“I did not realize we would have an audience,” she said.
“Irrelevant,” Silk replied. “You did not forbid it as part of our bargain.”
“Fine.” Behind her, she felt Cade closing the space between them.
“Mr. Harlowe,” Mr. Starling said, “you would do well to remain near your chair.”
Karigan tried to block Cade from her mind and focus on what she needed to do. “You do realize that Rider abilities are not very powerful,” she said.
“Yes, yes,” Silk replied, his voice tinged with impatience. “Let us see yours.”
Karigan took a calming breath. “Very well.” Silk looked on in anticipation, leaning forward and adjusting his specs on his nose. She touched her brooch—the one element Silk had apparently not known about Rider abilities, or he would have taken it from her right from the start.
She faded. She did not wait to see their reactions, for in the light, she was transparent, but not fully vanished. She used the moment of surprise to sprint toward the doorway, toward the lever for the light. She rammed her shoulder into Howser. It was like hitting a granite boulder, but he stumbled back a step and out of the way, and she grasped the lever and shoved it down. The room fell into darkness.
At first there was just silence, except for the sound of breathing, perhaps her own. She dropped the fading since she did not need it now. In the dark, they couldn’t see her faded or not. Unfortunately, it also meant she couldn’t see them either. Well, she had not expected to come up with the perfect plan on the spur of the moment. She edged away from the lever, hoping she didn’t knock into anyone.
“Miss G’ladheon,” Silk said, “there is no need for dramatics. Mr. Howser, turn the light back on.”
“Of course, sir.”
Damnation, Karigan thought. She listened for his movements, and when she heard his footsteps, she rushed him, hands outstretched. When she ran into him, she pushed him, and he cursed. She felt currents of air as he flailed after her.
“Mr. Howser?” Silk inquired.
“Trying, sir.”
Karigan punched blindly toward his voice and must have hit him in the gut for he emitted an oof. She kicked and hit, and he swore, unable to get his hands on her.
She registered another scuffle breaking out in the room. Cade must have engaged Starling. In another instant, something like a log knocked Karigan off her feet, and she rolled onto the hard floor, shaking her head to clear it. Not a log, she decided. Howser’s arm.
“Stop at once!” Silk cried, his voice pitched higher. “It will get you nowhere.” She sensed he had not moved from where she had last seen him, which was probably wise in the dark.
A gun blasted so close to Karigan’s ear she was partially deafened. The muzzle flash caught the room in a brief, bright staccato stillness. Another shot rang out, and glass shattered and rained to the floor—Howser had shot out the light fixture.
“Idiot!” Silk cried. “Put that thing away—you’ll kill one of us!”
The door opened and dim light from the corridor came in, along with the two guards. Karigan faded again, their odds worsening with reinforcements. Now, however, she could see them, but they could not see her.
Silk whirled toward the two newcomers. “Get her!”
“Get who?” one of the guards asked.
Karigan smiled and lunged, pushing the guard into Howser. The two went down. The other guard gaped. Silk and Starling might have been prepared for a show of magic from Karigan, but the guards were not.
“What’s in here with us?” the second guard demanded, aiming his gun this way and that, attempting to track her.
Karigan stilled, realizing that though she was invisible, her movements could give her away just as Howser’s had in the dark. As stealthily as she could, she crept up on the guard and wrenched his wrist back. He cried out, and the gun clattered to the floor. She kicked it away. The guard grabbed after her, but she moved swiftly enough that he caught only air. She snatched a clublike weapon from his belt as she went, and clouted him over the head with it. He sank to the floor and moaned.
She discerned Howser and the other guard clambering over one another to regain their feet. Karigan kicked and pounded them with the club to make that as difficult as possible, but the guard broke away, ran out the door, and did not return. He would probably rouse the entire palace.
Howser regained his gun and started shooting at random, bullets sparking on stone.
“Idiot!” Silk cried. “Stop firing!”
Howser must have hoped he’d hit her by chance, she an invisible target. Karigan crouched, ears ringing from the din, and inhaling acrid smoke. The guard she’d knocked on the head attempted to climb to his feet, but one of Howser’s bullets hit him in the chest and propelled him backward onto the floor. He did not rise again.
The next shot that blasted through the room was not one of Howser’s. This time it was Silk’s. He held a small pistol in his hand that glimmered silver in the dim light. Howser dropped his own gun and keeled over, hitting the floor with a fleshy thud.
“I told him to stop,” Silk said.
Cade and Starling still wrestled on the floor. Karigan started toward them so she might help Cade.
“Miss G’ladheon,” Silk said, “I can’t see you precisely, but there is a certain darkness in my vision, deeper than shadow, that appears to be you. I can shoot that shadow as easily as I shot Mr. Howser, who was, until now, a most sensible and reliable member of my staff. I can also shoot Mr. Harlowe.” He strode over to Cade and Starling and kicked them. “Do you hear me? I will shoot everyone if need be.”