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“Why, Billy, I didn’t know you cared. Now, answer the question.”
“I don’t know,” he repeated stubbornly. “In theory, I should be able to redirect the power outward instead of inward, but—”
“Great.” I focused on the shimmering shields, ignoring the fact that Louis-César and Tomas were having some sort of argument. It had been a long time since I tried this, and if I screwed it up, I might not get another chance. Pritkin was almost purple, and only the whites of his eyes were showing.
“Wait! I need to think a minute! Hold your horses—” Billy kept talking, but I tuned him out. We didn’t have time for a prolonged discussion. I couldn’t extend my ward like Pritkin had done; if his shields disappeared altogether before I could strengthen them, we were toast. I concentrated and spoke the only power word I knew.
Energy flowed through me to the point that I thought I was going to levitate right off the asphalt. A second later Billy carved a glowing gold rune in the air that hovered in front of my face for a minute, shiny and bright and perfect. But I didn’t have much time to admire it, since I was knocked flat on my ass a second later when the energy left me in the same bone-jarring rush in which it had come. I suddenly, vividly recalled why I didn’t do this kind of thing often.
I rolled onto my side and groaned, trying to keep from throwing up. I had the definite feeling I wasn’t going to make it. Then Billy started to feed me some of his stolen power. I hadn’t expected to feel anything—when he’d helped me out before, I hadn’t known about it until after the fact
—but this I felt. Sparkling, warm, wonderful energy coursed through me, and I sat up abruptly. Damn! I could get addicted to this. Billy’s laughter echoed in my head and I grinned. No wonder he’d been zooming around like a comet earlier.
“What did you do?” Pritkin was also sitting up, looking bewildered. He focused on me. “You reinforced my shields?” He stared in incredulity while I admired my and Billy’s handiwork. Pretty blue walls, so opaque they could probably have been seen by norms and so thick I could have driven a car around inside their ring, glimmered under the halogen lights. Pritkin must ward with water, because there were ripples like gentle waves spreading through them.
“We do good work,” I congratulated my helper. “And I don’t even feel like puking anymore.”
“What did you do?!” Pritkin grabbed me by the arms and my ward sizzled slightly. He let go, glowering and rubbing his hands. “You cannot have that much power—no human can!”
“May be I borrowed it.”
His eyes narrowed. “From whom, or what?”
I didn’t feel like trying to explain. “Would someone please tell me what’s going on?” Before anyone could answer, the shields began to spit and hiss. What looked like a black cloud had begun nibbling at them, swallowing that beautiful power in tiny bites, like a swarm of locusts descending on a prairie. Okay, maybe we weren’t out of the woods yet.
I decided to get some answers from the one person here who would tell me the truth. I went inside and found Billy. “Spill it.”
“I can’t believe you did that! Do you have any idea what would have happened if I hadn’t been able to channel that much power all at once? It could have ricocheted off the inside of the shield and fried all of us!”
I interrupted. “Yell at me later. Just tell me what’s going on, fast.”
“Mages from the two circles are fighting, and we’re stuck in the middle. How’s that for brief?”
“Okay, now the version that makes sense.”
I heard something odd and realized it sounded like grinding teeth. I hadn’t known he could do that. “I drifted through the dark mage after you came back to your body, but he caught on and warded against me. I don’t think I can do it again. But before he kicked me out, I learned that the Black Circle is allied with Rasputin, along with a lot of other groups who’re not happy with the status quo. They seem to think he’s got a real chance to take it all, and they don’t wanna miss out on the spoils. And, even more fun, it seems like Tony’s also buddy-buddy with them. He’s been selling magic users to the light elves, and he knows that if anyone finds out at MAGIC, he’ll be lucky if all they do is stake him.”
“What? You aren’t making sense.” I’d only just found out Faerie wasn’t a myth. I certainly didn’t understand enough about it to follow Billy’s ramblings.
“It’s a long story. All you need to know is that Tony wants protection. The dark elves have traced the problem to him, and they aren’t happy. They can’t afford for the light Fey to outbreed them, but with fertile magic users to help with the population shortage, that’s what’s going to happen fairly soon. And then the light will rule all of Faerie.”
“But that’s good, right?” I didn’t know how many of my nursery school stories were based on fact, but if the dark Fey really were composed of trolls, banshees, goblins and the like, wouldn’t it be better for the light to win?
Billy sighed. “You and I gotta have a long talk sometime. No, it would not be good. I don’t trust any of the Fey, but at least the dark have rules. The light have been getting more and more anarchic lately—in the past few centuries, I mean—and there’s no telling what they’ll do if there is nothing to balance them. That’s why that demented pixie was here. She couldn’t give a damn about enslaved humans normally, but if the trade is going to benefit the light, she wants to stop it. Anyway, the point for us is that Rasputin has promised to protect Tony in return for him killing you. It wasn’t a hard sell.”
“I bet.” So I had yet another enemy. I was going to have to start keeping a list. “Why does Rasputin want to kill me?”
“He sees you as a threat, but I don’t know why. The mage may know, but I didn’t get it. But I did find out that Rasputin called Tony’s boys about half an hour ago and said you were on your way here. That’s probably why Jimmy was still alive. They were too busy deploying every spare thug around the casino to catch you to bother killing him. Only nobody expected you to just waltz in the front entrance. They were watching the side and back entries, so you threw them a little.” Well, at least that explained why I’d been able to stroll around deserted hallways.
Something occurred to me. “I didn’t even know I was coming until right before I left. How did Rasputin figure it out?”
“Good question.”
I decided to leave it for the moment. “But why would Tony defy Mircea and the Circle by something as risky as slaving?” Dealing in magic users was not unknown, but most people had decided that the huge profits to be made by selling powerful telepaths or wardsmiths wasn’t worth the penalties imposed if the Circle caught up with you. I’d heard Tony himself say it was a game for fools. So what had happened to change his mind? “Mircea will kill him.”
“Not if Rasputin kills Mircea and the rest of the Senate first. In that case, Tony gets a Senate seat, out from under the control of his master, and no more dues to pay. Power and wealth, the usual suspects.”
“Tony isn’t strong enough to stand on his own, even without Mircea. He’s third level at best; you know that.”
