Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 398 of 619

On the eighth day the coast broke over the water. Marcus stood at the bow and named the northern city under his breath. The harbor opened wide before them, crowded with masts. Ajax came up beside him. The gold rode below their feet, bound at last for the red quay house. "Tenth tax at the gate," Marcus said. He did not look away from the water. "We pay it. After that no man asks a foreign trader anything." He guided the ship past a line of moored hulls. Tucker climbed up, chains catching the sun, and stood at Marcus's shoulder like a man come to collect on a bet. "You look easy," Tucker said. "For a man carrying that much under his boots." "I've made this run before," Marcus said. "The gate takes coin. It doesn't take names." They came in slow. A harbor official waited at the quay with two guards behind him. Marcus paid the tenth in coin from a small purse, counted out plain, no questions after. The official waved them on. Ajax felt the moment turn under him. They were inside the northern city now, and no one here knew Black Oak or cared to. Marco climbed up last. He had read the harbor men as they passed. "Nothing on us," he said low to Ajax. "They see a fur ship. That's all." He watched the quay a moment. "The red house sits down the wharf. Tucker knows the door." Marcus brought the ship against the quay and the crew tied her off. He wiped his hands on his vest and faced Ajax. "This is the ground I promised. Gold goes to the red house from here. Steel and grain fill the hold. Then home." Ajax stepped onto the quay first. Stone held firm under his boots after eight days of deck. Merchants moved past with carts and bundles. No spiral marks. No watchers. The gate had opened for coin and closed the same way, asking nothing. "Tucker," Ajax said. "Take Marco. Find the red quay house and its master. Set the price before we move a single bar." Tucker grinned. "Rare goods, no questions. My kind of town." He clapped Marcus on the shoulder as he passed. "Wait with the ship. I'll bring back a number." Marcus stayed with the gold. Marco fell in beside Tucker, and the two crossed the quay into the crowd. Ajax watched them go. The hard part was behind him. Eight days of open sea, one sworn captain, and no reader at his back had not cost him the ship. He stood on the wharf of a foreign city that wanted his furs and asked nothing of him. Now only the sale remained. If the red house paid clean, the road north was proven, and the rest of the vault could follow. Ajax turned back to the ship and set his hand on the rail. "Guard the gold," he told Marcus. "We're close."