Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 149 of 619

At dawn Bran climbed the wall shirtless with the sun on his back. The beard he had shaved smooth two weeks ago now sat short and dark along his jaw. The hair on his chest had filled in thick from throat to belt. He set a stone that should have taken a rope and a second man. Ajax watched from the coals and knew the third cup was ready before Chalam said it. Chalam came up the path with the horn in his hand. His robe hung open at the chest the way it always did. He did not smile. He held the cup out and waited. "Come down," Ajax said. Bran climbed down and stood by the fire. He was a hand taller than he had been four days ago, or seemed it, because he stood straight now. His shoulders sat square. He took the horn from Chalam. "Last one," Chalam said. "The frame is set. This fills it. No more after." "Understood." Bran drank it in one pull. He set the horn on the stone and stood a moment with his eyes closed. Then he opened them and looked at Ajax and then at Chalam. "I owe you both," Bran said. "Tell me how to pay it back." Ajax looked at Chalam. Chalam shook his head once. "Nothing owed to me," Chalam said. "The work paid itself. You held the cup down all three times. That is the part I could not do for you." "Ajax," Bran said. "Finish the wall," Ajax said. "Stand on it when she comes. Bring your sister inside when she is well and raise her here. That is the debt." "Yes." "You are sworn now if you want it. Same terms as the others. Wages, share, a roof." "I want it." "Then go work." Bran went back up the course. By midday his chest had thickened another finger. By afternoon he lifted a capstone alone and set it clean. The port men stopped pretending not to watch. Cody laid mortar and kept his mouth shut. Ajax found Chalam at the coals. "He is done growing?" "Growing stops tonight. Strength settles by morning. He will be what you see now for the rest of his life." "Good." Chalam tapped his staff on the stone. "One day left before she comes. He will hold a section of wall on his own." "That is what I bought." Ajax walked the north course at sundown. The wall stood shoulder-high and closed. Bran sat on the top block with his shirt still balled at his belt, eating the double ration Tucker had set aside. He looked down at Ajax and raised the bowl once. Ajax raised a hand back. Seven men on the shelf now. The gate hung. The ward set. One day until the woman rode up the coast road.