"My lord, I wouldn't have bothered you, but three of your sons are at the outer fence, and they are requesting an audience with you."
"Their names!" Number Three barked.
"Lord Kolhood, Lord Hazok, and Lord Hocken."
"Impudent fools," Number Three murmured. "Bring them to me. They are not to set foot inside the harem. They will speak to me out here."
"Yes, my lord." The guard looked relieved to retreat with his head still attached to his shoulders.
Show time, Number Eight thought.
Number Three rose to his feet and walked to the edge of the cliff, the hood draped over his head.
Seventeen minutes later, footsteps sounded on the gravel. Five sets of shoes, two of them combat boots and the other three dress shoes. The brothers thought that formal wear would mollify their father's rage and make him less inclined to kill them.
They would have been wrong even if they were about to meet the real Navuh, and not an imposter.
Number One watched the path from behind a shrub, using a thrall to deflect attention from himself.
The first to come into view was the senior of the two human guards. Behind him came Kolhood, Hazok, and Hocken, with Kolhood in the middle and the other two flanking him as usual. Behind them was the second guard.
Kolhood wore a dark suit with a gold tie pin. Hazok was wearing a charcoal suit with a high collar, and Hocken was in all black. Kolhood was carrying a wrapped package in the shape of a bottle. The wrapping was a deep red silk.
The brothers were nervous, as they should be.
The senior guard stopped about ten meters from the bench and bowed deeply.
"My lord." He held the bow.
Number Three did not turn.
"My lord," the guard repeated, his voice trembling. "Forgive the intrusion. Your sons are here."
A long pause.
Number Three did not move. He held the silence the way Navuh held silences when he wanted his subordinates to shake in their boots.
Finally, Number Three said, "Send them over."
He pitched his voice low, flat, and slightly dragging, and the crashing of the waves below layered over the consonants,smoothing over any discrepancies between Navuh and Number Three's voice.
The guard didn't register the slight imperfections in the timbre.
"Yes, my lord."
The guard backed away, then turned to the brothers and gestured them forward.
Following the pretend Navuh's instructions, he retreated along the path to where the second guard was waiting, and then the two of them retreated even further.
The brothers walked toward Number Three.
They came together, three abreast, with Kolhood half a step ahead of the other two. Hazok and Hocken were tracking Kolhood's lead. Their footsteps stopped at the unspoken mark ten meters from the bench.
Kolhood bowed his head.
"My lord."
Number Three did not turn.
