“That’s terrible. We’re not here for that. You’ve done more than enough,” she said.
“Where’s Zhek?” Jayden asked. “Shyla’s injured.”
“It’s minor,” she rushed to assure Orla while frowning at Jayden.
“He’s checking on Darma. Her baby is due soon. I’ll let him know you’re here. In the meantime, please help yourself to some refreshments.”
As the woman hurried off, Shyla wandered around. She wasn’t going to drink any of their limited water. Jayden and Mojag went to talk with who she presumed were friends or maybe family members. It occurred to her that, other than Mojag’s sister, Gurice, she didn’t know anything about Jayden or Mojag’s family. There just hadn’t been time to learn. Maybe if she understood Jayden’s life better, they wouldn’t argue so much. She added it to her list of tasks.
First on that long tally was getting clean water. She needed to understand how the black market for water worked. Then she had to secure a supply they could trust, which meant paying more coins per jug. And that led to earning coins. Shyla imagined setting up a market stall, hawking soul readings for two osmiums. Ah, no. What else could she do?
Shyla almost laughed out loud at her next thought. She could sell sweets to the treasure hunters. That had been how she survived when she’d first arrived in Zirdai, locating valuable artifacts for the hunters. However, she had switched to working with legitimate clients. And the thought of those treasures being sold to black-market dealers and collectors didn’t sit well with her.
She doubted the Water Prince’s new archeologist would hire her to find temples and castles that had been buried by the sand. Who else would? The history professors? Well…not the ones in Zirdai. Perhaps in another city but— The answer popped into her mind. Aphra! A treasure hunter who sold her sweets to professors in other cities. It was a compromise Shyla could live with. Her good mood lasted until Zhek arrived.
“Ten sun jumps,” Zhek said instead of a greeting.
“Excuse me?”
“You managed to stay healthy for ten whole sun jumps.” His grumpy tone implied it was unacceptable.
“I’ve missed you too, Zhek.”
His bushy white eyebrows shot up into his mess of white hair in surprise. “Well, er…” He cleared his throat. “Where are you injured?”
She turned and showed him the cut on her lower back. Zhek tsked, hustled her into an examination room, and instructed her to lie down on a table on her stomach. Once the numbing paste soothed the pain, she ceased listening to his admonishments as he stitched the skin closed.
Shyla fell asleep soon after Zhek finished, but she didn’t rest for long. Jayden woke her at angle three-fifty-five. Only five more angles before the sun started its jump.
“We need to go if we’re going to get out of the city without attracting attention.”
She suppressed a groan. He was right. Angle zero was the perfect time to slip out with all the others who went to the surface: the velbloud caretakers, the deacons who joined the Heliacal Priestess for her early angle worship service, archeologists with their diggers in tow, and various others.
However, since she was already in the city, she needed to do a few more things. “Send Mojag back to headquarters to tell everyone we’re going to stay another sun jump,” she said.
His shoulders tightened. “Did you forget about the Arch Deacons we attacked already?” His tone implied she was an idiot.
Instead of snapping back—something she’d done in all their prior arguments—she kept her voice even. “No. In fact, they’re one of the reasons I want to stay. By now, they’ve reported to the priestess that the Invisible Sword is still around and deacons will be stationed at all the city’s exits.” She held up a hand to stop his retort. “I know we can use our magic to slip by them, but I’ve a couple other tasks and need your help.”
The tension eased from him. Shyla refrained from celebrating. While Jayden went to find Mojag, Shyla changed into a clean tunic. She folded the stained one. The blood had dried, stiffening the fabric and making it difficult to stuff into her pack. The four torques clinked together. They needed to be hidden somewhere very safe. The Monks of Parzival had kept The Eyes of Tamburah safe for close to half a million sun jumps. Perhaps she should give them to Hanif to put in the Fourth Room of Knowledge. Not many monks had permission to access that room.
While growing up in the monastery, and even after she left, Shyla was allowed in the First Room of Knowledge. She earned the right to enter the Second Room of Knowledge when she retrieved a vial of “water” from the black river for Hanif—it had ended up being a rivulet of blood. She hoped to be able to earn admittance to them all—it would be a first for someone who was not a monk.
“Mojag isn’t happy to miss all the fun. His words, not mine,” Jayden said when he returned. “But he’s gone to tell the others we’ll be delayed. What do you want to do?”
“First, can you tell me how the vagrants get water?”
“There are water dealers in the black market. We make arrangements with one of them, but when we get poisoned jugs, that understanding is voided and we have to find someone else.”
“Do you know where they get the water?”
“No. Not many do. It’s one of those closely guarded secrets. We really don’t care if they steal it or bribe the guards or have another source as long as it’s clean. Do you want me to arrange a deal with one of them? I’ve done it for my commune on level sixty-two many times.”
His comment about bribing the guards made her pause. Rendor should know about how the Water Prince’s guards collected and distributed the water. “Not yet.”
“Why not? We’re going to run out of water soon.”
Again she resisted snapping at him. “How much would it cost?”
