Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 488 of 619

Ajax sailed home from Silvermoor with the town running behind him. He came through the canal at dusk and walked to the great hall. Marcus followed, salt still on his boots. The ship had carried the two of them south while the sworn men held the north. But Ajax had a knot to cut before he could rest. Marcus was bound to him by a silver chain oath, sworn once, in secret, to keep the dock and the location hidden. That oath was the thread that held his whole trade route closed. Ajax needed to hear it read back to him, plain, before he trusted another season to it. He called Marco to the hall. Marco crossed the sea road twice a moon and read lies for a living. He came with his gold chain at his open collar and stood without hurry. "You want me to read him," Marco said. Not a question. "Read the oath in him," Ajax said. "Tell me if it still holds." Marcus set his jaw but bared his throat. He was Ajax's man, sworn to sail north and back and never name the place. Ajax laid the silver chain across the table and had Marcus speak it again. Marcus said the words slow. Never the dock. Never the canal. Never the master's name to any port. Marco watched the captain's face the whole time. He let the silence sit, then spoke. "He means it. No crack in it. He'd sooner sink the ship than sell you." A dry warmth touched his mouth. "He also thinks about Tucker more than the cargo. That part won't hurt you." Ajax let out a breath he had held all season. The oath was clean. He looped the silver chain back around Marcus's neck himself and pressed it flat against the man's chest. "Then you carry it another year," he said. Marcus nodded once, the sworn thing settled between them.