Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 504 of 619

Marco crossed the yard while the scrying water was still drying on the wall. He kept the gate east for Ajax, reading traders for lies where the road met the Crossing. Ajax trusted no man more to hear a truth or catch a lie. He wanted that gift now, turned on his own chains. "Chalam found the man buying my keepers," Ajax said. "A trader in a red coat, past the Crossing. I need to know which of my keepers is his, and which still holds." Chalam packed the his full vials and closed his satchel. "The charmed chains warn you of betrayal. They don't name the traitor." He tapped the fifth keeper's chain, still on the wall. "Nine keepers. One or two may be bought. The rest are clean. You can't burn all nine on a guess." Marco looked at the chain, then at Ajax. "You want me to read them. All nine." "Can you?" Ajax asked. "If they stand in front of me," Marco said. "I can't read a man across the sea." He picked up the chain and turned it in his fingers. "But this I can use. A charm carries the maker's intent. I've felt it on men before. Bring me the ones who wore his silver, and I'll know his mark inside them." Chalam nodded slow. "The trader felt me scry. He'll pull his men or move them. If a bought keeper knows we look, he runs before you reach him." "Then we don't warn them," Ajax said. "Marco reads them at my gate, one by one, as they pass on supply runs. Same as we've done. But now he listens for the red trader's hand, not just a lie." Marco set the chain down. "I'll need Chalam to strip their charms first. A masked man reads as nothing." "Done," Chalam said. They did not wait long. The second island's keeper came in on the morning tide, sworn and cleared once before. Chalam met him at the wall and pulled the silver from his neck. Marco stood close and held the man's eyes while he spoke of grain counts and rough water. Marco went still. Then he stepped back. "He's clean of the trader. But he thought of a red coat when I said the Crossing." He looked at Ajax. "Someone offered him coin on his last run. He said no. He never told you." Ajax turned to the keeper. The man's face went pale. "Who offered?" "A boy, at the harbor," the keeper said. "He wore no coat. He spoke for one who did." Marco touched Ajax's arm. "Truth. He refused and kept quiet out of fear, not treason." Ajax let out his breath. He had a face, a gift to catch the bought, and a live thread back to the red trader's reach. He looked south. "The trader spends coin at every harbor my ships touch. Marco reads each keeper here, at the gate. We catch his men before they sit down." He gripped Marco's shoulder. "Now I find the boy."