Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 80 of 619

They reached the river town by the second night. Ajax left the horses in a stand of willows a half mile out. The cart stayed with the sleepers under a tarp. He crawled forward with Grayson and Marco through wet grass until he could see the wooden house on the east bank. One lantern burned upstairs. Two men stood by the shed. Two more sat by the front door with a jug between them. A fifth walked the yard slow, hand on his sword. "The shed first," Ajax whispered. "We kill the seat's guards. Then the house. If she runs to the shed, we already own it." Grayson watched the yard. "Walker turns at the corner every count of forty. Take him on the far side, out of the door's line." "Marco. Reach the house. Find her." Marco closed his eyes. His hand went to his temple. A long breath. Then a longer one. "She's awake," he said. "Sitting. She heard the walker's boot on the plank. She's counting too." He paused. "She knows we're coming. Not tonight. Soon. She's been waiting on it." "Any others in the house?" "One man on the stairs. Asleep in a chair. That's all." Marco opened his eyes. "She's not afraid, Ajax. She's tired." Ajax filed that away. "Hold her mind quiet when we move. Nothing out. Nothing in." "I can do that." Ajax signaled behind him. Tucker came up low with Asher at his shoulder. Chalam and Elara stayed back with the horses. "Tucker, with me on the shed," Ajax said. "Grayson, Asher, take the walker and the door pair. Wait for my whistle." They split. Ajax and Tucker circled wide to the shed's blind side. The two guards were leaned on the wall, one chewing, one half asleep. Ajax stepped in behind the chewer and drove his knife under the jaw. Tucker took the other clean across the throat. Both went down without a sound. Ajax whistled once, low. Grayson took the walker at the corner. Asher put a blade through the near man at the door before he could stand. The second reached for his sword and Grayson opened his neck. The yard was theirs in under a minute. Ajax climbed the porch and pushed the door. Marco followed close, eyes half shut, holding her. The stair man was still asleep. Tucker cut him where he sat. Upstairs, the woman waited by the window with her hands folded. Gray hair. A shawl. A tin cup of milk on the sill. "You're the mason's son," she said. "I am." "The seat is under the shed. I fed it this morning." She looked at the cup. "I won't feed it again." Ajax pulled his father's blade. "Then we open it at dawn." She nodded once, like a weight had come off her. Outside, Marco flinched. "Ajax. Something just answered her. Not from here. Far. It knows the milk stopped."