Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 287 of 619

Ajax woke before the sun and did not wait for dinner. He walked to the hall while the others slept. Tucker's question had sat in the wall like a cracked stone all night. Ajax wanted the vow spoken while the day was still clean, not bartered over cups after dark. He sent Chalam to wake the twelve. Chalam came with his staff and his open blue robe, satchel at his belt. He did not ask why. He never asked more than he needed. "They're coming," he said. "Bran drags his feet. Tucker's already at the fire." He set the staff against the table. "You want this fast." "I want it done," Ajax said. Chalam looked at the empty chairs. "A vow you rush is a vow they can question later." He said it plain, the way he stated his own failures. "But you know that." The men filled the hall one by one. Ajax stood at the carved table and did not sit. He named the thing without softening it. "You've heard I've kissed six of you and not the rest. It's true. Marco. Bran. Kael. Torren. Aldric. Tucker. Every one chose it. None was forced." He looked down the row of faces. "You swear to a man, not to a saint. Now you know the man." No one spoke. Grayson leaned on his chair. Tucker watched from the far end, both gold chains catching the fire, his face unreadable. Ajax set his father's blade on the table. "I ask each of you to say yes or no. Aloud. Then Chalam marks the sole of your left foot with his staff. A paw. So the oath sits in your own body, where you can't forget it." Chalam's head came up. "You want me to mark them." "With your paw. My sign. So each man carries it." Chalam turned the request over. "It's not a binding. Just a reminder. The mark won't hold a man who wants to run." He picked up the staff. "But it'll stays there forever.” Ajax went down the table. Grayson said yes and pulled off his boot. Chalam pressed the staff-tip to the left sole; a faint paw darkened the skin. Chalam moved to the next. Bran, yes. Kael, yes. Torren, yes. Marco, yes. Rowan, Asher, Aldric, Kael's neighbors, each in turn. Chalam knelt at every foot and worked without hurry. He reached Tucker last. Tucker held Ajax's eyes a long moment. Then he lifted his left boot off and set his bare heel on the bench. "Yes," Tucker said. "You told them straight. That's what I wanted." Chalam pressed the staff to Tucker's sole. The paw rose dark on the skin. "Twelve," Chalam said. He stood, staff in hand. "All marked. All said yes." Ajax looked at the row of men with his sign burned faint into every foot. The house was sworn to him now, not by hope, but by their own spoken word. Black Oak had a Council of Twelve.