Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 263 of 619

The second room was empty now, its potions packed and its gold loaded. Ajax stepped through the third doorway with his father's blade raised. Rowan lifted the light behind him. It filled a smaller chamber than the others. Along one wall sat five scrolls in a wooden case. Beside them lay two thick books, their covers cracked with age. Five bars of gold rested against the stone. A heavy sack of silver coins slumped in the corner, its neck spilled open. Kael reached for a scroll. Ajax caught his wrist. "Chalam first," Ajax said. Chalam came forward. He is the wizard who has ridden with Ajax since the coast, the man who reads bindings no one else can. He knelt at the case and held his staff over the scrolls. The wood hummed low, then went quiet. He said nothing for a long moment. "Well?" Ajax asked. "The scrolls are safe. So are the books. Well look at the scrolls at home.” Ajax looked at the gold and the silver. Enough to pay his men through two winters. "Pack the scrolls with the book," Ajax said. "Load the gold. Kael, take the silver." Kael hauled the sack onto his shoulder. Coins shifted inside. Rowan gathered the gold bars two at a time and carried them toward the tunnel. Ajax closed his fist around the blade. One room in the cave left to discover.