afraid to look at Toman.

I just lay there, a little stunned at what had just happened. Then I thought, what did just happen? Taking a little too long to answer, Naci thought I was upset with her as tears started to fall. Upon hearing her sob, I immediately got off the ground, kneeling where she was sitting. Placing my arms around her, I held her close.

“I’m not mad at you, Naci; you surprised me. What I said was nothing to me, though. As I said, I am sorry I don’t praise you enough.” I said as she started to calm down.

“So you aren’t ashamed of me?” She asked, her lips slightly trembling.

“Ashamed? By the great maker! I am so proud of you! You handled yourself far better than I had hoped you would. I think we can really do this with you at my side.” I told her pride was showing in my eyes and on my face.

This, of course, caused her to launch herself at me again. However, this time, I was better prepared as our lips met. Both our eyes flew open as we both felt a huge current run through the both of us. The thing is? Even if we had wanted to separate, I don’t think it would have been possible then.

When we were finally able to separate, we were both panting almost uncontrollably. We both sat there for a few minutes, trying to control our breath and emotions. Naci, still blushing, finally got to her feet to start on a few other things that needed to be done.

A few more minutes had me shaking my head, trying to clear my head. What in the hell had just happened? Arising on somewhat shaky legs, I took several bags out and moved to the perimeter of our camp. Slowly, I started to spread several seeds, intermixing them with a few new ones I hadn’t used yet.

An hour later, I finally finished. It might take a lot of time for an enemy that might be dead, though I felt we still needed to be ready. Thinking back, I remembered that Rigal had been in pretty bad shape. Then I remembered he’d been even worse before that. Was Ukobach, even as hurt as he was then, still able to heal Rigal? Then again, how in the hell had Ukobach gotten healed? I hit him with a hell of a lot of power.

I sat there for a few hours trying to figure out if we had to fear them never being weak enough to defeat. Finally shaking my head again, I returned to planning on destroying more of the evil-infested council. Concentrating, I had another mage’s eye up and gone within seconds.

A moment later, I was about to open my eyes when I got a message from Pops. [Toman, I have sent this on the old thought channel we used to use. This is just to let you know that you have crippled the council. You will need at least four more before they are manageable. Then, everything will be ready for you to move against the last of them. Everything is moving into place. Be well.]

I shook my head. How in the hell could it all move into place? Merlin was dead, and Naci’s father, Mordaf, was still exiled. The strong allies I thought I had when I started this were either gone or unable to help. What in the hell was Pops on about?

Sighing, I figured Pops might have a few friends trying to help. I sure hope so. I hoped that they had the power to help! Opening the mage eye, I started to sift through all the information it was sending back.

As I looked in, I saw that Ukobach had wasted no time replacing the dead members. Sighing, I just hope those replacing the old ones weren’t worse. Even as I was watching, I could see that the two weakest kept more to themselves. Though the other two had bad attitudes, they weren’t that involved with the older council members either.

I was nodding as I watched the proceedings in the council chambers. The four weakest were now gone. I need two more to have half of them gone. I began to scan back and forth, trying to find a time when we could get both of them. Right before Naci came to remind me I needed to eat, I saw the perfect opportunity.

We had finished eating, and as I was helping Naci clean up, I laid out what I had seen and my plan. Quiet the whole time, she listened almost fully, nodding in agreement several times. “So, do you see anything we might need to change?” I asked.

Naci was quiet a bit longer as she was deep in thought. Then, a wide, beautiful smile lit up her face as she pointed out the flaws I had missed with the plan. I was surprised it was my turn to nod in agreement to everything she pointed out.

Finally, a few hours later, we both crept into our mage beds to rest. We were going to need all we had to get these next two. They weren’t the strongest, though they were the strongest of the lower half of the council.

The next morning, we both awoke refreshed. Naci had already started to repack the camp when I walked to her.

“Though I feel you are strong enough, almost anything can happen,” I told Naci. “I’d like to raise you more before we go against these two. If they join, we might have trouble.”

A sudden laugh came from the bag, and then a voice whispered. “You’ll be lucky to get a shot off. They will kill the both of you before you figure out how to defeat them.”

Growling a bit, I turned the bag and dumped the head on the ground. After it finished screaming a few minutes, I finally started to draw from the head. “There is more than one way to gain information.” I sneered at the head as it started to scream again while I forcefully withdrew what I needed. “I’d take it all, though. I think it would be better to keep you in one piece. That is ‘til the magic world exacts justice on you.”