Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 381 of 619

The five captains slept warm above the canal, but the beds strained the house. In the morning Ajax found the kitchen short of hands and the workhouse men pulled to serve wine. He needed to know exactly who worked for him and what each man did. He called Aldric Thornwick to the hall. Aldric came with his ledger under one arm. He was the scholar who kept every count for Black Oak, the man who could name a beast from one torn page. He set the book on the carved table and opened it. "You want the roster," he said. It was not a question. "All of it," Ajax said. "Sworn and hired both. Every man and his work." Aldric turned the page and read. "Thirteen sworn brothers. Grayson holds the gate. Chalam works the wards and cuts stone. Marco reads men at the door. Tucker runs the bar and the port. Rowan hunts. Tarron works the flock and loom. Bran cuts stone. I keep the vault and the count." He paused. "The other five sit at your table but hold no daily post." Ajax nodded. "Now the rest." "Vello runs the forge. The grower makes the wine. The cooper builds the vats. One woodman splits the wood." Aldric ran his finger down the column. "Four room workers, chained to silence. Four lodge servers. Two dock men by the sea gate. Two gate guards on rotation." He closed the book. "Thirty-two souls behind your walls. Thirteen bound by the mark. Thirteen bound by silver chain. Six bound by wage alone." Ajax counted it in his head. The number was larger than he had guessed. "Six by wage," he said. "That is the gap." "The grower. The cooper is sworn now. Vello. The woodman. The two gate guards are silver-chained." Aldric looked up. "Four by wage, then. Men who could talk at the docks and lose you nothing but their pay." Ajax walked the length of the hall. He saw the trouble plain. He had built a house too fast to count. Men served him who owed him nothing but a day's work. "The captains slept over the canal last night," he said. "Any tongue among these thirty-two could sell that route." "Then bind the four," Aldric said. "Or send them off before thaw." “I’ll swear them now.”