Page 16 of Dark Shaman: The Lost Treasure (The Children Of The Gods #98)

ELUHEED

T he familiar path to Navuh's office on the first level felt different this time. Eluheed's escort seemed more relaxed, and he wondered why he seemed less like someone leading a prisoner and more like a guide.

"The lord is in a good mood today," Arnav offered as they approached the heavy doors.

That was unusual. The guy rarely spoke beyond what was necessary, and Navuh's moods were typically variations on paranoid and calculating, not good.

"Thank you for the heads up," Eluheed said, though he wasn't sure if a good mood was better or worse than the usual.

Arnav knocked, waited for the command to enter, then opened the door for Eluheed before retreating to his post outside.

Navuh sat behind his massive desk. "Sit," he commanded, gesturing to the chair across from him.

Eluheed sat, keeping his expression neutral while trying to assess his jailer's mood. Arnav was right. Something was different about the lord today.

"Tell me about your healing knowledge," Navuh commanded.

The question caught Eluheed off guard. "What would you like to know, my lord?"

"The herbs in your garden and the remedies you make from them. How extensive is your knowledge?"

"I can treat simple ailments." Eluheed held his hands in his lap. "Fevers, headaches, minor wounds, digestive issues. But the harem needs a proper physician, my lord. There are limits to what plant medicine can accomplish."

"Such as?"

"Such as someone who can dispense antibiotics. We have a boy with pneumonia right now, and until he got antibiotics, he wasn't getting better with what I could do for him. I could ease his symptoms, help with the fever, but I couldn't cure the infection."

Navuh's lips curved in a mocking smile. "What kind of shaman can't cure common maladies like pneumonia? I thought you people channeled divine healing."

The insult stung, but Eluheed had endured far worse in his centuries of wandering. He lowered his head in apparent shame. "I'm not a very good shaman, my lord. My abilities are limited."

"Limited." Navuh leaned back in his throne-like chair, studying him with those ancient, calculating eyes. "And what about your spiritual guidance? Can you at least manage that, or are you equally incompetent in matters of gods and mortals?"

This was some kind of a test, but Eluheed wasn't sure what Navuh was testing him for. In the long months he'd been stuck in this godforsaken place, no one had asked him for spiritual guidance. Advice, yes, but even that was rare. Mostly, people sought him out for his herbal remedies.

This could be to test his general knowledge. Or maybe to verify that he wasn't calling himself a shaman for nothing?

Eluheed had to give Navuh something that sounded profound, but without revealing the foundation of his own beliefs and the practices he'd followed when he was a real shaman. He drew upon centuries of observing human faiths and weaving together threads from various traditions.

"Spiritual guidance is not a skill one learns. It comes from within. It's about understanding the fundamental truths that unite all seeking souls."

Navuh's eyebrow arched. "Enlighten me."

Eluheed took a breath. "All spiritual traditions speak of balance between light and darkness, action and stillness, the material and the divine. In the East, it is known as yin and yang. In the West, they speak of virtue and sin. But beneath these dualities lies a deeper truth."

He paused, watching Navuh's face for any sign of recognition or displeasure. The warlord's expression remained neutral, attentive.

"The ancient Egyptians understood this better than most," Eluheed continued.

"They spoke of Ma'at—truth, justice, harmony, balance, not as abstract concepts but as the fundamental order of existence.

When we align ourselves with truth, we find peace.

When we deceive others or ourselves, we create chaos. "

"Truth," Navuh repeated, something flickering in his dark eyes. "It's an interesting choice. Why truth and not benevolence or kindness?" He said those words with obvious contempt as if they were sins and not virtues.

"Truth has many faces, my lord. The truth we show the world, the truth we tell ourselves, the truth that exists regardless of our perception of it. A shaman's role is to help others navigate these different truths and find their authentic path."

"What is your authentic path, shaman?"

The question was a trap, but Eluheed had navigated such snares before. "To serve where I am needed, to heal what I can, and to accept what I cannot change. The ancient texts speak of dharma—duty aligned with cosmic order. My dharma led me here."

