Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 77 of 619

Grayson came across the yard at a run, Asher on his heel, Chalam three steps behind with his staff low. Ajax met them at the shed door. He pointed at the house. Four inside. One at the back with a bow. One captain. Two more counting or eating. He held up a closed fist, then opened it. Marco walked up from the tree line with the cart trailing behind him. His face was tight from holding two collared men asleep and pushing on the shed men earlier. Ajax caught his eye. "The captain," he said. "Shield him. He can't call out. Not a word, not a thought that carries." "I have him," Marco said. He closed his eyes for a second and opened them. "He's at the table. His hand just went to his throat." "Then he already feels it. Move." Ajax took the front door. Grayson took the side. Asher slid along the wall to the back. Chalam stayed in the yard with a vial ready. Ajax counted three and kicked the door. The two at the table were on their feet with knives half-drawn. The captain sat frozen in his chair, mouth working, no sound coming out. Marco stood in the doorway behind Ajax, breathing slow, holding the man down from the inside. Ajax took the closer man across the belly with his father's blade, then the throat on the backswing. Grayson came through the side door and put his sword through the second man's ribs before he cleared the bench. From the back of the house, Asher's blade went into the bowman under the arm. The bowman folded without a sound. Quiet came down on the room. The captain was still in his chair, still trying to speak. A vein stood out in his neck. "Bind him," Ajax said. Tucker came in from the yard with cord. He tied the captain's wrists to the chair back and his ankles to the legs. He worked fast and without looking at the dead men. "Coin?" Tucker said. "Shed and here. All of it." Grayson was already at the chest against the wall. He kicked the lid open. Gold bars, stamped. Cut coin in a leather bag. A second bag heavier than the first. He looked up at Ajax and nodded once. "Enough," Grayson said. Ajax stepped to the captain and crouched so their eyes were level. The man's mouth still opened and closed with nothing coming out. Marco held the door frame and stayed inside his head. "You'll talk when I let you," Ajax said. "Not before." He stood. Six men dead in a house they'd walked into clean. A captain roped to a chair with a name in him Marco had already half-heard. Gold to carry the walls through spring. "Load the horses," Ajax said. "We ride before anyone comes looking."