Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 545 of 619

The bay outpost worked, but Aldric found a new hole in the numbers. He met Ajax at the workhouse door with his ledger open, his dark green tunic dusty from the dock. "The four men at the bay skin and tan well," he said. "But no one commands them. If a beast comes over the wall, or a ship, they'll wait for orders that are eight days away." He tapped the page. "An outpost with no captain is a barn full of leather waiting to burn." Ajax knew the truth of it. He had sworn the four men, but sworn men need a head. "Then I name a captain," he said. "One man over the bay. He holds the ground and answers to me alone." Tucker leaned on the wall, one gold chain catching the light. He'd sailed the last haul south and heard the men grumble. "Pick a fighter and you get a wall held," he said. "Pick a trader and you get hides that spoil. You want both." He shrugged. "That's rare." Tarron came in from the loom shed then, tall and thin, gray hair pushed back. He'd worked wool for Black Oak since before the walls closed. He set a folded hide on the table, worked soft and clean. "Bay leather," he said. He rubbed it between two fingers. "Cured too fast. Salt rushed. It'll crack in a year." Ajax picked it up. The hide felt fine to his hand, but Tarron read fleece like Aldric read ledgers. "So the work slips already," Ajax said. "No head watching it," Tarron said. "Men rush when no one grades the work." That settled it. The captain had to know leather, not just blades. Ajax thought through his sworn men. Most were fighters. Then Tarron spoke again, flat. "Rell," he said. "He learned the salt racks under me. Good hands. Steady. He held the stable years without a slip." Ajax weighed the name. Rell had come up under Grayson and Tarron both. He could grade a hide and swing a blade. "And the wall?" Ajax asked. "He trained under Grayson," Aldric said. "He'll hold four men and a hearth." Ajax made the choice. He sailed to the bay within the week with Rell beside him. He stood the four skinners in the frost of the cold hut and named Rell captain over them. He put the outpost seal in Rell's hand and set the grading of every hide on his word. No leather left the bay unless Rell passed it first. Before he sailed home, Ajax held the soft hide up one last time. "This one's finished cracked," he said. "Cut it for scrap. From now the captain grades before the salt sets." The bay had a head now. The leather would come home worth more, worked slow and graded clean. Black Oak's first outpost answered to one sworn captain, and that captain answered to Ajax alone.