31. Losham
LOSHAM
The dining table Losham had been using as his desk was finally serving its intended purpose.
The stacks of files and construction blueprints had been cleared, a white cloth had been spread over the wood, and three place settings had been laid with proper silver and fine china.
The hotel kitchen had prepared roasted chicken, a rack of lamb, spicy rice, grilled vegetables, and sliced fruit for dessert.
Rami had brought a bottle of Bordeaux from Losham's private wine collection.
It was meant to look like Losham was hosting a dear friend, and that was the point. Bertram would be lulled into a false sense of security and suspect nothing.
The general had arrived at the hotel about an hour earlier and had been escorted to his room to shower and change into a clean uniform before dinner.
His journey had been long, taking several hours of off-road driving instead of the forty-five minutes it would have taken if the tunnel connecting the two sides of the island could still be traversed.
The knock at the door came precisely at eight o'clock, and as Rami ushered Bertram in, Losham noted that the general looked pleased rather than inconvenienced or worried, which was good.
Evidently he regarded the summons as the rare treat it was, especially for a soldier who wasn't one of Navuh's sons.
"General." Losham rose and clasped Bertram's forearm. "You made it here in good time."
"The coast road is holding up better than the interior." Bertram returned the grip. "In a way, the enemy collapsing the tunnel did us a favor. They exposed a weakness in our defense strategy. We should invest in proper alternative roads rather than rely solely on the tunnel."
Losham grinned. "I knew you were the right choice for the job, Bertram." He gestured to the chair at his right. "Under your leadership, there will be no more such oversights."
The general inclined his head. "Thank you, my lord, for your faith in me and for giving me this opportunity to prove myself."
The general didn't know that Losham's faith in him was the only reason he was being spared, but he would know soon enough.
Rami poured the wine and set the glasses in front of Losham and Bertram, then sat on Losham's left.
"To the Brotherhood," Losham said, lifting his glass. "And Lord Navuh's vision for its future."
He wondered whether he could stop speaking in his father's name once the last competitor was eliminated. The Brotherhood no longer belonged to Navuh. It now belonged to Losham, and he could lead it wherever he wished, but there was no reason to abandon his father's grand vision of world domination.
Well, there was one reason. The clan's hold on him.
He had to find a way to cut their leash, but not yet. He might still need them to solidify his leadership.
"To the Brotherhood." Bertram drank.
Losham passed the first course with easy talk about the secondary power generators, morale in the barracks now that climate control had been restored, and the troops' restlessness with no major war to fight.
Taking over drug cartels around the world was keeping a portion of the Brotherhood occupied and refilling its coffers, but an army needed a real war from time to time, and there hadn't been one in a long while.
"I'll be honest with you, my lord," Bertram said when the meal was done and the second bottle was open. "I was surprised by the invitation, especially the directive to arrive alone. Was there a reason for that?"
Losham leaned back in his chair, taking his wine glass with him. "Was driving the jeep yourself such a big effort?"
"No, not at all. It's just that a general doesn't usually drive himself."
That was true, and Losham hadn't considered how it would look when he'd issued the command.
"Humility and modesty are values I intend to promote from now on, which was one of the reasons I chose you to head the army. I don't have patience with big egos."
Both were true, and Bertram would soon learn what happened to those whose egos grated on Losham's nerves.
The general inclined his head. "Thank you, my lord."
"Blood has ruled the Brotherhood since its inception five thousand years ago," Losham continued.
"Three of my brothers died believing their blood put them above the lord's law.
" He met Bertram's gaze. "I'm done with that.
I want the best male in the position, and that is you.
You were the one who kept things running while Kolhood took all the credit. "
"I won't disappoint the lord," Bertram said.
"I know you won't." Losham signaled Rami to refill the wine.
"What else is going on that I should be aware of, Bertram? And please, don't hesitate to speak freely about my brothers. They might be my blood, but they are not my friends, if you know what I mean."
Losham was sailing dangerously close to the wind. It would have been more prudent to wait until after tomorrow's elimination to ask questions that might hint at what was about to happen, but he was impatient and had a feeling Bertram was holding something back. Probably more than one thing.
"Well?" he prompted. "Nothing you tell me will point back to you. You have my word."
"It's Lord Shavek and what he's allowing in the breeders' enclosure," Bertram said. "I don't know how much of what comes out of that place reaches you, but I don't like what's reaching me."
Losham kept his face impassive. "I get less than I should. So, what is he allowing?"
"Some of the women have organized into a cult they call the Sacred Mothers.
It started small and seemed harmless at first. The women celebrated their fertility and devotion to the god Mortdh, which kept them from turning bitter and resentful.
They were happy to be summoned to the breeding building, even happier when they got pregnant, and they saw it as their sacred duty to give their sons to the Brotherhood and their daughters to the breeding program.
The cult served our needs. The problem is that they are now recruiting aggressively, and currently about a third of the breeders are members. "
"I've heard of the Sacred Mothers. I don't see what harm they can cause."
Bertram took a sip of the wine before putting his glass down. "Lord Shavek shares your opinion and more. He loves them, even though they are fanatics who are getting out of control. They petitioned him to allow them to make sacrifices to appease the god Mortdh."
Losham frowned. "What kind of sacrifices?"
"I'm still trying to find out, but I have a bad feeling about this.
My informants in the enclosure say there is talk that the ten missing women were executed for treason and that the two children were taken by the god as payment for the mothers' sins.
Their leader says the two children were not enough and that more payment is owed.
" Bertram's jaw tightened. "I know that Lord Shavek received a petition from the head of the order, praised their devotion, and said it pleased Mortdh.
