War of the Twins

by Margaret Weis

  “So you consider yourself better than these?” Fistandantilus asked Raistlin in a soft, almost kindly voice, ignoring the angry mutterings of the apprentices.

  Raistlin had to pause to gather the strength to speak through the haze of pain. “You know I am!”

  Fistandantilus stared at him, his hand still grasping him by the wrist. Raistlin saw a sudden fear in the old man’s eyes, a fear that was quickly quenched by that look of insatiable hunger. Fistandantilus loosed his hold on Raistlin’s arm. The young mage could not repress a sigh of intense relief as he sank into his chair, rubbing his wrist. The mark of the archmage’s hand could be seen upon it plainly—it had turned his skin icy white.

  “Get out!” Fistandantilus snapped. The six mages rose, their black robes rustling about them. Raistlin rose, too. “You stay,” the archmage said coldly.

  Raistlin sat back down, still rubbing his injured wrist. Warmth and life were returning to it. As the other young mages filed out, Fistandantilus followed them to the door. Turning back, he faced his new apprentice.

  “These others will soon be gone and we shall have the castle to ourselves. Meet me in the secret chambers far below when it is Darkwatch. I am conducting an experiment that will require your … assistance.”

  Raistlin watched in a kind of horrible fascination as the old wizard’s hand went to the bloodstone, stroking it lovingly. For a moment, Raistlin could not answer. Then, he smiled sneeringly—only this time it was at himself, for his own fear.

  “I will be there, Master,” he said.

  Raistlin lay upon the stone slab in the laboratory located far beneath the archmage’s castle. Not even his thick black velvet robes could keep out the chill, and Raistlin shivered uncontrollably. But whether it was from the cold, fear, or excitement, he could not tell.

  He could not see Fistandantilus, but he could hear him—the whisper of his robes, the soft thud of the staff upon the floor, the turning of a page in the spellbook. Lying upon the slab, feigning to be helpless under the wizard’s influence, Raistlin tensed. The moment fast approached.

  As if in answer, Fistandantilus appeared in his line of vision, leaning over the young mage with that look of eager hunger, the bloodstone pendant swinging from the chain around his neck.

  “Yes,” said the wizard, “you are skilled. More skilled and more powerful than any young apprentice I have met in these many, many years.”

  “What will you do to me?” Raistlin asked hoarsely. The note of desperation in his voice was not entirely forced. He must know how the pendant worked.

  “How can that matter?” Fistandantilus questioned coolly, laying his hand upon the young mage’s chest.

  “My … object in coming to you was to learn,” Raistlin said, gritting his teeth and trying not to writhe at the loathsome touch. “I would learn, even to the last!”

  “Commendable,” Fistandantilus nodded, his eyes gazing into the darkness, his thoughts abstracted. Probably going over the spell in his mind, Raistlin thought to himself. “I am going to enjoy inhabiting a body and a mind so thirsty for knowledge, as well as one that is innately skilled in the Art. Very well, I will explain. My last lesson, apprentice. Learn it well.

  “You cannot know, young man, the horrors of growing old. How well I remember my first life and how well I remember the terrible feeling of anger and frustration I felt when I realized that I—the most powerful magic-user who had ever lived—was destined to be trapped in a weak and wretched body that was being consumed by age! My mind—my mind was sound! Indeed, I was stronger mentally than I had ever been in my life! But all this power, all this vast knowledge would be wasted—turned to dust! Devoured by worms!

  “I wore the Red Robes then—

  “You start. Are you surprised? Taking the Red Robes was a conscious, cold-blooded decision, made after seeing how best I could gain. In neutrality, one learns better, being able to draw from both ends of the spectrum and being beholden to neither. I went to Gilean, God of Neutrality, with my plea to be allowed to remain upon this plane and extend my knowledge. But, in this, the God of the Book could not help me. Humans were his creation, and it was because of my impatient human nature and the knowledge of the shortness of my life that I had pressed on with my studies. I was counseled to accept my fate.”

