Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 132 of 619

Ajax crossed the yard with the message still fresh in his mind. Four days of open ground. Any hand on the shelf could belong to the Keeper. He would not wait for the gate to arrive before he knew whose men were already inside his walls. He found Chalam at the north wall and Marco near the water barrel. He kept his voice low. "Every worker. Cody too. Strip to the waist and line up in the yard. Now." Marco set down his cup. "You want me listening." "Every thought that surfaces. Names, faces, iron. Anything that touches the Keeper." Chalam nodded once. "I'll walk the line for marks. Burned spirals, ink under the skin, workings sewn into cloth." "Cloth too," Ajax said. "Belts off. Boots off if I say." Cody came from the wall wiping stone dust from his hands. He was the broad man with the broken nose Chalam had healed, hired to watch the road. He looked at the line forming and did not ask. He pulled his shirt over his head and stood first. "Good," Ajax said. "You stand with me while they come up." Seven men from the port trailed in behind Bran. Shirts came off. Chains and cords went into a pile on a folded cloak. The mason with the scar frowned but obeyed. Bran stripped without a word and stood with his arms out. Ajax walked the line. Chalam followed on his right with his staff low, watching the wood for any tremor. Marco walked on his left, quiet, eyes half closed. At each man, Ajax checked the collarbone, the ribs, the small of the back. He turned wrists. He looked behind ears. Chalam held the staff near each chest and shook his head each time. Marco spoke only twice. At the third man: "Thinking about a woman at the port. Nothing else." At the sixth: "Owes coin to a butcher. Scared of me." Ajax reached Cody last. Cody lifted his arms. Ajax looked him over. Chalam's staff stayed still. Marco met Ajax's eyes and gave one small nod. "Clean," Chalam said. "All of them." Ajax stepped back so the line could hear him. "You keep your shirts off until you're back on the wall. Anyone who leaves the shelf between now and the gate arriving comes through me first. Cody walks with any man who steps past the gatepost." No one spoke. They pulled shirts back on and went to their tools. Ajax turned to Chalam and Marco. "Clean today. That's all today buys us." "The Keeper doesn't need a man inside the walls," Chalam said. "She needs a man near them." "Then Marco listens past the gatepost from now on. Every hour. Every rider on the road." Marco tipped his head. "Starting now." Ajax looked at the empty gap where the gate would sit. Four days. Clean walls, watched road. It would have to hold.