That's as good as a blessing. I heard it from one of his underlings. "
Losham felt like throwing his wine glass at the wall, but he stifled the impulse and set it down on the table.
Shavek had reported none of this. Neither the cult's exploding numbers nor that a religious lunatic had free run of the most valuable asset on the island.
"I hope you are reading the situation wrong," Losham said.
"I wish I was, but it all points to the reprehensible.
" Bertram took a deep breath. "We need every child born in that enclosure, and even one less is a travesty.
Each boy is a future warrior, and every girl is a future breeder who can produce future warriors.
The god Mortdh never asked us to sacrifice the children who are our future. He asks us to sacrifice nonbelievers."
Losham nodded. "These women are blasphemous."
"They are dangerous." Bertram leaned forward.
"A third of the breeders now take their orders from a lunatic woman on the inside, not from us.
They are willing to do the unspeakable things she tells them the god requires.
Letting the order grow seemed smart at first because it kept its members docile.
But when they start threatening assets belonging to the Brotherhood, they need their wings clipped. "
"You're right," Losham said. "The order needs to be dismantled or reformed. I'll speak with Lord Shavek."
Bertram looked relieved. "Thank you, my lord."
The problem was that Shavek and the others would be ash by tomorrow, and the enclosure would need someone new to manage it and deal with the cult.
The same was true for all the other departments that were about to lose their heads. He would have his hands full in the coming weeks finding suitable replacements.
After tomorrow's elimination, he would discuss it with Bertram.
Losham poured more wine for the general and himself.
"I'm glad I told you," Bertram said, easing back. "I wasn't sure it was my place."
"It's precisely your place. That's why you are here."
"Clipping their wings won't be enough." Rami spoke for the first time.
Bertram looked surprised that Rami had dared to offer his opinion. In the general's eyes, Rami was no more than a glorified secretary. Losham knew better and valued his assistant's input.
"Explain," Losham said.
"You can kill the head woman and dismantle the circles, and things might settle for a time.
Then it will grow back, or something worse grows and takes its place.
These women have nothing to look forward to, and helplessness and despair create a vacuum that demands to be filled.
They need to assign meaning to their suffering, and that's what the order gives them. "
Bertram nodded. "He's right. On the other hand, nothing like that has ever sprung up in the breeding enclosure's history. Perhaps we need to investigate what changed recently to make the enclosure fertile ground for a cult to grow."
Losham was impressed. He'd thought of Bertram as a yes-man, but he seemed much more than that.
"Then what do you suggest?" Losham asked.
"Give them faith that makes them feel special and emphasizes the sanctity of children as Mortdh's beloveds," Rami said, as though it were obvious.
"But it shouldn't be a self-contained women's order that answers to no one outside the enclosure.
It needs to be a doctrine that comes from us, or rather Mortdh, and teaches what we need the breeders to believe.
We don't have to reinvent the wheel because we can use the foundation we already have. "
Losham nodded. "The same thing we teach the warriors, just adapted for the women.
Mandatory devotions to Lord Navuh, the glory of producing warriors for the Brotherhood, and obedience and submission as worship.
If they're going to organize around a religion, let it be one we wrote, led by teachers we appoint and train.
We can either train humans or use the immortal teachers we have, having them deliver their sermons via video. "
Rami lifted his wine glass and took a sip. "Instead of clipping the wings, we put a falconer's hood on the whole flock."
Losham laughed. "I like the way you think, Rami."
While Bertram gave Rami an appreciative look, Losham was already thinking ahead and spotting the snag in the plan.
Mandated religious instruction, with appointed teachers reciting an approved doctrine to a captive audience of women, seemed an efficient solution.
It was how his father had asserted control over the army for millennia, but Navuh had used compulsion to cement it, while Losham had lost his compellers.
The five daily devotionals that still played across the island in his father's recorded voice carried traces of a demigod's will, but they were mere echoes of the power that had infused the devotions he had led in person.
Words alone would not be as effective. The Sacred Mothers had followed a charismatic leader who used fear and despair to recruit members and brainwash them into believing her words. If he had Dave, he could have used him to compel her to continue while under Losham's boot.
There was no room for independent agents in the Brotherhood.
He needed the teacher to be an immortal with a decent thralling ability. It would set a precedent, but after the elimination of the juniors and other commanders, there would be no one left to call him out on it. He could do whatever he pleased.
"It's a good plan," Losham said. "But it needs further thought. We'll take it up properly after the meeting." He turned to Bertram and smiled. "I have a treat for you."
It would keep the general occupied throughout the night and leave no room for rumination about the upcoming meeting.
It was crucial that Bertram suspect nothing and not warn any of the invitees.
The general raised an eyebrow. "More treats, Lord Losham? You are spoiling me."
"Indeed, I am." Losham reached for the wine bottle and refilled their glasses. "When you return to your room, you'll find two lovelies waiting for you in bed. Enjoy them."
Bertram's surprise and pleasure were not feigned. "You're too generous, my lord."
"I reward those who serve me well." Losham stood and clasped the general's forearm again. "Remember this."
When the door closed behind him, Losham sat back down and let the smile fade from his face.
"He suspects nothing," Rami said.
"No." Losham reached for the wine and found the bottle empty. "We played this well."
"You don't look pleased."
"I'm worried about the enclosure. Your idea has merit, but without a compeller, it's not going to take hold."
"Where would you even find one?" Rami asked, not as a challenge but as a question laid on the table between them.
"It doesn't have to be a compeller." Losham looked at the empty bottle and regretted not bringing more. "The women are human. Any immortal with passable thralling ability would do."
"No immortal has ever been allowed inside the enclosure," Rami pointed out.
Losham smiled. "I guess there's a first time for everything."