Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 56 of 619

Ajax came down from the ridge and found his men waiting by the horses. He set the dryad's flowers on a flat stone so all could see them. Grayson stood at his left. Chalam leaned on his staff. Elara sat on a log with her satchel across her knees. Marco, Asher, and Tucker stood in a loose half circle. "There is a seat below," Ajax said. "Same shape as the one at the coast. A woman feeds it milk each dawn to hold it quiet. The dryad is talking to her now. She keeps the bowl full while we work." "Then what is our part," Grayson said. "We ride down at noon. Chalam and Elara stay above the seat with the flowers ready. Grayson and I open it with the blade and my blood, the same as before. Marco and Tucker hold the creek path. Asher watches the hut so no one gets to the keeper." He looked at each man as he named him. "If she stops feeding, we have three days. That is our window if it goes wrong." "And if it goes right," Tucker said. "Then one more seat is closed and one more name on the list means nothing." Asher nodded once and stepped back. Marco checked the strap on his sheath. No one argued. They rode down through pine and slid into a shallow draw. Ajax stopped them at the edge of a small grove he had not seen from the ridge. The trees were narrow and pale. Their leaves caught the noon light and threw it back in soft points, as if the branches held dust made of small lights. Chalam raised his staff a hand's width and let it drop. "This is a place the dryads keep," Chalam said. "The seat draws from the same water. Walk through, do not cut anything." They led the horses through in single file. The light moved on Ajax's chest and caught the chain at his throat. On the far side, the ground fell away to the creek and the bare stone he had seen from above. The seat sat flat and gray at the water's edge. A woman stood beside it with a wooden bowl. She was small and old. She looked at Ajax without fear. The dryad stood a step behind her, one hand on her shoulder. "She will keep feeding," the dryad said. "Until you are done or until you fail." Ajax drew his father's blade and cut his palm. Chalam struck a flame and set it to the flowers. Grayson planted himself at Ajax's side. Ajax pressed his hand to the stone. The seat drank the blood. A seam opened along its face, thin as a knife cut. Cold air pushed up out of it. "Hold the line," Ajax said. "It is open."