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

to their own soldiers. And this one apparently fancied himself an assassin today.
    All six soldiers sported a rifle each. Two of them carried machine guns, and beside them walked two men with machine pistols and enough ammunition for the machine guns to decimate the city block all over again. Metal poles appeared to protrude from their shoulders. Terra took a closer look and identified them as replacement barrels for the machine guns. Six rifles, two machine pistols, two machine guns, and oodles of ammunition. The Selpe soldiers had come loaded to deal damage.
    Tucked in between the others, the sixth man held a gigantic metal block in his hand. The radio. Everett met Terra’s eyes and subtly inclined his head to indicate the radio-toting soldier. If they didn’t destroy that radio quickly enough, he would call their base for reinforcements. Everett still held his gun, but he wasn’t aiming it in the soldiers’ direction. As far as Terra could see, he didn’t yet have a clear shot. The soldiers were aiming their guns at her and Everett.
    “What do we have here? More scavenging scum?” one of the soldiers with a machine gun asked his ammunition partner.
    “No,” said the patrol leader, his eyes locking on Terra. “Someone much more valuable.” His lips lifted in a sick smile. “Terra Cross.”
    “Bringing her in alive is worth a promotion apiece. Emperor’s decree,” said the soldier with bulging vest pockets.
    The man with the second machine gun licked his lips. “What’s she worth dead?”
    The patrol leader shot him a hard look. “A free trip to the coroner. She’s Emperor Selpe’s wife.”
    The other men snickered.
    “What about him?” Licking Lips pointed at Everett. “What’s he worth?”
    “Nothing, I’d imagine. He looks like one of those ragged Revs,” said Bulging Pockets.
    “I suppose we’re obliged to rescue the Empress from the Rev who kidnapped her,” Patrol Leader said to his men. Then he dipped his head infinitesimally toward Terra and smirked. “Don’t worry, Your Majesty. We’ll have you away from this wretch and safely back in the Emperor’s arms before you know it.”
    As the Selpe soldiers chuckled, Terra nearly choked on the rising acid in her throat. She favored the leader with a stony glare, which the soldiers seemed to find even more amusing. Chortling, they fanned out into an imposing—but stupid—solid line. They began to close in on Terra and Everett, kicking up a dusty mist.
    Everett used the opportunity to cough and whisper under his breath, “You take the guys with the machine guns.”
    Then he shot the radio. Terra heard the second shot go through the radio bearer’s head, but she’d already sprinted around the dilapidated remains of a building. Keeping out of sight, she watched each of the two men with a machine gun take his ammunition partner and run off toward a different debris pile. Both pairs very quickly had the gun set up and shooting. As Terra snuck toward the first pair, she hoped Everett had managed to take cover.
    She crept up silently behind the men, whose eyes were fixed on the area beyond the ridge of debris. They didn’t even notice her. As the machine gun’s barrel began to glow, the ammunition soldier pulled out a new one. Terra slipped out two slender cylinders, each no larger than a pen. She waited until they’d just finished changing the barrel, then she cupped her lips around her dart blower and shot them one after the other with a tranquilizer. They collapsed immediately, thanks to the potency of the magical herbs. Terra rigged the machine gun to fire automatically at a pile of junk, then ran off, hoping the deception would buy her the time she needed to deal with the next pair of soldiers.
    She darted around rickety piles and over a ground littered with twisted metal and shattered glass. The men with the second machine gun were clear across the street, hunkered down behind the remnants of a concrete wall. Terra raced under a