As the members dispersed to return to work or to rest, Shyla consulted Ximen, Mojag, and Gurice about what to do with Jayden. They sat in a circle around him. Poor Mojag hunched over his crossed legs in utter misery. The others were equally dejected—they’d been friends with him for a long time. No one tried to speculate as to why or how or when he decided to betray them. They knew Shyla would discover the answers.
“I’ve extra velbloud tethers,” Gurice said. “We can secure him.”
“It’s going to take all of our magic to keep him from escaping,” Ximen said, glancing at Shyla.
Between using her magic to keep Jayden unconscious and doing the vows, she’d drained most of her energy. “After I interrogate him, we’ll need somewhere to keep him.” There wasn’t any place in their headquarters. “Somewhere that we don’t need a guard or else he’ll use his magic to escape. Somewhere where no one will accidentally find him. We’ll have to— Oh!”
“Think of a good place?” Ximen asked.
“Oh yes.”
Shyla rested while the others took turns keeping Jayden asleep. When the sun started its jump, she sent out a few members to keep watch on the city. At least they’d have some warning if the priestess attacked. Yes, the priestess. While trying to sleep, her mind had reeled and spun with the implications of Jayden’s betrayal. Three things had stood out—the deacons had ambushed the original headquarters, they’d captured Jayden, and they knew how to block magic.
Elek and a few other strong Invisible Swords helped her to relocate Jayden and carry the supplies he’d need to survive. Ximen and Mojag also accompanied them. Gurice remained at headquarters.
After Jayden was secured, Elek and the others left. Shyla, Mojag, and Ximen stood just out of reach. One druk glowed with a yellow light. It cast long shadows from its place on the floor.
“Ready?” she asked them.
Mojag pressed against her and she wrapped an arm around his bony shoulders, squeezing him in encouragement.
“You don’t have to be here,” she said to the boy.
“I know. I need to be here.”
Another squeeze. “I know.”
“Let’s do this,” Ximen said grimly.
They stopped commanding Jayden to sleep. It didn’t take long for him to wake. He opened his eyes and spotted them. They braced for a magical attack, but he sighed and pushed to a sitting position. He froze when the rasp of metal over stone sounded. His gaze followed the chain from his ankle to the anchor in the middle of the small cavern.
“Is this revenge?” he asked Shyla, referring to when she’d spent twelve sun jumps chained in here as they tested her for magic. He had called it a testing chamber, but to her it’d always be a prison. There was one way out, but there could have been four for all the good it had done her.
“No. It’s practical.” And maybe there was a little bit of revenge in her decision to bring him here, but she wouldn’t admit to being petty. Not now. “Are you going to tell us what we need to know about why you sold us out to the priestess or am I going to have to read your soul?” She’d taken her shield down just in case he attacked with his magic.
“The priestess?” Mojag asked.
“Yeah, I figured it wasn’t the prince, too,” Ximen said. “Jayden hates the prince.”
“He hates the priestess, too.” Mojag frowned. “Probably a lie, like everything else.”
Jayden flinched. “I hate the prince more. Hated him enough to be willing to stab him with my knife. But she ruined that.”
Oh no, he didn’t get to blame her or anyone else. “By saving your worthless life. Your plan was flawed.”
“Not this again. It’s definitely not the time,” Ximen said. “Is that why you ran to the priestess? Thought she’d help you kill the prince?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “In exchange for killing…” His voice hitched. “Bazia, Payatt…our friends…the Invisible Swords.”
“No.” Jayden shot to his feet. “I didn’t tell her the location of our headquarters. Banqui did that.”
She groaned. Not this again!
“The idiot snuck out,” Jayden said. “Banqui had forgotten about one of his caches when we let him get his personal items. He said there were priceless artifacts inside, but we wouldn’t let him leave our hideout. It was too dangerous.” He huffed in disgust. “Normally opening those almost invisible doors is just about impossible to figure out, but the Water Prince’s personal archeologist certainly knew how to operate them. So smart until he came back. He’d no idea that he was being followed. The deacons showed up in force soon after he returned with his stolen treasures. Don’t give me that look, Shyla, he was stealing from the prince just like all the other archeologists before him, saving up for the perfect time to leave the city.”
It was difficult to believe Banqui’s carelessness was the reason for the attack. He’d spent quite a bit of time in the prince’s black cells—an experience, she was sure, that no one ever wanted to repeat. “But after we rescued you, I asked you if Banqui was involved. You said you didn’t know.”
“You asked if he betrayed us. And I didn’t know. He could have purposely led the deacons to our hideout.”
“Do you know where he is?”
“The priestess has him.”
“Why didn’t you tell me—oh.”
“Yeah, oh. I needed there to be doubt about his involvement.”
“Is he alive?” She held her breath.
“As far as I know.”
At least there was some good news from all this.
“Speaking of involvement, when and why did you get involved?” Ximen asked.
“Wait,” Mojag said. “How can we believe anything he says?”
Ximen and Jayden glanced at Shyla.
“I can tell when he’s lying,” she said.
Mojag scrunched up his nose. “But he’s lied to you a million times. How come you didn’t know then?”
Good question. “I wasn’t…monitoring him then. I trusted him.” Big mistake.
“Monitoring?”
“Right now, I’m using my magic to tap into his surface emotions. If he lies, I’ll know. And if he won’t answer our questions, I’ll go deeper and find the answers.” The last part was more for Jayden than Mojag.
“So when and why?” Ximen demanded.
Jayden scrubbed a hand over his face. “When they attacked us, I found the leader and begged him to stop killing our people. Promised him I’d arrange for the Heliacal Priestess to get The Eyes if he stopped.” Then he looked at Shyla. “Promised to hand the sun-kissed over.”
Ah, so it was an ambush and not very bad luck Shyla had run into those Arch Deacons in Tamburah’s judgment room. So much for Jayden not wanting to hurt her.
“My people were dying. I had to do something,” Jayden said.
“Only ten of us escaped,” Ximen whispered.
“They would have killed everyone, Ximen. The rest were arrested.”
Ximen perked up. “The commanders?”
Jayden shook his head sadly. “They wanted to kill the leaders and those that could wield magic. Good thing you and Gurice weren’t with them.”