Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 31 of 619

Ajax knelt by Elara. Her skin was cold. Her breath was shallow. The last time he had seen her cast, she had emptied herself for his fight and gone still against the rock. Now she needed to be off the stone before the wind turned. "I'm carrying her up," Ajax said. "Chalam, walk beside me. Grayson, watch the trail." He slid one arm under her knees and one under her shoulders. She weighed almost nothing. Her head fell against his chest, against the gold chain his father had given him. Chalam kept pace with the staff, his open blue robe dark with sea spray. Grayson moved ahead with a bare blade, silver chain catching the low light. "Where?" Chalam said. "Above the walls. Open ground. Moon's clear tonight." They climbed the switchback past the bodies. Ajax did not look at them. He set Elara down on flat grass at the top and folded his loincloth fur under her head. Chalam crouched and put two fingers to her wrist. "Slow," Chalam said. "Too slow." Then the moon cleared the ridge. The light struck her wrist first. The gold bracelet under her sleeve caught it and held it. The metal brightened until Ajax could see the bones of her hand through the glow. Chalam pulled his fingers back. "I didn't know she wore that," Chalam said. "Neither did I." Her color came back in slow degrees. Her breath deepened. The cut on her lip closed. Chalam watched without speaking, one hand braced on his staff, the other resting on his satchel as if he did not trust himself to open it. "It's drinking the moon," Chalam said. "Filling her." "Will it hold?" "Until dawn. Then we see." Ajax left her under Chalam's watch and went back down. Grayson was already among the dead, working fast. He had a pile started on a spread cloak: two purses, a whetstone, a short bow, six good knives, a folded map, three rings pulled from stiff fingers. "Anything with a mark?" Ajax said. "One." Grayson held up a small iron token stamped with a spiral. "Same on three of them. Under the shirt." Ajax turned the token in his palm. It was warm. He did not know the sign. "Keep them," Ajax said. "We'll ask when we know who to ask." Grayson pocketed the tokens and went back to the line of bodies without a word. By first light Elara sat up on her own. The bracelet had gone dull again, plain gold at her wrist. She looked at Ajax across the grass and did not thank him. She only nodded once. He nodded back. He had his healer. He had coin, blades, and a mark on three chests that meant someone else was counting the dead behind them. The walls were his. The next thing coming was not.