Page 60 of The City of Zirdai
“I take it things like fresh food are rare here?” Aphra asked.
“For now. I’ve plans once we earn more coins.” She waited for the familiar frustration to well up inside her, but, with their recent success in freeing those people from the confession rooms, it didn’t push quite as hard. And perhaps doing small rescues or acts of kindness would balance the more mundane tasks like shoveling sand for the rest of the Invisible Swords.
After grabbing a few slices of melon, Shyla headed to her room, needing more time to recover her strength. She lay on her thin mat, intending to sleep, but thoughts of Rendor invaded.
He’d been willing to prove himself to the Invisible Swords before she’d made that stupid speech. She should have kept her mouth shut and let him figure out how to get people for his team. Still, she expected he wouldn’t give up on proving himself so easily. Did he want her to chase after him? Had she given up too soon? Time was a luxury she didn’t have and her first priority should be helping the people in Zirdai—not her love life or the lack of one. So she allowed the hurt and pain and unanswerable questions to fill her until she could no longer hold it in. Sobbing, she curled into a ball, purging all her emotions until nothing was left but grim determination. She’d focus on work and stop wasting time and energy on Rendor.
She woke at angle one-seventy and found Jayden in the common room. “Did Aphra locate the temple?”
“Yes. She already took a crew out to uncover the entrance to the grave diggers’ tunnel. Ximen is with them.”
“Good.”
Jayden scrubbed a hand over his face. “We can’t give her all our people, Shyla. We need to dig a tunnel to Zirdai. Going in and out through the surface buildings is becoming too dangerous.”
“I know. We need to recruit more members.”
“And how are we going to do that?”
“I’ve a few ideas, but let’s wait until Ximen returns. They shouldn’t be too much longer.”
Jayden grunted. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they worked well into the darkness.” Then he leaned back. “If we do get more members, where will we house them? We don’t even have enough room for us.”
A good point. She considered the problem. “Are there any abandoned vagrant communes?” she asked.
“Yeah, but there’s a reason no one lives there—the guards know where they are.”
“Perhaps Orla will rent us some space in her commune. Or she might know a good spot. It’ll only be for a short time.” She ignored his lack of enthusiasm. Instead, she searched for Gurice.
She found her playing a game of dice with Mojag in the room he shared with Jayden and Ximen on level ten.
“That’s two peepers in a row. You’re cheating,” Mojag accused his sister.
“Hardly. It’s all in the wrist.” She demonstrated by rolling another set of peepers. “See?”
He crossed his arms and glared at her. “How do I know you’re not using magic?”
“She isn’t,” Shyla said, coming into the small room.
“Says another magic wielder.”
Gurice threw her hands up in the air. “See? This is why I didn’t tell you about magic. I knew you’d accuse me of using it to influence you. And, as much as I was tempted, and believe me, I wasverytempted a number of times, I never used it on you.”
Mojag failed to appear mollified.
Gurice shook her head, then turned to Shyla. “Did you need something?”
“Yes, I was hoping for your help.”
The woman sprang to her feet. “What do you need?”
“You and Mojag.”
They waited for her to continue.
“You can say no. There won’t be any hard feelings or a change in our…friendship.”
“Just spit it out,” Gurice said.