  Fistandantilus shrugged. “I see comprehension in your eyes, apprentice. In a way, I am sorry to destroy you. I think we could have developed a rare understanding. But, to make a long story short, I walked out into the darkness. Cursing the red moon, I asked that I be allowed to look upon the black. The Queen of Darkness heard my prayer and granted my request. Donning the Black Robes, I dedicated myself to her service and, in return, I was taken to her plane of existence. I have seen the future, I have lived the past. She gave me this pendant, so that I am able to choose a new body during my stay in this time. And, when I choose to cross the boundaries of time and enter the future, there is a body prepared and ready to accept my soul.”

  Raistlin could not repress a shudder at this. His lip curled in hatred. His was the body the wizard spoke of! Ready and waiting.…

  But Fistandantilus did not notice. The wizard raised the bloodstone pendant, preparing to cast the spell.

  Looking at the pendant as it glistened in the pale light cast by a globe in the center of the laboratory, Raistlin felt his heartbeat quicken. His hands clenched.

  With an effort, his voice trembling with excitement that he hoped would be mistaken for terror, he whispered, “Tell me how it works! Tell me what will happen to me!”

  Fistandantilus smiled, his hand slowly revolving the bloodstone above Raistlin’s chest. “I will place this upon your breast, right over your heart. And, slowly, you will feel your lifeforce start to ebb from your body. The pain is, I believe, quite excruciating. But it will not last long, apprentice, if you do not struggle against it. Give in and you will quickly lose consciousness. From what I have observed, fighting only prolongs the agony.”

  “Are there no words to be spoken?” Raistlin asked, shivering.

  “Of course,” Fistandantilus replied coolly, his body bending down near Raistlin’s, his eyes nearly on a level with the young mage’s. Carefully, he placed the bloodstone on Raistlin’s chest. “You are about to hear them.… They will be the last sounds you ever hear.…”

  Raistlin felt his flesh crawl at the touch and for a moment could barely restrain himself from breaking away and fleeing. No, he told himself coldly, clenching his hands, digging his nails into the flesh so that the pain would distract his thoughts from fear, I must hear the words!

  Quivering, he forced himself to lie there, but he could not refrain from closing his eyes, blotting out the sight of the evil, wizened face so near his own that he could smell the decaying breath.…

  “That’s right,” said a soft voice, “relax.…” Fistandantilus began to chant.

  Concentrating on the complex spell, the wizard closed his own eyes, swaying back and forth as he pressed the bloodstone pendant into Raistlin’s flesh. Fistandantilus did not notice, therefore, that his words were being repeated, murmured feverishly by the intended victim. By the time he realized something was wrong, he had ended the reciting of the spell and was standing, waiting, for the first infusion of new life to warm his ancient bones.

  There was nothing.

  Alarmed, Fistandantilus opened his eyes. He stared in astonishment at the black-robed young mage lying on the cold stone slab, and then the wizard made a strange, inarticulate sound and staggered backward in a sudden fear he could not hide.

  “I see you recognize me at last,” said Raistlin, sitting up. One hand rested upon the stone slab, but the other was in one of the secret pockets of his robes. “So much for the body waiting for you in the future.”

  Fistandantilus did not answer. His gaze darted to Raistlin’s pocket, as though he would pierce through the fabric with his black eyes.

  Quickly he regained his composure. “Did the great Par-Salian send you back here, little mage?�
�� he asked derisively. But his gaze remained on the mage’s pocket.

  Raistlin shook his head as he slid off the stone slab. Keeping one hand in the pocket of his robes, he moved the other to draw back the black hood, allowing Fistandantilus to see his true face, not the illusion he had maintained for these past long months. “I came myself. I am Master of the Tower now.”

  “That’s impossible,” the wizard snarled.

  Raistlin smiled, but there was no answering smile in his cold eyes, which kept Fistandantilus always in their mirrorlike gaze. “So you thought. But you made a mistake. You underestimated me. You wrenched part of my lifeforce from me during the Test, in return for protecting me from the drow. You forced me to live a life of constant pain in a shattered body, doomed me to dependence on my brother. You taught me to use the dragon orb and kept me alive when I would have died at the Great Library of Palanthas. During the War of the Lance, you helped me drive the Queen of Darkness back to the Abyss where she was no longer a threat to the world—or to you. Then, when you had gained enough strength in this time, you intended to return to the future and claim my body! You would have become me.”

