Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 34 of 619

They rode into the port by midmorning. Salt in the air, gulls over the rooftops, ships tied three deep along the wharf. Ajax pulled his shirt back on at the edge of town. So did the others. Tucker kept his vest open and his chains where they showed. Ajax pulled up at a stable near the dock. He counted out the gold bars into a saddlebag and handed the bag to Tucker. "You go alone," Ajax said. "Your broker, your room, your price. We wait outside town." Tucker weighed the bag once and slung it over his shoulder. "Half a day. Maybe less. Don't come looking." "Come back with a number," Ajax said. "Not the coin. We'll ride in together for that." Tucker tipped two fingers off his brow and walked his horse into the crowd. The chains at his throat caught the sun and were gone. Ajax led the rest back up the coast road and off it, into a stand of low pines above a dry creek. Chalam sat with his staff across his knees. Grayson watered the horses. Elara stretched her wrist and turned the dryad's sprig in her fingers. The sun climbed. Marco unstoppered the tin of saddle grease the gnome had given them. He rubbed it into his palms, then across his chest, slow, working it into the hair. The grease shone on his skin. Asher watched from the next tree over. "That's for saddles." "It's for leather," Marco said. "I'm leather." Asher pushed off the tree. He crossed the pine needles and stopped a step short of Marco. "You smell like a tack room." "You're still here." Asher put a hand flat on Marco's chest. The grease smeared under his palm. He did not take the hand away. "The walls are done," Marco said. "They're done," Asher said. They went behind the pines. Ajax heard the low sounds and kept his eyes on the road. Grayson glanced once at Ajax, saw no order coming, and went back to the horses. Elara smiled at the ground. Tucker came back before the sun dropped. He rode in slow, alone, no bag on his shoulder. He swung down and squatted by Ajax at the fire ring. "Sold," Tucker said. "Broker took the bars clean. Cut coin too. He'll have the count by dawn and the silver in a strongbox at his shop." "Number," Ajax said. Tucker told him. Ajax's jaw set. It was more than he had planned for. Enough for tools, salt, steel, and two more men on wages through winter. "There's a thing," Tucker said. "The broker asked who sent me. I said no one. He asked twice." "Twice," Ajax said. "Twice." Tucker looked at the fire ring. "And a man at the next table wore a spiral on his collar. Iron. Stamped." Ajax stood. The port had their gold now, and someone in it already knew they were here.