Page 105 of The City of Zirdai
“Not this again. Shyla, your logic is flawed. Banqui—”
“That’s enough.” She’d reached her limit and was finished with being nice. “Let’s go settle this right now.” She limped to the ladder.
“Wait!” Jayden caught up to her. “What are you going to do?”
“You know what I’m going to do. It’s time everyone takes the oath.”
Everyone gathered in the common room. Fifty people crammed together. A few had been in the middle of work and full buckets of sand sat by their feet. Gurice and Mojag stood in the front with Ximen. Some had been woken up and they peered at her with tired and grumpy expressions. Too bad.
Jayden helped her to step up onto a low table to address them. “We’ve gained a number of new members and we’ve learned some critical information. Danger is approaching and we must be able to counter it as a unified organization. I’ve heard people talking about being an acolyte, or an original member, or a vagrant. That needs to stop. You’reallInvisible Swords.” She paused and met each of their gazes.
“And you willalltake the oath and pledge your loyalty to the organization and to each other. You’ll all stand as witnesses. As part of the ceremony, I will draw our symbol on your upper arms.” There was a rumble of dismay. “You won’t see the symbol unless you can wield magic, nor will blood be shed.” Shyla drew the glyph on the wall with a piece of chalk. “This is what it will look like.”
She let her words sink in before continuing. “As your leader, I will go first.” She handed her stylus to Jayden.
He stared at the writing instrument in alarm. “What am I supposed to do with this?”
Explaining how she’d pushed her magic through the instrument when she’d practiced on Gurice, Shyla rolled up her left sleeve, exposing her shoulder.
“I don’t think—”
“At least she didn’t ask you to cut out her eyeballs,” Ximen said, interrupting Jayden. “Like she did to me.”
He shot Ximen a horrified glare.
“Ready?” she asked.
“No.” Jayden sighed. “I’ll try.”
Shyla addressed everyone. “As a member of the Invisible Sword, I swear that I will embrace the beliefs and tenets of the organization and fully support its efforts to help those in need.”
Jayden traced the crossed blades on her shoulder with the stylus. A tingle pricked her skin.
“As a member of the Invisible Sword, I swear I will not betray the location of our headquarters or the identities of our members to our enemies and would give my life to keep its secrets.”
He guided the flattened tip, following the two curved lines of the symbol.
“As a member of the Invisible Sword, I swear not to harm or kill another unless it is absolutely necessary or in self-defense.”
He drew a big circle in the oval shape.
“As a member of the Invisible Sword, I swear allegiance to my fellow Invisible Swords.”
Coloring in the “pupil,” Jayden completed the symbol. An intense heat burned on her skin as if the killing sun shone directly on that small section. No wonder Gurice had thought Shyla stabbed her. Magic snapped and the pain disappeared.
“It worked.” Surprise laced Jayden’s voice. He then stepped back, allowing the other wielders to see the new glyph.
Shyla thought it was unfair that not everyone could see it. Perhaps she could show them. In order not to upset anyone, she explained what she planned to do. Using her magic, Shyla sent the image of her symbol to the others.
Invisible Sword.
A little over half the room gasped. It seemed that over fifty people was too many for her to influence at once. She repeated it for the remaining members.
Invisible Sword.
Unable to hold it long, she stopped the command. After waiting a few moments to allow them to recover—and her as well—she pulled her sleeve down and took the stylus from Jayden. “You’re next.”
He shook his head sadly. “I can’t.”
