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

back from the huge crate she was inspecting and spoke in a powerfully forced whisper, “Not in. Under.” Kinsman stepped around the crates between them to stand beside her. She had knelt down beside the crate but she pointed to the top edge. There were hinges connecting the side of the crate to the top. Balat pointed a fully drawn bow at the space next to her as she lifted the side to reveal a trapdoor in the floor. Rukle leaned around to look past her and scratched his head, “If that’s a tunnel, they’re looong gone.” Kinsman held a finger to his lips and backed away, waving for everyone nearby to join him. He whispered, loudly enough to be heard over the wind whipping in through both doors, “That can’t be a tunnel.” He said it with more conviction than he felt. He continued, “A cellar of some kind, that’s gotta be all it is.” Rukle raised an eyebrow, “You’re probably right, but who’s gonna lift the door and check? If it’s a cellar, something tells me they’re not down there throwing dice.”

Kinsman looked around and decided, “First we pull that crate apart. Then we can open the trapdoor without being exposed. Once we know for sure what we’re faced with, we’ll know what needs to be done.” Under their combined efforts, the crate was dismantled in seconds. Naro and Gaff stood to each side and slowly lifted the door. Once it was open far enough for a sliver of lantern light to find its way through the aperture, a single resounding thunk was heard from the underside of the door. Both Gaff and Naro let go and the door fell shut. Gaff commented, “Someone down there has a crossbow.” Kinsman nodded, “Raise it again, but this time slide a piece of the busted crate under the lip, to hold it open just a little.” Naro squinted, “Are you sure about that?” Kinsman nodded, “Yep. I’m sure.” As they raised the lid, a voice could be heard from the darkness below, “We’ve got a crate full of quarrels down here. Care to take a look?” Kinsman glanced around the warehouse and smiled, “We’ve got a barrel of lamp fuel and two barrels of pitch up here. I’ll send them down to you once we’ve got the lids off… We’ll toss down a lit torch afterward. I know it’s got to be dark down there.” This was followed by several shouts of outrage and disbelief. The voice of the original speaker could be heard above the others, “Alright, alright. Promise to spare us an’ we’ll come up.” Rukle was already smacking the pommel of his dagger against the lid of a barrel labeled “pitch”. He stopped long enough to pass a confused look at Kinsman, “Why should we?” he asked, “We can just burn ‘em and be done. We’ve still got a long night ahead. What are we gonna do with prisoners?” The men from the quarry looked stunned, but no less surprised than Gaff, especially when Kinsman shrugged and replied matter-of-factly, “You’re right. Crack open that barrel of lamp fuel. Once we light it, we’ll put the other barrel of pitch over the door to hold it closed.” Loryn spoke, “But won’t that barrel of pitch fall through once the door catches fire? The whole building could burn.” Rukle and Naro were struggling with the barrel, trying to maneuver it closer to the hatch, two men from the quarry recovered enough from their shock to lend a hand. Kinsman considered Loryn’s concerns and then shook his head, “Even if it does, the fire certainly won’t spread in this weather.” Even though they couldn’t hear the conversation, fear had evidently taken hold of the men concealed below ground. At least one of them could be heard clambering up the ladder. Kinsman quickly drew his bow and took aim at the ledge. The door began to lift and a hand was visible from underneath. The door raised higher and a face appeared from below. Kinsman released the arrow, striking the man’s face just below his left eye. The man fell backward. From the noises below, the body landed on more than one person and likely knocked another from the ladder on its way down. Kinsman nocked a second arrow, “Dump those barrels. We’ve already spent too much time here.” The pitch and kerosene mixed as they flowed down through the hole. The occupants below began to shout. The yelling turned to panicked screams once the lit torch was thrown down. Closing the door muffled the agonizing screams but only those nearest Kinsman heard him mutter at the door, to the men below, “You helped Jarell. The Guild house burned. No one knows how many burned inside with it. You can burn, too.” The men from the quarry looked on with a mix of disbelief and horror. Rukle clapped one of them on his shoulder, startling the man, and asked, “You didn’t think we were simply dropping in to ask them all to just leave town, did you?” Gaff looked troubled but he didn’t speak, though it was obvious he wanted to.

The entire group remained silent as they left the first warehouse and walked northeast to the next one. For some of them moving silently was just how they were trained, for others their silence was more subdued. In either case, the rain masked the sound of any missteps.

The second warehouse was handled much more quickly. By the time the Guild members swept through, only two of the eight men from Lukasi had even awakened and they died on their cots with a look of surprise still on their faces.

*****

Bennet huddled under an overhang bundled up in some discarded sailcloth. It had been discarded for a reason and it did little to keep him dry but it did manage to shield him considerably from the wind. With the weather, most of the street vendors had closed up