Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 41 of 619

Ajax woke before the others and walked down to the flat stone at the edge of camp. The sun was just up. He set the short sword within reach and pulled his shirt over his head. He had a small clay jar Tucker had pressed into his hand the night before. Tucker had called it oil for sore muscles and said a woman at the port swore by it. Ajax had taken it without much thought. His shoulders ached from three days in the saddle. He worked the oil into his arms first, then his chest, then down across his stomach. The smell came up warm — pine sap, something sweet under it, something he could not name. His skin went hot where he rubbed. He kept going. His muscles loosened under his hands. The gold chain at his neck swung as he worked. Boots on gravel behind him. He did not turn. Chalam came around the stone in his open blue robe, staff in one hand, satchel at his hip. The wizard stopped short. He drew a breath through his nose and held it. "What is that," Chalam said. "Oil. Tucker gave it to me." Chalam set the staff against the rock. He came closer than he needed to. His eyes moved over Ajax's chest and stayed there. "Ajax," he said. "I have to tell you something. That oil is worked. I can feel it on the air. It is pulling at me." "Pulling how." "I want to touch you." Chalam said it flat, the way he said everything. "I am telling you because I said I would not use magic on your men without permission. This is being used on me. You should know." Ajax lowered the jar. "Then step back." Chalam did not step back. He reached out and laid his palm on Ajax's shoulder, then along the flat of his chest. His hand was steady. His face was not. "I can feel it working," Chalam said. "I am still telling you. That is the difference." Ajax caught the wizard's wrist and moved his hand off. He did it slow, without heat. "Sit down," he said. "On the rock. Away from me." Chalam sat. He put his hands on his knees and looked at them. Ajax took the jar to the stream and scrubbed his chest and arms with cold water and sand until the smell was gone. He came back and dressed. Then he walked to the fire where Tucker was pouring coffee. "The oil," Ajax said. "Where did you get it." Tucker looked up. His face went careful. "The broker's woman. At the port." "It's worked. Chalam felt it." Tucker set the pot down. "I didn't know." "Someone at that port wanted a hand on me," Ajax said. "Now we know."