Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 189 of 619

They rode south all afternoon and reached the shelf at dusk. The gate opened for them and closed behind. Bran stood at the wall with a bow. Elara waited by the kitchen door. Tucker leaned in the frame, arms crossed, watching them come in. "Stables are done," Tucker said. "Roof went on this morning. Rell's mucking the first stall now." Ajax swung down. His legs ached from the ride. He handed the iron cuff to Chalam and kept the clay flask on his belt. "Wash up. Eat. We talk after." Elara had laid the long table with bread, stew, and a jug of beer. The crew filed in shirtless from the wash trough. Bran took the far bench with Tucker beside him. Grayson sat at Ajax's right. Chalam set his staff against the wall. Marco poured for the table. Asher took the last seat. Ajax ate half a bowl before he spoke. He set the finding paper on the table. Coast maps. A spiral. Six marks, all crossed now, and a seventh mark inland the crew had never touched. "Found this in the keeper's house north," Ajax said. "There's a warded place a half day south of here. Old woman cut the ward. She's gone. Inside there's coast maps and, the gnome says, treasure." "Bait," Grayson said. "Could be," Ajax said. "Could be a purse that pays the winter and a map that tells us what the Keeper wants next. I won't guess. I want a vote." Tucker set his cup down. "Who rides?" "All of us who can hold a blade," Ajax said. "Gnome meets us at the house at dusk tomorrow. He won't open it for less than the full crew. He wants Chalam for the ward, Marco for the rooms, Elara for whatever bleeds inside, me for the door." Elara set her spoon down. "I'll go. My band's full. If there's a working inside, I want to see it before it sees us." Chalam nodded. "Five vials and a staff. I can read what's in there." Asher looked at Marco. Marco looked back at him. "In," Marco said. Asher tipped his cup. Tucker rolled a chain between his fingers. "Gate stays warded. Bran, Rell, Cody hold it while we're out. One night. We ride back the next." "One night," Ajax said. "If it turns, we walk out and burn the door behind us." Grayson set his palm flat on the table. "Then it's decided." Ajax looked down the bench. Six faces, all with him. Bran already knew his post. The stable roof was on. The walls held. He had built a place worth leaving for a day. "First light," Ajax said. "Full kit. We ride to the split pine and follow the creek." He drank off his beer and stood. Outside, the new stable door swung on fresh hinges. The wind carried salt off the shelf.