Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 265 of 619

The carts rolled through the gate at dusk. Ajax and his men had hauled the last cave hoard home to Black Oak. Now the loot lay spread across the long hall table under the dryad's carved leaves. Gold bars stacked in rows. Silver plate. Cut coin poured into piles. Bolts of silk and rolls of bear fur lined the bench. Ajax stood at the head of the table and looked at it all. "Count it," he said. Aldric came forward with his ledger. He is the scholar Ajax brought in to read old scripts and keep the house record. He set the book open and dipped his pen. His grey-streaked head bent over the page. He counted the gold bars first, tapping each with the pen's end, his lips moving. When he finished a stack he wrote the number and moved on. He did not rush and he did not speak. Grayson watched from the door. "How much?" Aldric wrote one more line. "Ninety gold bars. Two hundred pounds of silver. Coin still to weigh." He set the pen down. "More than the last ride." Torren carried the silk to the wall and stacked it clean. Kael hauled the coin sacks and dropped them by the bench. Ajax watched Kael a moment, then looked away. He divided the piles by hand. Seven shares of coin for the sworn men on the ride. A tenth set aside for the house tithe. The oils he pushed toward Elara's basket. The gold bars he pointed to the vault. "Marco's cut goes to his room," Ajax said. "Chalam takes his after the workings are logged." Aldric wrote each share as Ajax named it. When the ledger held every line, he closed the book. "Done. It balances." Tucker leaned on the table with his chains bright in the lamplight. He picked up a silver plate and turned it. "Your father meant to raise a company here," he said. "Now you've got the coin to feed one three winters over." Ajax said nothing to that. He looked down the table at his men. The gate held. The vault was full. The last cave was empty. There was nothing left on the old woman's map to chase. "Bring the ale," he said. "Bring meat. Wake the rest." They feasted. Kael set the fire high. Torren carried in the roast. Cody's wife had sent bread and pie. The men ate at the carved table and drank, and Ajax let them. Grayson raised his cup and said nothing, which from him was praise. When the coin was locked away and the men grew loud, Aldric brought Ajax the ledger one last time. He set it open on the table between them. "You have enough to hire ten more men," Aldric said. He tapped the last line. "But you have no more marks to raid, and idle men make trouble." He met Ajax's eyes. "What do they do come spring?" Ajax said, “Study the scrolls we found tonight and let me know what they are.”