"With age comes wrinkles!" Finlay thundered, flicking his wrist at his opponent. A spattering of silver squeezed out from his fingertips.
Adam gasped, clutching at his face where the magical face-lift melted away like a hard candy left out in the sun. The ravines and caverns around his eyes deepened as he grimaced. He muttered under his breath.
A metal clap whizzed out from under Finlay's cloak, flicking off a stone column and over the side of the tower. Another followed as the great expanse of his middle flooded through the gaps of his corset.
"How dare you!" Finlay roared as he stomped a foot, his belly trembling, and a crack tore through the floor. A wisp of a shadow crawled out, rushing the distance between the two wizards to snatch the elder's wig away.
Moonlight glinted off Adam's bald spot and the wind whisked the hair away as the shadow dissipated. Finlay convulsed with laughter and missed Adam's muttered incantation: "But you cannot see, old man."
His eyes widened as cataracts curled over them; the day became night. Finlay went to one knee.
"I am too powerful, you fool!" Adam laughed to the sky, but a sudden coughing fit jerked his body. Gasping, he sunk to the ground.
"Adam?" Finlay swung his arms in front of him. "Are you OK? Where are you?" He tripped, toppling to one side like a fell tree. The crack sent a shock of pain from his mouth.
"Did you just... break something?" Adam's voice was weak, but amused.
"Of course not!" Finlay rolled onto his back head facing skyward. "Truce?"
Adam snorted. "For now." Groaning to his feet, he held nudged Finlay with his foot and guided the younger man's hand to his. He helped him up and the two shuffled to the stairs, looking very much their age.
YOU ARE READING
The Eternal Return
Short StoryA collection of speculative short stories and flash fiction. A few of these are also posted on my blog and others still I wrote in creative writing classes or for flash fiction contests. Please, let me know what you think.
