Page 88 of Dark Chains: First Link
Everything they knew about the gods came from Mortdh's devotional teachings, which the collective had long since recognized as indoctrination rather than education. Theteachings were designed to produce obedient, fanatical soldiers who did as they were told, had no qualms about sacrificing themselves on Mortdh's altar, and didn't ask questions.
"My brothers were impressed by the story," Losham said, and the shift in his tone signaled that the history lesson was over and the real reason for this meeting was about to be presented. "Hocken and Hazok were practically salivating at the idea of a religious upheaval. Kolhood was less convinced, but he accepted the possibility that it could indeed be artifacts."
Number One waited.
Losham had not told the Eight about the chests, but he should at least suspect that they were reading his surface thoughts and had found out. He knew they could do that for others, so why not him?
"I need something from you," Losham said.
There it was.
Losham never shared information for free. Every piece of knowledge offered was a down payment on a favor he intended to collect. The talkative tour of the basement and the history of the gods had been a preamble, and now came the ask.
"I need you to spy on the soldiers working here," Losham said, lowering his voice even further. "Find out which ones are reporting to my brothers. That also goes for anyone you encounter in or around the mansion. I want to know who is watching this excavation on behalf of Kolhood, Hocken, or Hazok. I want their names and what they've reported."
"We can do that."
Their new immortal allies needed frequent progress reports about the excavations, and Dave could fulfill both requests by doing the same thing.
"There's something else." Losham's voice dropped further. "I want you to scan for assassination plans. Any talk among the soldiers, any instructions from the brothers' inner circles, anything that suggests a move against me."
"We haven't found evidence of such plans in our previous rounds, but we haven't been successful in infiltrating the brothers' inner circles. We don't have the rank."
It was a not-so-subtle hint, but perhaps Losham couldn't promote them because he wasn't part of the military complex. He probably needed to ask Kolhood, and he wouldn't do that for obvious reasons.
"Keep looking. Expand your scope. Probe as many minds as you can. If they are planning an assassination, I need to know and prepare accordingly."
"We will intensify our efforts," Number One said.
Losham studied his face for a moment, searching for something. Sincerity, perhaps, or competence, or the reassurance that the Eight took his concerns seriously. Whatever he found must have been adequate because he nodded and turned away.
"The engineer estimates two weeks to reach the chamber," he said over his shoulder as he started walking back. "But he could be overestimating or underestimating. Keep an eye out for me on the actual timeline."
"As you wish," Number One said.
Rami followed Losham up the ramp that had replaced the collapsed basement stairs, and a moment later their footsteps sounded on the floor above.
The collective turned its attention to the work zone.
The soldiers weren't slacking, but the speed of their work was much slower than when they had been watched by Losham.
The collective skimmed their surface thoughts.
Most of them were thinking about their task, which was tedious and monotonous, and they resented having to perform menial work that should be done by humans. Lifting and hauling rubble for hours on end was not what soldiers were meant to do. Other thoughts wandered to the same subjects that occupied most soldiers during boring duty. Food, women, grievances about their superiors, the next shift rotation, and so on.
Three of them, however, had something extra layered beneath the mundane thoughts.
Dave waited for the names to surface so they could report them properly to Losham, but people didn't think of their own names. Those had to be harvested from the minds of others and identified with specific faces.
The first name they managed to attach to a face was Toger, and he was reporting to one of Kolhood's subordinates. He had no opinion about Losham or the excavation except for his disdain for the humiliating task.
The other was a tall soldier named Naren, who was currently lifting a section of collapsed wall. He reported to Hocken's network and was less resentful about the excavation because spying for Hocken came with benefits. As the boss of the brothel,Hocken had arranged more visitation credits for him, and that was worth the hard work.
The third was the crew supervisor. Bertax was his name, and he served both Hazok and Kolhood.
Three spies out of the twelve was a lot, but it wasn't surprising. It was exactly what Losham had expected.
A probe for assassination plans came up with nothing. The three spies were intelligence gatherers, not operatives. Their instructions were to observe and report, not to act. If the brothers were planning a move against Losham, they hadn't communicated it through these channels.
