Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 574 of 619

The morning after Corin's change, Ajax came to the training floor early. The boy stood taller than the others now, his robe stretched across new shoulders. Ajax stopped beside him and looked him over the way he'd looked over a squared stone. "You sleep?" Ajax asked. "Some. My arms ached all night." Corin flexed one hand, testing it. "They feel like they belong to another man." "They belong to you." Ajax gripped his shoulder. "You wanted a build men wouldn't step past. You have it. Now you carry it right." He turned Corin to face the others. "Chin up. Hold their eyes. You already know the gift. This is the easy part." The wizards had paused their drill to watch. Corin met their stares and did not fold. Ajax saw a few of them nod. The tall wizard gave a slow grin. "Good," Ajax said. "That's the man I want at the gate." He clapped Corin's back and stepped away. "You'll ride to the Crossing when you're steady. Traders will hear you now." Chalam came in from the passage, staff in hand, robe open at the chest. He looked at Corin and then at Ajax. "He held through the night. No shakes. The change set clean." "And the gift?" Ajax asked. "Untouched. I tested him at dawn." Chalam crossed to the marked stones in the floor. He tapped one with the butt of his staff. "Corin. Come. Tell me what you feel." Corin walked over. He knelt and pressed his broad hand to the stone. His jaw tightened, but he stayed upright. "A pull. Old. Under the rock." He drew his hand back. "It didn't buckle me this time." "The body's stronger," Chalam said. "The gift rides it better." He looked at Ajax. "That was my worry. That aging him might dull the sense. It didn't. It steadied it." Ajax nodded, satisfied. He turned to the whole line of wizards. "Today you learn to strike and to guard. Chalam teaches it. You'll each take a turn against him." He raised his fist and flexed, drawing a laugh from two of the younger men. "He's older than all of you and he beat me twice. Watch him and learn." Chalam set his satchel aside and lifted his staff. "Attack first. Then defense." He faced the tall wizard. "You. Send a ward at me. Hard as you can." The wizards spent the day trading strikes and blocks under Chalam's plain instruction. He named each fault flatly and made them repeat it. By dusk the eight worked as pairs, one striking, one guarding, then switching. Corin took his turns without flinching. When a younger wizard misstepped, Corin steadied him with a hand, the way Kael once steadied a frozen man in a fight. Ajax watched from the hearth. His line stood whole now. Eight makers, robed and drilled, a boy grown into a man among them. The line answered to him and no lord. That was enough for one day.