Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 610 of 619

The god's hide was cut and the teeth were counted. Ajax spread the old man's map on the workhouse table again. The island lay far out in open water, ringed by cliffs, marked with the old seals Chalam had named. Ajax could not sail there and open a door alone. He needed men who could read the land, the bindings, and the tales that hung over such places. He called Chalam, Rowan, and Aldric to the table before the noon meal. Chalam came with his staff and satchel. He set the staff across the map and watched the marks. "I can read the seals when we land," he said. "Not from here. The water's too far." He tapped the largest ring. "But this island is not empty. Old ground like this holds more than one sleeping thing." Aldric arrived with a stack of scrolls under his arm. The scholar had chased legends his whole life, and Ajax trusted no man more to sort truth from rumor. He unrolled a torn page beside the map and matched the coastline with his finger. "I know this shape," Aldric said. "Sailors' tales name it. They speak of creatures there that are not gods. Beasts older than any beast we've hunted. Most men call them lies." He looked up. "I do not." Rowan stood at the door and said nothing until Ajax asked. The hunter had been raised by dryads and could track what other men never saw. He leaned over the map and studied the marks along the shore. "Fresh water here," he said, pointing to a cut in the cliff. "Game trails, if the tales are true. Something feeds those beasts." He straightened. "I can find their ground once we land. I cannot promise what walks it." Ajax listened and weighed each man. Chalam would read the doors. Aldric would name what they found. Rowan would track the beasts through the cliffs. Between the three, Ajax had eyes for the stone, the page, and the wild ground. He set his hand flat on the map. "Then we go together," Ajax said. "Chalam reads the seals. Aldric names the creatures. Rowan tracks the ground. Kael and Torren come too. We land, we learn what sleeps there, and we take the island for the house." Aldric rolled his torn page and tied it. "The tales say men who went never returned," he said. "But the tales also say the ground was rich." "Rich enough that no lord ever claimed it," Ajax said. "That makes it mine." He named the team and the plan. The Seraphine would carry them west at first light. Chalam packed his vials in order. Aldric marked the water route on fresh hide. Rowan chose his bow and counted his shafts. By dusk the crew was set, the ship stocked, and the map sealed in Ajax's coat. He had gathered the men he needed. The island and its creatures waited across the water, and Ajax meant to reach them first.