“Maybe. Or perhaps he’ll remember we showed him mercy. And he might start to think that we’re not the villains the Heliacal Priestess claims we are.”
Unconvinced, Mojag huffed. Just then Jayden strode into view. Blood dripped from a small cut on his cheek. His rumpled clothing and mussed hair indicated he’d had a difficult fight as well.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
“Fine.” Then he smirked. “That Arch Deacon is going to have a hell of a headache when he wakes up, though.” He glanced down at the man on the ground.
Shyla’s opponent’s gaze remained on Mojag whose blade still rested on his throat.
“Mojag, remove his torque, please,” Shyla said, releasing the boy from her magical hold.
He wrenched the necklace off the man, leaving behind scratches that welled with blood. The man touched his throat but didn’t move. Both Jayden and Mojag loomed over him with their knives in hand.
Shyla, though, crouched down and met his gaze, reading his soul. In pain, his emotions flipped between fear, confusion, and hope he might live through this and not bleed to death.
“Tell me how many torques the priestess has,” she ordered.
There had been a dozen—nine now if they took his and Yarb’s, but he wasn’t telling this sun-kissed anything.
“How about the food and water in the storeroom? Is it safe to eat and drink?” she asked.
Of course not. The priestess was smart enough to poison it just in case he and Yarb failed. “Yes,” he said.
Shyla suppressed a sigh over his lie. He either didn’t believe what The Eyes could do or didn’t know the extent of their power. Good news for her. “Does the priestess know where we are?”
Until this encounter, the Blessed One worried the Invisible Swords had moved to another city. Learning they were still here and might eat the poisoned provisions would help him remain in her favor after this fiasco. “Yes.”
“How?”
He scrambled to come up with a convincing lie. “She has prayed to the Sun Goddess who has told her your location.” Hopefully the heathens would panic and leave their current hideout, making them easier to find.
Turning to Jayden, Shyla said, “You were right. We better leave the city.”
Jayden played along. “I’m always right.”
The Arch Deacon couldn’t understand how these fools lasted this long without being caught and killed.
Shyla kept her expression neutral even though she wanted to punch the man. “Last question. What are the priestess’s orders regarding me?”
This one was easy. “She wants you dead or alive. It doesn’t matter as long as your stolen eyes are intact.”
She laughed. As if The Eyes could be stolen. The Eyes of Tamburah had been in the Invisible Sword’s possession since they assassinated Tamburah nearly fourteen hundred circuits ago. They were crafted from priceless gemstones—sapphires, black diamonds, rubies, and pure white topaz—and resembled real eyes in both size and shape. They contained powerful magic but required a leap of faith and a sacrifice to use them.
If The Eyes stirred in a person’s hands, that meant they had the potential to wield them—though there were no guarantees. The sacrifice was exchanging their real eyes for the gemstones. Shyla had taken that leap and Rendor had cut her eyeballs from their sockets. The Eyes had woken, healing her injuries and allowing her to peer into others’ souls along with other abilities that she was still learning.
The Eyes were rightfully hers. Plus she doubted the prince or the priestess had the courage to make that sacrifice.
“Thank you for the information,” Shyla said to the Arch Deacon. She gathered her will and directed it toward him. “You will forget that you fought with me. Instead you will remember fighting with an Invisible Sword member. You will forget this conversation. Sleep,” she ordered.
The man’s body relaxed.
Jayden peered at her. “I didn’t know you learned how to erase memories. Are you sure it worked?”
“Why wouldn’t it work? You taught me yourself. Don’t you remember?” Now it was her turn to smirk. Better that than snapping at him in annoyance for doubting her.
“Me? When? Did you…”
She laughed at his panicked expression. “Relax, Jayden. I didn’t erase your memories.”
“Then how did you learn to do that?”
Gesturing to the prone Arch Deacon, she said, “When I’m reading a person’s soul, he’s mine. His thoughts and emotions are like patterns in the sand and I can smooth some out, redraw others, and add my own. It’s instinctual and rather easy.” And so very tempting to smooth out Jayden’s lingering suspicions and doubts. But she wasn’t Tamburah and she wouldn’t abuse her power. And if she did, Rendor promised to remove The Eyes.
“You know he was lying, right?” Jayden asked.
“Of course. Did you get the torque from your opponent?”
“Of course.”
“He didn’t tell us anything useful,” Mojag whined.
“Oh, he told me quite a bit. He just doesn’t know he did.” She put her hands on her hips. “You both know what The Eyes can do, right? Or are you like this man, who refuses to believe?”
Mojag ducked his head. “All I know is that they gave you power.”
Jayden had the decency to appear abashed. Before he could respond, she turned to Mojag. “I’ll explain later. For now, can you take us to those two Arch Deacons on level twenty-two?”
“Yeah.”
Jayden glanced at her. “You want to take their torques?”
“Might as well. After this, the priestess will know for sure that we’re aware of their protective properties. Then she’ll ensure the Arch Deacons travel in bigger packs.”
They returned for the druk and Mojag led them to the tunnel with the waiting ambush near the entrance on level twenty-two. As she walked, her tunic rubbed against the cut on her lower back, increasing the burning pain. When she woke the power of The Eyes, they had healed all her wounds and erased all her scars. But unfortunately it was a one-time occurrence.
When they neared the Arch Deacons, the boy wrinkled his nose and stopped. He must have a good sense of smell because Shyla couldn’t detect the scent of burnt hair here or when she had fought the other man. No sounds of a conversation reached her, either. Did he have sensitive hearing as well or had the Arch Deacons been alerted to their presence?
“This is how it’s going down,” Jayden whispered. “We’ll snuff the druk, creep up on them, then Mojag will uncover the druk right before Shyla and I jump the Arch Deacons. Mojag, you can distract them while we fight. Got it?” he asked.
She nodded. It was a solid plan. Yet it annoyed her he’d taken charge. And it annoyed her that she was being petty about it.
“Good. Mojag, you go first. When we get close, open the druk and dodge to the other side of the tunnel.”
Mojag stood next to the wall with the druk. Jayden was right behind him and Shyla last. Jayden put his left hand on the boy’s shoulder and his other on the wall. Mimicking Jayden, Shyla clasped his shoulder and placed her fingertips on the cold stone. This way they had contact with each other and hopefully wouldn’t stumble in the complete darkness. A nervous tremble traveled through her legs at the thought of being in the dark.