Navuh snorted. "Your dharma? Or your bad luck?"

"Perhaps they are the same, my lord. What seems like misfortune may be the universe placing us exactly where we need to be. The Sufi mystics say that the poison and the cure often come in the same cup."

"Sufis." Navuh's tone dripped with contempt. "Whirling madmen lost in ecstatic delusions."

"Yet they understood something profound," Eluheed pressed on, warming to his theme. "The divine speaks through beauty, through poetry, through the intoxication of the soul. They knew that rigid orthodoxy kills the spirit, while divine madness can set it free."

"Are you calling me rigid?"

"I would never presume, my lord. I speak only of spiritual principles. The Taoists say that the rigid tree breaks in the storm, while the flexible reed survives. Strength can take many forms."

Navuh was quiet for a long moment, and Eluheed wondered if he'd gone too far. Then the warlord smiled—not his usual cruel smirk, but something almost genuine.

"I can see how all this nonsense might appeal to the ladies," he said.

Eluheed frowned. "My lord?"

"My ladies are bored. They require entertainment." Navuh drummed his fingers on the desk. "I am devoted to my first wife, the Lady Areana. I'm not involved with any of the females. They satisfy their needs with selected male servants."

Eluheed let his eyes widen in apparent shock, even though he'd heard the rumors.

"Normally," Navuh continued, "I prefer these males to resemble me. For obvious reasons. But I'm making an exception in your case."

Eluheed's heartbeat accelerated, and he started sweating. "I'm honored, my lord," he managed.

"There are rules." Navuh's voice took on that strange quality that Eluheed had felt before, the push of compulsion that slid off his mind like oil on water.

"You will not speak to anyone about your prophetic abilities.

You will not discuss anything that passes between us in these meetings.

You will not use your position to gather information about my operations. Is that clear?"

"Yes, my lord," Eluheed said, letting his voice go flat as if the compulsion had taken hold. "I understand completely."

"Good." Navuh's voice returned to its usual smoothness. "From now on, you may look upon the ladies when you encounter them. You may engage them in conversation if they initiate it. If they invite you to share meals or other activities, you will comply."

The implications hung heavy in the air. Eluheed struggled to find words.

"Furthermore," Navuh continued, "you will treat them with absolute respect. You will attend to their needs with diligence and skill. They are my treasures, and I expect you to treat them as such. Is that clear?"

"Crystal clear, my lord," Eluheed said.

Navuh leaned forward, his dark eyes boring into Eluheed's. "Do you know why I put you in the harem?"

Because it was the best-guarded prison on the island, but Eluheed pretended not to realize that.

"You said that it was the safest place for me and also convenient for you, my lord."

"Correct. The harem is the most secure location on this island.

I allow select people in, but no one ever gets out unless it is in a casket.

My power-hungry sons cannot reach you here, and my commanders cannot bribe or threaten you.

" Navuh smiled one of his creepy smiles.

"You see, Elias, you are a unique treasure, and I keep my treasures safe, protected, and exclusively mine to do with as I please. "

Navuh was telling him that he was like the harem ladies.

"I'm protecting my assets," Navuh continued. "You should count yourself fortunate."

"Thank you, my lord," Eluheed said, pouring genuine feeling into the words. "Your wisdom in keeping me safe is matched only by your generosity in allowing me to bask in the presence of your ladies."

Navuh's eyes narrowed. "I don't appreciate false platitudes or flowery speeches. Save those for the concubines—they might like them."

"Yes, my lord."

"You're dismissed. The head housekeeper is waiting outside. She'll show you to your new quarters."

Another surprise.

Eluheed rose, bowed deeply, and made his way to the door. His mind was reeling. Free access to the ladies. New quarters. The golden cage was becoming more elaborate, intriguing, and its bars were now glinting with diamonds, but it was still a cage.

Outside, he found Shalini, the head housekeeper. Her expression was neutral, but he caught a glimmer of curiosity in her eyes.

