Chapter 18

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

New Council Members

Pikon
Corth
Groton
Tydeth
Docal
Clondal - female
Lyndeth - female
Creton

With Naci close behind, I was at full power in less than a second. “I could kill you with no problem, Rigal. You are within my magical boundaries; you obviously have no desire to live much longer.” I was seething. How could I have been so careless?

Rigal sat calmly, though he was shaking a bit. He could see mine and Naci’s power manifest in the form of our bodies and hands glowing red. “I am here to halt all the hostility between us. I hate my father as much, if not more, than the both of you.”

My eyes narrowed as I scanned Rigal, then the area around the mage hunter. Then I started to expand, shocked that I had found nothing. I still do not believe I soon started a second scan. This time, I was even more shocked to find nothing. Rigal was also defenseless, almost to the point of appearing human.

“Alright, Rigal, what are you doing here? As I said, I could destroy you easily with you within my magical boundaries. State your purpose, and then I expect you to go away!” I shouted, irritated.

“I told you I am here to end this one way or another. For a long time, I have been a burden to my father. Hiding and hated by the magical world. I am tired of that, tired of no life except that dictated by my demon father. I know that you and your mate have the power to end him.”

I was still staring, not believing that what I’d heard was true. “You expect me to believe you had a sudden change of heart? Get real, Rigal. Even a first-year wouldn’t buy that. Plus, your ‘word’ isn’t going to account for much in this case.” I was shaking his head, keeping as close an eye on Rigal as possible.

Rigal started to laugh, almost falling out of the chair. “A sudden change of heart!? By all that is holy, I’ve wanted to be free from him for centuries. The repulsive piece of trash left my mother in shame. I love her fiercely, and he treats her as if she were lower than something on the bottom of his shoe. No, I want him as dead as possible as soon as possible. I’m here to help you with that as much as possible!”

Naci was now behind me with Rigal’s declaration. Leaning over, she whispered in my ear. Nodding, I quickly waved a hand over Rigal, effectively freezing the mage hunter. Nodding to Naci, I watched as she started to scan Rigal, grimacing every few minutes. Her mouth hanging open, she turned to me, nodding yes.

Taking a big breath, I started my scan of Rigal. Wincing at the amount of pain I saw that was inflicted on Rigal, I continued. Ten minutes later, I finally stopped, eyes wide at what I’d seen. Shaking my head slowly in disbelief, I was having trouble speaking.

“You mean to tell me that she is still a prisoner?” I asked him. When Rigal didn’t answer, I turned to face him. Smiling sheepishly, I started waving my hand, unfreezing Rigal. “I forgot. What I saw has me a bit stunned.”

Rigal nodded as his head dropped. “It’s alright, considering no one knows the full extent of everything. You know far more than anyone else, though not my complete shame. To answer your question, yes, she is still a prisoner. I haven’t the power nor the courage to free her. That is my biggest shame: I am too afraid to even try.”

Naci walked to Rigal as tears of shame started to flow down his face. “I understand, as does Toman. At least yours is still alive. Mine has been gone for many years. It’s much the same for Toman. Though he has lost both of his parents, I believe he blames your father for that.”

Rigal’s head snapped up as he stared at me. “Your father, he was the first to ever seriously hurt mine. I thought that the bastard was going to die. The ass tricked me into healing him.”

“What!?” I shouted as I backed away a bit. “I don’t feel that much power in you.”

“No, only when I am extremely angry am I that powerful. I can’t stay that way long enough to hurt him, plus it seems all I do against him heals him. He told me I’m not sure once it’s the demon blood in me.” Rigal told them.

I edged even closer as I started a different scan. A few moments later, I started nodding my agreement. “I can see it; the anger also causes you to lose control. I’m afraid he has a little control over what type of power you use in that state.” Then, I started a third scan as my face broke into a slowly spreading smile. Interesting, I thought, very interesting indeed.