  Raistlin saw Fistandantilus’s eyes narrow, and the young mage tensed, his hand closing over the object he carried in his robes. But the wizard only said mildly, “That is all correct. What do you intend to do about it? Murder me?”

  “No,” said Raistlin softly, “I intend to become you!”

  “Fool!” Fistandantilus laughed shrilly. Raising a withered hand, he held up the bloodstone pendant. “The only way you could do that is to use this on me! And it is protected against all forms of magic by charms the power of which you have no conception, little mage—”

  His voice died away to a whisper, strangled in sudden fear and shock as Raistlin removed his hand from his robe. In his palm lay the bloodstone pendant.

  “Protected from all forms of magic,” said the young mage, his grin like that of a skull’s, “but not protected against sleight-of-hand. Not protected against the skills of a common street illusionist.…”

  Raistlin saw the wizard turn deathly pale. Fistandantilus’s eyes went feverishly to the chain on his neck. Now that the illusion was revealed, he realized he held nothing in his hand.

  A rending, cracking sound shattered the silence. The stone floor beneath Raistlin’s feet heaved, sending the young mage stumbling to his knees. Rock blew apart as the foundation of the laboratory broke in half. Above the chaos rose Fistandantilus’s voice, chanting a powerful spell of summoning.

  Recognizing it, Raistlin responded, clutching the bloodstone in his hand as he cast a spell of shielding around his body to give himself time to work his magic. Crouched on the floor, he twisted around to see a figure burst through the foundation, its hideous shape and visage something seen only in insane dreams.

  “Seize him, hold him!” Fistandantilus shrieked, pointing at Raistlin. The apparition surged across the crumbling floor toward the young mage and reached for him with its writhing coils.

  Fear overwhelmed Raistlin as the creature from beyond worked its own horrible magic on him. The shielding spell crumbled beneath the onslaught. The apparition would devour his soul and feast upon his flesh.

  Control! Long hours of study, long-practiced strength and rigorous self-discipline brought the words of the spell Raistlin needed to his mind. Within moments, it was complete. As the young mage began to chant the words of banishment, he felt the ecstasy of his magic flow through his body, delivering him from the fear.

  The apparition hesitated.

  Fistandantilus, furious, ordered it on.

  Raistlin ordered it to halt.

  The apparition glared at each, its coils twisting, its very appearance shifting and shimmering in the gusty winds of its creation. Both mages held it in check, watching the other intently, waiting for the eye blink, the lip twitch, the spasmodic jerk of a finger that would prove fatal.

  Neither moved, neither seemed likely to move. Raistlin’s endurance was greater, but Fistandantilus’s magic came from ancient sources; he could call upon unseen powers to support him.

  Finally, it was the apparition itself who could no longer endure. Caught between two equal, conflicting powers, tugged and pulled in opposite directions, its magical being could be held together no longer. With a brilliant flash, it exploded.

  The force hurled both mages backward, slamming them into the walls. A horrible smell filled the chamber, and broken glass fell like rain. The walls of the laboratory were blackened and charred. Here and there, small fires burned with bright, multicolored flames, casting a lurid glow over the site of the destruction.

  Raistlin staggered swiftly to his feet, wiping blood from a cut on his forehead. His enemy was not less quick, both knowing weakness meant death. The two mages faced each other in the flickering light.

  “So, it comes to this!” Fistandantilus said in his cracked and ancient voice. “You could have gone on, living a life of ease. I would have spared you the debilities, the indignities of old age. Why rush to your own destruction!”

  “You know,” Raistlin said softly, breathing heavily, his strength nearly spent.

  Fistandantilus nodded slowly, his eyes on Raistlin. “As I said,” he murmured softly, “it is a pity this must happen. We could have done much together, you and I. Now—”

  “Life for one. Death for the other,” Raistlin said. Reaching out his hand, he carefully laid the bloodstone pendant upon the cold slab. Then he heard the words of chanting and raised his voice in an answering chant himself.

