“We can’t take him back to Zirdai until we find his family and determine what happened,” Jayden said.

“Agreed. Can you take him for now?” Shyla asked the monks. “Tell Hanif we are searching for his family.”

“All right.” Lota took the baby and covered him in the blanket.

The other monk opened his water skin and dribbled a white liquid into the baby’s mouth.

Surprised, Shyla asked, “Milk?”

“Yes. Unfortunately, we have experience with saving babies. Fortunately, it happens infrequently,” he said.

The monks headed back to the monastery while Shyla and Jayden worked on releasing the Arch Deacons.

“They deserve to be cooked,” Jayden said.

“That’s a horrible way to die,” she said. “Besides, we don’t kill. And I’m sure they’ll be punished by the priestess for failing to capture me.”

He grunted, then focused on the dune behind her. She turned in time to watch the four short swords emerge from the sand. Jayden picked them up. “These’ll come in handy.” He inclined his head to the Arch Deacons. “They’ll be awake soon. Let’s go, I’m beat.”

No need to tell her twice. Shyla hurried to catch up with Jayden as they retrieved their sun cloaks. She erased their tracks as Jayden’s energy was clearly lagging.

“I must admit,” he said, “that trick of trapping the Arch Deacons was a great idea. I’ve always viewed that skill as a way to hide and travel unseen.” He remained quiet for a while. “Granted, we don’t have many skirmishes on the surface.”

“And now the Heliacal Priestess knows what we can do. Let’s hope that prevents her from trying that again.”

As Jayden’s steps slowed, she glanced at him. “I wish I could have helped you more.”

“You will. You’re a fast learner, and, once you have enough practice, you’ll be able to sink a dozen deacons.”

Not sure she had the power for that many, she kept quiet. When they arrived at headquarters, there was a celebratory buzz in the air. In the common room, the six men from the mission stood amid a group of people all with smiles on their faces. Six previously empty water jugs were now full. Jaft spun around, showing off the air bladder that had been fashioned into a backpack.

Shyla gestured Elek over to update her and Jayden. “Where are the others? Did something happen?”

“No, the mission went off without a hitch. Rendor thought having all of us leave at the same time would be too suspicious. So six left this sun jump and the other four will go during the next.”

“Any problems?” Jayden asked.

“None. We avoided all the patrols. Well, getting the water from the pipe was a bit tricky. The valve had rusted shut and was a devil to get open.” He flexed his biceps. “But it was no match for me.”

She raised an eyebrow. “For you?”