Chapter 4

When he stood one yard away, Eli nodded his head in symbolic reverence. “My lord vizier, you asked for me?”

A young woman held a wine jar, who nodded as Eli entered, bowed, and took her leave, when Yusuf looked up. Yusuf clapped, then waved his hands to dismiss the guards.

After they left, Yusuf approached Eli and squeezed both of Eli’s arms.

“I can never remember how much of a mountain you are until you show up. Yet you look the same when you rescued me and delivered me to this land.”

Eli smiled. At six foot five, his shadow from the torches almost engulfed Yusuf. “Your words are very welcoming, but it was providence that placed me in your path.”

Eli wasn’t lying. He smiled.

If Yusuf only knew his intervention wasn’t accidental.

He looked at Yusuf and realized that the chamber had emptied out. “You look well, lord vizier.”