He's never tried to kill Istredd.

But all it takes is one distraction, one wrong move.

Through all of this, he is going through the stack of books by his stool.

I don't know, unless you can find a way to fortify yourself, even temporary. He'd really like it to be a joke but it's really... not. Abraxan magic does come with a lot of options, so maybe. Maybe just not the use they'd expect. That kind of thing could actually be useful in sensible things like, y'know, combat.