Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 431 of 619

Ajax held half the gatekeeper's debt. The lean trader held the rest, and now he knew someone was moving on the road. Ajax could not buy that paper. Marco had said it plain: the lean man wanted the gate for himself. He would fight, not sell. So Ajax needed a different way to pry the paper loose. He took Marco and Tucker back to the Crossing at dawn. They found the lean trader in the market hall, hunched over a table, counting coins into stacks. He did not look up when they sat down. His fingers moved fast, greedy and sure. Tucker set a cup of northern wine in front of him. "On me," Tucker said. "A man who counts that careful should drink something worth counting." The trader glanced up. His eyes were small and sharp. "I know who you are. You bought the fat fool's half." He pushed the wine aside. "Mine's not for sale." Marco leaned on the table, turning his bracelet in the light. He said nothing. He was listening. After a moment he tapped the wood twice, low, so only Ajax saw. The trader spoke true. He would not sell. But Marco listened deeper. Then he spoke, quiet. "You owe the council for your seat. Same as the gatekeeper owes you." The trader's hand stopped on a coin. Marco had pulled it straight from his head. Ajax saw the crack then. The lean man was not rich. He held debt paper because he could not pay his own. Ajax laid a leather purse on the table. Silver, heavy. "I'll clear your council seat," Ajax said. "All of it. You keep your place. You keep your name." "And the paper," the trader said. "The paper comes to me." The man's jaw worked. He wanted the gate. But he wanted his own skin more, and Ajax had just offered to save it. Marco tapped once. A lie forming. Ajax pushed the purse an inch closer. "Try to hold the gate and the council eats you first. You know it. That's why you count all day." Silence. Then the trader dragged the purse toward him. He pulled a folded paper from his coat and slid it across. Marco tapped twice. True this time. The man meant to keep the bargain. Ajax took the paper. Both halves of the gatekeeper's debt sat in his coat now. He owned the road. Outside, Tucker let out a low laugh. "You didn't buy his paper. You bought his fear." "Same coin," Ajax said. Marco did not laugh. "The gatekeeper doesn't know yet. When he learns one man holds both halves, he'll come to you. Or he'll run." Ajax folded the debt away. He held the gatekeeper's whole grip in his hand. The road east lay open to Black Oak's goods. But the gatekeeper still sat at the gate, and no man liked learning his throat was already in another's fist. "Then let him come," Ajax said.