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

kill them. If you are verbally attacked, let me know and we’ll decide how it should be handled. Keep in mind, if you kill them all then they provide no value to us. Let them know that the most recent directive issued to the Houses is still in effect. We’re more interested in information than we are in the flow of coin; in the case of the Houses, that is. Until we can verify whether the Guild Library is still intact, the Houses are our main source of information.” Rukle looked doubtful, “Why are you telling me this now?” Cooper looked at the hole as he handed one end of a rope to Rukle, “Because if something happens to me down there… you’re in charge. Unless you go and convince Birt to take the reins.” Rukle raised an eyebrow as he replied, “Me? Well, be careful down there, alright?”

The sky had been mostly overcast all day, and this late in the day, the sun offered very little useful light. As they stood at the edge of the hole and looked down, the bottom was barely visible. Some rocks looked like they’d been arranged to form makeshift steps leading down. Cooper looped the rope around his waist and tied it, “Jarell was behind the poisonings. If he was going to all the trouble of bringing in slaves to excavate this hole, then it’s not unlikely that there may be some traps down there. If I fall, haul me up.” He tied the lamp to the rope around his waist and Rukle voiced his concerns, “Shouldn’t we wait? Check this hole out later?” Cooper had started backing down the rocks, gesturing to Rukle to pay out rope to give him some slack. He studied and then prodded each rock before he put any weight onto it. He answered, “We need a place to work from. If this hole is safe, then it might give us a place to start. Why wait? Have you grown comfortable living in the Wharf City?” The journeymen joined Rukle at the edge of the hole. Gaff spoke, “What’s wrong with living on a boat?” Cooper stepped down one stone lower, “Not a thing, but it doesn’t suit our needs. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to focus on the task at hand.” Everyone remained silent until Cooper reached to bottom. Then Loryn called down, “How’s it look?” Cooper squatted down and panned the lantern across the floor as he replied, “Must be the housekeeper’s day off. Be a dear and toss down a broom, won’t you?” The unexpected jibe brought a chuckle from everyone above ground.

He couldn’t see anything that indicated a used, safe pathway. Everything was covered in a layer of dust and rocks. He stood and held the lantern off to one side, to check whether anything might show when the light was oblique. It yielded nothing new. He stood and began walking, using very small and carefully placed steps. All went silent again but within a minute Rukle called down to let Cooper know that he was now out of sight. He raised the lantern to cast the light a little further and called back over his shoulder, “It goes on quite a bit further. A passageway, almost like a hallway. Another ten feet and it branches out.” Cooper kept the lantern moving, up and down, side to side; looking for any light reflecting off trip wires. So far, it looked like it hadn’t been trapped. As he turned the corner to the right, he stopped short. Twelve feet ahead of him, there were two crates and a locked chest. “If there are traps anywhere, it would’ve been on the rocks coming down, or they’ll be right here.” He crept up close to the chest and examined it from a few angles. Aside from being covered in dust, it looked new. He stood and carefully made his way back to the opening where he’d climbed down. He called up, “Poke around where Jarell’s bones were. Look for a key. There’s a chest down here. It’s probably got a trap set on it. No doubt it can be picked, I’d rather use a key, if we can find one.” Naro and Balat stepped out of sight. Cooper called out again, “And I know I was joking about the broom before, but now I’m serious. I’d like something I can use to reach out and brush the dust off the chest, and a length of rope to loop around it to see if I can pull it. I’d rather not just walk up and grab the handles. I’m sure you’d feel the same.” Moments later a cooking spit with a fur hood tied to one end and a coil of rope were tossed down. Balat’s voice echoed down from above, “No key. We even sifted through the bones a little bit.” He gathered the rope and the makeshift brush and within a few minutes he had the chest dusted off, somewhat, and had determined that it was too heavy for him to drag. He returned to the stone steps and called Rukle down to join him. Once he’d led him to the corner, he pointed out the chest, “I’m taking the lantern so I can see to work. You stay here and watch me. If a trap goes off, grab the rope and pull me out of there. There are a few vials of antidote in my pack.” Rukle took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “Alright, but I still think we should wait.” Cooper positioned the lantern so the light shone on the lock, and he knelt on the ground to more closely examine it, “Wait for what? Who do you think might be coming?” Rukle was grumbling some kind of non-committal reply as he bent down to grasp the rope. Cooper slid a pick into the lock’s keyway, upside down, and depressed all the pins fully, then slid the