“No,” Gurice said. “Those that are disgruntled enough to do something usually become vagrants, refusing to pay taxes and the tithe. The others are either content, complicit, or not miserable enough to make the effort. All useless.”

“Let’s start with the vagrants and see how many are willing to join us,” Shyla said. “Ximen, you keep working with Aphra to ensure the dig stays hidden. Take half of our members. Gurice, I need you to organize the other half and start excavating a tunnel to Zirdai.”

“What are you going to do?” Jayden asked.

“I’m going to do what I do best. Research. I’ll search for information on Tamburah’s other vault and look for another dig site that might be easier to access.”

Shyla started with the First Room of Knowledge. After collecting all the tablets and scrolls with any reference to King Tamburah, she piled them on a low table in the reading area along with four druks. She squirmed into a comfortable position on the cushion and set to work.

After the meeting with her…lieutenants, Shyla had returned to her room. She’d slept until angle zero then packed enough supplies to last her a couple sun jumps. Stopping to say hello to Hanif, she’d informed him that she planned to spend a significant time in the two Rooms of Knowledge. He’d already known that she’d arrived. The monks on guard had beaten her to his office.

When she had researched Tamburah for Banqui’s mission to uncover The Eyes over a circuit ago, she had gone to the University of Zirdai’s library. The resources there hadn’t mentioned or implied there was another vault.

And, as she slowly lost feeling in her backside during the dozens of angles she spent reading, she failed to find any reference in the monks’ collection to a second vault or to another building that Tamburah might have lived in or frequented.

Shyla stood and stretched, rubbing her stiff muscles. Time to explore the map room. Taking a druk, she found the hidden opening and wriggled on her stomach through the small half-moon gap. She’d recently rediscovered it. A sharp pang of loneliness gripped her. Rendor had been with her. He’d stuck his head into the gap, all that he could fit. She wished she could go back to that moment and start over with him.

Focusing on the task at hand, Shyla brushed dirt and sand from her clothes and straightened. None of the monks, including Hanif, knew about this shortcut and she hoped they never did. Otherwise, they’d seal it up and Shyla would be out of luck. No doubt getting permission to enter the map room would be difficult.