Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 509 of 619

The Seraphine cut south with a hard wind. Two of the rival's men sailed somewhere on the same water, hunting the hidden dock that kept Black Oak alive. Ajax stood at the rail beside Marcus Tidewater, the captain who ran his goods north and would sooner drown than name his master. Marcus watched the horizon and said nothing. Marco leaned on the mast, listening past the waves. Chalam sat with his satchel in his lap, his wrapped staff across his knees. "They left a day before us," Ajax said. "Can we catch them?" "No," Marcus said. "They have the lead. But they don't know the coast. I do." Marco lifted his head. "They're close. Ahead and east." He kept his eyes shut. "Two men. One thinks about the canal mouth. He's looking for the gate." Ajax's gut went cold. "They know about the canal?" "They know it exists," Marco said. "Not where. They plan to sail the shore and watch for the iron." Chalam unwrapped his staff. "The gate can't be seen," he said. "The Emissary hid it. No ship finds it. No eye, no sabotage." He set the staff down. "They'll sail past and find nothing." Ajax turned to him. "You're certain." "I felt the working when she cast it," Chalam said. "It holds. They could stand on the water above the gate and see only cliff." Marcus grunted. "Then let them look. They'll waste days on empty rock." He set a new heading, driving the ship harder south. By the second morning they spotted a sail. A small ship crawled along the coast, close to the cliffs, riding slow. Ajax knew the stretch. The hidden gate lay just beyond that bend. "That's them," Marco said. "Both aboard. Searching." Ajax gripped the rail. "Bring us alongside." "No need," Chalam said. He watched the other ship. "Look." The rival ship reached the bend. It slowed near the cliff wall where the sea gate stood. Ajax held his breath. The men on the deck leaned over the side. They stared at the rock. One pointed. The other shook his head. They found nothing. The ship turned and sailed on, past the gate, past the dock, hunting a mark that no eye could catch. "The working held," Chalam said. "They sailed straight over it." Ajax let go of the rail. The rival's men had reached his coast. They had reached the very stone that hid his harbor. And they had seen only cliff and passed by blind. "They'll report empty water," Marco said. "They'll tell her there's no dock. She'll think you land your goods at the port like every other trader." Ajax watched the small ship shrink toward the south. The harbor was safe. The secret held. But the woman in the north still wanted it, and now she'd send more men, wiser ones, once these two came home with nothing. "Home," Ajax told Marcus. "We hold the gate. Then we deal with the woman herself."