“Alright, I think I believe you, the problem is I can’t heal you. I also can’t put too much in you; it appears that he has already. Though it seems you have broken more than half of them. I might be able to give you a small boost. It should help you to defeat another major one. At least after this, he won’t be able to track you any longer.”

Rigal’s eyes went wide at this information. His father had that much crap in him? Growling now, he wanted the ass dead more than ever!

“If you can do anything to help me, I’d be even more grateful,” Rigal said as he tensed up.

Naci moved me back a bit, “You sure this is advisable, husband? I know we both scanned him. I know we both found nothing. Are you certain? We are barely surviving now,” here she dropped her eyes and voice. “I do want children one day, Toman, your children.”

For some strange reason, I blushed far more than I thought I should. Looking over at Naci, I saw that she was also. Shaking my head, I had to wonder just what in the hell was going on with us. True, I was starting to feel more of something for Naci, though at the moment, I was still unsure what it was.

Walking to Rigal, I saw he expected this to hurt like hell. Patting him on the shoulder, I shook my head no. “I don’t do things like that monster of a father of yours. Just relax, let me look, then we’ll talk.” Rigal’s eyes went wide as he nodded, then waited.

Reaching in, I had to be extremely careful. I didn’t touch anything that his father had put in him. Even with broken parts, I avoided fearing that somehow the demon still had a connection to them. Finally, I found Rigal’s power center. It was far different than I’d ever seen, though nowhere as powerful as Merlin’s, but there was some definite power there.

As carefully as possible, I slowly increased Rigal’s overall power. I had to ensure I left nothing indicating that I or anyone else had been there. I felt Rigal gasp as his power very slowly increased, and then I felt a block he had in him start to weaken even more.

Extracting myself as fast as possible, I hoped I would be out when it broke. Out completely, I waved a hand toward Naci and the camp, making them vanish. Nodding to a struggling Rigal, I winked out.

A few miles away, I watched through the mage’s eyes as Rigal fell to the ground screaming. “What have you done, boy!?” A voice, not his, was coming out of Rigal’s mouth.

“I am breaking free, you repulsive piece of demon waste! That’s why you were thrown out of hell! Now you won’t be able to follow me. Suck on that, you asshole!” Rigal shouted even as he felt a ripping sensation within himself. “I will kill you one day.”

“You may have increased your power, though you will never be nearly as strong as me. I’ll kill you and eat your power long before that happens!” The other voice was shouting at Rigal. “Kill that wild magic user. Perhaps I’ll rethink that. Fail me in this, and I’ll make your death as painful and slow as I can. I will so enjoy the sounds of your suffering, boy!”

With that, Rigal felt the last of the block shred, and then it was gone. In the council chambers, Ukobach’s face lit up with sadistic glee. So, the boy had finally discovered a technique to increase his powers. It would be so delicious when he took that along with the boy’s half-demon soul.

Half the council had slowly backed away from Ukobach. The other half were lounging around, not caring. This half didn’t care that much about the magic world. The thing was, who was worse? The strongest half, or the new weakest half? Ukobach came out of his thought communication feeling a lot better. At least that little shit was on the hunt again. Dismissing the council, he was surprised when only a few left.

Four of the strongest mages left to go home or to meetings with their magic world sections. A few hours later, Ukobach read several reports of sightings of wild magic users and received an urgent message. Winking out, he arrived outside a rundown tavern to what appeared to be the end of a major battle.

I had brought Rigal to where I’d moved our camp. I’d gotten another idea to eliminate more of the old council members. As I told him and Naci, I could see him smile. Then I saw that it was infectious as Naci also smiled wide. “The thing is, I am afraid that you are going to be pretty hurt after this.” I looked at Naci, “I’m not going to tell either of you how or where. That way, your reactions will be real and convincing.”

They both nodded as I went on with the plan. Finally, another hour later, Naci and I winked out, appearing near an old rundown tavern. Looking around, I saw more than a few elite guards nodding. I knew that there was more than one here. Then I noticed that there were also a few realm enforcers in the shadows. Hmmm, I thought this was going to be a challenge.