Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 49 of 619

They fell back to a hollow behind the ridge to wait out the poison's work. Two nights had passed since Chalam tipped the pouch into the well. By the second dusk, the boy with the bucket stopped coming. By the third morning, a man leaned over the wall and vomited down the stones. Ajax lay on the ridge and watched the gate stay shut. "They're sick," Grayson said. "Not open yet." "They'll open," Ajax said. "Tonight or tomorrow. We'll be ready before they are." He slid back down the slope to the hollow where the others waited. Chalam sat against a pine with his vials laid out in a row on a folded cloth. Five, unbroken, in order. Elara stood at the edge of the trees with her palm turned up to the sky. The moon was high and full. Her sleeve was pushed to the elbow, and the gold band on her wrist caught the light. Her wrist had healed weeks ago, but the depletion behind it had not. She had told Ajax at the creek that every casting cost her more now. He had watched her sit down hard after shrouding Chalam at the well. Tonight she was quiet the way she got before she asked her body for more than it had. "How long?" Ajax said. "Until the moon drops behind the ridge," Elara said. "An hour, maybe two. The band holds what it takes in. I can pour some into a working later, if I need to." "Into the bracelet?" "Into the bracelet. It stores what the moon gives. I've done it once before." She did not look at him. "Don't ask me for a shroud and a blinding both. Pick one." "Shroud," Ajax said. "When the gate opens, I want us across the ground before they see us." "Then that's what you'll have." He left her to it. Chalam was already handing the blades out one at a time. Six iron blades, forged to cut the spiral doors. Grayson took his, tested the edge with his thumb, and slid it into his belt. Marco took his and did not speak. Asher took his last. He held Ajax's eye for one count, then looked down at the blade. "Middle of the line," Ajax said. "Second door." "Second door," Asher said. Tucker checked his own edge and nodded. "Ready when the gate moves." Ajax looked back up the slope. Elara stood with her wrist raised, and the band on it burned steady white against her skin. The bracelet was full. The blades were passed. The men had their doors. He sat down against the pine to wait for the gate to open.