Exploitable Weaknesses by Brian Keller (best interesting books to read txt) 📕

He spoke to the group, “You all know where you need to be. There’ll almost certainly be blood on the ground tonight. Just make sure it isn’t yours. Let’s go.” He turned back to Birt, “Twenty minutes?” Birt nodded, then added as he dangled a pouch in front of his face, “Plan B?” Cooper considered, “Toss it to Spen. Better to have and not need, I suppose.”

They walked, crouching low through the grass. By the time they could make out the quarry they were already within sight of the buildings. As they’d drawn closer, it became obvious that the hill shielded the quarry from the worst of the winds. They split into two groups; Spen and Naro moved toward the stable and skirted along, inspecting each stall. Cooper lost sight of them quickly but knew that they’d move to the end of the stable and watch the guard house from that side. Cooper, Loryn, Rukle and Gaff moved through the camp and paused near the stockade to drop off Gaff and Rukle, then Cooper and Loryn crept over closer to the workman’s house. They spotted two guards tucked up under the eaves on the north side of that building. He pointed them out to Loryn and she nodded. She’d already started raising her bow. Apparently she’d noticed them as well. He placed a hand on her arm as he studied the rest of their surroundings. Even through the rain he heard the restless sounds of a horse or two, but no shouts of alarm. He had to trust that Spen and Naro were already in position, and that they’d handle any guards who might come in from that direction. He whispered to Loryn, “Only two there that I can see. You take the one on the left. Arrows will fall faster in the rain, and mind the winds.” She uttered something between a grunt and a growl. He assumed that meant she acknowledged what he’d said, and resented being reminded. He raised his bow and pulled the fletching to his ear. Loryn did the same. Cooper said, “Release.” One arrow followed a hairsbreadth behind the other. As soon as the arrow left the string, they were reaching for the next while striding quickly to follow their arrows. For the first few steps, he watched to the right while she looked left. Then both focused briefly on the guards they had shot. Both had crumpled but one was still trying to rise. He hadn’t tried to shout a warning yet, but that was sure to happen unless they could silence him quickly. Cooper paused long enough to take aim and send a second arrow into the man, then sprinted to the corner, fumbling to nock another arrow as he ran in case there were others around the side of the building they hadn’t yet seen. There weren’t any. The reason the man hadn’t called out was immediately obvious. The arrow had entered his windpipe but missed his major blood vessels and vertebrae. Only the fletching was visible from the front. The second arrow Cooper fired had punched through the man’s breast plate and ended his life. He checked the other man for any signs of life then told Loryn, “Keep an eye out as I pull these arrows. Once I have them, we’ll go back and cover the stockade.” She glanced around, to make sure they weren’t vulnerable, then backed away so she could widen her field of view, limited as it was by the rain. The arrow that had pierced the guard’s neck needed to be pulled the rest of the way through. The other two came out with some effort. He handed one to Loryn and dropped the other two into his quiver as they backed away toward the stockade. As they neared the gate, Gaff brought his bow up suddenly and dropped just as quickly when he recognized them. Cooper hissed, “You’re supposed to be in there unlocking chains!” Gaff nodded and stepped into the stockade. Cooper saw movement from the center of the work area and gave Loryn a nudge. She followed his line of sight and gave him a nudge in return. Cooper began to creep toward it, putting a little tension on his bowstring as he did. As he drew closer, he recognized that the person he was stalking had a bow. At this same moment he also realized it was Spen. Cooper relaxed his bow and crept forward quickly. Spen noticed his sudden movement and stepped to meet him. Cooper spoke in a forced whisper, to be heard above the rain, “What’re you doing out here? You’re supposed to b-” Spen interrupted him, “Balat’s hurt. He got kicked by a horse as he moved through the stables.” Cooper replied quickly, “Well then. We load him onto the wagon just like we load the freed prisoners.” Spen shook his head, “Sure, but in the meantime, Balat wants to kill the horse. It seems that the horse stepped on him several times after he’d been kicked. Balat’s either taken it personally or he’s just that pissed off.” Cooper was thinking, “I don’t have time for this.” but what he said was, “Tell him to leave the horse alone. It’d make too much noise if he tried to kill it. The wagons should be here any minute.” Cooper paused, “Where was he kicked? In the head? Is he delirious?” Spen shook his head, “In the chest, from the side. He’s got a broken arm, too, I think. Not sure if that happened at the same time, or from the stomping afterward.” Spen seemed to be looking to him for guidance, or maybe a little relief. Cooper told him, “We’ll switch. You go join Loryn. She’s at the stockade gate watching us now. I’ll go to the stable and sort this out.”

Balat did indeed appear incensed, though he was leaned forward and to the right as he cradled his right arm. Naro was trying to calm