“Thank you for the information,” Shyla said to the Arch Deacon. She gathered her will and directed it toward him. “You will forget that you fought with me. Instead you will remember fighting with an Invisible Sword member. You will forget this conversation. Sleep,” she ordered.

The man’s body relaxed.

Jayden peered at her. “I didn’t know you learned how to erase memories. Are you sure it worked?”

“Why wouldn’t it work? You taught me yourself. Don’t you remember?” Now it was her turn to smirk. Better that than snapping at him in annoyance for doubting her.

“Me? When? Did you…”

She laughed at his panicked expression. “Relax, Jayden. I didn’t erase your memories.”

“Then how did you learn to do that?”

Gesturing to the prone Arch Deacon, she said, “When I’m reading a person’s soul, he’s mine. His thoughts and emotions are like patterns in the sand and I can smooth some out, redraw others, and add my own. It’s instinctual and rather easy.” And so very tempting to smooth out Jayden’s lingering suspicions and doubts. But she wasn’t Tamburah and she wouldn’t abuse her power. And if she did, Rendor promised to remove The Eyes.

“You know he was lying, right?” Jayden asked.

“Of course. Did you get the torque from your opponent?”

“Of course.”

“He didn’t tell us anything useful,” Mojag whined.

“Oh, he told me quite a bit. He just doesn’t know he did.” She put her hands on her hips. “You both know what The Eyes can do, right? Or are you like this man, who refuses to believe?”

Mojag ducked his head. “All I know is that they gave you power.”

Jayden had the decency to appear abashed. Before he could respond, she turned to Mojag. “I’ll explain later. For now, can you take us to those two Arch Deacons on level twenty-two?”

“Yeah.”

Jayden glanced at her. “You want to take their torques?”

“Might as well. After this, the priestess will know for sure that we’re aware of their protective properties. Then she’ll ensure the Arch Deacons travel in bigger packs.”

They returned for the druk and Mojag led them to the tunnel with the waiting ambush near the entrance on level twenty-two. As she walked, her tunic rubbed against the cut on her lower back, increasing the burning pain. When she woke the power of The Eyes, they had healed all her wounds and erased all her scars. But unfortunately it was a one-time occurrence.

When they neared the Arch Deacons, the boy wrinkled his nose and stopped. He must have a good sense of smell because Shyla couldn’t detect the scent of burnt hair here or when she had fought the other man. No sounds of a conversation reached her, either. Did he have sensitive hearing as well or had the Arch Deacons been alerted to their presence?