Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 82 of 619

Ajax slid the scrying ring onto his finger before he reached the shed door. The metal warmed against his skin. Chalam had said it would hide him from a searching eye for a day. He needed that day. "Marco. What's on the river?" Marco stood still, one hand at his temple. "Something big. Slow. It's coming up under the bank. It heard her stop feeding it." "How long?" "An hour. Maybe less." Ajax turned to the group. "Grayson, hold the stairs to the house. Tucker, the shed door with me. Chalam, the seam. Elara, light when I call." Grayson gave one nod and moved. Tucker set his back to the shed wall and drew a blade. "Dry ground here," he said. "Good." Ajax kicked the plank floor loose. The wood came up in three pieces. Beneath it, a flat stone the size of a table, cut with the seam he'd seen twice before. He pulled his father's blade and set the edge across his palm. "Flowers," he said. Chalam pressed the crushed petals into the seam. Ajax bled into them. The stone shifted with a low grind and split along the line. The cold rose first. Then the smell. Something long and pale lay curled below, six limbs folded tight against a narrow body. Its head turned toward the light before the eyes opened. "Elara." She raised her wrist. The band flared white and held. The creature flinched and threw one arm across its face. Ajax dropped into the pit. He put his weight behind the blade and drove it through the eye socket to the hilt. The body jerked once and went slack. He twisted the steel and pulled it free. "Seal it," he said. Chalam poured ash from his satchel along the seam and spoke three words. The stone knit shut. Marco's head came up. "The thing on the river turned around." "Good." Ajax climbed out. His hands were shaking. He set them flat on the shed wall until they stopped. Tucker was already lifting a floorboard at the back of the shed. He hauled up an iron chest with a spiral scored into the lid. "Not on the map," he said. He worked the lock with the point of his knife until it gave. Inside: a stack of gold bars wrapped in oiled cloth, a purse of cut coin, and a folded list. Ajax opened the list. Six names. Two crossed out from his own hand. Below the six, a seventh name in different ink, underlined twice. The word beside it was Keeper. Grayson came down the stairs. He read the paper over Ajax's shoulder. "Seven," Grayson said. "Seven," Ajax said. He folded the list into his belt. "We ride. The ring holds a day. After that, whoever the Keeper is knows exactly where I stand."