Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 532 of 619

At first light, Ajax stood on Silvermoor's harbor wall and watched Rowan ready the boat for the last hunt. The Seraphine sat heavy at the dock, its hold two hides short. Marcus and Tucker would sail at noon if the beasts fell fast. Ajax meant to fill that hold himself. He would ride south with Rowan and Chalam, kill what they could, and pack the ship before the tide turned. Rowan hauled his bow into the boat and checked the string. Raised by dryads, he read the land the way most men read faces. He said little and missed nothing. "Tracks south of the burned house," he said. "Two quilled beasts, feeding at a stream. One large. We take them by dusk." Chalam joined them, his new staff in hand, the one bound from Verath bone and grove wood so it would not crack under a heavy working. He opened his satchel and drew out a small clay jar. "Scent oil," he said. "I mask us both ways. The beasts hunt by smell and heat. If the wind holds, they never know we came." They rowed to the marked shore and landed by midday. Rowan found the tracks at once, pressed deep in the mud near the stream. He led them low through the brush. Chalam rubbed the oil on their arms and necks. Ajax drew his father's blade and waited. The first beast came to drink. Rowan loosed an arrow into its throat. It reared, and Ajax stepped in and drove the blade up through its mouth. It dropped without a sound. The second charged from the reeds. Chalam struck the ground with his staff, and roots seized its legs. It thrashed but could not close the gap. Rowan put two arrows in its throat, and Ajax finished it clean. Rowan ran his hand over the larger hide. "Thicker than the last," he said. "Worth twice a fair one." They skinned both beasts and loaded the hides into the boat before the light failed. By the time they rowed back to Silvermoor, the sky had gone gray at the edges. Aldric met them at the dock, his green tunic dark in the dusk, a ledger under his arm. He was Ajax's keeper of counts, the scholar who tracked every load north. He looked at the two hides and nodded once. "That fills the hold," Aldric said. "A fair load now. The red quay will pay full price." Ajax turned to the Seraphine. Marcus and Tucker stood at the rail, waiting. "Load them," Ajax said. "Sail on the next tide." The crew swung the hides aboard. Marcus took the helm. Tucker raised a hand to Ajax and did not lower it until the lines came loose. The ship slid out past the wall and turned north into open water. The sea road held. The trade would move. Ajax watched the sail shrink and knew the season was secured.