Losham
The convoy left the hotel at seven-thirty in the morning.
Everyone understood that leaders at this level needed personnel that answered only to them.
It took the convoy less than fifteen minutes to reach the tunnel entrance.
The central ridge of the island ran the length of the interior, and going over it would have meant hours of switchbacks on unpaved roads, or no roads at all.
The tunnel passed beneath the ridge in a straight line from the resort to the military side, and what would have been a half-day journey by surface was a forty-minute drive through reinforced concrete.
The air cooled noticeably as the vehicle descended into the volcanic rock.
The tunnel was wide, allowing for traffic going both ways, and it was well lit.
It was also rigged to explode if the island was ever attacked and invading troops made the mistake of using the tunnel to go from one side of the island to the other.
Not that it was a likely scenario since no one knew that this little piece of land in the middle of the Indian Ocean was home to a large army of immortal warriors who would one day conquer the world.
A select group of men in positions of power knew about the resort and the infamous brothel that catered to a wide variety of perversions, but no one invaded islands for a bunch of whores, even if said whores were the finest in the world.
Navuh was just paranoid, and he liked to booby-trap everything, as evidenced by him booby-trapping the glass enclosure in his own basement.
The mansion was still uninhabitable.
Losham didn't mind working from the hotel, but once the island opened up for business again, the suite he occupied would be needed for the celebrity guests the Brotherhood lured to the island.
Kings, princes, prime ministers, and presidents – they all had their vices, and the opportunity to indulge far from the public eye was so tempting that they were willing to do risky things to get what they craved and couldn't get anywhere else.
The mansion needed to be repaired before guests could be brought to the resort, but for that to happen, the basement activities needed to conclude first.
Losham shook his head. He shouldn't be thinking about things like that right now.
He should be preparing for the meeting, but the truth was that he enjoyed the business part of the Brotherhood's operations much more than the military side of it.
That was why he hadn't been to the other side of the island ever since Navuh had disappeared. There had been no reason for him to go.
The military had been Kolhood's territory, and Losham had preferred not to engage with his troublesome brother if he didn't absolutely need to.
But now Kolhood was gone, and so were Hazok and Hocken, and Losham had a hard time maintaining the somber expression of a grieving brother when all he wanted to do was grin.
It was such a relief to be rid of them.
It wasn't without challenges, though. He had to make a speech before all the commanding officers and the junior brothers, convince them that the Brotherhood was in good hands and heading in the right direction, and appoint replacements.
He had practiced the grieving expression in the mirror this morning, and he'd been satisfied with his performance. Acting was easy for him. After all, he'd been acting as the dutiful son to a tyrant for two thousand years while looking after his own interests.
As the convoy emerged on the military side, the change in the landscape was stark.
Instead of the beauty of the resort with its manicured palms and bougainvillea, this side was all about function.
Training grounds, vehicle depots, and low buildings that housed armories and the communications centers.
The road curved toward a low structure that looked almost ordinary from the outside. There were three levels of concrete set into the slope of a hill, with vehicle bays at ground level and personnel entrances on the upper ones.
That was the surface part. The bulk of the complex was underground, and that was where the meeting would be held.
The barracks had been built nearly a century ago, before air conditioning had made the surface of the island bearable.
The underground configuration had served a triple purpose.
It shielded the soldiers from the brutal heat, hid them from passing ships, and later, from passing aircraft, and made the barracks more defensible against attack.
After leaving the vehicles in their designated area, Losham and his entourage headed inside.
The corridors were lit by overhead panels and lined with doors leading to offices, briefing rooms, and the various administrative spaces that supported the army. Losham had not visited this section in months.
He'd chosen the largest hall in the entire military complex for today's meeting, and even that might not be large enough.
When they reached it, the set of heavy double doors was open, and through it he could see the three-story-high hall that was carved out of the rock with reinforced supports along the walls. It had been designed to hold a thousand men comfortably and twice that number in a crowded configuration.
Today it would be crowded.
The seating had been arranged in tiered rows facing a raised platform at the front that held a podium, a long table for the most senior officers, and a row of chairs that had been set up to accommodate the eight junior brothers in the order of their seniority.
Behind the platform, the wall bore the symbol of the Brotherhood, two sickle swords crossed at the handle with the disk of eternity between them, projected onto the rock in a way that made it visible from every seat in the hall.
Losham stopped at the entrance and surveyed the room, which was full to the brim.
The officers had been waiting for him in starched uniforms and formal postures, eager to put on their best face for the new acting head of the Brotherhood.
Their attention shifted toward him, two thousand sets of eyes focusing on him.
Showtime.
Losham took a breath and walked down the central aisle.
The hall went silent. Not all at once, but in a wave that moved outward from the doorway as the officers nearest to him registered his entrance and the silence rippled across the rows.
By the time he reached the front, the only sound in the hall was his light footsteps on the polished stone floor and the heavier footsteps of his personal guard behind him.
He climbed the steps to the platform and stood next to his place at the center of the long table, with the row of chairs for the junior brothers to his right and the podium directly in front of him.
The eight junior brothers had been seated when he'd entered, and they hadn't stood to honor him, which had been a calculated breach of protocol on their part.
They would have risen for his father, and they would have risen for Kolhood.
He registered the message they were sending, and he would address it later.
The juniors were arranged from left to right in the order of their nominal seniority, which had been determined by Navuh.
