Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 39 of 619

Ajax rode two nights and reached his men on a low ridge above the coast road. Grayson had moved the camp off the trail into a stand of scrub oak. Ajax saw the picket line before he saw the fire. That was Grayson's work. Grayson met him at the edge of camp. He looked at the horse first, then at Ajax. "You came back thinner," Grayson said. "I got what I went for." "Tell me before you tell them." Ajax nodded. He gave Grayson the map in words. One gate. Cliff on three sides. Twelve on the wall, fewer at third watch. A well fed by an underground spring. Grayson listened without moving. "Foul the spring," Ajax said, "and he opens the gate inside three days." Grayson worked his jaw. "That's a plan I can hold." "Get the wizard and the healer. Not the others yet." Grayson walked off and came back with Chalam and Elara. Chalam carried his staff and his satchel. Elara had her vest laced tight and her sleeves down against the cold. She looked stronger than she had at the shelf. The bracelet on her wrist caught the low fire. Ajax laid it out again for them. The hall. The gate. The well. "I need the spring fouled," he said. "Not poisoned to kill. Poisoned to sicken. I want him thirsty, not dead in his chair. He has to walk out." Chalam set his staff against a rock. "How far underground?" "A dryad's sisters know it. She can bring us to the mouth." "Then it's a plant working, not a mineral one. My satchel won't do it alone." He looked at Elara. "Yours might." Elara did not answer him at once. She crouched by the fire and picked up a stick. "I can foul water," she said. "Marrowroot pulped into the source. Cramps and fever inside a day. It won't kill a healthy man. It will empty a garrison's guts." "How much do you need?" Ajax said. "A double handful. It grows in wet shade. Your dryad will know it." "Cost to you?" She looked up. "None. I don't have to cast. I just have to pick and crush." Chalam said, "I can mask our scent at the spring mouth. One vial. I keep the other for the gate." Ajax turned to Grayson. "Say it." "It's clean," Grayson said. "We move at dawn. Tucker and Marco on the horses. Asher on the road behind us." "Agreed." Ajax crouched and drew the hall in the dirt the way the dryad had drawn it for him. Elara watched the lines. Chalam counted the guards under his breath. Grayson stood over them both with his arms crossed. The plan was set. In three days the iron gate would open on a garrison too weak to hold it.