Thane Du-Moriss IV

Thane Du-Moriss IV was the ruling wizard of Kieve and husband of Bayende.

He defeated his rival Noranda-Zang in the War of Thanopolis and thrust a sword into his heart, killing him, or so he thought. Zang had prepared for his defeat before the battle and had taken a new body afterwards. He found Thane after searching for ten years and killed his wife, Bayende. Thane had been asked by the city marshals to mediate a dispute between two farmers over how to divide a crop of hay that they had grown, and had forgotten to lock the door. He returned to find the walls covered with blood and his unborn son half-eaten and thrown in a corner beneath a window.

For seventeen years, Thane searched for Zang. Despite not being a planeswalker, he traveled the pathways between the planes. Planeswalking took every drop of knowledge he had, but it would be worth it once he found Zang. During his absence, Thane had put his land in the care of elders who periodically sent him reports that Kieve prospered. Whenever they told him of trouble, he sent faceless Angels that frightened any would-be criminals so that they would not misbehave.

Eventually, Thane stumbled off of the path between the planes into a new plane. He was on a deserted beach, with crags in front of him blackened with dying moss. Stinging gnats swarmed around his face. Thane guessed that the place was a disguise to ward off planeswalkers, or a land ruled by an evil wizard.

A whirlwind suddenly blew toward him from the south. In the wind's belly was a horned octopus, each of its twelve tentacles holding a sword as long as Thane was tall. Thane used the amulet Blue Realm to summon two Nightmares to fight the octopus. In minutes the battle was over, and the whirlwind dissipated. Thane called back the Nightmares, mounted one of them, and flew over the crags. In the distance were forests, and beyond them a line of towers. Soldiers saw him and shot poisoned arrows, but he flew higher. Beyond the towers he saw a yellow-green plain with a stone fortress in the center of it. Outside lay huts and cottages. He ordered the Nightmare to land outside the town, and a beggar ran up to him and warned him that planeswalkers were not welcome. Thane blessed the beggar but did not explain that he was only a wizard, not a planeswalker. He asked the beggar the name of the land and the wizard who ruled it. The beggar replied that the land was called Everlorne and that he was not permitted to speak the wizard's name; if he did, he would be killed. Thane handed him a coin and explained that he had been on a seventeen-year journey and had forgotten about civility. The beggar bowed and walked backward to the village while bowing again and again. Thane walked through the village to a road that led to the castle. There were armored guards at the door, and Thane clutched used Blue Realm to summon a swarm of locusts. When the guards saw the deadly insects, they ran into the village screaming for mercy. Thane halted the locusts, causing them to waver in the air, and cast a spell to unbar the door. Beyond the door lay a cobbled courtyard surrounded by stunted juniper trees and twisted holly. Across the courtyard was a giant of a man, with black hair and aquamarine eyes. He asked Thane who he was and what business he had with his house. Thane called told him that he was Thane of Kieve, and owed a debt to Noranda-Zang. The man said, "You dare speak my father's name without fear for your very life?" Thane then realized that, while he had been searching for seventeen years, Zang had the comfort of family. He cast a death spell that killed Zang's son. As he left the courtyard, he heard Zang's voice crying, "Thane, Thane, Thane, no no no, Thane, no, not my son, not my only son!" Thane did not stop or turn around. He could not smile or feel triumph, and was not proud of the deed. The two wizards would be forever at war, he thought, now that neither had anything worth losing.