Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 303 of 619

The Verath hides dried on their frames by the smithery. Ajax stood over them at dawn and counted his stock in his head. Two hides. Three vials of oil. A box of teeth nearly spent. He had built a trade on one rare beast, and the north woods would not hold Verath forever. He called Rowan and Aldric to the yard. "We need more than serpents to sell," he said. "What else can we hunt that a merchant pays for?" Rowan crouched and drew in the dirt with a stick. He was the bowman raised by dryads, the man who read the woods like a page. He marked three shapes. "Silver fox," he said. "Their winter pelts bring twice a rabbit's. They den in the north ridges." He tapped the second mark. "Marten. Small, but the fur is soft and rare down the coast." He tapped the third. "And a boar that fouls the low grove. Big. Its tusks carve into needles like the tooth, but they last." Aldric knelt and studied the marks. The scholar had named the Verath from a torn page before Ajax ever hunted one, and he weighed each animal the same careful way. "The fox and marten sell to any port," he said. "Common enough that no one asks where they came from. That is worth more than rarity." He looked up. "The boar is different. Tusk carving is skilled work. Fewer buyers, but they pay deep." Tucker came from the hall with a mug in his hand. He wore his gold chains and his easy grin. He had sold every bale of cloth Black Oak made, and he knew what ships wanted before the masters did. He listened, then set the mug down. "Sell the fox and marten by the crate," he said. "That builds a name. Every trader who stops here leaves with something. But keep the boar tusks quiet." He rubbed two fingers together. "Scarce things are worth more when men have to ask twice." Ajax looked from the dirt marks to the drying hides. He saw the shape of it now. Bulk furs to draw the ships in. Rare tusk work to keep them coming back. The same lesson the Verath had taught him, spread across three beasts instead of one. "Then we hunt all three," Ajax said. He pointed at Rowan. "You lead the trap lines for fox and marten. Set them tomorrow." He turned to Aldric. "You study the boar. I want to know how it moves before we go for it." He faced Tucker. "You take the first fox pelts to the ship master and let it slip we have tusk needles coming. Just a whisper." Rowan wiped the dirt from his stick and stood. "I know the ridges," he said. "I can have the first pelts in two days." Ajax nodded. The trade would not run dry. Black Oak had a new quarry, and a plan to sell it. He turned toward the gate to think on the men he would need to hunt three beasts at once.