Page 74 of The City of Zirdai
“I’ve news,” Jayden said.
And by the wary way he gazed at her, Shyla knew it wasn’t good. “Just tell me.”
“Captain Yates arrested Hanif and another monk. They’re in the black cells.”
Twelve
Shyla stared at Jayden in stunned silence. Hanif arrested? Locked in the black cells? Grief cracked through the surprise and the full implications of his news hit her. She rocked back on her heels. “Another monk? Do you know who?”
“The rumors said she’s a sun-kissed. I thought it was you. That’s why I came back here as soon as I could.” He shot her an annoyed glare. “To find you missing.”
She ignored him. The other monk had to be Kaveri. All of her energy drained and she sank onto a cushion. It was her fault they’d been arrested. Memories from when she’d visited Banqui rose—the foul odor of excrement and piss, the cold dampness, the wails of the other prisoners, and not a single beam of light.
“We have to rescue them,” she said.
“We don’t have the resources,” Jayden said. “Besides, they’re under the protection of the King. They won’t be there long.”
She jumped to her feet. “Being in there one single angle is too long! And the King gave the Water Princepermissionto search the monastery, including the Rooms of Knowledge. That must mean they’ve a good relationship. The monks have helped us so much. We have todosomething.”
Jayden held out his hands. “Calm down. We’ll find out why they were arrested and see what we can do.”
Not good enough. They needed to act now. “We can get into one of the prince’s empty special rooms and find a way into the black cells from there.”
“It’s not that simple, otherwise we’d have done it before.”
At that moment, she hated Jayden. Easy for him to be logical and calm, it wasn’t his parents who were in trouble. Except, no one besides Rendor knew they were her parents. Everyone still believed she’d been abandoned in the desert as a baby. Hanif had asked her to keep it a secret.
“I’ll send Mojag and Gurice to the monastery as soon as it’s cool enough,” Jayden said. “We can discuss options once we learn more. In the meantime, you can explain to me why you thought going to Tamburah’s temple was a good idea.”
A childish retort—I don’t have to explain myself to you—pushed up her throat. Instead, she detailed her reasons and showed him the map. “I think it might lead to a maze of hidden tunnels and rooms. Do you recognize anything?”
He studied the scroll with his forehead furrowed. A pang gripped her. Underneath his eyes were dark smudges like faded bruises. He hadn’t been getting enough sleep.
Finally, he met her gaze. “We’ve had our headquarters in the temple for hundreds of thousands of sun jumps. If there was something like this in there, the Invisible Sword would have found it by now.”
“It has to be well concealed. And perhaps only I’ll be able to see it.”
“Still dangerous just for a perhaps.”
“We’ll go along as backup,” Elek said, gesturing to the other three who nodded in agreement.
His comment eased some of the pain in her chest. “And I’ll need you, too, Jayden. I think it’s worth the danger.” However, if he didn’t agree to accompany her, it would be too hazardous to go.
“I’ll think about it. For now, let’s deal with the problem at hand.”
“Which one?” she asked.
Jayden ignored her sarcasm. “The one associated with the other bit of news I picked up while working for the black-market dealers.”
She settled back on the cushion. “How bad is it?”
“There’s a trading caravan coming in from Tarim in a few sun jumps. The dealers say the leader of this cavalcade, Zimraan, is fond of precious metals and is well known to have ingots of platinum for sale.”
“How well known?”
“The Heliacal Priestess is probably already planning on sending a couple of Arch Deacons to the man’s market stand.”
Scorching sand demons. “We need to stop that sale.”
