Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 78 of 619

Ajax knelt in front of the bound captain while the others carried gold out to the horses. The man's mouth still worked against nothing. Marco leaned in the doorway with one shoulder against the frame, his face drawn from holding the captain silent since the door came down. "Take the names," Ajax said. "All of them. Don't leave anything in him we can use later." Marco pushed off the frame and crossed the room. He crouched so his eyes were on the captain's eyes. He set two fingers on the man's wrist, not to hold him, just to steady himself. "Look at me," Marco said. His voice was flat and low. "Think about the names on your list. Every one." The captain's jaw shook. A tear ran down one side of his nose. Marco didn't blink. He stayed there a long minute, then another. Ajax watched his face and saw when something landed. "Four," Marco said. "Two I already had from Renn. Two new. One is a woman. She keeps a seat in a river town three days north. The other is the man who gave the captain his collar." "His name?" Marco held on another beat. "He calls himself the Keeper. The captain has never seen his face." "Enough," Ajax said. He stood. "Chalam." Chalam came in from the yard with his satchel open. He'd already pulled the small clay bottle the dryad had given them. He uncorked it and held it under the captain's nose. The captain tried to turn his head. Marco held him gentle at the jaw until he breathed it in. The man's eyes rolled back. His shoulders slumped against the cords. Chalam checked the pulse at his throat. "He'll sleep a day," Chalam said. "He won't remember the room. He won't remember us. The potion takes the last hour with it." "Leave him tied," Ajax said. "Someone will find him or they won't." Grayson came to the door. "Horses are loaded. Cart's rigged. The two collared ones are still under." "Then we ride." Marco stood and rolled his neck. His hand went to the gold chain at his throat, then dropped. "North?" "North. Three days to the river town. We move on the woman before the Keeper hears his captain went quiet." They went out into the yard. Tucker had the horses in a line. Asher held the cart's lead. Elara was already up, her wrist band pale in the last light. Chalam swung into his saddle with the new staff across his knees. Ajax mounted and looked back once at the house. Six dead inside. One asleep. A new name in his pocket he hadn't gone looking for. He turned the horse north and put the house behind him.