Page 53 of The Eyes of Tamburah
Shyla wondered the same thing.
“Becauseyouneed to make up for selling her to the deacons.”
“I said I was sorry,” Mojag said sullenly.
“Sometimes sorry isn’t enough.” Then he raised his voice. “Isn’t that right, Shyla?”
Ah hells, caught eavesdropping. Although a part of her would have been disappointed if he hadn’t figured it out. Probably making a bad decision, Shyla said, “Yes, but it’s a step in the right direction.”
She joined them. “Why can’t I get rid of you two?”
“I don’t handle rejection well,” Jayden said with a smile.
“He made me come,” Mojag added.
Another childish retort. “How old are you?” she asked Mojag.
“Thirteen circuits.”
“He’s had a recent growth spurt,” Jayden said.
That explained it, but not all of it. “Why do you take him with you when a sneeze might get you killed?”
“He needs to learn how to survive,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone.
And she’d complained about living in Zirdai. “Why doesn’t Gurice teach…” She recalled his sister offering Shyla her knife. “Never mind.” Then she remembered poor Dyani. “How did you find me so fast?”
“Short cuts. And I knew where you were heading.”
“Are you going to let us help you now?” Mojag asked her.
“Do I have a choice?”
“Of course, but we’ll follow you regardless,” Jayden said.
“I guess since you’re already here, you can show me where that conduit is.”
“My that’s very magnanimous of you.”
“Shut up.”
He laughed.
* * *
Rotten cheese. The smell drove all thoughts of food from her mind. She was never eating again. It didn’t help they were crawling through a thin stream of…muck, which was the source of the stench. Jayden hadn’t been kidding when he said it was a tight conduit.
When they reached the end, it was a relief to straighten her back. Her thigh throbbed, but she ignored it.
“That was deeper than the last time I was here. We reek. We need to change,” Jayden said.
“I don’t have extra clothes, and aren’t we close to that stairwell?” Shyla asked. She’d already spent too much time on this quest for the monks. The priestess had already set a bounty on her, no doubt the prince would soon do the same.
“We can’t go down there. The guards will smell us. Don’t worry, there’s a commune nearby. They’ll have clothes for you.”
“I don’t have any coin.”
“That’s okay, they’ll help.” Jayden strode away.
