The City of Zirdai Page 11

  “Unless what?”

  “Unless they’ve been doing this every sun jump since we attacked them at the old headquarters.”

  Jayden’s horror matched her own. “That was five sun jumps ago.”

  Her next thought was equally ghastly. Did they bring the child back to the city when their trap didn’t work only to take the poor thing back out the next sun jump? This had to stop. Now.

  “Even if they’re expecting us, we can’t walk away,” she said.

  “Agreed. But unless the monks fight—”

  “They won’t.”

  “Then it’s two against four and they’ll see us coming.” Jayden rubbed his hands together. “I’m okay with that.”

  Was she? They couldn’t influence or manipulate the Arch Deacons, but they could move the sand. Perhaps a cloud to hide them or— “What an idiot!”

  “I hope you’re not talking about me.”

  “No.” She rushed to explain her plan. “Do you think it’ll work?”

  “If it doesn’t we can always fall back on plan B.”

  “Fists and feet?”

  “And knives.” Jayden pulled his from his belt and brandished it. “Might as well put on a show.”

  Shyla added learn-how-to-fight-with-a-knife to her list of things to do. Going up against two Arch Deacons without a weapon was a daunting prospect. She hoped her crazy scheme worked.

  As she and Jayden crested the dune, Shyla didn’t need to read the hidden monks’ thoughts. No doubt they were questioning her intelligence.

  The Arch Deacons spotted them immediately. The four formed a line between them and the baby on the sand. They drew their weapons—short swords, sharp and slightly curved. Jayden’s knife looked like a child’s toy in comparison.

  “Ah, the Blessed One was correct that you wouldn’t be able to resist,” said an Arch Deacon. He stood on the far left and had to be the leader. “Come with us, Sun-kissed, and your companion can take the baby and go.”

  “That’s a decent offer. What do you think?” Jayden asked her.

  “I think the Arch Deacon is a son of a sand demon and should be left on the surface to die.” She stared at the man but concentrated on his feet.

  “Ouch.” Jayden pressed his free hand to his chest. He turned to the Arch Deacon. “The truth hurts, doesn’t it?”

  “Enough of this,” the man said, then to his companions, “Don’t kill the sun-kissed.”

  The Arch Deacons stepped forward. Or, rather, they tried. The sand underneath them no longer supported their weight. Shyla increased her will, creating a deeper hole under the leader. Jayden focused on the other three.

  Amid cries of disbelief and fear, the quartet sank up to their chests—a comical sight. Their arms remained on the surface and they struggled to break free. Jayden used the sand to yank the swords from their hands. The weapons disappeared into a dune. Then the grains trapped the men’s arms.

  Not wasting time, Shyla crouched in front of the leader. She yanked the torque from his throat, then met his terrified gaze.

  “You should be scared,” she said. Not bothering to question him, she probed the depths of his mind.

  As she’d feared, they’d been setting this trap for the last couple sun jumps. They thought they’d be safe from her magic with the torques.

  Shyla gave him a cold smile. “You’re never safe from me. And inform the Heliacal Priestess that if she tries to abandon another baby, everyone will be dragged deep under the sand and left there to die.”

  Jayden removed the torques from the other three. Then they put the four Arch Deacons to sleep. Shyla scooped up the baby. Sweat glistened on its dark skin and the poor thing was overheated. Dehydrated, too—no tears leaked from its eyes and its wails were weak gasps. The blanket was twisted around the baby’s body. Shyla pulled it off and paused. The boy wasn’t sun-kissed. Outrage and horror filled her. The Heliacal Priestess had taken someone’s baby to trap Shyla.

  The monks approached but then stopped as if afraid to come any closer.

  “Are they dead?” Lota asked, nodding at the half-buried forms.

  “No, sleeping. Before we leave, we’ll loosen the sand and wake them up so they can get inside before the danger zone.”

  “We can take the baby to the monastery,” Lota said.

  “He’s not sun-kissed.”

  The monks glanced at each other.

