Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 264 of 619

The scrolls and gold from the third chamber sat loaded in the tunnel. Ajax stepped through the fourth doorway with his father's blade raised. Rowan lifted the light behind him. This room was the largest yet. An ornate chest stood against the far wall, its lid carved with vines. Five bolts of silk lay stacked beside it, wrapped and preserved. A roll of thick furs leaned in the corner. And in the center sat a heavy chest, its lid gaping, packed with gold and silver. Kael moved toward the gold. Ajax stopped him with a hand. "Chalam," Ajax said. Chalam knelt at the ornate chest. He is the wizard whose staff reads the bindings no one else can. He held the wood over the carved lid. It hummed, then quieted. He lifted the lid and looked inside. "Potions and oils," Chalam said. "Sealed. Not tricked." He rose and passed his staff over the silk, the furs, and the coin chest. Nothing answered. "Clean," he said. "All of it." Ajax looked at the coin. Gold bars stacked under cut silver. More than the last two rooms combined. Rowan crouched by the furs. He is the bowman raised by dryads, the one who reads wood and rot better than any man Ajax knows. He pressed a hand into the roll and rubbed the pelt between his fingers. He sniffed it. "Bear," Rowan said. "Old, but sound. No rot." He looked up. "Someone kept this room dry on purpose." Ajax turned. "Meaning?" "Meaning this was stored for a man to use, not to hide," Rowan said. "The silk, the furs, the oils. A man was meant to live here." Chalam opened the ornate chest again. He lifted one small vial and held it to the light. “A healing potion” he said. "He stocked it," Chalam said. "Silk to trade. Furs for cold. Oils for wounds. Coin to hire men." He met Ajax's eyes. "This was a warhouse cache. He meant to raise a company here, same as you." "Load it," Ajax said. "The oils to Elara. Spread all of the loot on the table in the hall when we return.” He looked at the empty doorway they had come from, then back. "This was the last room." Kael hauled the coin chest. Rowan lifted the furs. Chalam packed the vials in cloth. They returned home more rich than before.