Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 114 of 619

Ajax walked his horse down the slope until the walls came clear through the pines. The fire burned at the base of the cliff, close to the stream. One thin column, steady. Someone tending it. He held up a fist and the line stopped behind him. He swung down and passed his reins to Grayson. "Marco. With me. The rest hold here." Marco dismounted and came up beside him. He touched the green stone on his finger, then the gold at his wrist. "Ring's still cold. He isn't looking through us." "Good. I need count and mood. Anyone we know?" Marco tipped his head toward the shelf and closed his eyes. Ajax watched his jaw work. A minute passed. Two. "Four men," Marco said. "No collars. No spirals in the front of their heads. One's cold and hungry. One's thinking about a woman in a port town. One's counting rope. The fourth's asleep." "Hired." "Hired," Marco said. "They're waiting on someone. A builder, I think. One of them keeps picturing a level and a plumb line." Ajax breathed out. His shoulders came down a finger's width. "Tucker." "That'd be my guess. He rode ahead once at the port. He could have paid men to sit the walls until we came." "He didn't tell me." Marco opened his eyes. "No. He didn't." He said it flat, no heat in it. "But they're not armed for us. Two axes by the fire. No bows strung." Ajax looked down at the shelf. The stream still ran. The walls Chalam raised still stood. Four strangers sat inside them by his fire. "Names on their tongues?" "One keeps thinking Hoskins. Like a man he owes." That settled it. Ajax turned and walked back to the line. "Four men at our fire," he said. "Hired by Tucker, near as Marco can hear. No collars, no spirals. Grayson, you and me ride down open. Tucker, you ride in front of us so they see your face first. Chalam, hold the ridge with Elara and Asher. If a hand goes to a weapon, drop them." Tucker's face went still. "Ajax—" "You paid them?" "Two of them. I sent word from the port. Told them to sit the walls till we came. I meant to say it before we crested." "You didn't." "No." "Ride first. We'll talk after." Tucker put his heels in and started down. Ajax followed with Grayson at his shoulder. The fire came up to meet them. A bearded man stood from the coals, saw Tucker, and lifted a hand. Ajax rode into his own walls for the second time in his life. Four men he had not chosen stood inside them. The warhouse was still his. The count of men inside it was not. He swung down and told the bearded one to sit. Then he turned to Tucker. "Now," he said. "Talk."