  Jayden peered over her shoulder. “Do you think they kidnapped the baby?”

  “Knowing the Heliacal Priestess, she probably browbeat his parents to offer him to the Sun Goddess,” Shyla said in disgust.

  “We can’t take him back to Zirdai until we find his family and determine what happened,” Jayden said.

  “Agreed. Can you take him for now?” Shyla asked the monks. “Tell Hanif we are searching for his family.”

  “All right.” Lota took the baby and covered him in the blanket.

  The other monk opened his water skin and dribbled a white liquid into the baby’s mouth.

  Surprised, Shyla asked, “Milk?”

  “Yes. Unfortunately, we have experience with saving babies. Fortunately, it happens infrequently,” he said.

  The monks headed back to the monastery while Shyla and Jayden worked on releasing the Arch Deacons.

  “They deserve to be cooked,” Jayden said.

  “That’s a horrible way to die,” she said. “Besides, we don’t kill. And I’m sure they’ll be punished by the priestess for failing to capture me.”

  He grunted, then focused on the dune behind her. She turned in time to watch the four short swords emerge from the sand. Jayden picked them up. “These’ll come in handy.” He inclined his head to the Arch Deacons. “They’ll be awake soon. Let’s go, I’m beat.”

  No need to tell her twice. Shyla hurried to catch up with Jayden as they retrieved their sun cloaks. She erased their tracks as Jayden’s energy was clearly lagging.

  “I must admit,” he said, “that trick of trapping the Arch Deacons was a great idea. I’ve always viewed that skill as a way to hide and travel unseen.” He remained quiet for a while. “Granted, we don’t have many skirmishes on the surface.”

  “And now the Heliacal Priestess knows what we can do. Let’s hope that prevents her from trying that again.”

  As Jayden’s steps slowed, she glanced at him. “I wish I could have helped you more.”

  “You will. You’re a fast learner, and, once you have enough practice, you’ll be able to sink a dozen deacons.”

  Not sure she had the power for that many, she kept quiet. When they arrived at headquarters, there was a celebratory buzz in the air. In the common room, the six men from the mission stood amid a group of people all with smiles on their faces. Six previously empty water jugs were now full. Jaft spun around, showing off the air bladder that had been fashioned into a backpack.

  Shyla gestured Elek over to update her and Jayden. “Where are the others? Did something happen?”

  “No, the mission went off without a hitch. Rendor thought having all of us leave at the same time would be too suspicious. So six left this sun jump and the other four will go during the next.”

  “Any problems?” Jayden asked.

  “None. We avoided all the patrols. Well, getting the water from the pipe was a bit tricky. The valve had rusted shut and was a devil to get open.” He flexed his biceps. “But it was no match for me.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “For you?”

  “Well, Rendor may have helped a little.”

  “Uh-huh. Where are the others staying while they wait?”

  He shrugged. “Don’t know. But I’m sure it’s safe. Rendor knows all the places the guards check.”

  While she wished they’d all returned, overall it was good news. And she hoped that the other members would start to look at Rendor in a new light.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  He nodded and joined the others. Shyla then relaxed—a mistake. Her adventures caught up to her and fatigue threate
ned to topple her. Before going to rest, she filled her water skin. Jayden did the same. He set the swords down.

  “Do we have people who can fight with those?” she asked.

  “Yes, most of the Invisible Swords can handle one. We prefer knives as they’re easier to conceal and to fight with in a confined space.”

  Good to know. “Give me the rest of the torques. I’ll take them to the monastery later. Plus I can check on the baby.”

  Jayden pulled them from his pack. “At least we reclaimed four more.” Jayden inspected one in the druk light. The Invisible Sword symbol was etched into the metal along with other glyphs and symbols. Jayden turned it over. He ran a fingernail along the back, then squinted closer. A strangled sound escaped his lips.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “This…” He held up the torque. “Is new!”

  Not sure she understood, she said, “New as in—”

  “As in somehow the Heliacal Priestess is making more. As in, she might have hundreds instead of the dozen original ones.” Jayden slumped against the wall.

