Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 125 of 619

The knock came three raps, hard and even. Ajax settled his shoulder against the beam and did not move. Marco crossed to the door with Wick's heavy step and pulled the bolt. "You're late," Marco said in the old man's voice. "Roads," the rider said. He stepped inside. He was young, thin, mud to the knee. A short cloak. No visible collar, but his hand stayed near his throat. "She said coffee." "Corner table," Marco said. He closed the door and slid the bolt. The rider walked past the beam without looking at it. Ajax watched his boots pass a foot away. The rider sat with his back to the room, the way a tired man sits when he trusts the house. Tucker came out from behind the bar with the cup and set it down. "New boy," the rider said. "Wick's nephew," Tucker said. "Started last week. Drink your coffee." The rider drank. Marco took the chair across from him and let Wick's face settle into patience. Ajax could feel Marco working, quiet and steady, listening. "She wants the count," the rider said. "All six." "Give it to me," Marco said. "I'll write it for her." The rider set the cup down. His hand went inside his cloak and came out with a folded paper. He laid it on the table. Then his hand went back for something else, and his fingers found his collar and stopped there. Marco held him. The rider's shoulders locked. His mouth opened once and shut. Ajax came around the beam. Tucker was already moving with the shears from behind the bar. Ajax caught the rider's head against the table with one hand and Tucker cut the iron collar at the hinge in two clean bites. The metal fell in Tucker's palm without a sound. Chalam came from the back with the sleep vial and tipped it under the rider's nose. The rider slumped against Marco's arm. Marco let out a breath and pulled the ring off. His own face returned. He picked up the folded paper and opened it. "Six names," Marco said. "All of ours. All crossed out but one. Hers." "She wrote it before she sent him," Ajax said. "She expected to hear all six were done." "She'll know within a day he didn't come back," Chalam said. "The collar went quiet the moment we cut it. She felt that." Ajax looked at the sleeping rider and the broken collar in Tucker's hand. He had the messenger. He had the paper. He had a day, maybe less, before the Keeper moved on the port herself. "Tie him," Ajax said. "Put him in the back room. Marco reads him when he wakes. We ride for the walls at dark." Tucker pocketed the collar. Chalam went to bar the door.