Elek sent Balin, Nard, and Daksh over and then went in search of the others. Shyla explained to the three men what she was doing and why. They’d all seen magic in use and all were willing to allow her to access their souls. Too bad none of them had potential.
Of the remaining ex-acolytes, only Yoria had potential. The woman was thirty-eight circuits old and she wasn’t surprised to be…cracked. Shyla needed to come up with a better word.
“My tyrant of a husband drove me to leave Zirdai and join the monks,” Yoria said. “I should have done it sooner, which is why I’m helping others as an Invisible Sword. The citizens of Zirdai need to realize they’ve waited too long. It’s time to change the status quo I consider my experiences a mixed blessing from the Sun Goddess.”
“She tends to do that,” Shyla said, remembering her own “conversation” with the goddess.
Being sun-kissed is a gift, the goddess had said. I do not enjoy seeing my people suffer. Make it stop.
The Sun Goddess must be very disappointed in Shyla.
After the danger zone had passed, Mojag and Gurice left for the monastery and Shyla pulled Jayden aside.
“Besides Mojag, two of our members have the potential,” she said to him. “I want to examine the original Invisible Swords.”
“Waste of time and energy,” he said. “They’ve all been through our assessment and failed.”
“But you might have cracked them.” Again, she needed a kinder descriptor.
He opened his mouth but then paused. “Good point.”
Progress! “I’m also thinking we need…something to bring everyone together.”
“Something?”
They’d discussed this before and Jayden had gotten angry, but she was tired of worrying about Jayden’s moods. “Yes, a new oath for a new archive of the Invisible Sword.”
“A new archive?”
“Yes, since the organization has gone through a major change, it’s a new era.”
“I like that.”
She put her hand to the wall as if to keep from falling over. “Whoa. Next time warn me before you agree with me.”
He flashed her a smile, and damn, the frustrating man was handsome. “Don’t get used to it.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Jayden huffed in amusement. “Are you going to gather everyone or do it individually?”
“I think everyone should be together. But I’m still working out the details. For now, I’m going to concentrate on testing everyone.”
Over the rest of the sun jump, Shyla examined the remaining members. Or she tried. A few kept dodging her, and she assumed they didn’t wish for her to test them but were too polite or too scared of her to say no. At least she found one more person with potential. Lamar, a quiet young man, told her the trauma of the priestess’s ambush and seeing his friends in the Invisible Sword killed by the deacons must have caused him to crack.
“Up until then, I was lucky and didn’t think anything would harm us.” He hunched his thin shoulders.
“You were lucky to escape,” she said.
“I guess.”
One thing she’d learned was that magic came with a cost. She wondered why the other survivors of the massacre hadn’t also tapped into their power. They had to have been traumatized as well. Did that mean they didn’t have the potential? Or were they stronger and hadn’t needed to tap into their inner reserves? She wished there was a way she could connect to that closed lantern that was supposed to be inside those people born with magical potential, but, so far, only the ones that had been cracked open were visible. At least Jayden had been right about Aphra, though. She didn’t pass, and she wasn’t happy about it either.
Overall, Shyla was pleased with finding three more. Including Mojag, that would bring the total number of wielders to nine if the new ones could access their full power. Perhaps a few lessons would do the trick. Or would she need to fully engage their magic? Once Mojag and Gurice returned, she’d talk to all four and discuss options.
Exhausted, she went to her room to lie down. She’d told Jayden to wake her as soon as they came back. But when she closed her eyes, the cries of the prisoners in the black cells filled her head. How could a memory be so loud? And what if the Water Prince had Hanif and Kaveri in one of his special rooms? Worry and fear pumped through her. In an attempt to distract her thoughts from conjuring up more horrible scenarios about her parents, she focused on other problems, which led to making a mental list of everything she needed to accomplish. It was overwhelming. So why was she wasting time trying to sleep?
Giving up, she took the map from her pack and examined it. That nagging feeling once again poked her like an annoying younger sibling.
Poke—remember this?
Poke—come on, you know it.
Poke—how stupid can you be?
Poke—no wonder Mom loves me best.
The desire to crumple the skin into a tight little wad twitched along her fingers. Instead she stared at it, imagining her eyes had turned to lava stones and could set the damn thing on fire. Too bad she couldn’t read the map like a person’s soul. What would happen if she pushed with the magic of The Eyes while looking at an inanimate object? Probably nothing. At least she wouldn’t be disappointed as that was all she’d managed to get from it so far.
Feeling a bit silly, she gazed at the map using her magic. As expected, nothing happened. Then she blinked. The lines shifted. Suddenly another map rose. A three-dimensional shape of a maze with twists and turns and dead ends. And in the center, the prize. Was that what Tamburah meant when he pointed to his temple and said, It’s all right here? Perhaps he was really pointing to his eyes, indicating that his power would show him the right way. Excitement replaced her frustration. Now she just needed to find the entrance into the maze.
When her eyes crossed with fatigue, she returned to her sleeping mat. Jayden woke her a few angles later. Mojag and Gurice were back.
They’d arrived just before darkness along with the crew from the dig site. The diggers hadn’t reached deep enough to safely remain on site. Gurice went to check on her team working on the tunnel to Zirdai, leaving Mojag to report the news.
Ximen joined the three of them in a corner of the common room. Not for the first time, or the last, she was sure, Shyla wished for a cup of hot tea.
“The monks are in a tizzy,” Mojag said. “Seems the big arrest is unpress…unprez…er…never happened before.”
“What was the reason for the arrest?” Shyla asked.
“Hiding a known criminal, and collusion, whatever that means. Yates said if the monks told him where the sun-kissed is hiding, he’d let Hanif go. The other monk was arrested for obstruction.” Mojag perked up a bit. “Good call on not telling them where we are.”
“What about the King? Has he been informed?” Jayden asked.
“They sent a messenger. And the monks said they argued with Yates that he didn’t have the power to arrest them, that he used up his one exemption. But he said that it was used to search for the sun-kissed, which also meant the monks had to cooperate and, when they didn’t, he was within his rights to arrest them.”
“I’m surprised the monks allowed the guards to leave,” Ximen said. “From what I’ve seen, they’re more than capable of handling them.”