"Follow me," she said briskly. "Lord Navuh has instructed me to find you appropriate quarters on the second level."

The second level was one level below where the lord and his first wife resided, and where Navuh's office was located.

Eluheed followed Shalini to the elevator. "Who else lives on the second level?"

She cast him an amused glance. "All the ladies except the first wife, who occupies the entire first level with Lord Navuh. The doctor had a room there when he was still alive, and you are getting his. Tony also has a room there."

He remembered Tony, the American who'd cut his hand and also needed headache remedies.

The second level was a big upgrade from the servants' quarters on the seventh level, which was the bottom and largest one. The carpets were thick beneath his feet, the air scented with subtle perfumes, the lighting soft.

"Tony's room is there," Shalini indicated a door halfway down the corridor. "Yours is here." She opened a door to reveal a suite that made his previous quarters look like a closet.

The bedroom was spacious, with a large bed covered in luxurious bedding. There was a seating area, a desk, and even a small balcony that overlooked an interior courtyard. The bathroom had a full tub, not just a shower.

"This is more than I expected," Eluheed said.

"The ladies' companions are well cared for," Shalini said. "Speaking of which, has one of them already claimed you?"

Eluheed's breath caught. "Claimed me?"

"Lady Tula has exclusive rights to Tony. The other ladies may speak and dine with him, but he shares intimacies only with her."

"I see." His mouth felt dry. "And the other ladies?"

"They share the available men, those who are allowed, of course. But none have taken a permanent companion." She studied him with shrewd eyes. "Until now, perhaps. So, has one of them claimed you?"

Was this an elaborate trap? The lord's way of finding out that Eluheed had broken the rules?

"No," Eluheed said, his voice suddenly hoarse. "No. I haven't even looked at them, and they haven't looked at me. It was forbidden."

Shalini moved to the door. "Your belongings will be brought up within the hour. The ladies typically take their main meal at sunset in the common dining room that's located at the end of this corridor. You are expected to join them."

"Will they know about Lord Navuh's decision to allow me here?"

"Lady Areana will have informed them by now." She smiled knowingly. "Did Lord Navuh tell you what is expected of you?"

"I am to provide entertainment to bored ladies."

She snorted. "Well, yes. That's how it will start. Lord Navuh is interested in sons, but none of the ladies have conceived in many years. He hopes that variety and spice will lead to conception."

Eluheed swallowed. "I see." He was expected to function as a new breeding bull.

She left him standing in his new quarters, staring at the opulent space that was a vast improvement over the room he'd been occupying for the past eighteen months.

This one might hold possibilities, being closer to the surface, and perhaps even uncovering the hidden tunnel that the lord used to come and go.

Eluheed had never seen him arriving through the gates in the double fence surrounding the harem, so the only logical conclusion was that there was a tunnel.

Either that or Navuh was a demon who dematerialized in one place and materialized in another.

But that wasn't what Eluheed really wanted to think about right now. His mind conjured an image of azure silk and dark hair, a musical voice that had asked about his herbs.

Tamira .

Would she be at dinner? Would she claim him for herself?

Did it matter? He needed to find a way out of the harem and not get involved with a lady who was someone else's treasure. Eluheed had his own treasure to take care of, and he couldn't allow himself to get sidetracked.

He moved to the balcony, looking out at the artificial paradise of the courtyard. Fountains played in the eternal twilight of the underground complex. Exotic plants bloomed in carefully tended beds. It was beautiful, in its way. A perfect illusion of life.

Across and to the sides were the balconies of the ladies' quarters, and above, across the entire span of the top level, the first lady and the lord's, and scaling the walls to get there didn't look difficult.

The access to the tunnel the lord used must be in his rooms, and it was possible to reach them from this illusion of a garden.

Perhaps that's all any of them had here—illusions. The ladies were pretending this was a home rather than a prison. The servants pretended they had chosen this life. Navuh was pretending his paranoia was wisdom, his cruelty strength.

And now Eluheed was pretending to be a human shaman while hiding centuries of secrets and a sacred duty he could never abandon.