Exploitable Weaknesses by Brian Keller (red queen free ebook txt) 📗

into his ear, “If I didn’t know better, I’d say the meeting you arranged just got co-opted.” Cooper smiled, not taking his eyes off the celebratory handshakes and slaps on the back, “I’d agree, but they’ll all be back on track soon enough. The upcoming wedding will be a big event.”

Chapter 25

The warehouses would wait. The Dreg’s House was first on the list. Two longboats ferried the members of the Guild across the bay. Six other boats carried the Wharfsiders. No one seemed pleased with the roughness of the water. One of the oarsmen had shouted over the storm, “If the bay’s this rough, imagine the open water!” He didn’t go so far as to claim that it was, perhaps, foolish to attempt such endeavors on a night like this. He didn’t have to.

When they arrived at the Dreg’s Boardwalk, they ascended quickly, grateful to be out of the small vessels being tossed about like so much flotsam. The fighters of the Guild split into three groups, faced west and were quickly swallowed up by the darkness. The Wharfsiders fanned out along the boardwalk finding what little shelter was available under eaves or porch roofs. Four others walked north to watch over the Bridges.

Kinsman felt a twinge of guilt when they converged on the House in the Dregs. One of the Dregs kids stepped out to meet them. The boy’s waterlogged clothes hung from his frame in such a way that he looked more like a miniature scarecrow than a wet, little boy. Kinsman had forgotten all about the children assigned to watch the place. He had intended to have Rukle tell them to stop; in fact, he thought he already had, but here they were and a boy from the Dregs was telling them, “We’re pretty sure there’re four men in the House. Nobody’s come ‘r gone since lunchtime.” Kinsman placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder and leaned in close so he could speak in normal tones and still be heard, “Go home and get dry. There’ll be no more need to watch this place after tonight.” The boy didn’t need to be told twice. He disappeared quickly enough to be impressive.

Kinsman extended a hand displaying four fingers so everyone could see, then crouched and approached the door. He pointed at Rukle and made a sweeping gesture around to the right. He pointed at Spen and Gaff and waved them closer. He handed his bow to Gaff and indicated the others in his small group to do the same. He then directed Gaff and the men rescued from the quarry around to the left. Once they split off, Kinsman, Spen, Naro and Loryn lined up on the door. Kinsman pressed a gloved hand on the door. The wood was soft. Rotten. He reasoned in silence, “They’ve probably reinforced the door on the inside. And added a latch or deadbolt… but I’ll bet they didn’t reinforce the door frame.”

Kinsman faced the others and waved them all closer. He then pantomimed a pushing motion against the door and held up three fingers, giving them an exaggerated three second countdown. When all he displayed was a fist, he turned and they all rushed against the door. The nails holding the hinges in place held. Those securing the dead bolt did not. The door flew open and they tumbled in, the angle of the door forced them to get tangled together momentarily. Kinsman pulled himself free and raced past the first man near the door, reclined in a chair that he had leaning against the wall, “One of the others can handle him.” They needed to get all of them inside as quickly as they could. The room they were in had two doors, not counting the one they’d just burst in through. One likely led to a modest privy. That was probably the door in the left corner. Kinsman sprinted to the other door, ignoring the second man who was hunched over a dying fire, trying to nurse it back to health. The man called out, “Close the damn doo-”. As Kinsman pushed the second door open, from behind him he heard the sound of a chair clattering and the sudden exhalation and groan made by the man who’d ridden it to the floor. He felt certain how that would be concluded but he was already entering the second room. By now it was obvious to the man at the fire that something was amiss. He only had time to drop the kindling in his hand and begin to stand. He reached for the sword at his hip and filled his lungs to shout an alarm as Naro’s blade silenced him. The two men in the second room were startled awake by the sudden opening of the bedroom door. As the closest man started to sit upright, Kinsman stepped left and dispatched him with a stab through the windpipe, gliding the blade past the right side of the man’s vertebrae, before the man even had a chance to call out. He heard a wet, “shik” sound and a muffled cry from his right and turned to see Spen withdrawing his own blade from the left side of the other man’s chest, with his left hand over the man’s mouth as he pushed the man downward onto the bed. He’d thrust his blade at a sharp inward angle, just below and to the outside of the man’s left nipple, where the space between the ribs started to widen. Kinsman made no comment, he merely scanned the room quickly to assure no threat remained and turned back to the main room.

Loryn had killed the man at the door while he’d been attempting to stand. She’d been the one closest to the hinges as they’d pushed against the door, so she’d been the last to enter. She shook some of the water from her cloak and glared at Naro in an accusing manner. Kinsman looked