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

away. He needed to continue east long enough to either force them together or spread them out a little. He’d need to be able to turn back to the north at some point so he could lead them into the Ruins.

He’d passed three buildings and a shadowy figure stepped out in front of him to block his path. His first thought was that he’d been out-maneuvered but the sing-song voice he heard from the man revealed the truth. “Who’s this I see? A boy? A boy could bring coin. Coin could bring joy. Do you bring joy, boy?” The tittering laugh was typical of a man that was well in the grips of Apex, but the clarity of his speech indicated that he’d gone more than a day without a dosage. This would be a desperate man. Cooper had no time for this. Any significant delay could lead to his own death. He tapped his Talent and rushed forward, drawing his blades, leaving the man no time to react other than to reach out with clutching hands. Cooper slipped under the man’s grasp and slashed with each hand. His right hand opened a huge gash across the man’s midsection while his left cut upward into the man’s right arm, just above the elbow. The addict staggered backward, tucking his right arm to his body and his left hand clutched at his belly, shrieking, “No, no, no! This is not right.” The man fell backward, sitting down hard. Cooper knew that the man likely had a painful death ahead of him, but Apex offered him little better. The death offered there might be less painful, but much more drawn out. He briefly wondered whether it was a fair trade as he hurried further west.

He couldn’t take the time to look around to make sure they’d managed to follow him, nor did he want them to see him looking for them. Well before reaching Batter’s Field, he began shifting his direction to the north. He might encounter an Assassin intent on intercepting him, but in order to bring them to the ambush site from the right direction, he needed to be further north. He’d passed several buildings, spanning nearly half the distance to the ambush site, when he heard a bird call from the east. He thought, “That’d be unremarkable, except for the fact that there are no quail in the city. And certainly none on the rooftops.” He paused long enough to confirm his location, seeming to catch his breath and glancing around as if frightened, before continuing north. At least now he knew that at least one of them had seen him, and was attempting to direct the actions of the others. He resisted the urge to sprint the rest of the way, balancing the desire to put as much distance as possible between himself and his pursuers with the knowledge that he actually wanted them to follow him.

He slowed a little as he approached the alley where Rukle and Spen were positioned. Dailen was covering the street to the south, watching from the rooftops; Birt was to the north. Cooper paused for a breath before turning and entering the alley, then sprinted halfway down before turning and drawing his blades.

He waited for less than four breaths before the first of his pursuers stepped into view. He was almost immediately joined by another. They quickly crept forward as if they hadn’t yet seen him. Cooper took a step forward and slightly to the left, opting to give himself more space to his right. This movement brought the men to a halt and Cooper heard the resonant ‘thrum’ of two bowstrings, one right after the other, and the resultant hiss of arrows as they whizzed past him. He was close enough to hear the arrows hit and the groan that followed. One of the Assassins fell to the ground. The other quickly retrieved him and dragged him backward, whether he was attempting to escape with him to try and save him, or simply using him as a shield was unimportant to Cooper, who sheathed his blades and waved Rukle forward without taking his own eyes off the alleyway. Rukle quickly stepped forward and looped a quiver over Cooper’s outstretched arm and placed his bow in that hand. Cooper shrugged the quiver over his shoulder without taking the time to secure it, transferred the bow to his left hand and crept down the alley the same way he’d come. He muttered, “And now, we hunt.” The three of them stepped out of the alley and turned south, in the direction the man had taken when he exited the alley and they soon met Dailen, standing on the same street with an arrow nocked. Dailen reported, “I hit one of them. In the arm, I think. I heard him curse, back against the building and break the arrow shaft. He left my alley and joined another that was half carrying another man. They continued south, pretty quickly too.” Spen turned to Cooper, “What now?” Cooper considered. His training told him to pursue and continue until the threat was neutralized, but instinct told him that the nature of the threat had changed. His jaw tightened, “South then. But we don’t kill them unless we have to. I want to see where they go.” Rukle looked confused, “Huh?” Cooper almost replied ‘to see if they lead us to the University’ but instead, he explained, “They might lead us to whoever hired them.”

By the time they’d caught up to them, the three Assassins had already crossed the Whitefoam. There was no sign of the fourth. Rukle observed, “They dumped him.” Rukle turned to Spen, “Why’d you shoot the same guy I did. We’d already agreed that I’d shoot the one on the right.” Spen shrugged, “He was the only one I had a clear shot at. Cooper shifted left and blocked my view of the other one.” Cooper hadn’t taken his