Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 62 of 619

Ajax woke Grayson and Chalam before dawn and walked them to the edge of the pines where the horses could not hear. He wanted the plan spoken once, in a low voice, before he brought it to the rest. "Five men at the ford," Ajax said. "Four in the water line, one in the trees on the west bank. I do not want to ride into their bows. I want them dead in the leaves." Grayson crossed his arms. His silver chain caught the gray light. "Say it." "Snakes," Ajax said. He looked at Chalam. "You have called things from a forest before. Call snakes to the ford. Enough to bite each man twice. We ride in after and finish what the venom starts." Chalam was quiet a long moment. He set his staff against a pine and opened his satchel. The third vial sat inside, still stoppered. "I can call what already lives near the ground. I cannot force a serpent to strike a man. I can only bring them close." "Close is enough," Ajax said. "A cold man does not see a snake in leaves until it is at his boot." "It will cost the third vial," Chalam said. "After that I have nothing until I rest." "Take it." Grayson did not speak. He watched Ajax's face. Then he gave one short nod and went to wake the others. They rode south in the last hour of dark and left the horses a quarter mile above the ford. Ajax and Grayson crept forward through wet fern until they could see the five men. Four crouched by the water in oiled cloaks. One sat higher up the west bank with a bow across his knees. Ajax marked the paper hand on his glove. Chalam knelt behind a fallen pine. He drew his circle in the dirt and broke the third vial across it. He spoke low words Ajax did not know. The smoke stayed close to the ground and rolled forward like water spilled on a floor. For a long minute nothing moved. Then the leaves at the ford began to shift. Not wind. A slow ripple along the bank, then another, then dozens. A man swore and stood. He struck at his boot and fell. Another shouted and staggered back into the water, clawing at his neck. The bowman on the west bank rose and screamed once, high, and went down thrashing. Ajax was already moving. He came down the slope with his father's blade drawn. Grayson took the west bank at a run. The four at the water could not lift their arms right. Ajax cut two before they saw him. Grayson finished the bowman with a knee in his chest. When it was done, five men lay in the leaves. Ajax pulled the glove off the paper hand and found a folded note beneath the palm. New writing. A new place. The man at the timber house had already moved.