Chapter 32
LOSHAM
Losham had spent the morning cutting and pasting bits and pieces of the recording that the human with the wire had transmitted from the harem. His brothers had all heard the recording already, so there was no actual need for it, but he was going to use it to bait Kolhood.
He had the entire sequence mapped out in his head, the montage was queued up, Dave and Rami were in the adjacent bedroom, and his brothers were due to arrive any minute now.
Rami had left a tray with a thermal carafe of coffee and four cups for the meeting, but Losham didn't want to wait and poured himself a cup.
He was going to enjoy the performance he was about to deliver, but he couldn't let it show. He was going to savor it for years to come, though, remembering every detail of outmaneuvering the brutes.
He had two thousand years of experience manipulating their father, and his brothers were small fry compared to Navuh.
When Kolhood entered the office without knocking, and the two others followed, Losham didn't react to the blatant disrespect.
Let them think that he feared them.
Instead, he stood up and greeted them with a smile. "Brothers. So good of you to arrive in a timely manner." He made a show of lifting his hand to look at his latest model Patek Philippe watch. "Ten o'clock precisely."
Kolhood grimaced. "Losham."
He took the chair directly across from Losham, while the two others flanked him.
They were so predictable, arranging themselves in the same manner each time they were conferring. Hopefully, they would remain as predictable for the rest of the meeting.
Losham's plan depended on it.
"Please, help yourselves to some coffee. It's fresh."
None of the three reached for the carafe.
He sat down and flipped open his laptop. "I thought to open this meeting with a compilation of choice moments from the harem recording." He didn't wait for the brothers to respond before starting the audio file.
The voices that came out of the speakers belonged to the human gardener that Losham had sent into the harem with a wire hidden under his shirt, and the various harem staff members he'd interacted with. The man sounded friendly and deferential as he spoke with the chief gardener.
"What's the protocol when the ladies come out to the garden? How should I greet them?"
"You don't," the older human said. "You go down on your knees, lower your forehead to the ground, and stay like that until they pass you by. You don't look up, and you don't speak unless they speak to you, and if they speak to you, you keep your eyes on the ground unless they tell you to look up."
"Got it. I assume Lord Navuh doesn't want lowly humans like us to gaze upon his concubines."
"You assume correctly, and the same protocol goes for the lord. We are supposed to be invisible unless our betters want to acknowledge our presence. Nobody looks at the lord. You stay down until you are sure they can't see or hear you anymore or until you are told to rise."
"Understood," the new gardener said. "Do the lord and ladies come out to the gardens often?"
"The ladies used to come out daily, but recently they have been staying indoors."
"Too hot outside, eh?"
"It's not that." The chief gardener lowered his voice. "There was an incident."
"What sort of incident?"
"Not for me to say."
"I am asking only because I don't want to get in trouble," the new gardener said. "I want to steer clear of it as best I can."
The human was doing a fantastic job, and Losham wondered how much of it was his own words and how much was what Dave had planted in his head.
"The lord gets angry from time to time. Very angry.
You don't want to be anywhere near him when that happens.
Mercifully, this time he's sequestering himself until the episode is over.
Rumors say that he hurt one of his concubines quite badly, and this is not something the lord normally enjoys doing.
He doesn't want to hurt any of the others, so he remains in seclusion. "
"I see. Where is he staying, so I will know to avoid the area?"
"His suite of rooms is on the top floor of the pyramid, and we are not allowed anywhere above floor four, so you are not going to run into the lord or his ladies.
You're safe. The maids, on the other hand, have no choice, and the poor things fear for their lives every time they deliver food to the lord and ladies or need to clean their rooms."
"What's on those forbidden floors besides the lord's suite of rooms?"
"The pool, the library, other recreational facilities, the ladies' suites, and an interior garden for their exclusive pleasure. The gardeners working there don't answer to me. It's a different crew."
"I'm glad," the new gardener said. "I would've shaken in my boots if I had to work there."
Losham stopped the audio.
"That's a good sample," he said. "I have several more like it with different staff members, but they all paint more or less the same picture."
He picked up his coffee and took a sip, watching his brothers over the rim.
Kolhood's expression hadn't changed.
Hazok looked bored, his expression slack while he waited to see what Kolhood would say so he could agree with it. Hocken sat with his arms folded over his chest, trying to look unimpressed while also waiting for his cue from Kolhood.
"It was word for word," Kolhood finally said. "The head gardener told your human exactly what you have been telling us for weeks, in the same order and using the same talking points. It sounded as if he was reading from a script."
Losham set the coffee down and assumed a sarcastic smile. "Are you implying that I'm so powerful that I can send telepathic instructions all the way to the harem and directly into the head of that human?"
Annoyance flashed in Kolhood's eyes. "Of course not. I don't know how you did it, but that conversation didn't sound authentic."
Losham wondered where Kolhood had learned to use the word authentic. That wasn't something that belonged in the brute's vocabulary.
"That is impressive on my part. I would love to know how I did it."
"I do not know how, only that it was done." Kolhood took a deep breath.
Losham smiled.
His brother wasn't going to smell the lie on him. Losham had two thousand years of practice to subdue his emotional scents so he could hide his true intention from Navuh.
"You caught me, Kolhood. I've been hiding my telepathic abilities for centuries."
Hazok snorted, Hocken's mouth twitched, but Kolhood's suspicious expression did not change.
"Mock me if you like, but that will not make me believe your story." Kolhood kept his flat, black gaze on Losham's eyes, unblinking, trying to intimidate Losham into breaking eye contact first, but it wasn't going to work.
Kolhood was an amateur compared to their father.
Losham held the gaze easily, his own amusement shaping his expression, and waited.
Eventually, Kolhood broke eye contact.
