“It gets worse,” Mojag said. “There’s a rumor that she sent a couple of her Arch Deacons to Catronia to purchase more.”

Catronia was ten sun jumps away. “Do you know how long ago?”

Mojag shrugged. “The gossip is still warm.”

Warm? She glanced at Jayden.

“Two maybe three sun jumps at most,” Jayden translated. “We have some time to experiment with the ones we have and hopefully figure out a counter strategy before the priestess makes more.”

“All right, we’ll leave at angle zero. What about the baby’s mother? Any news?”

“Not a squeak,” Mojag said. “We’ve the network on the lookout.”

The vagrant network had come in handy a number of times and had found Aphra. “Can you ask the network to keep an eye out for Rendor?”

Mojag shot Jayden a look but then ducked his head. “Sure thing.”

Mojag was a lousy liar. Did he not remember she could read his emotions? What had Jayden told him about Rendor? Sick to her stomach, she left them and found Orla sitting in her favorite nook. Shyla joined her and asked the woman to have her people look for Rendor.

“Do we have to worry about him giving us trouble?” Orla asked.

“No. But I don’t know how he’s going to find food, or what he plans to do. If you see him or find out where he’s living, can you please let me know.”

“All right.” Orla paused. “Can I let you know when I see other things?”

Not sure where Orla was going with this, she said, “Of course. Do you have some information for me?”

“The deacons who are stationed at the chapel on level fifty-one are especially cruel. They recently rounded up a number of people for ‘lack of proper devotion’ and are rehabilitating them. I’m afraid some of the younger ones aren’t going to survive.”

Shyla shot to her feet. “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

“I’ve been debating whether the backlash is worth it,” Orla said calmly.

“The backlash?”

“Yes. If you go in there and rescue those people, the deacons will retaliate. And I can guarantee you it will be worse.”

“Oh no, I’ll ensure there’s no backlash,” Shyla said.

“You can do that?”

Shyla had no idea. “I’m going to try.”

Nine

“Tell me again what we’re doing here?” Jayden asked for the fourth time.

“We’re going to rescue the people being tortured inside that chapel,” she whispered with annoyance. Granted, she’d woken him up and yanked him from his cushion, but still…

They crouched in a shadow on level fifty-one, watching the chapel. It was angle three hundred. Two deacons stood guard outside. Since no one dared to attack a chapel, they were more for show. However, the deacons were quite capable of defending themselves. Plus they all carried knives.