Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 457 of 619

Aldric found the second hull at the south wharf within the week. He came back to the workhouse with the price fixed and a shipwright's word. Ajax sat with him and Marcus while the ledger stayed open on the table. "Smaller than yours," Aldric told Marcus. "Shallow enough for the coast. Sound in the belly." He tapped a figure. "The vault covers it and leaves plenty." Marcus read the numbers slow. "Good bones?" "The shipwright vouched. I checked the seams myself." Aldric closed the book. "Pay him tomorrow and she's yours in ten days." Ajax nodded. "Buy her." He rode to the wharf himself and put northern silver in the shipwright's hand. The man asked no names. He never sailed to Black Oak's dock, so he never saw the canal. That kept the second hull as clean as the first. When the ship came home, Chalam met it at the dock. He knelt on the fresh deck with chalk and staff. "Same mark as the first," he said. "If she runs, I find her." He drew the sign into the boards and pressed his palm flat until it faded from sight. Ajax watched. Two hulls now, both tracked, both his to follow across open water. The captain came harder. Marcus stood by the rail and shook his head. "I won't split my crew. And I won't sail two boats." He crossed his arms. "You need your own man for the coast runs. Not a stranger off the docks." Marcus named him before Ajax could ask. "There's a man I ran with years back. Steady hand. In debt at two ports, which means you can hold his silence with coin and chain. He captains small hulls better than most captain big ones." He paused. "I'll vouch for him if you clear his papers." Ajax weighed it. A vouched man was worth more than a hopeful one. "Bring him. Marco reads him before he sets foot on the canal." Marcus sent word east. The man came in four days. Marco rode from the Crossing to sit across from him and listen. He cleared him plain. "No harbor master owns him. He wants the debt gone and a berth. Nothing hidden." Then Tucker went to the port and hired the crew. Four sailors, green enough to bind and sober enough to work. He bought them drinks, told them a story, and had them nodding before they knew his name. Marco read each one at the gate. Ajax swore all four to silver chains, silence for the canal, the dock, and the ship. He bound the new captain the same night, a private oath on the chain, sworn never to name his place. By the tenth day the second hull sat at the dock, crewed and captained and sworn. The cold room would empty twice a season now. Two ships, two loads, and the north would take all his goods.