Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 439 of 619

Ajax rode home with five new men behind him. His walls had swords enough now. But raw fighters were not brothers. Before dawn, they would swear or ride out. Grayson met him at the gate, silver chain bright on his bare chest. "Five," Ajax said, swinging down. "Marco needs to clear them before the fire." Grayson looked the strangers over without a word. He served as Lieutenant of the Gate. Nothing crossed the threshold he did not weigh first. "Marco rode in an hour ago," he said. "From the Crossing. You called him?" "I did." Ajax needed the mind-reader. New men lied easy. Marco heard the truth under the words. Marco came from the hall, still dusty from the road east. Ajax had left him to guard the Crossing gate. Now he stood in the yard again, and something eased in Ajax's chest at the sight of him. "You want me to read them," Marco said. It was not a question. "All five. One at a time. Any hidden debt, any lord they still answer to, any deceit, I want it before I put a chain on them." Marco nodded and set to work. He took each man aside by the well. He asked plain questions and watched the answers behind the eyes. Ajax stood close and waited. The big one from the hollow went first, then the four from the water. Marco freed each with a short nod. The last man made Marco pause. His hand lifted, then dropped. "He carries a grudge against a captain south," Marco said low. "Not against you. Not against Black Oak. He wants a wall and coin. He's clean for us." "Clear," Ajax said to Grayson. "All five." Grayson built the fire high as the sky went black. He lined the five men before it, chests bare, chains ready in a row. The older brothers gathered at the edge of the light to watch. At midnight Ajax stepped into the firelight. He set his hand flat on the first man's chest, felt the heart, felt his flexed biceps and held his eye. "Say it," he said. "To me and to the wall." One by one they swore. To hold the gate. To keep the canal and the ships silent. To answer to Ajax and no lord. Then he hung a silver chain on each throat. When the last chain was set, he stepped back. Twenty-eight men now stood inside his walls under his law. Grayson came to his shoulder. "That's the wall covered," he said. "Full watch, every hour." Ajax looked at his sworn men in the firelight. The brotherhood he had ridden out alone to build now stood five deep before him. "Bunk the new men on the first floor," he said. "Drills at dawn. They're brothers now. Let them earn it."