  Seven hells. That was bad.

  “Let’s not panic.” She guided him over to a table. “Sit.” After fetching a couple rolls of jerky, she handed him one. “Eat.”

  As he chewed on his, she dug into her pack and removed the torque she’d taken from the Arch Deacon. She laid the four of them on the table. “Obviously the Arch Deacon I interrogated back at the old headquarters didn’t know about these new torques or they didn’t have them at that time.” She considered. “Platinum is rare and expensive. If a large quantity was recently purchased, one of your contacts in Zirdai will know how much. Right?”

  “Yes. It’s hard to keep things like that quiet.”

  “Good. Once we know how much the priestess purchased, we can estimate the number of new torques she has.” She gestured to the ones in front of them. “Are all these new?”

  Jayden examined each one, turning them over. “Two are, the others are not.”

  “All right. Come with me to the monastery later to check the others. Once Mojag is back, you both can go into the city and ask about the platinum and see if anyone knows about a missing baby.”

  He rubbed a hand over his face. “Okay.”

  “First, get some rest.”

  “You, too.”

  After she woke, she collected Jayden and they headed to the monastery. This time she didn’t waste energy trying to sneak up on the monks. The news of their approach reached the monastery well before they did. When they arrived, Hanif waited for them in the surface building.

  “How’s the baby doing?” Shyla asked.

  “Not well. My healers are not sure what’s wrong with him so I’ve sent for Zhek.” He studied them. “Any news on the babe’s parents?”

  “Not yet. We need to take a look at those torques. Can you retrieve them for us?” she asked.

  Now she received a shrewd appraisal. “I’m just about to assess three acolytes. If you’re willing to help me out, I can spare some time to fetch them for you.”

  A niggling sensation warned her that this wasn’t going to be that straightforward. “All right. What do you need?”

  Seeming way too happy about her acceptance, Hanif led her down to the training room on level seven. “These three acolytes are almost ready to take the oath. They all arrived at the monastery over a short period of time four circuits ago. All on different sun jumps, but it’s a bit odd for us to get that many so close together.”

  Ah, she sensed where this was going. “And you suspect they might be spies.”

  “Yes. We’ve had them in the past. Over the last twenty circuits, the people in power have sent a dozen or so of their loyal supporters to infiltrate us, hoping they’d become monks and steal all our secrets.”

  “The vagrants have the same problem. How do you catch them?” Jayden asked.

  “We keep a close eye on the acolytes. They tend to reveal themselves by being just a bit more curious than their fellows, a bit more observant, a bit more…standoffish as if they’re better than the rest of us. They also tend to be found in places that are off-limits to acolytes. These three, though, have not shown any of those signs, but the timing of their arrival also coincides with when the current Water Prince came into power.”

  “You want me to read them,” Shyla said.

  “Yes.”

  An uncomfortable twinge gripped her stomach. On the one hand, she wanted to help Hanif and keep the Water Prince from learning about the monks and, by association, her, but on the other hand, what if they were innocent? She’d hate to invade their privacy.

  “Do they know she has woken The Eyes?” Jayden asked.

  “Unfortunately, everyone in the monastery knows.” Hanif shrugged. “Something that momentous can’t be kept a secret for long.”

  “Then as soon as they see her, they’ll know you don’t trust them. You might lose three good people. But if they’re working for the Water Prince, they might try to kill her.”

  Oh, she hadn’t thought of that. And she needed to make eye contact to read a soul. Perhaps she could wear a turban and veil to hide her identity.

  “She could assess their fighting abilities. The acolytes have a final match with a veiled monk before taking the oath.” Hanif seemed to follow her train of thought.

  Except she hadn’t been practicing the Ways of the Yarin lately. “I don’t know if I’ll be a worthy opponent.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I know they’re good fighters, but I don’t know if they’re trustworthy.”

  In that case… “All right. But this is worth more than you getting the torques for me. You owe me another favor.” A pause. “How about admittance into the Third Room of Knowledge?”

