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 threatened 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.