Fistandantilus Reborn - Douglas Niles [9]
In moments the door swung wide, and something black swirled forward with impossible haste. The figure was cloaked heavily, its appearance blurred like the ghostly apparition, but Paulus knew this was the wizard, the Black Kite’s speed clearly enhanced by some arcane spell. The silversmith took care to keep his eyes low, away from his enemy’s face.
“Fool!” cried Whastryk Kite, in a sharper, more immediate version of the voice that had bubbled from the legless visitor. “You dare to challenge me, silversmith? Know that your child, and your bride, shall pay!”
The laugh turned to a sneer. “But take comfort that you will not have to witness their suffering!”
Paulus still did not look at his enemy. Instead, he held the mirror before his face and stepped forward as he heard the mage bark sharp, guttural words of magic.
Crimson light flashed in the courtyard, and the silversmith heard a wail of anguish. Now he drew his weapon, dropped the mirror, and charged.
The wizard known as the Black Kite was reeling backward, both hands clutching the bleeding wounds that were his eye sockets. Paulus’s boots thudded on the pavement as he rushed closer, and he raised the sword for a single, killing strike.
Then the man saw the mage, with his left hand, pull a small silver vial from a pouch at his side. Ignoring the danger and the blood pouring down his face, Whastryk tossed back his head and instantly swallowed the vial’s contents in the face of Paulus’s attack.
A moment later the silversmith’s sword cut through the wizard’s cowled hood, slicing deep into his brain. The Black Kite stiffened and toppled heavily to the ground, where he lay motionless in a spreading pool of blood.
The bold young silversmith stepped back only far enough to keep the sticky liquid from his boots. After a minute, he probed with his sword, making certain that the wizard was truly dead.
Then he went into the house to look for his child.
CHAPTER 5
Further Evidence Scribed In Haven
371 AC
To my mentor and inspiration, Falstar Kane As I had hoped, Esteemed Master, a chance to study the local records has allowed me to penetrate closer to the truth. To wit: I have learned of the fate of the wizard Whastryk Kite.
The tale was yielded up from the depths of Haven’s oldest records. He did, in fact, die in 37 AC, killed by one of the citizens of this wretched city, a silversmith whose son the Black Kite had kidnapped. (The man’s infant son was found, unharmed, within the magic-user’s stronghold.) As to the potion given to Whastryk Kite by Fistandan-tilus some thirty-eight years earlier, nothing is revealed by these records. It seems clear that, whether or not the magic was imbibed by Whastryk in his last moments, the enchantment had no effect on the outcome of the fight. The wizard was unequivocally slain; indeed, his passing was cause for more than a few celebrations.
Of the silversmith and his family a little more is known. The man became a hero for a short time: His quest had regained the baby, and an entire quarter of Haven was able to emerge from the shadow of the evil wizard’s reign. Reputedly, there was enough gratitude among the merchants and tradesfolk to cause them to pay the young couple a handsome stipend.
Enriched by the rewards, the pair and their son removed to a small village in the country. There it is said that the baby grew to manhood, well versed in the tale of his father’s heroism. Beyond that reference, however, the line disappears from view, offering no more disturbance to the waters of the great river.
Regarding the wizard Fistandantilus during this period of history, the records reveal no more. We know now that he used his time-travel spell to move forward to an age a hundred years following the Cataclysm.
But of his scheme to transport his essence via the potion of the magic jar, it must be concluded that he failed.
Your most loyal servant,
Foryth Teel