Page 18 of Dark Shaman: Eternal Hope (The Children Of The Gods #100)

KALUGAL

K alugal set down his phone and stared at it for a moment. The summons from the Clan Mother worried him. She rarely did that unless it was an urgent matter, but he'd known better than to ask her the reason for the summons over the phone.

Protocol was important to Annani, and she was perfectly entitled to be treated with the utmost respect as befitting her station. He could contain his curiosity for the few moments it would take him to walk over to her place.

Hopefully, nothing had happened to his mother.

It was Wednesday, which was when she usually called her sister, but Areana hadn't done so for the past month because she and the other harem ladies had been evacuated to his father's mansion.

Were they back in the harem?

Did she have pertinent information about the enhanced soldiers?

Nah, she wouldn't share it with Annani. Areana was loyal to Navuh, and she wouldn't divulge anything that might harm him. It was a delicate dance she and Annani engaged in, balancing their love for each other with the security needs of their other loved ones.

As Kalugal walked toward Annani's house, people nodded and waved and he responded in kind, pretending that nothing was amiss. By the time he'd walked up to his aunt's door, he'd cycled through a dozen scenarios, but none of them made sense given the players involved.

Ogidu opened the door with his customary bow. "Good afternoon, Master Kalugal. The Clan Mother is expecting you."

"Thank you." Kalugal followed the butler to Annani's reception room, where he found her sitting on the couch with a tea set already in place on the coffee table.

"Good afternoon, Clan Mother." He dipped his head.

She smiled, which eased some of his tension. "I'm Aunt Annani to you, Kalugal."

"I know." He walked over to her, bent down, and kissed the cheek she offered. "But I prefer to address you first as the Clan Mother. It's a good habit in case we are in public."

"Oh, well. Have it your way." She patted the spot next to her. "Would you like some tea?"

He sat where she indicated. "I would love some. Thank you."

"I spoke with your mother this morning." Annani leaned forward to lift the carafe and pour tea into two dainty teacups.

"Is she well?"

"She sounds fine. They are back in the harem, and she is re-establishing her old routines, so we can expect calls every Wednesday from now on." Annani handed him a cup. "She asked me about someone who might have served under you. A soldier named Darien."

Hearing the name surprised Kalugal, causing a pang of hurt.

He rarely thought about Darien or the others who had chosen to go their separate ways after he had brought them to America.

He tried very hard not to regard their departure as betrayal, especially Darien's, but it was always in the back of his mind despite having given them his blessing to leave and pursue their dreams.

They had acted selfishly, repaying what he had done for them with abandonment.

"He was among the men who followed me out of the Brotherhood, but he left early on to pursue his own path."

"Do you know if he is still alive?" Annani asked gently.

"I assume he is." Kalugal took a sip from his tea.

"After my men and I dropped off my father's radar, using the chaos in the aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to disappear and escape to America, we spent two years moving constantly, always looking over our shoulders, waiting for my father's retrieval teams to find us. "

He recalled those years with vivid clarity—the constant worry, the weight of responsibility for the men who had trusted him to join him in exile, but also the overwhelming sense of freedom and possibility that had enveloped them like a potent drug.

"All my men thrived on the freedom, the adventure, but some were tired of being part of a group and wanted to venture out on their own."

"I assume Darien was one of those?"

Kalugal nodded. "He was one of the first to leave.

For a while, I kept in touch with those who didn't stay, but eventually they disappeared.

I guess they didn't want any ties to their former lives.

Or perhaps they feared that their connection to me might endanger them.

I didn't try to stop anyone, and I wished them all the best of luck.

" He turned to look at her. "Why the sudden interest in Darien? "

Annani put down her teacup. "His mother has recently found out that he served with you, and she accused Areana of knowing about it and hiding it from her.

Of course, Areana could not have known that because your father never told her who had been serving with you when you defected.

What surprises me, though, is that Darien served with you at all.

Navuh does not like his sons working together, so they will not have the opportunity to combine forces and plot against him. "

"That's true, but only to a certain extent.

" Kalugal leaned back. "The senior sons usually don't serve in the same departments, and Navuh likes to switch them around so none will amass too much power.

But they have to work in coordination with one another.

The Brotherhood is a big organization, and if each department worked completely independently, it would create chaos.