  Hanif laughed. “Nice try. I agree to another favor, but not that. Pick something else.”

  “How about when the time comes, you allow Kaveri to help us with starting our own garden?”

  He shot her a probing look, but she kept her expression neutral. Did Hanif really believe she hadn’t figured out Kaveri was her mother?

  “Okay, but that doesn’t include providing plants,” he said. “For that I’d need you to do another task.”

  Still a victory. She’d expected to have to do more for the plants. “Do you have a task in mind?”

  “No, but I’m sure something will come up.”

  Jayden just shook his head over their negotiations. “Can you get the torques before the fights?”

  While Hanif fetched the necklaces, Shyla changed into a monk’s uniform. The stiff tan fabric was more tailored than what the acolytes wore—the tunic was shorter and it had a matching fabric belt that she tied around her waist. Shyla studied her reflection in the mirror.

  She’d spent her entire childhood insisting she’d never become a monk. Not that she was one, but wearing the uniform and being a part of an assessment came close. At least the idea of being a monk no longer caused her to panic. She’d learned being a part of an organization was really just being part of a family.

  She wound the turban around her short hair, keeping it small and tucked in close. Then she secured the veil so the material would not come loose while she fought.

  Jayden waited for her in the training room. He met her gaze when she entered—the only part of her exposed. “I’m still having trouble getting used to your new eye color. Do any of the monks have blue eyes?”

  “A couple.” It was a good thing that blue eyes weren’t that uncommon among the people in Zirdai.

  Hanif returned with the torques. He gave them to Jayden and then shooed him from the room. “Only monks are allowed.” After Jayden left, Hanif turned to Shyla. “You’re going to need to be on the offensive. Can you do that?”

  Before her adventures with the Invisible Sword, she’d had a hard time being an aggressor since the Ways of the Yarin focused on defense—block and then punch versus punch and then block. However, she’d learned how to attack first and ask questions later. “Yes.”


  “Good.” He left but soon came back with an acolyte and two other monks.

  The two monks sat on stools along the far wall. The acolyte faced her. Shyla didn’t recognize the monks, but she knew the acolyte—her name was Durva. It made sense once she thought about it. Durva and the other acolytes would have come to the monastery when Shyla was still living here.

  Hanif served as the referee. “To me.”

  They bowed to him.

  “To each other.”

  They bowed, but not as deeply. Shyla kept her gaze on Durva, making eye contact while removing her mental shield. The woman was nervous and excited and confident. Durva was five centimeters taller than Shyla, with longer limbs that she planned to use to her benefit.

  Hanif held his hand between them and they shifted into fighting stances.

  “Go!” Hanif jerked his arm up and backed away.

  Shyla executed a front shuffle kick followed by a roundhouse kick. Durva sidestepped and snapped a side kick at Shyla’s leg—the one that held all her weight. A good strategy for any other opponent, except Shyla hopped out of the way before Durva’s foot touched her. Shyla attacked with two quick punches to Durva’s ribs. Durva blocked both with her forearms and stepped close to launch an upper cut to Shyla’s jaw. Shyla leaned back just in time for Durva’s fist to sail pass. They disengaged and the two women circled each other.

  Durva was quick and skilled. Shyla was out of practice and still fatigued from using her magic. However, being able to read Durva’s intentions gave Shyla a big advantage. It was fun and Shyla almost forgot why they were sparring. With a renewed effort, she concentrated on Durva’s deeper thoughts—ones not connected to the fight. That wasn’t fun. Shyla’s unease grew as she learned things about Durva that she was sure the woman would never have shared. Was she crossing a line? Abusing her power just so Hanif could uncover a spy?

  Shyla won the match three points to two. They bowed again and Durva left. Hanif brought in the next acolyte—an over-muscled bruiser named Tobbar. He didn’t waste energy blocking. Instead he absorbed the hits without slowing down. Tobbar only let her attack once, and then he went on the offensive for the rest of the match, winning it three points to two.