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

have to find elsewhere today?” The old man didn’t trust his voice. He scribbled on one of his slate boards and turned it for Cooper to read. Cooper quadrupled the total in his head, counted out the amount and laid it on the counter in gold and silver, along with two extra gold coins, “For special order and shipping costs… and silence.” The old man looked speechless. Cooper tilted his head to the proprietor and said, “I’ll be back in forty days.”

As he left the apothecary shop, he had a faint smile. It felt good to help someone, even though he had the ulterior motive of helping secure the future of a business they were already invested in. Even then, it wasn’t ‘something for nothing’. It was coin that they’d be spending anyway, it was just being spent in such a way as to benefit the most people.

He didn’t look forward to shopping so close to the University. It was also close to the former Guild Headquarters. It wasn’t any greater risk than being in any other part of the city, but it felt riskier, and he’d learned to trust his instincts. Still, Miss Camilla needed those ingredients.

He crossed the Trade Quarter, quickly entered the shop, placed his order and requested to be told the cost. He didn’t haggle and had already counted out the coin before the attendant brought his items to the counter. He left with the bundles under his arm as quickly as he’d entered. He didn’t slow down til he’d passed the University walls and Miller’s Flats was on his right hand side. Something stopped him from turning south to enter Miller’s Flats. It was more than the tickle he felt on the back of his neck. This was an outright suspicion. Someone noticed him as he left the apothecary shop. They hadn’t responded obviously, but they had reacted. He’d seen it many times before, the body language that signified “recognition from a distance”. Whether it was personal recognition or just professional, he couldn’t be certain, but there were ways of finding out. He headed for the Dregs.

As he walked, he considered who it might be following him; City Watch, University Hunters, Army scouts, Lukasi agents… perhaps even a gang of rogue thieves looking to establish themselves. He’d heard some rumors of a few small gangs of ‘roughs’ who were trying to carve out small territories for themselves. These groups would be crushed soon enough, though most likely, as word got out that the Guild wasn’t as dead as they’d come to believe, these gangs would simply vanish and members would seek more legitimate employment.

He continued walking east, keeping the Trade Quarter on his left and the Dregs on his right. He walked down the street in a straight line, easy to follow, but also walking fast enough that anyone trailing him would have to match his speed and anyone trying to keep pace while walking parallel, weaving around buildings and obstacles, would either be left behind or forced out to follow along the same street as the one he was walking on. He led them all the way to the boardwalk. He paused only long enough to kick most of the mud from his boots, then turned south to walk down the boardwalk at a leisurely pace. He noted two dark figures from his peripheral vision but didn’t turn to look at them. As soon as he’d walked far enough to break their line of sight, he tapped his Talent and sprinted two blocks south and merged with a small group around a vendor’s stall as they haggled for several large tuna. He concealed himself behind these men and looked back along the boardwalk. The two dark, hooded figures he’d noted earlier were joined by two others, then two of them went back to the west and entered the Dregs while one walked to the edge of the boardwalk and peered along the edge to the north and south. The one remaining stepped to a nearby building and faced south, looking in Cooper’s general direction and just waited.

Cooper gathered some bloodied paper that had been used to wrap some of the fish and wrapped it around his own bundles. He then tied it off with some scraps of cord that had been discarded from previous wrappings. The vendor started to protest and Cooper held up one finger, then dug a copper coin from his pouch and flicked it to the man. The vendor had the good sense to accept a coin for his rubbish and returned to his haggling. Cooper pushed his hood back, hoisted the bundle onto his shoulder and merged with the crowd as best he could as he walked south. He passed a few buildings then stepped off the boardwalk into the Dregs. He lowered the bundle from his shoulder, held it tight to his chest and jogged to the south and west, weaving through the collection of ramshackle huts as he went. His mind was racing as he considered a potential enemy he hadn’t yet considered. He thought, “Those people looked like Guild, but couldn’t be ours. Would the Kalistos Guild have heard of the attack and be looking to expand into Paleros?” This led to another thought, even more chilling, “Does Lukasi have a Guild?”

He made it a point to give the ‘Lukasi house’ in the Dregs a wide berth. If those following him were from Lukasi, he didn’t want to give them any reason to suspect that he knew about their dealings. He found a spot with a fair view of his surroundings and waited. After ten minutes, he doubled back toward the east and waited again. Satisfied that he’d completely lost them, whoever they were, he returned to Miller’s Flats but he went to the House by the Brickmakers first. Miss Camilla wasn’t there. He asked Naro, “How’re you holding up?” Naro shrugged, “I napped a couple hours, without really meaning