The purple-haired man moved first.
No wind-up. No declaration. He simply raised one hand and the air in front of him ignited, a compressed column of fire that traveled the distance between them in the time it took Arthur to process that it had been thrown.
Arthur dropped.
The fire passed over him close enough to char the collar of his coat and hit the tree behind him and the tree stopped being a tree. Just a stump and a column of fire climbing into the grey Creslan sky.
He came up on one knee and pushed his network outward in every direction simultaneously and the four hooded figures were already moving, closing the distance from their positions in coordinated silence, two from behind and one from each flank, the geometry of people who did not intend to give anyone room to breathe.
'Left flank,' Vexis said. 'Closing fast.'
