Page 94 of The Eyes of Tamburah
He surged to his feet. “Stop her!”
Shyla managed to gather enough energy to sprint to the next intersection, turn left and stumble right into—
Her acolytes!
The two women grabbed her to keep her on her feet while Jaft…no…it wasn’t him. Although dressed in identical clothes, the man didn’t have the same build.
Confused, but with no time to figure it out, she blurted, “They’re coming.”
Not-Jaft stepped forward. Ten against one. This ought to be…a disaster.
As the Arch Deacons rounded the corner, they stopped, also puzzled to be confronted by a single man.
Holding out his hand, Not-Jaft stood there.
The strong desire to sleep brushed by Shyla, but she recognized it as a mental command and fought it off. However all ten of the Heliacal Priestess’s elite unit sagged to the ground. Wow. Impressive.
Not-Jaft sank down onto one knee. Propping an elbow on his thigh, he rested his forehead on his palm.
“Are you all right, Jayden?” one of the women—Gurice!—asked.
“Give me a few more moments,” he said in a strained voice.
Too tired to be surprised, Shyla turned to Gurice. “You, too?”
“Yup.” She pulled out a knife and cut the rope around Shyla’s wrists.
A burning pain rushed into her hands and ignited a small fire across her shoulders. “Who else?” Shyla scanned the other two. Only their eyes were visible, but she didn’t think the other guy was Mojag. No, it was— “Ximen!” She met the last one’s gaze. “And Bazia.”
“Give the lady a prize,” Bazia said.
“What are you doing here? And why are you dressed as my bodyguards?”
“We’ve been following you,” Gurice said as if that explained everything.
It didn’t.
“Why didn’t Captain Rendor come with you to the city and protect you?” Ximen asked.
“He’s no longer the captain.”
“He isn’t?” Ximen exchanged a baffled look with Bazia. “I thought you said the information is accurate.”
“It was.”
Which implied that the information was old and could have changed.
“Then the Water Prince is keeping his new captain’s identity a secret or…” Ximen studied Shyla. “Or Captain Rendor is lying.”
“Why would he lie?” Shyla asked. Then the answer popped into her head. To steal The Eyes! No, toromancethem from her.Come join me…we could travel to those cities together,he’d said. Yeah, right. Rendor probably hoped she’d keep The Eyes and run away with him. Then he’d ditch her the first chance he got. She was an idiot.
“The captain lies all the time,” Bazia said.
“Yes, but Shyla has a point. Why? He wouldn’t risk The Eyes getting into the Heliacal Priestess’s hands.”
“He’s injured,” Gurice said.
“Doesn’t matter. He could have surrounded them ten deep with loyal guards,” Ximen said.
