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

him down. Neither of them were keeping their eyes where they needed to be, so neither of them saw him approach. As soon as he’d stepped under the roof and out of the rain, both of them noticed him and became silent. Cooper turned to Naro, “Keep watch. We all shouldn’t die because of a horse.” He then turned and surged forward to invade Balat’s personal space. In his injured state Balat could only cringe. Cooper’s voice was almost a growl, “Is this what we should expect from you? We come here to free some of our own people, and you want to kill a horse?!” The animal was obviously still in an agitated state and Cooper guided Balat further away. Balat muttered a reply, “I didn’t do anything to it. I just moved around it to the rear of the stall to slice the girth strap, like you told me to. Next thing I know-” Cooper interrupted him, “You can tell me all about it later. Right now I need to know whether you can remain focused on the matter at hand, or do I need to paralyze you and carry you out?” Balat’s eyes got big, “Paralyze!? What’re you-?” He shook his head rapidly from side to side, “Never mind. I’m alright. It just hurts. A lot.” Cooper set his bow down and held palms toward Balat. Balat started to shy away. Cooper told him. “I’m just going to check your ribs. I need to know how badly you’re injured.” Balat took another step away and replied, “It’s mostly my arm that hurts. I saw the movement, the horse kicking, it was so fast. I only had time to raise my arm a little. My arm took most of the foot. Hoof. Whatever. My ribs are bruised. I don’t think any of them got cracked.” The horses in the stable all became a little agitated during the next minutes while Cooper helped him fashion a sling from his cloak. All the movement of the horses seemed to bother Balat, he glanced around as if expecting the horses to charge the walls of their stalls at any moment. Cooper finished tying off the sling, then said, “The wagons should be here in a minute or two, if they’re not already pulling into the quarry. You just collect your stuff and climb into one of the wagons and get comfortable. The rest of us will handle getting the prisoners loaded.” Balat nodded and Cooper added, “If you try killing that horse while my back is turned, you’ll walk home.” Cooper didn’t wait for a reply as he turned away to join Naro.

Naro pointed toward the stockade. The wagons had already arrived and prisoners were being led out. Cooper thought, “That must’ve been why the horses became agitated. I thought it was because of Balat and me.” Some prisoners were helping others, some were being carried completely. Several of the prisoners were grasping hands, placing grateful hands on shoulders or even hugging Spen or Rukle before being assisted into the wagons. Loryn remained at the stockade gate and Gaff had positioned himself next to the wagons. Gaff had his bow already half drawn as he scanned the grounds. Balat had climbed into Dailen’s wagon and was helping some prisoners climb in to join him. Cooper looked away from the prisoners and concentrated on the guard house. This was the riskiest part of the venture. A few fresh peals of thunder did nothing to calm the horses. Those hitched to the wagon were startled and caused the wagons to shift slightly in the mud, causing a couple prisoners to fall while trying to climb in. A few of the horses in the stable snorted and made noises, but so far none had issued a full whinny. Cooper clapped a hand on Naro’s shoulder, “Keep watch. I’ll try to calm the horses. We’re definitely too far now to turn back.” He pointed to the guard house, “Anyone comes out, put an arrow in him and shout at me.” Naro’s mouth tightened and he gave a terse nod, never taking his eyes off the guard house door as he replied, “Spen and I already dropped two guards, and retrieved the arrows. Dailen was right. Cheap armor.” Cooper made his way back to the stall doors, speaking to the horses in a gentle voice and rubbing the noses of those that approached close enough. His presence seemed to help but a couple of them needed more attention. For those horses he entered the stalls, careful to approach the horse from the front, place a hand on its muzzle and leave it there while he stroked the animal’s neck. The animal made a quiet, high-pitched squeal, as if to complain about all the activity. Cooper had to stretch a little to keep his muzzle hand in place while he rubbed his other along the horse’s back and shoulders. The horse made another noise through its nose, this one like a repeated throat-clearing sound.

As he stepped out of the stall, he saw movement from the Workmen’s house. The door was opening. The men inside that building weren’t soldiers, but they could certainly shout and alert them. Cooper didn’t think, he drew power from the falling rain and the storm-tossed energy in the air and surged to the opened door. The man almost fell backward in response to his sudden appearance, a nudge from Cooper assured that he did fall. Cooper growled over the noise of the storm, “Remain silent. Don’t come out until dawn or you’ll all be killed.” He abruptly pulled the door closed behind him and thought, “If I were a mason, that would be enough to keep me quiet for an hour or two.”

As he turned to face the wagons, another problem became obvious. There were too many prisoners to have them all laying down in the bottoms of the two wagons. Everyone that could maintain that position would need to