The air between the she-orc Rhunal and the wizard Carinus crackled with energy. At the sight of her former master, Rhunal ground her teeth in anticipation. Tendrils of lighting zipped out around her with increasing frequency. Bron stepped further away, out of the range of her electric aura. She fixed her gold eyes on Carinus. He was more than a mile distant, well out of range. Rhunal tensed to move forward, ready to bring all her power against him.

“Stop.” A bolt of lightning charred the ground in front of her. The range and accuracy of the strike shocked her. But even more so, the clarity of his voice at more than a mile. He had not shouted, only spoken normally. She heard him as if he was standing right in front of her. She halted, glancing to Bron. “Is the figure on the hill some kind of projection? Is he really much closer?”

“Girl. Don’t overthink it. I’m an archmage, projecting my voice using compressed air is a simple spell. And the same for my hearing. If you hadn’t fled, there would be many things I could teach you. I didn’t think poorly of you for wanting your freedom. But you made a powerful enemy.”

As he spoke to her, Rhunal was tackling the problem of projecting her voice. Using wind magic, she finally came up with the answer. The winds compressed a narrow band of air between her and Carinus. It wasn’t as good as his version. She still had to shout at the top of her lungs. But that suited her mood. “Take me back then, if you dare!”

“You might think that was my reason for following you. I am not your enemy, but the warlock of the north is. I tried to tell you this at Refuge. When I couldn’t bring you back, he sent a chimera against me. The manor was crushed by this cockatrice. At least I had enough time to send the servants away, knowing the attack was coming. I drove the beast away, using wind magic to avoid its petrifying breath.” He pointed to his leg. “I won’t ever walk straight again. And it’s your recklessness that brought this. That warlock is not an enemy to make and then forget about.”

“I didn’t go to him first. It wasn’t my doing that he came to Refuge. Perhaps this warlock should have stayed in the north and left the human city be!”

“It doesn’t matter, really. He has demanded your presence. I am through taking punishment for you.”

“How do you know him at all? Who is he?” she demanded.

A bolt of lightning from the sky met with Carinus’ palm, hovering above it in an electrified globe. “I wasn’t always an archmage, of course. Even before I learned magic, the warlock of the north was there. I didn’t want to become a common mage, from common teachers. I made the trek northward, all the way to that terrifying city of his. The city of monsters. The giant taught me much of what I know today.”

“You… You’re a traitor!”

“You speak of events before your time, girl. He wasn’t hostile to humans in those days. Yes, an antagonist to the orc kingdoms, but that wasn’t my business.”

“He’s attacked your people now, and still you aid him. He tried to wipe out Refuge.”

“You don’t know my intentions. I’m doing the best I can for my people. But it will come at a cost. You need to follow my lead. We need to challenge him, together.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you. I don’t trust you. Last time I had to deal with your mess was that pyromancer witch in the crypt. I’ll deal with the warlock my way.”

Carinus laughed. It echoed in the winds. “Show me then. This power and skill you possess. To challenge a being who has been alive multiple of your lifetimes. Hit me with it instead.”

She unleashed a bolt of lightning toward him. But at that extreme distance, it shot wide. Or would have. Instead, Carinus drew the bolt toward him in an arc. He caught it with both hands and sent it back with more of his own power. Scorching the earth between Rhunal and Bron. The lightning rebounded off the earth, and was absorbed into Bron’s copper greatsword.

“Impressive blade, but do you really intend to drag your friend to battle the warlock using weak magic like that? Again I ask, come with me. For his sake, as well as your own. He’s not an enemy you can just ignore.”

“Come and take me then!” She growled back.

“Alright, student. If this is the way it must be.”

Storm clouds built up above him. Carinus glowed with power. A bolt sizzled through the air, passing past Rhunal’s ear. At this distance, even Carinus’ accuracy wasn’t perfect. Only by luck she wasn’t hit. Anger roiled in her gut. Rhun unleashed her own lightning bolt, but it zipped wildly off target. Frustrated, she glanced at Bron. “It’s difficult to aim the lightning at this distance. It isn’t launched like a projectile. The path needs to be created in the air first, then the lightning follows it. Like when your hair stands up in a storm. That is when the lightning has been attracted to you as a target.”

In the next moment, she felt the tingle in her scalp. She raised both hands, conjuring a barrier of magic. A lightning bolt slammed down around this barrier, deforming it. The wavering magic barrier held, but Carinus repeated it with another strike. Her barrier crumbled, but stopped most of it. Rhunal’s nerves tingled from the residual lightning. Uninjured, but too stunned to move. The third strike of Carinus’ lightning was coming.

Bron reached her first, pushing her down, raising the blade high. The bolt slammed down, illuminating the channels in the blade with power, but dissipating it in the next moment. Before there could be any more followups, Bron pulled Rhun behind the hill she’d been standing on. Rhun shook the numbness out of her limbs. “Damn. Close one.”

“You’ve lost your aura of power too, or I couldn’t touch you. I’m certainly not a mage,” Bron said. “I normally wouldn’t tell you how to fight, but I don’t think you’re going to beat him using his own element. He seems very attuned to it. Even if you got one to land, he’d probably just intercept it again, using it against you.”

“I know. It was arrogant that I tried it. I’ve wasted enough power already. He can keep the lightning. I’ll throw everything else at him. But we’ll have to get closer. ”