Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 5 of 619

They broke camp and rode northwest toward the coast. Three men, three horses, one week of trail. By late afternoon they crossed a shallow creek and smelled woodsmoke. A single fire burned beside the water. A tall man sat on a stump next to it, boots crossed at the ankle, a carved wooden chest at his feet. Two flat gold chains lay on his bare chest under a leather vest. He lifted a hand as if he had been expecting them. "Room at the fire," the man said. "I've got coffee. You've got the look of men who haven't had any." Ajax swung down first. Grayson stayed in the saddle a beat longer, reading the camp. Marco walked his horse to the water. "Tucker Hoskins," the man said. He did not stand. "Saw your mark two days back. Name carved in the stone, wolf paw under it. Figured whoever cut that was heading for the coast." "You followed us." "I rode ahead. Different thing." Ajax looked at the chest. The wood was dark and covered in writing he could not read. Small stones set into the lid caught the firelight. "What's in the box?" "Everything I own that matters." Tucker poured coffee into a tin cup and held it out. "I'm not selling it and I'm not opening it. Ask me something else." Ajax took the cup. "Why sit on our road?" "I want work. Coast work. I heard a warhouse is going up out there and I'd rather be inside the walls than outside them." He looked at Grayson, then Marco, then back at Ajax. He spoke only to Ajax. "Your company. Your call." Grayson finally dismounted. He said nothing. He watched. Ajax set his feet. He did not flex this time. He did not look at Grayson for a read. "Pay at the end. Land after. You ride under me until the walls go up. You don't open that chest around my men unless I say." "Fair." "Why should I take you?" Tucker smiled under the mustache. "One town up north ran me off the first night. I came back the next week, bought the bar a round, and left with six friends. I'm useful in a room. You're going to need rooms." Marco snorted once, approving. Grayson's mouth moved, almost a smile, and he gave Ajax a short nod. Small. Enough. "Sworn until the walls go up?" Ajax said. "Sworn." Ajax clapped his shoulder. Tucker took it without shifting his weight. Solid. Reliable in the way a fence post is reliable. Four men now. Ajax sat by the fire and drank the coffee. He watched the carved chest in the grass and did not ask again. Whatever Tucker carried, he had brought it to Ajax's fire on Ajax's terms. That was the piece that mattered tonight. The rest could wait for the coast.