I held very still, counting off the seconds. Four. Three.

Now he was right behind me. “Je n’étais même pas là . . .”

Two. One . . .

“Pourquoi de vrais—” Magic flared behind me and I heard a whisper of movement, soft and quick.

I was already twisting. Something slid past me and hit the door with a thunk. At the same time my hand came up in a flash of metal, stabbing upwards.

He was quick, very quick. The knife hit home but he was already jumping back and a shield flickered into existence as the blow landed. He came down in a fighting stance, a translucent blade that hadn’t been there a second ago held in his right hand and pointing straight at me. He started to cast another spell, and before he could finish I lunged.

The man dropped the spell and struck, meeting my attack with his own. I hooked his blade and kept going, slamming him into the wall and forcing his knife hand out of position while I stabbed at his gut, one-two-three. The third blow sank home but as it did another spell blew me back, solid air striking like a hammer. I was thrown back to the steps, tripped, looked up to see him moving in a blur of motion, disappearing around the corner before I could react.

I scrambled to my feet. I could feel the signature of his spells moving out of the station towards the construction site. Air magic, soft and grey and whisper-quick. That spell he’d used to throw me away had been a wind blast, and that blade had been hardened air. I looked right to see that the door I’d been standing in front of had a narrow diamond-shaped hole, almost too thin to see. If I hadn’t moved that would have been my back.

I looked at my knife to see a trace of blood, but only a trace. He’d been using an air shield. I didn’t think he was seriously hurt, but—

My divination warned me first, my magesight second. Energy twined around the corridor where I was standing and I bolted up the stairs, putting distance between me and the centre of the spell. As I cleared the stairs and came down on the platform I felt a sudden tug of wind pulling me back and my ears popped as I heard a hollow whump from behind. I darted behind a pillar and held still.

Silence. I strained my ears, trying to make out some sound. Wind swirling around the platform, traffic on the main road to the east. I couldn’t hear the guy’s footsteps. What had that spell been? Whatever it was, it wasn’t friendly to human bodies. My best guess was some kind of implosion effect. Air mage, has to be. Too many spells to be an adept.

Movement in the futures. There was no sound, but looking into what would happen if I stepped out, I could sense the air mage coming back. He was floating, not walking, hovering a few inches above the ground at the foot of the steps. The air blade was still in his right hand, and as I watched he began to glide up the stairs, eyes searching left and right.