Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 377 of 619

The ship sailed at first light. Two nights before, the crew still slept at the port inn, and Ajax's plan had one loose thread. Marcus stayed in the best suite, waiting for the voyage, and Tucker still played the game that would bring the captain home. Ajax needed to know the thread would hold. He rode to the port and let Tucker work. Tucker carried a jug up the inn stairs. He was the man Ajax used for this work, his Master of Port and Trade, the one who loosened tongues with drink and drew out what men hid. Tonight the task was different. Tonight he had to keep Marcus wanting Black Oak without giving him anything yet. Marcus opened the door. He was the captain Ajax had bound with a silver chain to sail north and return. He took the jug and set it down. Then he pulled his shirt off and dropped it on the floor. "You keep bringing me drink," Marcus said. He flexed once, as he stretched. His chest was broad, his arms hard from years of rope. "You keep leaving." Tucker leaned in the doorway. He did not step inside. His two gold chains caught the lamplight, and he let them. "I like the view from here," Tucker said. Marcus flexed again. "Come look closer." Tucker's eyes moved down and back up. He wanted to. Ajax had seen him want men before and take them. But this one he could not take, not yet, and both of them knew why. "Come back from the north," Tucker said. "You come back with the ship whole and the silver counted. Then maybe I close this door behind me instead of standing in it." Marcus lowered his arms. He looked at Tucker a long moment. "Maybe?" Tucker didn’t respond. He did not soften it. "And you're going to sail eight days each way because you like the view here." Marcus laughed once, short. "Fair," he said. He poured two cups from the jug and handed one across the threshold. Tucker took it. He stayed on his side of the door. They drank standing apart, and something settled between them that was firmer than a chain. Downstairs, Ajax waited at the bar. Tucker came down alone, cups empty, shirt still on. "Well?" Ajax said. "He'll sail," Tucker said. "And he'll hurry home." He set the jug on the counter. "I didn't touch him. Cost me something not to." Ajax nodded. That was the answer he needed. The captain's want was hooked and holding. Two days later the ship left the dock, marked by Chalam's magic and pulled north by more than silver. Ajax had bound his last man not with fear but with a door left half open, and the trade north was truly under sail.