Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 89 of 619

The moon cleared the ridge. Ajax counted to fifty and moved. Marco stayed at the tree line on his knees, both hands flat in the dirt, eyes closed. Grayson came up on Ajax's left. Chalam took the door with his new staff braced at his shoulder. Tucker circled wide to the back with a blade drawn. Asher watched the road with a second blade low at his hip. Elara stood behind Marco with a hand on his back, ready to catch him if the working pulled him under. Ajax reached the wall and listened. Two voices at the table. A chair leg dragged. No shout. Marco was holding the collared man like a lid on a pot. Ajax nodded to Chalam. Chalam struck the latch with the butt of his staff and the door split inward. Ajax went first. The man on the near side of the table stood up with his mouth open. Grayson cut him down before the sound came out. The second man reached for the collar at his throat and did not move his hand any further. His eyes went wide. Marco had him. Ajax crossed the room in three steps and cut his throat. The man slid off the chair. The collar hit the floor and did not ring. A bowstring creaked in the loft. Asher was already at the ladder. He climbed one-handed and came back down a moment later wiping his blade on his sleeve. "Done," he said. Ajax kicked the back room door open. The woman sat on a straw pallet with her wrists tied to the frame. She saw the blood on him and did not scream. Tucker came in through the rear window and cut her free. "Are you her?" Ajax said. He held the list up. She read her own name and nodded once. "You've been feeding a seat." "Every morning. In the cellar." Ajax looked at Chalam. Chalam went down the cellar stairs with the staff first. He came back up inside a minute. "Third seat," Chalam said. "Same make. Ready to open at dawn." Marco came in from the yard on his own feet, pale but steady. Elara had a hand under his elbow. "The collar didn't ring," Marco said. "He never got the name out." Ajax let out a breath he had been holding since the door split. Four men down. No call sent. The Keeper did not know. He crossed off the third name on the list and folded it back into his coat. Three left. The ring on his finger was still warm. He had bought another clean day. "Search the house," he said. "Coin, paper, anything with a spiral. We open the seat at dawn and ride before noon." Tucker was already at the chest under the window. Grayson dragged the bodies out the back. The woman watched Ajax from the pallet without speaking, and Ajax stepped past her toward the cellar stairs.