Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 212 of 619

Ajax did not sit. He stood over the flat stone and kept his father's blade in reach. Rowan stayed at the tree line with the arrow on the string. Elara held her band. Marco moved a step closer to Chalam and watched the wizard's hands. "Name first," Ajax said. "Then talk." "Call me a reader," the man said. "My name will not help you today. The book will." "The book was burned," Chalam said. His voice was flat. "Every copy. Three hundred years ago." "One was buried," the reader said. "Under a floor. The old woman kept it. She died before she finished the second half." He tapped the page. "I finished it this morning." Marco touched Ajax's arm. Two taps. Then two again. "He is telling the truth," Marco said, low. "He also wants something." "I want what you want," the reader said. He looked up at Ajax. "There is a seventh mark on her map. Inland. No seat, no keeper. Something older sleeps there. Your father did not bind it. He did not know it was there." Ajax kept his face still. "How do you know my father." "I read his hand in the coastal seat. Masons write like they build." The reader closed the book on his finger. "The binding in here does not need a chair or blood. It needs six names spoken over the ground, salt at the four points, and a wizard who will not break in the middle." He looked at Chalam. "You would not break." Chalam did not answer. "Where," Ajax said. "Two days west. A dry basin under a chalk ridge." The reader turned the book and set it on the stone between them. "Take it. Read it yourself. I have what I needed from these pages." Rowan spoke from the trees. "He is not alone out here. Two horses in the next hollow. No riders on them." "Mine," the reader said. "One for me. One for the book, if you had refused it." Ajax weighed him. Marco tapped twice. Truth again. "Terms," Ajax said. "You ride with us to the basin. You stay in front of Rowan's bow. Chalam holds the book until we are done. If you lie once, Marco will know, and I will end it." "Agreed," the reader said. He stood, slow, and left the staff in the grass until Chalam picked it up. Chalam wrapped the book in oilcloth and put it in his satchel beside the numbered vials. He looked at Ajax. "Two days west," Chalam said. "I will need all five vials full when we arrive." "You will have them," Ajax said. He turned to Rowan. "Fetch the horses. We ride at first light." The reader sat back down on the stone and waited. The plan was made. The treasure had a place, a road, and a price Ajax had not yet paid.