Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 68 of 619

They rode out of the barn yard with Renn stumbling on his lead. Grayson kept the rope short. The dry creek fell behind them and the pines took the sound of the hooves. Ajax watched Renn's boots trip on roots and hold. The collar rode high on Renn's throat. He did not speak. A mile out Ajax pulled up in a clearing ringed with rock. "He can't ride tied like that. He'll fall and choke on the collar." He looked at Grayson. "We fix him now or we lose him on the trail." "Then fix him," Grayson said. Tucker slid down from his saddle and pulled a coil of thin cord from his pack. He crouched beside Renn and worked fast, wrapping the wrists in front now, then running a second line from the collar under one arm and back to a saddle ring. He tugged twice, then loosened one turn. "Too tight, he chokes," Tucker said. "Too loose, he slips. That's the middle." He stood and brushed his hands on his jeans. "He won't run far with that on." Asher walked a slow circle around Renn without touching him. He stopped at the man's shoulder and studied the burn under the collarbone. "He's counting," he said. "Paces. Turns. He's marking the road in his head." Ajax looked at Renn. Renn looked back and said nothing. "Then he doesn't get the road," Ajax said. He pulled a strip of oiled cloth from his saddlebag and passed it to Asher. "Over the eyes. Leave the ears." Asher tied the cloth across Renn's face. He worked the knot behind the head, checked it, and stepped clear. Renn's mouth tightened once and went flat. "Chalam," Ajax said. The wizard walked up with the cracked staff. His robe still hung damp. He set two fingers on the iron collar and held them there. His lips moved. After a moment he lowered his hand. "The collar is a leash for something bigger than him," he said. "It won't fight you. But he wears his own mark under it. If he calls, someone hears." "Can you stop the calling?" "Not from the road. Not without more than I have." Ajax nodded once. "Then let him call. That's why we took him." He turned to Grayson. "You keep the lead. Tucker rides behind him. Asher rides behind Tucker. If he trips, someone catches the rope before the collar catches his neck." "Understood," Grayson said. Ajax swung up. He looked west along the pine line. The next name on Renn's list waited two days out. Whoever answered Renn's call would move toward them now, and Ajax meant to be the one choosing the ground. "Ride," he said. They moved out of the clearing in single file, the blind man stumbling between them, tied and held and useful.