Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 109 of 619

Ajax slept in short pieces and woke before the sky turned. The oaks above him held their color, dark shapes against the first gray. He sat up and pulled his father's blade across his knee. The hilt felt familiar in his palm. One name left. One seat under one stable floor. He had the ground, the count, and the door. He woke Grayson with a hand on his shoulder. Grayson opened his eyes clean, already ready. "Wake them quiet," Ajax said. Grayson moved through the camp without a word. Tucker rolled up and pulled on his boots, gold chains flat against his chest. Asher tightened his belt and drew his blade. Chalam checked his vials by touch, then his staff. Elara rose last, tied her hair back, and rolled her shoulders once. "Rings on," Ajax said. Six green stones caught the low light. His own sat quiet on his hand. They walked the horses to the base of the ridge and left them tied. Ajax led the climb. At the top he crouched and looked down. Two men still on the wall. Smoke thin from the chimney. No new lamps. The woman had not called for help in the night. Elara stepped up beside him and set her palm out flat. Her light spread over them like water and closed. Ajax could still see his men, but the edges of them blurred. She nodded once. It would hold across the yard. Chalam went left along the ridge with the first vial in his hand. Grayson and Tucker slid down the slope toward the north wall, low and fast. Asher went right toward the stable side. Marco stayed at Ajax's shoulder, eyes half closed, listening. "She is at the table," Marco said. "Still. Waiting." Ajax raised his hand. Chalam's vial broke against the wall stone. Pale smoke rolled up. The two watchmen sagged in place. Grayson and Tucker were over the wall before they hit the ground. Two clean cuts. No shout. Ajax crossed the yard with Marco and Elara. He kicked the door open. Three men rose from stools and Chalam's second vial went in past Ajax's shoulder. They dropped where they stood. The woman at the table did not move. Marco had her. "Hold her," Ajax said. He walked to the stable. Asher was already at the floorboards with his blade under a plank. Ajax knelt and cut his palm on his father's edge. He pressed his hand flat to the stone beneath. The seam opened cold. Chalam came in behind him and threw the pale flowers down. Ajax dropped into the pit and drove the blade through the eye of the thing that reached for him. It went still. He climbed back out. He pulled the ledger from his belt and crossed the last name. Six of six. He looked at his men in the doorway, all standing, all whole. Dawn was still an hour off. "We ride for the coast," Ajax said.