Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 107 of 619

They rode north through the morning. The rings sat quiet on their fingers. Ajax kept the pace steady until the sun cleared the pines, then raised a hand and pulled off the road into a stand of birch. He wanted the last name found before dusk. "Chalam," Ajax said. He swung down. "The stone. Now." Chalam stepped clear of the horses and set his staff against a trunk. He opened his satchel and drew out a flat black stone the size of a coin. He had used it twice before at the coast and once at the river house. It cost him nothing to hold, only to read. "No vial?" Ajax asked. "Not for this," Chalam said. "The name is enough. The stone points. It does not draw a map." Ajax pulled the folded ledger from inside his shirt and laid it flat on a stump. One name remained, uncrossed. He pressed his thumb to the ink and spoke it aloud. Chalam set the stone on the paper over the name. He held his hand above it and closed his eyes. The stone turned slow on the ink, then stopped. One edge pointed off the page. "North and west," Chalam said. He opened his eyes. "Not far. A day's ride. Maybe less if we push." "Show me on the map," Ajax said. Chalam took the coast map from his satchel and set it beside the ledger. He laid the stone on their present ground and let it settle again. The edge pointed to a bend where a river cut west into low hills. A single mark from the captain's list sat inside that bend. "There," Chalam said. He tapped the mark. "A house. Or what stands there now." "Guards?" "The stone does not tell me. Only the direction. To see the yard I need blood and a vial." "Save the vials," Ajax said. "We will look with our eyes." Grayson came up beside him and read the map over his shoulder. "One day out. We hit them tomorrow at dawn?" "Tonight we camp short of it," Ajax said. "Scout at first light. Marco listens from the ridge. Then we move." Grayson nodded and turned to bring the others in. Chalam wrapped the black stone in cloth and put it back in his satchel. He picked up his staff. "The Keeper cannot see us," Chalam said. He kept his voice low. "He can still see the seat. When we open it, he will know where." "Then we open it fast," Ajax said. He folded the ledger and pushed it back into his shirt. He mounted and turned his horse toward the bend in the river. The last name had a place now. The ring on his hand held its green light. For the first time, Ajax rode toward an enemy who did not know he was coming.