Free Claimed By Shadow by Karen Chance Page B

synchronization, but instead of doing high kicks they were shouldering weapons.
    “The Circle found a way to block your ward—it won’t work,” Pritkin said shortly as I scrambled to my feet, ignoring the pain from my bruised nose and scraped knees. He was scanning the approaching line for some sign of weakness. I really hoped he saw one, because the closest knights had started to whirl heavy maces around their heads almost too fast to see, and the ones right behind them had unsheathed very sharp-looking swords. Then what he’d said hit me. I reached over my shoulder to grab the top of my lopsided star. It was still there, but its slight ridges lay quiescent under my fingertips.
    “The Circle can’t remove it unless they have you in their power,” he added. “But it won’t flare. Don’t depend on it.”
    “And you were planning on telling me this when?!”
    Pritkin didn’t answer, being busy pulling an old-fashioned .45 from his belt and pumping rounds into the nearest knights. The bullets all connected, leaving sizable holes, but there was no spray of blood or mangled bodily tissue. The torchlight glimmering through the punctures in the nearest armored head showed why—all I could see was the empty interior of the helmet and part of a tapestry on the far wall. There was no one in there to hurt.
    Pritkin must have figured this out, because he shoved the gun back into its holster and sent a bright orange fireball at the line instead. It was powerful enough to catch one of the banners hanging down from the ceiling alight, quickly reducing it to a few burning shreds of material. But when the flames cleared, I saw that it had had less of an effect on the knights. The closest two emerged looking like contestants in a three-legged race, lurching along with their bodies melted together from the hips down. But they were still coming, and the others had only been scorched and knocked off their feet.
    “Their weapons are enchanted,” Pritkin said grimly. “And I’ve been using my shields almost nonstop all day. They won’t last, and few spells will work within the casino’s wards. Shift us out of here!”
    I’d have liked nothing better, but there was a slight problem. I might be in possession of a whopping amount of power, at least temporarily, but I really didn’t want to use it. Power wasn’t free, especially in such large amounts. I’d been around magic users enough to know that if you borrow power, eventually you get a bill. I didn’t like not knowing what that bill might be, or who might be sending it.
    “Why are the knights attacking us?” I asked, hoping for another solution—any other. “We haven’t done anything!” Maybe I was misreading the situation, and the casino’s defenses were actually trying to take out the mages for us. In that case, all we needed to do was get out of the way.
    Pritkin quickly destroyed that hope. “Andrew and Stephan triggered the automatic defenses by drawing arms inside the casino. I didn’t respond, so we should have been safe, but they came too close. The defenses have confused us with the aggressors, and now we’re all targets. Shift us now!”
    I didn’t have time to explain my views on my new power, because I had to dodge a spear thrown by a knight down the corridor. I jumped aside just before it slammed into the floor where I’d been standing, sending bits of painted concrete flying up at me. I felt liquid slide down my left cheek and raised a shaking hand to it. My fingertips came back painted red, but my ward never so much as twinged. I stared incredulously at my blood-smeared hand. So much for supernatural protection.
    “Do it!” Pritkin yelled.
    “I can’t!” I would break my resolution, but only if I was sure that the only alternative was death. If anyone sent me a bill for London, I could reasonably argue that I had been getting myself out of the mess I’d been dragged into against my will. I’d have no such excuse for calling the power now,