Shadowstorm (Sorcery and Science Book 6) Read Online Free PDF Page A

brushing his fingers through his chin-length hair, black speckled with grey. It was unwashed, of course, just like his grubby shirt and mud-stained pants, both so filthy that Terra couldn’t even tell what color the fabric had once been. The rest of the band looked no better, and there was a look of manic desperation in all their eyes. She poised herself for a fight. Desperate men made for dangerous opponents. Often enough, they had nothing to lose.
    “Hello there, pretty-pretty,” the lead scavenger said, flashing Terra a crooked smile.
    “Careful, Mick. Them there’s Elitions,” warned a man with a purple fringed cowboy hat—probably stolen. It certainly didn’t match the rest of his attire. For one, it was actually clean. The scavenger had probably killed another man for the garish item.
    “Dolt,” one of his companions said, knocking Purple Cowboy upside the head. The hat tipped precariously but remained on. “Only the girl’s Elition.” He pointed at Everett. “He ain’t got no glowing eyes.”
    “Come to think of it, she looks some kind of familiar,” said Mick, scratching his head as he gawked at Terra.
    “Don’t tell me you know these hooligans,” Everett whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
    “Certainly not,” she assured him. “I’ve never seen them before in my life.” She grinned at him. “I figured these were your mercenary guild friends.”
    “Cute,” he snapped back. “Very cute.”
    “So, I’ll take Purple Cowboy and Thumper, and you handle the others?” she suggested.
    He shrugged. “Whatever. They don’t look too tough. I can take them all if you don’t want near the stench. I know how sensitive Elition noses are.”
    “True.” Terra sheathed her swords, then slipped two throwing knives out of the band around her arm. She handled one to him. “In that case, perhaps a long range attack would suit the situation better?”
    “Mick, I think we’s being insulted,” said the fourth scavenger, drawing a shiny gun. It appeared to be a fake. Did such shenanigans even work on real people?
    Everett seemed to be thinking along the same lines. “Put that plastic toy away before—”
    He stopped, staring at the buzzing knife handle that was now protruding from the fake gun man’s chest. As the rest of the scavengers scattered like field mice, Everett looked at his own hands, then at Terra’s. They each still held a throwing knife.
    “Do you think your assassin boyfriend managed to track us down already?” Everett asked her, handing her the knife.
    She slipped both of her knives back into her arm band and hissed in a whisper, “He’s not my boyfriend!”
    He smirked. “Purely a technicality.”
    Terra looked into his smug face and bit back a growl. Before she could think of a snappy retort, the synchronized stride of six pairs of boots heralded in the arrival of a group of Selpe soldiers. Their dark grey-blue uniforms were as immaculate as the scavengers’ clothes were dirty. The soldiers had probably been assigned to patrol the ruins. But why? Any Rev stranglers had long since been found.
    And then it hit her. They’d heard whispers on their way here this morning. The Selpes and Avans had gone to war. With a new war brewing, the Selpes would be looking to set up bases close to their enemy’s territory. There were few places as strategically relevant as Hope. Terra scrutinized the six soldiers before her carefully. The obvious leader strode forward, a rifle over one shoulder and a smug expression on his face. Terra was intimately familiar with both. After all, she’d worked for the Selpes for over a year, and that job had far too often involved sharing unpleasantries with their military’s minions. At least these weren’t Diamond Edges, the Selpe elite soldiers.
    Terra didn’t fail to notice that a throwing knife was missing from the band around the patrol leader’s arm. Throwing knives were forbidden in the Selpe Empire, but of course those rules didn’t apply