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

and only Channels when he truly needs too.” Her mind went back to the event in the Ruins. That occasion felt like being caught in  storm even though she was some distance away. Even the next day, examining the spot in the Ruins where the event took place, the ground fairly vibrated with residual energy. Even the air felt like it still held a charge. She’d taken that opportunity to completely attune herself to his signature, though it was a bit of a challenge considering that the site was saturated with not one, but two Gifted signatures. The fact that she’d attuned her senses is what allowed her to detect the next use of his Gift; at the quarry. But since then, nothing.

Yoren had seated himself and he’d regained control of his agitation. He was recounting what he knew, “The Gifted boy-”. “Cooper.” Iona interrupted, “We were told his name is “Cooper”, sir.” Yoren chafed slightly at the interruption, “Cooper killed Lord Talmet, so we can assume that he’s an Assassin of some kind. So he’s likely to have been a member of the Guild. But you were already on his scent by then. Tell me where you’d detected him before.” Iona protested, “We’ve discussed this a dozen times already.” Yoren’s anger threatened to resurface, “We’ll discuss it again. Locations and circumstances. Now.” Iona took a breath, “I’d felt him once or twice before but the first place we tracked him to was a warehouse in the Waterfront district. It looked like a warehouse, same as any other, except that when we went inside there were several dead bodies and an imprinted axe. It looked like the warehouse had been used to hide slaves.” Yoren leaned in, “And you tracked him there based on your earlier detection and the energy within the imprinted axe?” Iona shook her head, “No, sir. Actually we were led there.” Yoren’s eyebrows raised, “Led? By whom?” Iona shrugged, “Some sellsword assigned by the man who owned the warehouse.” Iona’s thoughts abruptly wandered, “The same warehouse that held slaves… well, perhaps he was renting it out?” Yoren was now standing, “Who was this man? The owner of the warehouse.” Iona shook her head, “I never heard his name. My professor simply took me to his house in the Dregs. Emmit, one of the healers from the University was there, dressing the man's wounds, or so it appeared.” She broke her concentration to look at the Spymaster, “You know Emmit, he’s gone with us on patrols.” Yoren nodded his head quickly and impatiently, “Yes, yes, I know who you mean. The warehouse owner. Describe him.” Iona shrugged, “He’d been injured. Emmit was there treating him. He had a dressing wrapped around his waist, almost like half a diaper.” Yoren’s face  began to darken and she picked up the pace of her description, “Not young, not old. Early or mid-thirties, maybe, but he was trying hard to look younger. A rakish haircut and a goatee trimmed and curled to the point of vanity. A complexion somewhere between yellow and gray, like he seldom stepped out into the sunlight. And he had surrounded himself with displays of wealth. But having spent time here in the palace, I can see now that the kind of wealth he displayed was shallow… superficial, in some way. Like covering rotting floorboards with a fine rug.” Yoren had grown completely silent and seemed frozen in place. When Iona finished her description, he began to pace, muttering to himself, his fingers twitching as if he were playing an invisible musical instrument suspended in the air in front of him. Iona knew better than to interrupt him. Yoren’s movements came to a sudden halt and he swiveled to face her and then, using Talent enhanced speed, he was immediately in front of her, “Who told you the boy’s name is “Cooper”?!” Iona drew back in surprise, “The same man. The owner of the warehouse.” Yoren’s expression became gravely serious and his voice went flat, “The man’s name is Jarell. He was the man that controlled the Guild’s finances. He sent you after one of his own.” Yoren’s voice trailed off as he turned away from her. Spending time in the University had made it necessary for Iona to learn to read people. Living in the palace, surrounded by courtiers, and working for the Spymaster was like attending finishing school for that ability. She knew he wasn’t telling her everything.

Iona was working with the fragments of what she now knew. Jarell was Guild. Cooper was Guild and had been part of a raid on Jarell’s warehouse. A Guild warehouse? A warehouse that was being used to hold slaves. The dead bodies had to either be sellswords or slavers. It all boiled down to whether or not Jarell knew that slaves were being kept in his warehouse. But how could he not know that, and still know that Cooper had been involved in the raid? She’d always thought that the Guild had been fighting against the slavers, but now it was apparent that the Guild was directly involved in the slave trade. Financing it, even while fighting among themselves over it.

The Spymaster had reached her door and was about to open it when his voice cut through her thoughts, “The Guild is still active and functional, and this Cooper could be the key to taking it all apart.”

*****

A week later, in the dining hall, Cooper wondered aloud that despite the distraction caused by Birt’s efforts with the Griffin and Gilded Feather, he’d fully expected to see Tax Collectors and Planning Council representatives coming out to inspect the reconstruction. Owners of new businesses at the edges of the Ruins would have submitted their charters weeks ago.

The typical sounds of the dining hall went nearly silent. Rukle piped up, “Well, the Ruins is a dangerous place after all…” The way he let his response trail off made Cooper suspicious. Cooper guessed the most obvious,