Darien was very close to my age, which meant that he was a nobody in the Brotherhood.

I was exceptionally gifted, which was why I was made a commander at such a young age.

" It was true, but Kalugal was well aware of how it sounded.

"Naturally, my father didn't know about my compulsion ability, so he assumed that I was a born leader. "

Annani smiled indulgently. "Do not attempt to be modest, nephew of mine. It does not suit you. You are exceptional in every way, and your father was wise enough to recognize that and promote you ahead of your older so-called brothers."

Kalugal stifled a satisfied smirk and bowed his head instead. "You flatter me, Aunt Annani. Thank you."

She waved a hand in dismissal. "I am just stating facts. Now, what about Darien, and why was he placed under your command?"

"Oh, yes, Darien." Kalugal refilled his teacup and took a sip.

"Darien was a smart fellow, but he wasn't a military genius by any stretch of the imagination. Navuh should have assigned him to work under Losham, but he wanted all his sons to have the ability to command. He placed Darien with me so he could watch me and learn.”

"Did he?" Annani asked.

Kalugal laughed. "He could probably write a book about my style of command and the different strategies I employed and taught my men, but I doubt he had it in him to lead men into battle."

"So, he was the scholarly type?"

Kalugal paused to think and reflect. "He was an observer. Someone who enjoyed watching and listening but didn't like to participate. I didn't know back then that we weren't related by blood, and I hoped for a relationship with him, but he was always a little aloof."

"His loss," Annani said softly. "Having you as a friend would have been a valuable asset to him."

Kalugal nodded. "That being said, none of Navuh's sons were close to each other.

They were competitors, so Darien didn't trust me even after I freed him from Navuh's compulsion and told him my plans.

I think he only started to trust me when I let him go and didn't try to stop him.

I promised my men freedom, and that included freedom to choose their own paths.

They were not obligated to stick with me, but most chose to stay. "

"Do you know where Darien went?" Annani asked.

"He said that he wanted to travel the world.

I told him to stay away from countries my father had influence over, but I know that he didn't listen.

He called me from Iran right when the revolution was happening, and the place was probably crawling with members of the Brotherhood.

After I scolded him for being irresponsible, he stopped calling. "

Annani nodded. "He did not want to be told what to do. Would you be able to locate him?"

"If he kept the same fake name I bought for him, I might be able to do so, especially if he returned to America. But if he's still roaming the world, I doubt it."

"Would you give it a try? It would mean a lot to your mother, even though she can't tell Darien's mother about it. As you know, no one on the island other than Tula is privy to our secret communication."

"I'll do my best to find him," Kalugal said. "Or at least what happened to him. For my own curiosity as much as for my mother's."

Darien had been smart, capable, and determined. If he'd wanted to disappear completely, he would have succeeded. But he might have retained the fake identity Kalugal had secured for him. It hadn't been cheap, and it had come with a US passport. Darien would have been a fool to discard it.

After leaving Annani's home, Kalugal pulled out his phone. "Call Preston," he told the device.

The phone rang three times before a cultured British voice answered. "This is Preston King. How can I help you?"

"Hello, Preston. This is Professor Gunter. How have you been?"

"Professor!" Preston's voice lost its formal tone. "I haven't heard from you in years."

"Indeed. I think the last time we worked together was over a decade ago. I need your services again."

"Of course. Anything for you."

Kalugal stifled a chuckle. He'd never met Preston face to face, but he'd used his services several times and had provided generous bonuses when the people he had been looking for had been found quickly.

The promise of those bonuses ensured that Preston would drop any case he was working on at the moment to work on whatever Kalugal needed from him.

"I'm looking for a guy who used to go by the name of Darien Croft. I will email you a copy of his passport when I get back to my office, but I'm not sure he is still using that identity. I don't know what he does for a living these days, but he might be working as a translator or a historian."

He couldn't give the detective more information without the guy becoming suspicious of Darien's age.

As it was, Kalugal would have to explain why he was looking for someone who was supposed to be seventy-seven by the date of birth listed on his passport but looked twenty-five, exactly the same age that he was when the passport had been issued in 1952.

The other option was to give the task to Roni, but the guy was always swamped with work, and it would take him a while even to start the search.