He covered the break by waving a dismissive hand. "I don't know why you bothered with those snippets. I've heard the entire thing."
"I'm sure you did. I played the sections for emphasis, so we could put this never-ending argument to rest."
"The recording didn't last long," Kolhood said.
Losham had been waiting for this, and he had an answer prepared.
"What are you implying?" he asked.
"Something went conveniently wrong after less than a full day of transmission."
"The wire went against the regulations. He wasn't supposed to wear it. Someone might have noticed and taken it away."
Kolhood smiled wolfishly. "If that had happened, we would have heard it, but we didn't. The wire just stopped transmitting."
"It might have gotten damaged. The guy is a gardener, not a sound engineer. He might have dropped it in the dirt and stepped on it."
"Might have, could have. Those are not satisfying answers."
"If you have a different theory, Kolhood, I'm ready to hear it."
Kolhood's eyes had that flat, black look again. "My theory is that our father is gone."
Hazok, who had poured himself coffee during the verbal sparring between Losham and Kolhood, paused with his hand midway to his mouth, while Hocken had gone very still.
Losham assumed a mildly amused expression. "Where, in your theory, has Father gone? Was he abducted by aliens? Was he beamed up to their spaceship?"
"Stop playing stupid, Losham," Kolhood spat. "You know what I meant. Navuh is dead."
"I'm not playing stupid. I'm extrapolating. If our father is dead, how did he die? Was he murdered by his concubines? Did they ambush him with steak knives? Or maybe the harem staff rebelled and attacked him en masse? I want to explore the possibilities of the mechanics."
"You killed him."
There it was.
Losham let the words sit for a long moment while watching Kolhood's face.
He did not deny it, he did not bristle, and he did not laugh in outrage.
He did not produce any of the responses that an innocent male would have produced, or what a guilty male would have done to try to appear innocent.
He just looked at his brother and let the silence do its work for a long moment.
Then he laughed. "Oh, Kolhood. If it were so easy to kill our father, one of us would have done it a long time ago."
Kolhood blinked.
Hazok looked at Kolhood, waiting for him to respond so he would know what to do, and Hocken frowned.
Losham had had several lines prepared, but this one fit the best, given the flavor of Kolhood's pushback.
He had not denied or proclaimed his innocence.
He had pointed out the flaw in the underlying premise.
Navuh was too powerful to be taken out by one of them, or even all four of them working together.
He could have stopped them with one verbal command, and with another, made them turn on each other.
"You may have gotten lucky," Kolhood said, after a moment.
"Lucky?"
"He could have been weak for some reason, distracted, and you snuck up on him."
Losham shook his head, the smile never leaving his face. "After two thousand years of looking for a chance, I finally got it. I must be a very slow learner or very unlucky."
"It is possible."
"Yes, it is possible. Many things are. Like he could have been struck by lightning. That happens sometimes. That probably wouldn't have killed him, but it would have weakened him enough for me to kill him. It's possible, but that doesn't make it so."
He was mocking Kolhood and goading him on purpose, so when the time came to push him to where Losham wanted him to go, he couldn't refuse without losing face.
"Our father is in the harem," Losham continued. "Alive and well, physically, but probably not emotionally. I guess he needs more time to conquer his demons."
"You sound very sure of yourself." Hazok finally spoke.
"Why wouldn't I be? That's the truth, and we've gotten a confirmation.
This is not the first time it has happened.
Our father had episodes like this before.
It's true that this one is lasting longer than any I can remember, but then our father never faced a rebellion before.
Things got ugly for a while there, with his ladies hiding in the basement of his mansion and fearing for their lives.
That must have shaken him to his foundation.
Still, I have no doubt that he will overcome this meltdown like he has overcome all those that came before it. "
Had he overplayed it?
Hazok and Hocken were nodding, and Kolhood looked thoughtful.
"I understand your frustration, but frankly, I'm tired of your baseless accusations. If you want to verify that he's alive, you are welcome to do so, but I want it on record that I have advised against any of you going into the harem and demanding to see our father."
He leaned back in his chair.
Kolhood looked conflicted and didn't take the bait.
Hazok hesitated, and Hocken was watching Kolhood and Hazok to see how they would respond.
Losham waited.
Hazok slapped his palm flat on the desk. "We are going. All four of us."
Dave must have used his influence on Hazok to make him take the initiative. Kolhood was too hardheaded for Dave to infiltrate without him feeling the pressure, so it had been agreed that Dave would work on the other two.
Losham assumed a worried expression and shook his head. "Don't count me in. I'm not suicidal."
Hocken nodded. "It's the only way. We have to go."
Kolhood was trapped. If he said no after all the accusations and after the other two said yes, he would lose face. He would look like a coward.
"Sunday," Kolhood said. "The three of us are going on Sunday. We dress well, bring a gift, and ask politely to see our father."
"You are putting your necks on the line," Losham said. "He will be furious. He doesn't want any immortals in his harem, and he especially doesn't want any of us in there."
"I'm aware," Kolhood said.
"Are you?" Losham tilted his head. "He has executed commanders for far less than what you are about to do."
"We are his sons," Hocken said.
"That is not going to protect you. Do you really think he doesn't know each of us would kill him if given a chance?
He holds no fondness for us. He uses us as long as he needs us.
We are assets to him. Nothing more." Losham let out a long breath through his nose, then he raised his hands, palms up.
"I did my best to dissuade you. It's your heads. Just do not say I did not warn you."
Kolhood pushed his chair back and stood, and the others followed.
"Sunday," Kolhood said. "I will send word in the morning to coordinate timing."
Losham shook his head. "Is there any chance I can talk sense into you and stop you from going?"
"No." Kolhood headed for the door. "It needs to be done."