Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 572 of 619

The wizards drilled in the cliff chamber the next morning. Chalam walked the line, correcting their grip on the staffs. One wizard drew Ajax's eye more than the rest. The man stood a head taller than the others, fair-haired, his robe open at the chest like Chalam's own. When he traced a binding mark, the others slowed to watch him. Ajax had bound him with a silver chain a season ago, but he still knew nothing about him. Ajax crossed the floor and stopped in front of the tall wizard. "You. What's your name?" The man lowered his staff. "They call me by the town I came from. My own name I stopped using when the house came looking." "I want the name, not the town." The wizard glanced at Chalam. Chalam gave a small nod. "Tell him. He keeps what he's told." The man wet his lips. He gave a name Ajax had never heard, quiet, like it cost him. Then he told the rest without being asked. His mother had the gift before him. A northern house learned of it and put a charm on him to hide him while they used him. He worked their halls two years, drawing men close, pulling secrets. When he tried to run, they hunted him to the Crossing. That was where Marco found him. Ajax listened without moving. The other wizards had stopped their drill. They watched their tall brother speak the thing he had carried alone. "Chalam broke the charm off me," the wizard said. "It felt like skin coming off. But I'd rather bleed once than wear their mark forever." "Is that true?" Ajax asked Chalam. "Every word," Chalam said. He did not soften it. "The charm was buried deep. Pulling it hurt him more than he let on. He didn't cry out." Ajax looked at the man again. He saw now why the others watched him. It was not the height. It was that he had suffered the house and still stood. "You answer to no house now," Ajax said. "Not the one that hunted you. Not any lord. You answer to this wall and the men in it." The wizard held his eyes. "I know. That's why I stayed." Ajax turned to the whole chamber. "You heard him. He was owned once. Now he's free and sworn by his own choice." He set a hand on the tall man's shoulder. "Learn from him. He knows what the enemy does to a gifted man. He'll teach you to guard against it." Corin, at the edge of the fire, uncrossed his arms. He looked at the tall wizard, then at Ajax, and this time he did not look away. Ajax marked the change. The line had a leader among the students now, one the boy could follow. His maker's house had knit tighter by a single question asked and answered.