Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 157 of 619

Ajax picked up the ring from the stone. The metal was warm from Tucker's hand. He looked at Marco. "Listen to her. Any tell she catches, and she reads through it." Marco said. "Don't speak more than you need. She'll listen for the wrong word." Elara crossed from the blind. She unhooked her golden band from her wrist and closed it in her palm. "I have one working left in the band. I saved it for the gate. I'll spend it on you instead." "On me how," Ajax said. "A shield you can't see," she said. "Close around your skin. It won't stop a god. It will turn a blade or a bolt. I can hold it a long time." "Do it." She set her palm flat on his chest, over the oil. Her lips moved. The band went dull in her other hand. Ajax felt a cool press wrap his ribs, his throat, his back. Then it faded from feeling and stayed. She stepped back. Her face was tight. The band was quiet gold now, no shine. Chalam moved up behind the killing lane. He set his staff across two stones and drew the third vial from his belt. He held it in his fingers without opening it. "If she raises a hand toward you, I burn her from here. One shot. It will reach. I can blast many times and many things with this staff and no vials.” "Wait for my signal," Ajax said. "If I get her talking, we learn something before she dies." "Understood," Chalam said. Ajax slid the ring onto his finger. The change went through him fast. His shoulders narrowed a hair. His beard shortened. His hands lost a scar. He looked down and saw Marco's chest, Marco's chain, Marco's bracelet on his wrist. His father's blade felt strange in a hand that wasn't his. Marco stared at him a long moment. "Voice too," he said. "Speak." "Speak," Ajax said, and it was Marco's voice out of his mouth. "Good," Marco said. "She's on the last rise. Four behind her at twenty paces. She has an iron token in her left hand. She rubs it when she lies." Ajax gave the blade to Marco and took a plain sword from the rack. "Watch the token," he said. "Feed me what she thinks. Tap once for lie. Twice for truth." "In your head?" "In my head." Marco nodded once. Ajax went to the gate. Tucker slid the bar. The iron swung. Ajax stepped through onto the road wearing another man's face, with an unseen shield on his skin and a wizard's staff aimed at his back for the woman coming up the rise. Behind him the gate closed. Ahead, the woman crested the road and reined in.