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

vital.  Naro turned and blocked the man's downward strike and with the bloodied dagger in his left hand, made a backward slash across the man's right wrist, severing muscle and tendon, causing the man's grip to fail and the cutlass to clatter to the floor. Loryn recovered quickly and forced her way past Naro. The man tried to keep Loryn at arm's length but she was inside his defenses almost immediately. The sailor fell after receiving five quick cuts, three of them severing arteries in the man's arms and right leg. As the man fell, Loryn followed him to the floor, pushing her blade upward beneath the man's ribs on his right side, probably slicing the man's liver, but certainly puncturing his diaphragm and lung. She paused long enough to whisper something, but no one was close enough to hear clearly. Kinsman thought he heard a single word, “Hush.”

Not wanting to spend any more time than was necessary, Kinsman rapidly climbed back up to the deck and looked for either Mardon or Captain Rigel. Neither of them were in sight, so he left the ship in search of either of them. He found Silas on the second ship. Silas shouted, “The First chose this one. He said it looked like it's the one most recently refitted.” He pointed at the ship furthest toward the bay, “That ship has a lot of frayed rigging that'll need replacing soon. I'd recommend that one to be the one left behind, but your man may decide different.”

When he finally found Captain Rigel, Kinsman was minutes away from simply making the decision himself just so they could cast off and move on to the prison. Captain Rigel pointed to the first ship, “That's the one you want. She's actually the best of the three. Her seams are so tight that they've actually brought in barrels for ballast. ” Kinsman mentioned the observations made by Mardon and Silas. Captain Rigel's face contorted into what passed as a grin, “Trust a merchant to look at a ship as if she were pages in a ledger. There's more to consider than just a bit of cloth and rope. Makes no sense, he'll be wanting to change out the sailcloth anyway. That's the first thing you do to conceal the ship's origin.” The Captain addressed the more pertinent topic, “The third boat's already taking on more water than she should, and the second ship, the one the Wharfsiders have chosen, is crusted with barnacles. That'll take some time to get them cleared off. There's enough of 'em that it'll slow her down just a little until that's done, and who knows what they'll find while they're scraping?” Kinsman wondered briefly how the man could know those kinds of details. Any barnacles would be at, or below, the waterline. Instead he merely confirmed, “The third ship gets scuttled then. That's what I needed to know.” Kinsman turned to leave then faced the Captain again and extended his hand, “Sir, in case you've left before I get a chance to come back around... Thanks for coming. Fair winds.” Captain Rigel grasped his hand, “We'll stay a few days. I'm hoping you'll visit the Sundancer. There's no one aboard that'll play Nine Stones anymore.”

Kinsman returned to Silas and asked, “How many men will it take to crash and sink the third ship into the island?” The man shook his head, “It surely is a shame to deliberately sink a   working ship! Are you sure about this?” Kinsman's expression remained blank. He repeated, “How many men?” Silas shrugged, “Six, or maybe eight. We'll tie off a longboat to her. Wharfsiders'll put her on course, lock the helm and then paddle to join us on the island.” Kinsman reminded, “Raise the Lukasi flag to its full height before jumping ship.” Silas smiled in answer then looked skyward as if his eyes could pierce the darkness and the storm, “This'll clear off by morning, so we'll need to be far away by then. There's still much rough water ahead.” Silas stepped away to select the men to navigate the sacrificial ship.

Rukle approached, still getting his breathing under control, “Do you think we got them all?” Kinsman's jaw clenched at the thought that some threat might yet remain, “We'll sort that out after we get our people freed.” He recalled his own thoughts after the Guild House had been raided and burned. The charred skeleton of the House still remained, as a clear reminder to anyone who'd missed the event. “They'll be wary. Watchful. Most likely, they'll be seeking some way out of town. As a sellsword with a caravan or aboard a ship. Or they'll buy or steal a horse. They're outsiders and they know it. Unless they have pouches filled with coin, no one will be willing to hide them.” Rukle accepted his assessment with a nod and turned back to face the ships, “We're leaving out now?” Kinsman followed his gaze, “Yes. Just make sure no one except Silas' men boards the third ship we struck.” Rukle glanced at the third ship and replied, “Gotcha. Which are you boarding?” Kinsman smiled, “I haven't decided. I'm going to check the pier, to make sure we're not leaving anyone behind, so I'll probably board the first one. It's at that end.” Rukle had stepped away but he turned and shouted to be heard over the rain, “How'll we know if we have everyone?” Kinsman shook his head and shouted, “We won't! As long as there's no one still on the pier, I'll just accept that everyone has boarded one of the two ships. We need to get those ships moving. Anyone left behind, stays behind. They'll find their way home to the Ruins. We'll need to be more organized leaving Serpent Tooth. No one gets left behind there.” Rukle raised his eyebrows at the thought of being stranded on the island. The remaining choices would be to swim, or fight. Both