Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 332 of 619

The new rooms went up in six days. Bran laid the last stone in the balcony suite while masons hung doors. Ajax walked the fresh halls and counted beds. More rooms meant more work than his four silver-chained men could carry. He needed hands, and he needed them fast. He found Tucker at the bar, chains catching the lamp, and said what he had already decided. "Ride to the port. Hire four more for the rooms. Collect what your house owes you while you're there." Tucker set down his cup and smiled. Tucker Hoskins had ridden with Ajax since the early days, hired first until the walls were done, then kept for his talent with towns and rooms. He owned a brothel at the port and knew every dock and doorway. He worked a room by buying drinks and listening. Ajax trusted him to find men who could serve wealthy patrons and keep their mouths shut. "Four," Tucker said. "Strong or pretty?" "Both," Ajax said. "Men who look good pouring wine and better carrying it. Marco can't vet them at the port. That's on you." He set a purse on the bar. "Wages up front. Bring back what the house owes me too." Tucker weighed the purse and did not open it. "They'll want to know where they're going," he said. "I'll tell them a lodge on the coast. Good beds, better coin." He drank the last of his cup. "Nothing about the gate." "Nothing about the gate," Ajax said. "Say that twice." "Nothing about the gate," Tucker said again, dry, and pushed off the bar. He rode out at first light and made the port fast. Two days later a dust cloud rose on the coast road. Grayson called it from the wall. Ajax climbed to watch. Tucker led four riders through the pines, sitting his horse easy, chains bright even at a distance. Behind him came four young men, broad in the shoulder, fit, sitting their saddles well. Marco met them at the split pine and rode alongside, reading each face before they reached the canal. When they stopped short of the sea path, Marco lifted two fingers to Ajax. Clean. No collars, no marks, no man sent by an old enemy. Tucker swung down and clapped the dust from his vest. "Four," he said. "Handsome, strong, and hungry for wages." He tilted his head at the men. "Told them nothing but the road and the coin. They didn't ask twice." He tossed Ajax a second purse, heavier. "And your house paid what it owed. Winter was good to the bar." Ajax caught it and looked at the four men waiting quiet by their horses. Good backs. Good faces. He had beds for them and work that would keep them busy through the thaw. He gripped Tucker's shoulder once. "Feed them. I’ll see Tarron for clothes. I’ll meet you and the four of them in the bar tonight." Now the lodge had hands enough to fill its rooms. But four new strangers stood inside his walls, unsworn, and the thaw was days off. Each would have to swear the Code or ride out.