Page 91 of Dark Shaman: Eternal Hope
"Didn't you see them?" Tamira whispered. "They passed right by you."
"I didn't. I was busy charming the guard."
"Let's get more water and go find them. I bet they are thirsty."
They made their way to the refreshment station in the tent and picked more water bottles from the cooler while several people watched.
They found the men where they'd agreed to meet, both covered in fresh dirt, and their shirts soaked with sweat.
"That was quick," Tula said. "You're already in costume."
"Water," Eluheed said gratefully, taking the bottle she offered and draining half immediately.
"What did you find?" Tula demanded.
"The submarine exists," Tony said between gulps of water. "It has four seats, so we won't have to sit in each other's laps."
"It needs a fingerprint to open," Eluheed said. "We assume it's programmed to Navuh's."
Tamira's spirits took a nosedive. They couldn't get into the vessel without taking Navuh with them, and good luck with that.
"How are we going to get it?" Tula asked.
"We can collect his fingerprints from a glass he touched," Tony explained in a whisper. "I've seen it done in a movie, so I'm not a hundred percent sure it will work, but we can practice it before ambushing the maid after she collects the dirty dishes from Areana's apartment."
"When are we doing that?" Tula asked.
"Tonight, we practice," Eluheed said, "and if it works the way Tony says it does, he and I will wait for the maid in the service elevator and offer to take the tray of dirty dishes to the kitchen for her."
"I'll come with you," Tamira said. "She won't surrender the dishes just because you offer, and she might get suspicious. I can thrall her to give them up and forget she ever saw us."
Eluheed's brows shot nearly all the way to his hairline. "You can do that?"
She nodded. "I have just discovered that I can. I thralled the guard to leave his post. I made him think that he urgently needed to relieve himself." She chuckled. "I haven't done that in centuries and was afraid that it wouldn't work, but it did. I'm quite proud of myself."
"As you should be." Tula regarded her with open appreciation. "Females usually can't thrall."
"You know what they say about desperate times," Tamira said. "You do things you didn't think you could."
37
ELUHEED
The service corridor on the first level was just as nice as the rest of the floor, with plush carpets and cream-colored walls, but it was narrower, and no precious artwork hung on the walls or perched on top of pedestals.
Eluheed stood with Tamira and Tony near the service elevator, all three trying to look casual despite the hammering in their chests.
They shouldn't have been there. This area was restricted to staff, and the presence of a guard at the corridor entrance had been an unwelcome surprise.
"I didn't expect to see a guard in the servants' area," Tony whispered, shifting nervously. "You handled him brilliantly."
"Thank you." Tamira grinned. "I think so too. In fact, I'm getting better at it."
Eluheed had watched with admiration as she'd approached the guard with perfect confidence, her voice taking on that particular tone of authority that came from millennia of practice. "We need someone with exceptional hearing in the courtyard.There is a water leak somewhere, and we need to find it before it creates a problem. You are the perfect man for that, and Lady Areana will be very grateful if you help solve the mystery of that leak."
She'd later told them that she didn't need to speak the words. It was enough that she thought them and imagined herself pushing them into the guard's mind. She'd done that for them, so they would know what instructions she was giving him.
The guard hadn't hesitated. He'd practically run toward the staircase, leaving his post unmanned.
