Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 54 of 619

They broke camp under a gray sky and rode west along the creek. Ajax led. Grayson rode at his shoulder. Marco held the middle with Asher a length behind him. Tucker took the rear with Chalam and Elara between them. The next mark on the map was two days out through pine country and low hills. Ajax kept the pace steady. He wanted the horses fresh when they got there. By midmorning the sun broke through and the ground steamed. Ajax pulled off his shirt and tied it at his belt. The gold chain fell against his chest. Grayson pulled his loincloth strap tight and did the same, bare to the waist beside him. Behind them Marco stripped down to his jeans. Tucker shrugged out of his vest last, chains flat against his skin. "You brought the whole rug with you," Tucker said. He nodded at Ajax's chest. "Comes with the man," Ajax said. Grayson glanced sideways. "Mine is thicker at the sternum." "It is not," Ajax said. "It is." Marco eased his horse up between them. He looked at both chests and did not smile. "Ajax across the chest. Grayson down the belly." He shrugged. "Different maps." "What about yours," Tucker said. "Mine is my own business." "That is a no." "That is a yes," Marco said. "You are not invited to look." Tucker laughed. He walked his horse forward and turned in the saddle so all of them could see the flat gold chains lying across his front. "Not as full as some. Better placed." "Placed by who," Grayson said. "By me. Every morning." Elara called up from behind. "If any of you slow down for this I will ride past all of you." Ajax grinned and put his heels to the horse. The line closed up. The joke stayed with them a mile, then fell away as the trail climbed. By late afternoon the pines thinned. Ajax reined in on a ridge and pulled the map from his belt. He held it flat against the saddle horn. Grayson leaned over. "There," Ajax said. He tapped the second western mark. "Half a day tomorrow. Ridge above a valley. Same shape as the coast one." "Another seat." "Another seat." He looked back at his men. Marco riding easy in the middle. Asher steady behind him and keeping his distance. Tucker at the rear with one hand on his reins and one on the rod tied across his saddle. Chalam upright. Elara alert. "We camp on the ridge tonight," Ajax said. "We look down at it in the morning before we go near it." Grayson nodded once. Ajax folded the map. He had wanted his men in the line. He had them. He had wanted to reach the next mark with the company whole. He would, by tomorrow's noon. Whatever was under the stone there would meet seven riders who had already opened one seat and closed it.