  The battle lasted long. The two guardians of the Tower who watched the sight they had conjured up from the memories of the black-robed mage lying within their grasp, were lost in confusion. They had, up to this point, seen everything through Raistlin’s vision. But so close now were the two magic-users that the Tower’s guardians saw the battle through the eyes of both opponents.

  Lightning crackled from fingertips, black-robed bodies twisted in pain, screams of agony and fury echoed amidst the crash of rock and timber.

  Magical walls of fire thawed walls of ice, hot winds blew with the force of hurricanes. Storms of flame swept the hallways, apparitions sprang from the Abyss at the behest of their masters, elementals shook the very foundations of the castle. The great dark fortress of Fistandantilus began to crack, stones tumbling from the battlements.

  And then, with a fearful shriek of rage and pain, one of the black-robed mages collapsed, blood flowing from his mouth.

  Which was which? Who had fallen? The guardians sought frantically to tell, but it was impossible.

  The other mage, nearly spent, rested a moment, then managed to drag himself across the floor. His trembling hand reached up to the top of the stone slab, groped about, then found and grasped the bloodstone pendant. With his last strength, the black-robed mage gripped the pendant and crawled back to kneel beside the still-living body of his victim.

  The mage on the floor could not speak, but his eyes, as they gazed into the eyes of his murderer, cast a curse of such hideous aspect that the two guardians of the Tower felt even the chill of their tormented existence grow warm by comparison.

  The black-robed mage holding the bloodstone hesitated. He was so close to his victim’s mind that he could read the unspoken message of those eyes, and his soul shrank from what it saw. But then his lips tightened. Shaking his hooded head and giving a grim smile of triumph, he carefully and deliberately pressed the pendant down on the black-robed chest of his victim.

  The body on the floor writhed in tormented agony, a shrill scream bubbled from his blood-frothed lips. Then, suddenly, the screams ceased. The mage’s skin wrinkled and cracked like dry parchment, his eyes stared sightlessly into the darkness. He slowly withered away.

  With a shuddering sigh, the other mage collapsed on top of the body of his victim, he himself weak, wounded, near death. But clutched in his hand was the bloodstone and flowing through his veins was new blood, giving him life that would—in time—f
ully restore him to health. In his mind was knowledge, memories of hundreds of years of power, spells, visions of wonders and terrors that spanned generations. But there, too, were memories of a twin brother, memories of a shattered body, of a prolonged, painful existence.

  As two lives mingled within him, as hundreds of strange, conflicting memories surged through him, the mage reeled at the impact. Crouching beside the corpse of his rival, the black-robed mage who had been the victor stared at the bloodstone in his hand. Then he whispered in horror.

  “Who am I?”

  CHAPTER

  4

  he guardians slid away from Raistlin, staring at him with hollow eyes. Too weak to move, the mage stared back, his own eyes reflecting the darkness.

  “I tell you this”—he spoke to them without a voice and was understood—“touch me again, and I will turn you to dust—as I did him.”

  “Yes, Master,” the voices whispered as their pale visages faded back into the shadows.

  “What—” murmured Crysania sleepily. “Did you say something?” Realizing she had been sleeping with her head upon his shoulder, she flushed in confusion and embarrassment and hurriedly sat up. “Can-can I get you anything?” she asked.

  “Hot water”—Raistlin lay back limply—“for … my potion.”

  Crysania glanced around, brushing her dark hair out of her eyes. Gray light seeped through the windows. Thin and wispy as a ghost, it brought no comfort. The Staff of Magius cast its light still, keeping away the dark things of the night. But it shed no warmth. Crysania rubbed her aching neck. She was stiff and sore and she knew she must have been asleep for hours. The room was still freezing cold. Bleakly, she looked over at the cold and blackened firegrate.

  “There’s wood,” she faltered, her gaze going to the broken furniture lying about, “but I-I have no tinder or flint. I can’t—”

  “Wake my brother!” snarled Raistlin, and immediately began to gasp for breath. He tried to say something further, but could do no more than gesture feebly. His eyes glittered with such anger and his face was twisted with such rage that Crysania stared at him in alarm, feeling a chill that was colder than the air around her.