Chapter 26 Navuh
NAVUH
Kian's smug expression was grating on Navuh's nerves.
Annani's son thought he'd won something by figuring out where Khiann was hidden, that he'd stripped away Navuh's leverage and left him with nothing to bargain with.
How delightfully wrong he was.
Navuh could continue playing the denial game, keep insisting that Kian's theory was nothing but speculation and conjecture. But what would be the point? He'd already told Annani that he expected to be freed after she recovered her precious truelove mate.
The location was going to be revealed before his release anyway, and there was no point hiding the fact that Kian was right about the five bodies in stasis and the reason Navuh had dug them all out.
A god in stasis didn't look any different than an immortal in stasis, and by the time Navuh had decided to dig out Khiann, the god's clothing had turned to dust, so he couldn't tell him from the others by that. He'd had to take all five bodies.
Still, it didn't matter that they knew where Khiann was or that he had four companions, because getting them out without Navuh's help was impossible.
Watching that smugness drain from Kian's face would be immensely satisfying when the guy realized that his so-called win was worthless.
"You're right," Navuh said.
Kian blinked. "I'm sorry?"
"Khiann is in the glass enclosure in my basement." Navuh let the words hang in the air, savoring the flicker of surprise in Kian's eyes. "Congratulations. You've solved the puzzle. Or at least, a small part of it."
"Small? That was your entire bargaining chip."
Navuh smiled. "You should know by now that I always have several layers of protection. Did you really think knowing the location was enough? Did you imagine that you could simply waltz onto my island, break open the enclosure, and carry Khiann home like a trophy?"
"I told you that I'll figure out a way."
"Not without my help." Navuh adjusted his position against the pillows, wincing at the effort required.
His arms were still weak, his movements clumsy.
But his mind was as sharp as ever, maybe sharper because all he could do was think and plan.
"Getting through my army is the easy part.
Getting the enclosure opened without destroying your precious Khiann is much more difficult.
I built an impenetrable box and booby-trapped it so no one can get in and rob my treasures, and since I don't trust anyone, only I possess the disarmament codes.
" He tapped his temple. "They are right here, so by saving my life, you saved Khiann's.
In retrospect, it was a very wise decision, and your mother should be grateful to you.
If you had refused my mate's plea to save me, you would have doomed Khiann. "
The satisfaction of watching Kian's expression shift was worth every indignity Navuh had suffered in this place. First came disbelief, then calculation, and finally acceptance.
"You're bluffing," Kian tried.
"Am I?" Navuh spread his hands in a gesture of openness.
"Think about it. I've had millennia to prepare for every contingency.
Would I really leave my most valuable asset unprotected?
Would I put it behind glass where everyone in my mansion could see it, without guaranteeing that no one but me could open it?
Would I store the one thing that could guarantee my freedom in a glass box that anyone could smash open? "
Kian was silent for a long moment. "What kind of traps did you install?"
"The kind that will destroy everything inside the enclosure if triggered.
The glass is specially designed. If you try to cut through it, shatter it, or breach it in any way without entering the codes first, the failsafe activates.
" Navuh paused, letting the implications sink in.
"Khiann and his companions will perish for good.
Their fragile bones will not survive and will be reduced to dust."
"I don't believe you."
"You don't have to believe me. But can you afford to take the risk?
" Navuh tilted his head, studying Kian's face.
"Will your mother allow you to take it? After five thousand years of mourning her truelove mate, then learning that he might still be alive and recoverable, would she gamble his existence on the chance that I'm lying? "
The muscles in Kian's face tightened almost imperceptibly. He was good at hiding his reactions, better than most, but not as good as he thought he was.
"How do I verify your claim?" Kian asked.
"You don't."
"That's not acceptable."
"I don't care what you find acceptable." Navuh smiled pleasantly.
"You know who I am. You know how I operate.
Now ask yourself, would I leave my most precious possession, my only real bargaining chip with Annani, vulnerable to theft?
Would I store it in a container that any fool with a hammer could break open? "
Kian didn't answer, but Navuh could see the wheels turning behind his eyes. The guy was smart enough to recognize the truth even if he didn't want to admit it.
"The booby-traps are real," Navuh continued. "The disarmament codes are not written anywhere and are stored only in my head. If you attempt to breach that enclosure without my cooperation, you will lose Khiann forever. Those are the facts. What you choose to do with them is your decision."
"You could be lying about the whole thing. The traps, the codes, even the very existence of Khiann and his companions in stasis could be a fabrication designed to get leverage."
"That's a logical fallacy, Kian, and you are smarter than that. My bargain explicitly specified that I will be freed only after Annani gets her mate back. If I don't help you get him, I don't get my freedom."
The silence stretched between them, thick and heavy. Navuh let it linger. He'd learned long ago that silence was often more powerful than words. It gave people time to imagine the worst, to talk themselves into corners, and to realize the full scope of their predicament.
In this case, it gave Kian time to realize the inescapable truth, but Navuh didn't have the patience to wait.
"I would have loved to watch you stew in your juices for a while," he said. "But time is of the essence, and you need to act fast. Any delay can mean the end of Khiann. In fact, you might be too late already, which is bad for you and bad for me."
Kian's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"
"Whoever is running things on the island now, which is probably Losham, has undoubtedly noticed the glass enclosure in my basement and wondered what I have inside."
"So?"
