Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 376 of 619

With the ship crewed and Marcus bound, Ajax needed one last thing before it sailed north: cargo. His hold sat half empty. He pulled Rowan and Chalam from the yard and rode into the north woods to hunt three Verath, the burrowing serpents whose hides no other port could sell. Rowan led. He walked bent, reading the ground. Near a dead spruce he crouched and touched a four-toed print with no claw. "Fresh," he said. "Two here. One drags its tail heavier. Bigger." He said nothing else. Ajax had learned not to press him. Rowan gave you the fact and let you decide. Chalam knelt and rubbed gland oil on their boots and knees. "They hunt by sound," he said. "This buys us quiet. One night, no more." He held his staff loose. The three men spread wide the way they had killed Verath a dozen times. Rowan struck first. His arrow took the closest serpent in the throat as it broke the soil. Ajax drove his father's blade through its open mouth and twisted. It went still. The second came fast. Chalam spoke a word and roots gripped its middle. Rowan put two shafts in its neck. Ajax finished it. The third was the big one. It circled beneath them, patient. Rowan raised a hand for silence. He pointed left. Ajax waited, then slammed his heel down hard. The serpent erupted where the sound landed. Rowan's arrow found its throat. Ajax buried his blade to the guard. The beast dropped. Three hides. They worked through the night skinning and packing teeth and glands. By dawn the horses carried a fortune in rare goods. Ajax rode home tired and satisfied. The hold would be full. They passed through the canal to the dock. Marcus and his four sailors loaded the crates into the ship while dock workers hauled water and salt. Ajax watched the goods go under the deck. Bone needles. Whole Verath hides. Gland oil sealed in wax. Several thick furs, hides, and fancy clothes made from them. Enough to open the red quay house in the northern city and bring back silver no cart could carry. Chalam did not board with the rest. He climbed the gangway alone at dusk while Marcus argued rope with a sailor. Ajax followed and found him kneeling at the stern, pressing his palm flat to the deck. His lips moved. "What are you doing?" Ajax said. Chalam did not stop. When he finished he stood and wiped chalk dust from his hand. "A mark," he said, plain. "Woven into the wood. My staff will find this ship anywhere on the water. If Marcus runs, if the crew turns, if a storm takes them off course, I will know where the ship sits." Ajax stared at him. Eight days of open sea had been his last fear. Now it was answered. "You did not ask," Ajax said. "No," Chalam said. "You would have said yes." The ship sailed at first light, bound for the northern city, marked and watched all the way.