Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 69 of 619

They rode west through pine shadow with Renn stumbling on his lead. The trees thinned into a stretch of low brush and open ground. Ajax slowed his horse. The country ahead was flat too long. A rider on it would be seen from a mile out, and so would they. He turned in the saddle and raised a hand to halt the line. "Marco," he said. "Ride up." Marco brought his horse alongside. He kept the reins loose in one hand. The gold bracelet on his wrist caught the light. "Push out," Ajax said. "Not close. Far as you can hold it. Men on horses. Men on foot. I want to know before they see us." Marco nodded. He closed his eyes. His jaw worked once, then went still. Ajax looked past him to Chalam. The wizard sat straight on his horse, the cracked staff across his knees, robe hanging open at the chest. His satchel rested against his thigh. "Vials," Ajax said. "One," Chalam said. "Full." "Then hold it ready. If men come at us on this ground, you drop them before they close." "I can put four down clean," Chalam said. "After that it's steel." Ajax turned to Elara. She rode with her vest laced tight, blonde hair pulled back. Her wrist band sat plain against her skin. He knew what it held now. "You've been filling since the mill," he said. "How much light do you have?" "Enough for a blind," she said. "Not both a blind and a shroud. Pick one." "Blind," Ajax said. "When I call it. Wait for my word. I don't want it spent on the wrong men." "Understood." Marco opened his eyes. "Six," he said. "North side of the flat. Two miles, maybe less. Mounted. They're moving toward us but slow. Casting for a sign." "Collars?" "One thinks the word. The others don't." Ajax looked at Renn, blind and quiet on his rope. The call had been answered. "Off the road," he said. "Into the rock on the south side. Grayson takes Renn behind the ridge and stays with him. Tucker and Asher with me on the near line. Chalam center. Elara on the high stone with a clear look at the flat." They moved fast. Grayson pulled Renn's horse off the trail without a word. Tucker checked his blade. Asher slid down and led his horse up through the rocks on foot. Ajax stopped beside Elara at the base of a boulder. She looked at him once. "When they're bunched," he said. "Not before." "When they're bunched," she said. He left her climbing. Below, on the flat, the first dust was rising in the north. Six riders, coming in slow, looking for the man on the rope. Ajax had chosen the ground. The trap was set the way he wanted it.