"So, if Losham decides to satisfy his curiosity and attempts to break into the enclosure without the necessary codes..." Navuh let the sentence trail off meaningfully.
Understanding dawned in Kian's eyes. "He would trigger the booby-trap."
"Exactly." Navuh let out a breath. "I designed the system to protect my leverage so it could not be stolen away from me, the precise way you planned to do it.
The problem is that I never anticipated being taken off the island and imprisoned by the clan while Losham poked around in my basement.
So, you see, my dear Kian, we need to work together for each of us to achieve his objective. "
Kian dropped his pretense of doubt. "How long do we have?"
"I have no idea. It depends on how curious Losham is and how quickly he grows frustrated with whatever methods he's already tried.
" Navuh paused. "Knowing him, he's probably been attempting to breach it since shortly after my capture.
If he hasn't triggered the failsafe yet, it's only because the special materials the box was built from have proven more resistant than he expected. "
"How long will it hold?"
"The glass is treated to resist cutting, drilling, and extreme heat. It won't shatter under direct impact either. But with persistence and the right tools, he will eventually succeed and trigger the booby-trap.
"So, here we are." Navuh gestured at his paralyzed legs beneath the thin hospital blanket. "You need me. I need my freedom. And we need to work together to beat Losham to the task."
"Tell me something," Kian said. "Have you been transporting Khiann and his companions from one stronghold to another throughout the millennia?"
"No." Navuh saw no reason to lie about this.
The truth served his purposes just as well.
"For most of those five thousand years, Khiann and his companions remained exactly where the earthquake left them—buried in the desert in stasis.
" Navuh settled more comfortably against his pillows.
Telling Kian cost him nothing, and it reinforced his claim.
"When the earthquake struck, Khiann and four of his immortal companions, along with all the humans in their caravan, were buried under tons of sand and rock.
The humans died, but the god and the immortals entered stasis.
My father knew where they were. He was there shortly after it happened, before the desert swallowed the last of the evidence.
He'd intended to kill Khiann himself, to punish Annani for humiliating him, but the earthquake robbed him of that satisfaction.
Digging them out just to finish the job seemed like too much trouble, so he just left them there. "
"He told you where they were?"
"He didn't have to. He used the flyer, which kept a travel log. I wrote down the coordinates." He smiled. "At the time, I couldn't have foreseen what I would do with them, but the Fates must have whispered in my ear and prompted me to do it."
Kian grimaced. "The Fates work in mysterious ways. I guess they used you to save Khiann, but did they know that it would take five thousand years for you to finally reveal what you knew to Annani?"
Navuh shrugged. "The Fates' tapestry is vast, and the threads they weave span thousands of years."
"So philosophical." Kian crossed his arms over his chest. "Didn't take you for the type."
"You'd be surprised. Perhaps you should come to chat with me more often."
Kian grimaced. "I'd rather spend time shoveling shit."
"Ouch." Navuh chuckled. "That was crass. What would your mother say if she heard you talking like that?"
"She's not here. When did you dig them out?"
"I left them where they were for a long time.
They were perfectly safe under the sand.
No one knew the location except me, and there was no chance anyone would stumble across them accidentally.
As long as they remained hidden, they represented potential leverage.
I wasn't in any hurry. I had time. We all had time. "
"What changed?"
"World War II." Navuh allowed himself a moment of nostalgia.
That had been an interesting period. So much chaos, so much opportunity.
"The global upheaval made accidental discovery more probable.
The world was being torn apart and rebuilt in ways that threatened to expose them.
Military operations, archaeological expeditions, infrastructure projects, and so on.
I decided it was time to secure my investment. "
"You dug them up."
"I sent an excavation crew of immortals with the exact coordinates.
They knew that they were looking for immortals in stasis, but they didn't know that they were digging to find a god.
I didn't know how many immortals Khiann had taken with him, and I was surprised when they informed me that they had found five desiccated bodies, fragile and nearly skeletal, but well preserved by the dry desert conditions.
After they brought them to the island, I compelled everyone on the team to forget what they brought.
If anyone asked where they had been, they had reported excavating for treasure, which was partially true because they had also retrieved plenty of gold and precious stones that were part of what the caravan had been transporting.
My men had actually used the chests that the treasures had been kept in to transport the bodies. "
"Did you keep them in those chests?"
"No, but that was where I got the idea. It wasn't easy to preserve them in stasis on a tropical island.
The moisture was their enemy, but I couldn't put them in airtight containers because their bodies needed to absorb nutrients from the environment to keep their spark of life.
I put them in specially designed chests that protected their fragile bodies and kept them in a hidden storage room in the harem, or rather under it.
I had powerful dehumidifiers installed in that space that ran twenty-four-seven, and I had the floor covered with plenty of sand to provide the bodies with the necessary nutrients.
It worked well, and I could check on them from time to time to make sure that they were still alive, but then the harem was flooded, the electrical systems failed, and I had to get them out.
I transferred them to my mansion, but I needed a new safe place to store them. "
"You built the enclosure for them."
Navuh nodded. "Better security, better climate control, and better protection." He smiled. "And better booby-traps."
The room fell silent again, and Navuh watched Kian's face, reading the calculations happening behind those carefully neutral eyes.
The guy knew that what he'd just heard was a true account of what had happened, and he knew that he had no choice but to cooperate with Navuh, which meant giving him what he wanted.
His freedom.