“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?”

“Who doesn’t?” But Gurice rolled her shoulders. “I don’t feel any different.”

“Good. Then you can get back to work.”

She huffed. “And after all I’ve done for you.”

“You have my gratitude. And you’ve earned a gold statue of Tamburah. We’ve lots.”

“Ugh, I’ll pass on the statue.”

“He’s not naked in all of them.”

“Still no.”

“Yeah, I don’t think they’re going to be popular.”

Shyla wanted to get everyone sworn in right away, but Mojag still slept and she didn’t have the heart to wake him. Plus, if she was being honest, the effort to open Mojag’s magic had used up quite a bit of her energy. Instead, she decided to wait until after she returned from the city. She planned to go into Zirdai at angle one-eighty to sell one of Tamburah’s crowns to the professor. It had been about nine sun jumps since their last meeting and the woman could have decided to leave early. Also they needed the coins to buy the platinum from Zimraan. And, since she was being honest, she might catch a glimpse of Rendor. It was pathetic, but she missed him.

Ximen elected to accompany her when Jayden chose to remain at headquarters with Mojag. Elek and Jaft also tagged along. They were scheduled for a water run. In order to keep the jugs filled, teams of two had been making trips to the bowels of Zirdai with the velbloud bladders every five or six sun jumps.

Right after the group climbed to the surface, Jayden called up to Shyla. “Mojag’s awake.” His face creased as if he was in pain.

She waited.

“He moved the sand with magic.”

Relief and joy swirled in her heart. She hoped Mojag recovered from the ordeal, but it seemed her plan to expand their number of wielders worked.

“You know he’ll be impossible to live with now,” Jayden said.

“And how is that different than before?”

Jayden just shook his head. Shyla joined the others. She walked beside Ximen, striding easily through the sand as if she were a velbloud ready to lift into the sky. Her thoughts focused on how to find others who had the potential to wield magic.

When they reached the city, Elek and Ximen headed for a different entrance than Shyla and Jaft. They planned to meet up once inside. There were a few deacons watching the people returning from the desert. Some of them wore protective torques.