Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 554 of 619

By the ninth day, the daily strikes had done more than Chalam promised. Ajax climbed the invisible stair each dawn to watch the wizard work. Each dawn the crack along the top seam had grown. The lodestone was wearing the third layer thin faster than either man expected. Chalam knelt at the gate now, his open robe gray with chalk dust. His hand was steadier than it had been at the start. He had rationed himself well, striking once and stopping before his head went soft. Ajax had held him back only twice. The rest of the time Chalam had held himself. "It's almost gone," Chalam said. He did not look up. "The maker's blood-lock is a thread now. One more strike, maybe two." Ajax crouched beside him. The sea broke on the reef far below. "You said ten days." "I was wrong. The lodestone bit deeper than I read." Chalam pressed his palm to the stone. "The ward is failing under me. I can feel it give." "Then finish it." Chalam drew the last numbered vial. He uncapped it and poured the lodestone in a line across the mark. He set the bone staff to the stone. "Stand clear," he said. "If the stone falls, it falls now." Ajax stepped back to the stair's edge. He put his hand on his father's blade and watched. Chalam struck. The staff met the stone and held there, humming. The crack along the seam ran wider. A sound came from inside the gate, low, like something old letting go. Chalam's arm shook. He did not stop. He pushed until the last thread of the maker's lock snapped. The stone gate split down its center. The two halves ground apart and swung inward on their own weight. Dust rolled out. Beyond the gap Ajax saw a dark passage cut straight into the rock. Chalam sat back on his heels, breathing hard. His face was pale but his eyes were clear. "It's open. All three layers broken." He looked at the empty dark ahead. "The maker built this to keep men out. Whoever he was, he did not build it to keep something in. There's no binding past the door. I'd feel it." They camped for the light as Chalam rested and all of his vials refilled. They would enter at daybreak.