Dragonquest - Donita K. Paul [139]
“No, no!” cried Kale. Oh, where is Paladin? What is it I should do?
“You? Ha!” Risto smiled in her direction, and she stiffened. “You can do nothing. You’re an apprentice wizard. What resistance can you muster? You’re untrained and have gained no power since we last met, especially under the tutelage of a decrepit old has-been like Fenworth! What could you learn from a wizard who’s more often a tree stump than a man?”
“I’ve never liked him, Thorp.” Fenworth stood on the hill behind them, staff in his hand, leaves clinging to his clothing, Thorpendipity on his shoulder, and a mouse climbing up his sleeve.
Risto laughed, sinking onto a boulder and leaning back as if Fenworth offered not a threat but only a great deal of amusement.
Burner’s harsh laugh rent the air in a series of hard-edged slashes. “May we offer you refreshment, old man? A cup of tea? A daggart?”
Fenworth turned a baleful glare on her. “Silence!” he commanded. Burner Stox stopped, gasped, and disappeared. A smell of sulfur lingered in the air.
Kale gasped. “Is she dead?”
“No,” said Fenworth with a grimace. “Just silent. In a room full of quacking ducks. She won’t like that.”
Risto bellowed. “You’re a fool. More of a clown than a wizard.”
Fenworth shook his head. “Now, Risto, just because I prefer not to be nasty about things.”
Rage transformed the evil wizard’s countenance, and Kale shrank from his fury. She collapsed on the ground, clenching her hands into fists. She wanted to disappear to a place of safety, as Burner had, but knew there just might be a chance for her to help.
Risto thinks I’m no threat. He doesn’t even remember I’m here. That’s good. Perhaps that will give me an opening.
Risto sprang to his feet at the same time the top of Fenworth’s staff burst into flame. Thorpendipity squawked and flew to perch in the bare limbs of a tree. Wizard Fenworth stormed across the space between him and the evil wizard. The old man threw his arms around the younger wizard, gripping him with sinewy arms.
“I know you think I am too old to be any real danger to you, Risto. But you have not considered this—I would rather die with you than let you live.”
Risto struggled, knocking the staff from Fenworth’s hand. Fenworth’s arms wrapped around the younger wizard in a grip that proved hard to break. Kale bounced to her feet and raced forward to snatch up the crooked branch that served as Fenworth’s walking stick.
As soon as she lifted it from the snow, the flame flared from the top of the staff. Instead of surging upward, it spurted out toward the heads of both wizards and cascaded down to engulf Risto and Fenworth. Kale shrieked and tried to drop the staff, but her fingers would not release the old wood.
Risto writhed within the blaze, and Fenworth released him, stepping back. But the inferno still clung to the old man’s clothing. The fire consumed Risto but danced around Fenworth.
Kale shook her hand and threw the staff down on the ground, then raised her arms to cover her eyes. She heard Risto’s piercing scream. The heat from the ball of fire grew, snapping and crackling. She stumbled backward and fell, then peeked over her arm and saw Fenworth reach out his hand. The staff leapt from the ground to his outstretched fingers. In another moment, Fenworth was gone. His staff stood for a second and then toppled.
Risto fell as the flames gathered into a tight ball around him. The sphere of flames dwindled until only a small flicker at the end of the fallen staff remained.
Sobbing, Kale ran to snatch up the unburned rod. The fire went out as soon as her fingers wrapped around the wood.
Holding all that was left of the old wizard, she looked around for help. A short distance away, men continued to battle.
Her knees buckled. She sat on the trampled snow, rocking the staff in her arms and sobbing.
“The trick is to pop inside the safety of the rod