Noidron didn't hesitate or stand on ceremony. He swiftly conjured another lightning spell and thrust his hand forward, unleashing a continuous stream of white-hot electricity. Arcing tendrils lashed out, slamming into the geoseri's obsidian-scaled body with explosive force.
The maegi winced, straining to maintain the spell.
But the geoseri didn't flinch. It stood motionless, enduring the full blast without so much as a twitch. The lightning danced harmlessly across its scales, drawn into the white filaments lining its back.
Noidron's eyes widened in disbelief. The creature was actually absorbing it.
Realising the danger, he immediately pulled back from the two younger maegis, bracing for retaliation.
Once charged, the geoseri stretched its limbs and flared its filaments, redirecting the stolen energy back at him.
'Shit –'
Noidron leapt aside just as a surge of lightning shot past him – a distorted reflection of his own spell, now amplified and uncontrolled. The returning attack was more powerful, though wildly inaccurate.
The chaotic bolts narrowly missed the two young maegis, but one stray arc clipped Noidron's back.
He was flung into the tunnel wall, the impact knocking the wind out of him. Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself up and bolted, flinging a crackling bolt of lightning at the geoseri's face as he fled.
The creature snarled, its expression contorting in fury. With another thunderous roar, it lunged after him.
Still prone with his hands over his head, Riniock peeked out – and the moment Noidron and the geoseri vanished from view, he sprang to his feet.
Piddruin looked up at the sudden silence and quickly followed suit.
'N-Now hold on…' the Ikshari stammered, lips trembling. He raised his hands the instant Riniock did, sensing an imminent attack.
Riniock paused, his hand steady but not yet striking.
'Your problem's with I-Irgod,' Piddruin said. 'I-I'm just a lackey…I only do w-what I'm told.'
'I don't care,' Riniock replied, his voice cold, hand unmoving.
'Wait – wait, man!' Piddruin begged. 'I can help you. We Iksharis have a way of tracking each other using our earstones. I'm sure you're familiar with the device, right?'
He fumbled into his pocket and pulled out the small communication stone – one Riniock immediately recognised. He dropped to the floor, panicking as he recovered it.
'I can link it to Irgod's…let you track him.'
Riniock raised a brow. 'Why would you do that?'
'To g-get rid of him, o'course.'
'You want me to kill him?' Riniock asked, narrowing his eyes.
'Y-You think I like being treated like a d-d-dog?' Piddruin burst out, his expression a tangle of resentment and fear. 'Called an idiot? Berated, beaten, humiliated every time I slip up?'
His emotions didn't seem feigned. His fists clenched, his shoulders tight, and a bitter tremor crept into his voice when he spoke Irgod's name.
Riniock noticed these things; he had a good eye for these non-verbal cues. With this meagre but effective skill, he could, most of the time, tell what a person felt or thought.
Rumours had long painted Piddruin as dim-witted and unreliable, a punchline even amongst the Iksharis. And Irgod's abuse was no secret.
Given all that, Riniock saw no reason to doubt him.
But something didn't sit right.
'W-What do you think?' Piddruin asked, his voice still shaking. 'If you l-let me live, I'll use the spell to t-track Irgod.'
Riniock tilted his head, considering. 'Deal.'
Piddruin nodded nervously and clutched the earstone tightly in his palms. A soft orange glow enveloped the device as he muttered an incantation under his breath.
'I-It's done…' he said after a few seconds. 'It'll pulse when y-you're headed in the right d-d-direction.'
Riniock extended his hand and curled his fingers. 'Toss it over. Don't move.'
Piddruin complied, slowly drawing his arm back and lobbing the earstone towards him.
As it sailed through the air, Riniock cast a spell mid-flight. The moment the earstone neared, it went off in a burst of fire – an explosion spell.
A wave of flame surged towards him, fast and violent –but Riniock was faster. He raised a warding spell, extinguishing the attack without a mark on him.
'Bastard!' a completely different voice spat out.
The smoke cleared – and standing where the meek Ikshari had been was something else entirely. Piddruin's posture had shifted, his eyes alight with feral intensity. Gone was the stammering lackey. In his place stood a predator.
Riniock smiled. 'I was right. Quite the performance you've got there.'
Piddruin's face twisted into a pleased smirk.
'You had everyone fooled,' Riniock went on, clearly impressed. 'The bumbling idiot routine? Flawless.'
'Heh. What gave me away?'
'Two things. First – there's no such tracking spell. Linry gave me the complete index of techniques you disciples use.'
Piddruin scoffed and rubbed his temple. 'That bitch. Always ruining things.'
'Now, I considered the possibility that you might know something even Linry didn't –'
'So what made you certain?'
Riniock chuckled. 'The spell you cast on the earstone.'
'You recognised it?'
'Not in the slightest.'
'Then how?'
Riniock's grin widened. 'Your dedication is commendable, I'll give you that. But what, you think knowing how I saw through you is going to help refine your act?'
'By trade, I'm a thespian. Once I kill you, I'll slip right back into sleazy, dim-witted Piddruin. No one will question a thing.'
Riniock let out a small laugh.
'You find this amusing? My act?'
'No. The act itself? I respect it. What's funny is your arrogance and your confidence.'
'I will kill you, Riniock!'
'Won't Irgod be upset?' Riniock taunted. 'Won't killing me make you look a bit too competent?'
'Pft. Irgod's a dullard. As long as I snivel and shake while feeding him the story, he'll believe whatever I say. Whether the geoseri killed you or I did – it's all the same to him.'
They stood still after their exchange, bodies loose, but eyes alert – each waiting for the other to make the first move. If even one flinched, Murat would break loose.
Riniock's gaze narrowed, fixed on Piddruin's foot.
'You know,' he said, breaking the silence, 'if you do survive this, you might want to watch out for maegis who can see traces of odh. Oh, and you'll end up melting your boots if you're not careful.'
Piddruin's eyes widened in surprise as he glanced down. The spell he had been silently channelling through his foot – meant to remain undetectable – had betrayed him. Even he couldn't see the traces of it.
'So that's how you knew, you bastard!'
As if on cue, both raised their hands – spells launched at the same instant. The collision exploded with a deafening boom, throwing up a cloud of dust and force.
Without hesitation, they burst through the smoke and unleashed a volley of attacks.
Wind clashed with fire. Fire with frost. Element met element in a violent display of precision and speed.
Stray currents of magick escaped the core of their skirmish, lashing towards them from all directions. Some they dodged, others they shielded. Both emerged from the exchange relatively unscathed.
They were evenly matched – so much so that the fight stalled at several points, neither able to gain the upper hand.
But the disadvantage was clear to him. Although Riniock wielded two elemental affinities, Piddruin held his ground with only one. That alone said a great deal about his power and experience.
Maybe Riniock had underestimated him after all.