Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 547 of 619

The smith and cooper had worked Silvermoor for a week now. Hammer and adze rang past dusk. But Ajax stood at the gate and felt uneasy. Both men had sworn the silver chain oath at midnight. Marco had read them clean before they entered. Yet the chains were not yet charmed. Ajax had not bound them to his father's gold. Until he did, he could not sense a turn from across the sea. Two skilled tradesmen sat in his town, unlinked to his house. He called his council to the harbor hall. Aldric came first, ledger under his arm, green tunic salt-stained. Chalam followed with the new bone staff. Tucker leaned in the door, chains catching the light. Rowan sat by the wall, saying nothing, watching. Grayson had sailed up on the tide to report Black Oak's count. "The tradesmen aren't bound like the rest," Ajax said. "Chain and oath, but no charm. If a rival buys them, I won't feel it." "Then charm them," Grayson said flat. "Same as the keepers." Chalam nodded. "I can bind both chains to your gold tonight. Lodestone and my staff. It'll cost me a day of clear thought." Aldric opened his ledger. "There's a harder question. Charm them, and they're bound like keepers and swords. But a smith and a cooper aren't fighters. They stay put. They mend goods. If they turn, they don't open a gate. They only talk." "Talk sinks the sea road," Ajax said. "It does," Aldric agreed. "So bind them. But understand you're growing a town of craft, not just a wall. Different men. Different risk." Tucker spoke from the door. "The captains already love them. A cooper who fixes a split cask keeps a man two nights. That's silver and talk both. Bind them and keep them. Don't overthink it." Rowan added one line. "Clean men. I watched them work. They want a home, not coin to run with." Ajax decided. "Charm both chains tonight. Bind them to my gold. If they turn, I'll feel it eight days off." At midnight they gathered the smith and cooper in the drill yard. Chalam ground lodestone into their silver chains. He set his bone staff to the iron and spoke the working. The staff held firm. No crack. Ajax felt a faint warmth in his father's gold chain, then quiet. Two loyal men gave no alarm. The bond had set. Chalam sat heavy on a bench, drained. "Done. Their chains answer to your gold now." Ajax gripped the smith's shoulder, then the cooper's. "You're bound to the house. Work your shops. Never speak of the gate or the road." Both men swore again. By dawn the forge fire was lit. Two captains had lodged the night, waiting on mended goods. Aldric closed his ledger. "Silvermoor stands on its own trades now. Bound and holding." Ajax looked past the wall to open water. Silvermoor was secure. But the sea still hid coasts no man had mapped. He turned to Aldric. "Now we look west, past the bay. There's more ground to claim."