Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 182 of 619

The cart was an hour gone when Marco came off the gate post at a walk. He set a hand on Ajax's arm and stopped him. "Rider behind them," Marco said. "One horse. Hard pace. He's been on their track since the split pine." Ajax turned to the road. "Threat?" "No. He wants in." "Name?" "He hasn't said it in his head yet. He's thinking about Tucker. Not to harm. To work." Ajax weighed it. A lone rider chasing a cart to port was either a friend or a knife. Marco had never called a knife a friend. "Ride out. Reach the cart before he does. If Tucker knows him, bring him back through the gate under name. If not, turn him off the road." Marco was on his horse before Ajax finished. The dust closed behind him. Ajax worked the yard until the sun dropped. He was setting the door frame on the arms shed when Marco came in leading three horses and three men. Tucker rode point. Chalam sat the cart. Behind them rode a fourth man Ajax did not know, thin and dark-haired, dust to the knees. Tucker swung down at the gate. "He caught us at the second creek. Says he heard I was hiring." "Are you?" Tucker's mouth tugged under the mustache. "I've got an empty room at the house. Been empty since the run north. Costs me every night it stands empty." Ajax looked at the stranger. Marco stood at his shoulder, one hand loose at his belt. Marco caught Ajax's eye and nodded once. Clean. "Debts?" Ajax asked. "None," Marco said. "He worked a house two towns south. Owner died. He walked out with what he came in with." "Iron?" "No mark. No collar. No one in his head but himself." Ajax stepped up to the man. The man met his eyes and held them. He did not speak first. That was something. "You'll work for Tucker," Ajax said. "Not for me. You'll sleep at the port. You'll answer to him for wage and rule. If you ever come up this road, you come through this gate with him beside you and named by him at the post. Cross it without that and you burn. Understood?" "Understood." Ajax looked at Tucker. "Your hire. Your house. Your problem if he sours." "He won't," Tucker said. He handed the man a coin from his own belt, not from Ajax's purse. "Ride down with me tomorrow. Tonight you sleep outside the wall." Chalam climbed off the cart and set his staff against the stone. "Road held. We reach port by second dusk if we start at light." Ajax laid a hand on the cart rail. The list was still ahead of them, and now Tucker had his room filled before the run even began. One less thing bleeding silver while the winter closed. "At light," Ajax said. "Go."