Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 618 of 619

The pale thing rose fast through the broken seam. Six limbs unfolded from the pit, thick as a man's leg. Ajax stood over the table with his father's blade ready. The creature's head lifted toward the sound of Elara's light, blind and searching. "Now, Elara," Ajax said. She raised the necklace higher. White light burst from the stones and washed over the pit. The creature froze, its head thrown back, limbs splayed against the stone. Elara held it there, teeth clenched. "Fast," she said. "I can't hold long down here." Rowan fired from the stair. His arrow struck the creature under the jaw, where the pale flesh went soft. It reeled. Its throat opened. Kael stepped in from the left and drove his knife deep into a joint, then twisted. Torren caught a swinging limb on his forearm and shoved it wide, opening the mouth further. Ajax lunged. He drove the blade up through the open mouth, into the skull. The creature shuddered along its whole length. Its limbs curled inward. Then it went still and slid halfway back into the seam. "Dead," Chalam said. He crouched at the seam and poured lodestone dust along the cracked iron. "I'll close it. This one stays closed." He spoke the words low and struck the stone twice with his staff. The seam sealed under gray dust. Elara lowered the necklace. The light dimmed to a steady glow. She sat back against the table, pale but breathing. "That's the last of what I had," she said. "It's enough." Aldric had come down behind them. He knelt by the dead thing where it hung in the seam and set his hands on the pale hide. He turned to Ajax. "This is worth more than the beasts above." He ran a thumb along one limb. "The hide is thick and unmarked. No god ever wore skin like this. And the teeth." He pried at the mouth. "Each one would fill a healer's shelf for a year. There are dozens." Ajax wiped his blade clean. "Cut it whole. Every tooth, all the hide. Leave nothing." "It will fill the hold," Aldric said. "Along with the beasts. Your house won't want for a season, maybe two." Kael sheathed his knife. "No magic in it?" Chalam touched the carcass with his staff. The wood stayed silent. "None. It's safe to load." They worked through the low hours. Kael and Torren hauled the carcass free of the seam. Rowan and Aldric skinned it by the necklace's light. The hide came away in one great sheet, cold and heavy. Ajax gathered the teeth himself and wrapped them in cloth. By the time they climbed back toward the gate, dawn showed at the passage mouth. Ajax carried the last of the load into the light. His father had sealed this island and left it. Now it was open, cut clean, and the profit rode home with him. He turned to Chalam. "Mark it on the map. We're done here."