Read Online Guns of the Temple (The Polaris Chronicles Book 1) by Bryan Choi, E H Carson - Free Book Online Page A

hit. Built by an empire that had fallen long before the first prana users walked the old world, it was the ultimate in simplicity and ruggedness. A Nagant also performed equally well as a spear or a club.
    She slowed her breathing and steadying her muscles. The Pritsel Ukorrochennij scope mounted on her rifle was vastly superior to the coarsely ground lenses of Draco’s spyglass. It allowed her to focus with more clarity even though her field of view was much smaller.
    “Imperials! Either janissaries or mamluks,” she said. “A lot of them, too. Looks like they’re pushing boats into the river and paddling across.”
    Methodically, she tracked the figures walking along the bank through the scope. It was clear from their heavy armor and weaponry that they were no mere scouting party.
    Draco scowled. “Why isn’t the fornicating ship doing anything? They’ve got enough cannon to wipe out a legion!”
    “Maybe they don’t know?” Hadassah shrugged.
    “Or they’ve been taken.”
    “Do you suppose there are spetsnaz-types down there? I don’t see any.”
    Draco patted the grip of his sidearm to reassure himself. “If the rumors are true, they’re already here. We need to raise an alarm.”
    “A fat lot of good that’ll do,” Hadassah said. “We’re like, the only ones on the wall right now. This garrison really likes to fap itself to sleep.”
    “Aye, and it rubs me wrong. The more I think about how undermanned this place is the less I like that castellan.”
    Hadassah frowned. “You think we’re being set up?”
    “I do. But I won’t let assholes disgrace us that easily. Not from their side, and not from ours. Look, there’s an officer near the large pile of fallen trees directing the boarding effort. Kill him, and it’ll cause some confusion in their ranks. Make them slower.”
    “I have the bastard. Range two-hundred twenty. Elevation minus thirty. Wind speed six to the north. On target!” She emptied her lungs and licked her lips.
    “Send… Wait! What’s in your chamber?”
    “Milligrad, of course.”
    “Fine, send it.”
    With a loud crack and a titanic amount of smoke, Hadassah’s Nagant flashed and turned night into day for a millisecond. Its 200-grain lead projectile screamed through the air at five hundred meters per second and slammed into the janissary leutnant’s chest on the opposite end of the river. Having lost minimal velocity, the bullet tore through his plate and brigandine, bored through an overlying rib, and sent pieces of lung out of the exit wound in his back. The rounded ogive of the projectile sheared away from the spitzer point and yawed to the side, entering a sergeant’s throat. The men toppled over, dying. Soldiers surrounding the fallen cursed and dove to cover. They aimed their rifles at the citadel but preserved enough sense not to fire blindly back.
    “Hit, right chest. Second hit, center of neck. And for fuck’s sake, that was a reload!” Draco frothed in annoyance.
    “I got a double-kill, didn’t I?”
    “I swear, I’m going to take that 'grad you just hoarded and toss it in the river next time you do that.”
    “Don’t you dare, pervert!”
    Movement down in the water caught Draco’s attention. The Argead lorcha had been suspiciously quiet the entire time, but now it bustled with activity. Besides the four short-barreled carronade cannons lining the top deck, it also had a mortar that could lob massive shells over the horizon. A tiny glint and puff of smoke from a firing pan confirmed his suspicions, and his eyes widened with realization.
    “Oh shit… We’re being shelled!” Draco snarled. He wrenched Hadassah by the arm and tossed her down the nearby hatch. A high pitched whine grew in intensity just as he hopped in himself. The two rolled painfully down steep, circular stone steps and crashed ungracefully into each other at the bottom of a landing just as the bomb hit.
    On instinct, Draco threw one arm over his companion’s head and the other