Zorath, the most senior of the eight, had a face that gave nothing away, but he was coolheaded and reasonably reliable, which meant that he'd never been caught scheming against anyone. In the Brotherhood, that was as good as it got.
Horek had served as the head of intelligence under Hocken, and he would have to be watched.
Koshan had been Kolhood's deputy on certain logistics matters. He was competent and ambitious, and he would also have to be watched.
Bokev was basically a brute and posed no strategic threat.
Mazlen was restless and ambitious, and the one most likely to make a move.
Modak was a follower, not a leader. He would toe the line.
Shavek was a religious fanatic, and that made him dangerous because he wasn't thinking logically.
Navuh had put him in charge of religious services, and the guy delivered impassioned sermons about the wisdom of Mortdh's teachings and the path to victory the Brotherhood must follow.
He would have to be managed carefully, which was one of the reasons Losham had decided to put him in charge of the breeding program.
He needed the guy to report to him daily.
Borhash was a joker, and no one took him seriously, but Losham wasn't buying his act. He also would need to be watched closely.
None of them looked at him directly when he swept his gaze over them.
Losham stepped to the podium.
"Brothers," he said.
His voice came out the way he had practiced, low, steady, and carrying an undercurrent of grief. The acoustics of the hall were good, and it carried to the back rows without the need for amplification.
"Two days ago, the Brotherhood lost three of its most prominent members. Kolhood, Hocken, and Hazok made a grave mistake, and it cost them their lives."
He paused, letting the words hang in the air.
The hall was perfectly silent.
"They violated Lord Navuh's sanctuary. They entered his harem. It was a blatant defiance of a prohibition put in place by the god Mortdh himself. Lord Navuh's judgment was severe. His judgment was just. His judgment was final."
A murmur started in the back of the hall, but it was quickly suppressed.
"The loss is difficult for me," Losham continued. "They were my brothers, and I did all I could to dissuade them from taking this reckless step. But they did not listen, and now they are gone, and their absence is a grievous wound to me and to the entire Brotherhood."
He drew a breath, keeping the expression of heavy grief on his face.
"Their fate is a lesson to us all. Lord Navuh's word is incontestable.
His will is our law. His rules are absolute, and the harem was, is, and forever will be off-limits to anyone but Lord Navuh, or those whose access he authorizes personally.
There is no one in this room who does not know that the harem is off-limits.
There is no officer who does not understand that the prohibition applies to all regardless of rank, regardless of seniority, and regardless even of blood. "
He looked across the hall.
"My brothers convinced themselves that the situation justified their entry, but they were wrong, and they suffered the consequence that Lord Navuh has always promised to whoever dared to break his most sacred of rules."
He paused, looking around the gathered force with a solemn expression firmly affixed to his face.
"I tell you this as a cautionary tale. I tell you this because the Brotherhood is built on submission and obedience to our god Mortdh and to his son, Lord Navuh. It's the foundation that holds us together."
Losham paused again, allowing time for the two thousand or so males to adjust their internal calculations about what kind of leader the new acting head of the Brotherhood was going to be.
He had them exactly where he wanted them.
The Eight worked the room, using a light thrall that was the cognitive equivalent of a hand on a shoulder, suggesting to the assembled officers that the loyalty they felt was right, that the obedience they were being asked for was natural, that the path Losham was laying out was the path they had always intended to walk anyway.
The thrall would not produce loyalty in men who had no foundation for it.
It would only amplify what was already there.
Their loyalty and obedience to Navuh would extend to Losham.
"Today, I am announcing a new leadership." He turned toward the row of chairs to his right.
"Shavek. Will you please stand?"
There was a small ripple of attention as Shavek stood. He had not been expecting to be called first, and Losham could see the calculation in his eyes.
"Shavek, you have served the Brotherhood faithfully, and your devotion to Mortdh's vision has been a model for all of us.
You will assume Hazok's responsibilities, overseeing the Dormant enclosure and the breeding program.
Producing soldiers for Mortdh's army is the most important endeavor on the island. This is the future of our cause."
"I shall serve faithfully." Shavek bowed more deeply than the situation called for, which could signal that he was honored by the assignment, or that he'd been hoping for something better and was disappointed. Religious fanatics, or any fanatics for that matter, were hard to read.
"Thank you, brother," Losham said. "You may sit."
Shavek sat, and those gathered nodded and murmured their approval, but no one clapped.
It wasn't something that was done in the Brotherhood.
"Modak. Will you please stand?"
There was another ripple, this time of surprise, because no one had expected Modak to be promoted. He'd been serving away from the island, overseeing the operations in South America, and he'd only returned when Navuh's emails had instructed all the brothers to return to the island.
Modak stood, looking pleased. Elevating him was a deliberate signal that the new arrangement was not going to be limited to the most senior figures.
"Modak, you have served the Brotherhood with distinction in our regional operations and have demonstrated competence and discretion.
You will assume Hocken's responsibilities.
You will oversee the resort operations, including the hotel, the brothel, and the entertainment facilities.
You will also serve as my deputy in matters concerning the integration of our administrative and military operations. "
"I shall serve faithfully." Modak bowed, not too deep, not too shallow, and then took his seat.
More murmurs erupted, and glances were exchanged. Losham's choices were controversial, but the boldest appointment, the one that everyone had been waiting for, had not been made yet, and the anticipation was building.