Page 89 of The City of Zirdai
“Funny, but really…is it?”
Shyla laughed. “Roll up your sleeve.”
Gurice grumbled but pulled the fabric of her tunic up over her shoulder. Her Invisible Sword symbol shone on her chestnut-colored skin. Only another sworn Invisible Sword member with magic could see it.
The mark wasn’t that complex. There were two crossed swords. They overlapped about a quarter of the way down from the tips. A line curved through both hilts and flared out to the sides. It bowed away from the tips, while a second line arced in the opposite direction between the two blades. The two curved lines had an oval shape, and, from a distance, resembled an eye.
Shyla considered. If she drew a circle inside that oval to represent an iris, and then a solid circle for the pupil, then there’d be no doubt it was an eye. Fitting. Except adding those extra lines with chalk seemed silly. She needed something else that was thin that she could push her magic through. Her stylus!
Rummaging through her pack, she found the instrument. The metal tip should be small enough and the slightly flattened end wouldn’t scratch skin.
“Are you going to write your name on me?” Gurice asked.
“No.” She explained her plan. “What do you think?”
“I think you should draw it out and show everyone so they’ll know what it looks like.”
“Good idea. And I think you should take the oath along with everyone else. But, if you don’t mind, I’d like to try to add the extra embellishments now, because if it doesn’t work, I’ll have to figure something else out.”
“Does that mean I’ll have to do it twice?”
“Yes.”
“It’s a good thing I like you. All right, what do I do?”
Shyla brought the tip close to Gurice’s shoulder and pushed her magic into the stylus. “Repeat after me. 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.”
As Gurice recited the words, Shyla traced the two sword blades on her shoulder.
“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.”
“Our enemies? That’s new. Before we didn’t tell anyone outside the organization.”
“It’ll be hard to recruit people without telling them about it.”
“Good point.” She repeated the second phrase while Shyla traced 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.”
Gurice raised her eyebrows but echoed Shyla’s words. Shyla drew a big circle in the oval shape.
“As a member of the Invisible Sword, I swear allegiance to my fellow Invisible Swords.”
When Gurice recited that sentence, Shyla met her gaze and the truth of her oath blazed through Shyla. She channeled it into the stylus and colored in a smaller circle in the middle of the oval.
“Ow!” Gurice jerked away, covering her shoulder with a hand. “Did you just stab me?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“If you put your hand down, I’ll tell you if it worked.” Although she was pretty confident the oath was genuine.
When Gurice uncovered the symbol, it now glowed with Shyla’s eye. “It worked. Congratulations, you’re now a member of the new archive of the Invisible Sword.”
“Should we hug?”
“Do you need a hug?”
