Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 4 of 619

Morning came cold. Ajax stood by the marked stone and counted his men. Grayson on the log, still whetting. Asher by the horses, brushing dust off his shirt. Two. Ajax needed more than two to hold the coast. "Coast's a week's ride," Ajax said. "I need six at least before we set stakes. Three won't hold a bluff against anyone who wants it." "Then get six," Grayson said. Ajax turned to Asher. He set his feet wide and lifted his arms. He flexed both biceps until the veins came up. The gold chain caught the light on his chest. "Look at that," Ajax said. "That's what women in Southern Oak line up for. That's what they'll line up for on the coast too, once the walls go up. Men follow that." Asher smiled small. "Sure they do." "You don't believe me." "I believe the arms." Grayson snorted once and kept whetting. A second rider came up the trail at midmorning. Tall, dark, blue shirt open two buttons, gold chain flat on his chest, gold bracelet on the wrist. He read the stone. He looked at Ajax's stacked boulders. He walked his horse in like he had been invited. "Marco Valentino," he said. "Your mark's the only thing on this road worth stopping for." "You looking for work?" "I'm looking for something a god took from my family. Warhouse on the coast is a place to start asking." "Ride under me until we raise the walls. Pay at the end. Land after." Marco studied him. He glanced at Grayson. Grayson did not look up. Marco's eyes went back to Ajax alone. Asher stepped in from the horses. He crossed his arms and looked Marco over, slow. "He's stalling," Asher said. "Ajax was just showing me why the women in town won't leave him alone. Show him yours, Marco. Come on. Shirt off. Let's see if you match." Marco tilted his head. "That the hiring test?" "Could be." Marco unbuttoned the shirt the rest of the way and shrugged it off his shoulders. He lifted one arm and flexed. The bracelet slid down his forearm. He was built. Asher whistled once. "Ajax. He'll do." Ajax laughed, loud, the first laugh in three days. He clapped Marco on the shoulder hard enough to move him. "Sworn until the walls go up?" "Sworn," Marco said. Three men now. Ajax looked north up the trail, then at Grayson. Grayson finally set the knife down. "Three's still not six," Grayson said. "Three's enough to start moving," Ajax said. "We ride to the coast. We stake the ground. We recruit from there." He had his second sworn man. He had a company small enough to fit around one fire, and a week of road before the coast tested whether it would hold.