ZEDD - TWO WEEKS LATER

In spite of Thomas' protests, we're all visiting the market. He finally admitted that he's afraid that the negative attention from the inhabitants of the planet might drive me back to the Alliance. I assured him - repeatedly - that as long as I had him, the children and our friends, there was no chance in hell of it ever happening again. Right now we're walking hand in hand, the children in front of us and Pina, Dar and Kira meandering through the stalls.

The last time we were here, Thomas and the children both swore that they could feel people watching us. I wasn't concerned as I assumed such a thing would happen. Eltarians love their gossip far too much and had no doubt that there was speculation as to my guilt or innocence. Fortunately, except for their unease, nothing bad happened and certainly silenced many of my critics. My attention shifts to my husband as he speaks in an undertone.

"Zedd, someone's watching us again."

I don't sense anything. "I think you're being paranoid, love."

"I don't think so. The hair is standing up on the back of my neck."

Before I can answer, he yanks his hand out of mine as he gasps for air. I turn swiftly toward him as he claws at his throat, but there's nothing there. I feel a surge of dark power as something pulls him away from me, out of my reach. It takes a second to realize that it's the same dark power that I felt at the crime scenes that Thomas and I visited.

"Thomas!" I launch toward my mate, the others alerted by my cry. After only a few steps, however, I'm thrown back by the power. "What the hell?"

Dar hauls me to my feet as the others gather around. Jacob shouts, "Daddy!"

"Lord Zedd" an unfamiliar voice addresses me. "A pleasure to finally meet you." The owner of the voice steps into view, a poor imitation of me in my battle form.

"Believe me, the pleasure is all yours" I growl back. "Release him immediately and I'll make your death a swift one."

"Sorry, can't do that. I need him." The force around Thomas' neck loosens and he sucks in air.

What now? "Too bad." In a moment, I have summoned my staff and transformed, immediately followed by the others.

"You don't want to do that."

"Don't I?" I start to advance on him but stop abruptly when a twist of his hand deprives my mate of air once more. I can feel Thomas start to panic before abruptly forcing himself to calm down, which is only partially successful. "Let. Him. Go."

"No. You have forgotten who you are, my lord, and have allowed others to forget. You need reminding. You all need reminding."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Kira drop her morph. It's the only warning I have before she lets loose with her sonic scream. His concentration breaks for a moment, dropping Thomas to the dirt. Unfortunately, he's too badly in need of air to make an escape. However, Mara Jane and I are both ready and swiftly throw power balls at the moron. While I know that they won't do much damage, I'm hoping there will be enough to at least distract him, if not take him down for a minute.

They do knock him back a bit, but the distraction is far too short and Dar is mere inches from retrieving my husband when he is sent flying by our opponent's power. "Nice try, but we need to be going now." Quickly, he restrains Thomas once more cutting off his air. Thomas turns red and then blue surprisingly fast as his eyes roll up in his head and he passes out. "If you follow us, you will only find his dead body."

Shit! Helplessly, I watch as he disappears into the crowd. Just before we lose sight of him, Dar throws something that seems to fasten onto Thomas' pant leg. We all power down and I look at my friend questioningly. "Homing device since you won't be able to track him through the bond until he regains consciousness."

"Thank you, Dar." Before we can take more than a step, law officials descend on the market place. They are about to arrest me when they actually start listening to the crowd around them screaming that I'm innocent. I recognize the official that took me into custody some weeks ago. "He's taken my husband."

He looks at me steadily for a minute before searching the faces of my children and companions. "If you find him first, you know what your rights are. However, if possible, I'd recommend that you wait for us before you kill him."

He walks off before I can comment. I can see the distress on the faces of my children. What kind of father and husband am I that I just allowed this to happen?

Softly, Pina says, "Find and free him first, Zedd. Beat yourself up later."

I take a deep breath. It's good, solid advice and I intend to follow it. "Home first."

Once home, I ask the children to go to their rooms for a few minutes, promising I'll call them back down shortly. I just need a few minutes to have a minor breakdown and pull myself together. Soberly, they all do as I ask. When I'm sure they're all in their rooms, I grab a pillow off the couch and vent my rage into it so as not to frighten the younglings. After a few minutes, I toss it back in its place before turning back to the others.

"What do we do about Sullivan and Grace?" I ask calmly. "My parents can't protect them if he would come after them there, I need all of you and Gina can't protect them either. I don't want to take them with when we go."

"You could leave them with Zordon" Kira suggests. "I know he's not fully recovered from the power wave either, but some protection is still better than none."

"Sullivan isn't all that fond of Zordon" I point out. "He is my son, after all."

From the doorway, Mara Jane speaks. "Together, Papa. We all go together as a family."

"But-"

"Papa, they're almost eighteen. They've learned a lot since Phaedos and they're the same age now as I was when we were attacked on Earth at my graduation. They can do this."

I suppose that's true, but still... Before I can counter her argument, her siblings step into view behind her in the doorway. Shit. Grace speaks up. "Papa, suppose you do leave me and Sully behind and this guy gets away. Do you really need to be freaking out about making sure we're safe or would it be better to look around you and see us? Will you really be able to focus on finding and helping Daddy if you're distracted worrying about us?" Definitely Thomas' daughter.

"But-"

Jacob and Mara Jane exchange looks. "The only other option would be for you to leave me and Mara Jane behind to protect them."

"Which might leave you shorthanded for the coming battle" Mara Jane adds.

Before I can respond, Dar's cuff goes off and he reads the message, frowning. "So his name was Wilem - goes by Zauberformel now - and he is a sorcerer. Tends to keep to his natural form to avoid detection unless it's needed, like now. Unless he intends for Tommy to see him in his natural form, he's going to stay in his monstrous getup for now."

"Which will make it easier to find him" I answer. "Even if he's found the tracker and Thomas doesn't regain consciousness soon, I should be able to sniff him out."

Before I can continue, there's a knock at the door. Mara Jane goes to answer it even as the rest of us close in behind her. Once more, it's the officer that 'arrested' me. "What do you want now?" Mara Jane snaps.

"Actually, I came to see if I could be of some help. Name's Heddlu, by the way." He turns his attention to me. "Since your reputation preceeds you, I thought it might be helpful if you had an officer with you."

I really don't know how to respond to this at first. "Thank you, but since we're dealing with another sorcerer, I don't know how much help you'll actually be."

"I can be a witness if nothing else."

Before I can react to this, I'm distracted by the bond. "Thomas is waking up. Confused and a little -" I don't want to admit that he's feeling a little fearful. "upset." I have no real choice. "Fine. Everybody get their weapons and let's go."