Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 141 of 619

Grayson came back with Elara before full dark. She carried her satchel and a small clay bowl. She looked at the gate, then at Ajax, and waited. Ajax raised a hand. The work would wait. "Bring Asher," Ajax said. "And Marco. Behind the gatehouse. Now." Grayson's eyes narrowed, but he went. Ajax stepped off the threshold stone and walked around the raw wall to the strip of dirt between the gatehouse and the cliff. Out of sight of the crew. Out of earshot. Asher came first, hands loose at his sides, that gold chain catching what light was left. Marco followed a step behind, blue shirt open, jaw set. They stopped a body's length apart. Neither man looked at the other. "The gate takes six names," Ajax said. "Yours is one of them, Asher. Before I put you in that ward, I need the truth." Asher waited. "The new moon is close. Your ride ends. I'm asking you to stay past it. On the walls. With this crew. Under my hand." Ajax kept his voice flat. "If you can't, say so and ride out tonight. No blood between us. But I won't bind a man to that iron who plans to leave when it suits him." Asher's mouth moved. Ajax cut him off. "Marco is going to listen. I've told him to. If what you say and what you think don't match, I'll know before you finish the sentence." Marco's chin lifted a fraction. He did not speak. Ajax saw him set himself the way a man sets his feet before a lift. Asher looked at Marco then. Long enough that Ajax almost spoke again. Then he turned back. "I'll stay." "Past the new moon." "Past it. Through winter. As long as you hold this shelf." Asher's voice stayed low. "I had somewhere to be before. A woman in the underworld. I meant to reach her by the new moon and give this chain back." His hand touched the gold at his throat. "I'm not going. Marco is here. That's my answer." Ajax watched Marco. Marco's face did not change for a long count. Then he gave one small nod. "Clean," Marco said. "He means it." "The woman?" "Real. He set her down to stay." Ajax let the breath out he had been holding. He put his hand on Asher's shoulder once, then dropped it. "Then you're the sixth name. Come to the threshold when Elara calls." Asher nodded. He did not move to leave. Marco stepped across the gap and put his hand at the back of Asher's neck, brief, and stepped back. They walked out toward the gate together. Ajax stayed a moment against the cliff. He had six men now for the ward. He had a woman coming in six days. The chain around Asher's throat was staying with him and he looked good wearing it.