Hugh Cook: The Witchlord and the Weaponmaster

So spoke Sken-Pitilkin, for he was sure by now that Guest was deliberately easing off the pace of the pursuit in the hope that his father would run, and would make his escape, and would not force father and son to a final confrontation.

But, when Guest and his forces eventually reached the Yolantarath, there was Lord Onosh, braced for a final stand. And as for the course of that final stand – why, we have seen that already.

Years earlier, when Guest had been but a boy, the Witchlord Onosh had hunted bandits from the hills, and had encompassed their slaughter on the banks of the Yolantarath. As Lord Onosh had hunted, so he now was doomed to be hunted in his turn.

The Witchlord Onosh was possessed of the Gift of Seeing, and though it was a small gift, and one which was erratic in operation, he had been right in thinking himself doomed to die, and had been right in thinking his son Guest Gulkan was the man who would encompass his death.

And so our history comes full circle, and we end as we began, with a battle by the river, and with a death. But, of course, between the first battle and the last, the world has changed entirely; and I cannot read the future, or know where the changes will end. I know only that one Age is finished, and we are launched into an uncertain future, the perplexities of which are beyond the foresight of man, or woman, or wizard.