Rise of Shadows by Vincent Trigili Read Free Book Online Page A

desk, the red-hooded magus spoke a soft command word, and the small pool that he had been studying sank into the desk. It did not fall through any discernible opening, but seemed rather to merge with the desk and be completely absorbed.
    “Greetings, Thazure,” said the red-hooded magus.
    “Greetings. I see they have launched at last,” responded Thazure.
    “Yes, they are finally moving back within our reach,” said the red-hooded magus.
    “About time, we have been ready for them for years now,” said Thazure.
    “Yes, but this is a game of patience, and not one you play well, old friend,” said the red-hooded magus.
    “Indeed,” said Thazure.
    “They will fight some of the mundanes before we can reach them. I foresee at least three, maybe four conflicts before we can get to them,” said the red-hooded magus.
    “That’s not good. The last time Shadow took this route we nearly lost him,” said Thazure.
    “The lack of traffic along their route has reduced the mundane presence considerably since his last adventure. They should not meet any real force until they have made some noise,” said the red-hooded magus.
    “True, and I suspect they will make a lot of that,” said Thazure. “I was able to discern that they are calling this Operation Show of Force.”
    “That is not good,” said the red-hooded magus. “That is sure to bring out the others.”
    “Yes,” said Thazure.
    “That is most unfortunate,” said the red-hooded magus.
    “It would certainly delay our plans,” said Thazure.
    “Yes, very much so,” said the red-hooded magus. “Where are they now?”
    “Our last report is that they are hiding in Korshalemia someplace waiting, just as we are,” said Thazure.
    “Or rather just as we were,” said the red-hooded magus.
    “Yes, as we were,” said Thazure.
    “Then let’s head to the pool and see if we can see them planning their response,” said the red-hooded magus. “We may have to deal with them first.”
    “Certainly,” said Thazure.
    As they walked through corridors of stone that looked natural instead of hewn from the rock the red-hooded magus said, “Regardless of their plans, we need to keep moving forward with ours. They are growing too powerful, and if we wait much longer it might be too late for our plan to succeed.”

Chapter Ten
    “Shadow, we are at the jump point,” said Flame.
    “Thank you, Flame. This is it, crew. When we clear the jump, rig us for low power mode. Flame, get us in the sensor shadow of that star as quickly as you can without giving us away. I want to make sure we have the option to fight or run, depending on what we find. Any questions?” I paused to give them a chance to speak, but a nervous silence filled the bridge. “Flame, jump.”
    As we entered jump space, I felt something shift. I could not place what, or how, but something was different when we came out. I could not ponder long on that because, as we exited, the ship’s tactical alarms were going off and four light cruisers were moving fast towards the jump exit point.
    “Looks like they saw us coming, but they are heading to the normal exit, not to us. Flame, bring us around; I want to come up behind them.” They made a tactical error guessing our route. By staying in low power mode and banking around the star we should be completely invisible to them.
    “Yes, Shadow,” she said as I felt the ship go into a gentle bank.
    “These four should be easy for us, if we are careful. Phoenix, when I give the order to engage, the first thing I need you to do is get our shields up. Spectra, I want you to shut down their communications. We do not want them getting any help.” I paused here and analyzed the tactical map a bit. It looked like one ship was clearly the leader so I marked it alpha target, then said, “Flame, it is time to engage. Bring the engines up to 30% power and come in on alpha target at 250 mark -27 degrees. Dusty, fire the staves as soon as we are in range.”
    As the