Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 138 of 619

Ajax set another stone on the north course and stepped back to check the line. The wall was rising, but not fast enough. Five days to the gate. He counted the crew at work and the stones still stacked by the cart. At this pace they would meet the gate with holes in the wall. Chalam came up the shelf with his staff across his shoulder. The wizard watched the mason cut a block, then watched Ajax's face. "You are short on days," Chalam said. "I know it." "I can help. No vials. The staff alone." Ajax turned to him. "You said the staff reads bindings. Not builds walls." "It cuts stone clean. Faster than a chisel. I can shape a course while the men set it. I can lift what two men lift." Chalam tapped the butt of the staff on the shelf. "It will tire me. It will not empty me." Ajax had told Chalam once he could not use magic on the men without permission. This was not that. This was stone. "How long to close the north wall," Ajax said. "Half the time. Maybe less if the mason keeps his lines." "Do it." Chalam went to the stack and set his palm on the top block. The staff hummed low. A seam opened in the stone where he drew his hand. The block split square, no dust, no chip. The mason stopped mid-stroke and stared. "Keep cutting," Ajax told him. "He works with you, not over you." The mason nodded and went back to his line. By midday Chalam had shaped a full course faster than the crew could set it. He kept his robe open at the chest and his sleeves back. Sweat ran down his ribs. He drank when Ajax handed him water and went back to the stack. By dusk the north wall stood chest-high the whole run. Bran and Cody's men set the last cap and stepped down. The mason walked the line with his hand on the stone, checking every joint. He looked at Ajax and gave one short nod. Chalam sat on a block with the staff across his knees. His hands shook once, then stilled. "Two more days like this," Chalam said. "West wall closes. Gatehouse cut and ready." "Can you hold two more days." "Yes. Then I sleep a night." Ajax looked at the wall in the last light. Half the time. Better joints than the mason could cut alone. He set his hand on the cap stone and felt it hold. "You have the two days," he said. He had bought the wall. Now the gate had to come from the grove on time, and the woman coming for him would find stone where she expected open ground.