Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 326 of 619

The four chained workers had gone upstairs to train under Tucker. Ajax stayed in the hall with his council. The bathhouse and inn were full, the goods sold, and yet the vault would run dry of trade stock before the ships came. He turned to the men who knew the woods and the ledgers. "We need more to sell. What else can we hunt before thaw?" A dryad answered instead. She came through the hall door without a knock, tall and bark-skinned, the same one who had carved the leaves into Ajax's furniture. His men went still. Rowan rose at once and gave her a small bow; he had been raised by her kind and read her mood before she spoke. "You closed the doors I asked," she said to Ajax. "Now I bring you creatures. Two kinds move in the far north, past the burned grove. Both feed on my roots. Kill them and the hides are yours." Rowan spoke plainly. "What are they." "One walks on four legs and sheds a pale fur that holds warmth better than any pelt you have sold," the dryad said. "The other has a shell that turns a blade. Grind it and it heals wounds." Aldric had his book open before she finished. He read a line, then closed it and looked up. "Both are named in the old texts. The fur beast and the shell-back. I thought they were legend." He said it flat. "They are not. And no port has seen either in living memory." Tucker leaned on the bar and grinned. "So no one can copy us." He turned a gold chain in his fingers. "A masters would pay silver just to say he touched one. And more to own the coat." Grayson stood by the door with his arms crossed. "How many men." "Rowan leads," Ajax said. "Chalam to mask our sound. Four of the hired hunters. You hold the gate." Grayson gave one short nod and said nothing more. Chalam set his satchel on the table. "The far north is two days' ride. I have oil to mute our steps and flowers for scent." He looked at the dryad. "Will the grove let us pass without harm?" "I will send word ahead," she said. "Do this and my debt to you deepens." She pressed her palm to the carved table, and the leaves there seemed to darken. Then she walked out. Ajax looked around the hall. The problem she had answered was his own. Idle men and empty shelves would break the house he had built. New beasts meant new goods, new goods meant ships, and ships meant coin to hold his brotherhood past the thaw. "We ride at first light," he said. "Aldric, mark what parts we keep from each. Tarron readies the cold store for the hides." He set his father's blade on the table. "By the thaw, our shelves will be full and every bed here earned."