Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order_ Dark Tide 02_ Ruin - Michael A. Stackpole [51]
“Master, if ordered, they will obey your command.”
“You suggest that I should not give that command, Lian?”
“Master—” Lian’s voice softened slightly. “I believe your close congress with the alien has . . . shifted your perception about the infidels.”
Shedao Shai glanced over his shoulder at his subordinate. “You are suggesting what, exactly, Deign Lian?”
“Master, people have begun to speak of how much time you spend with this Caamasi. They speak about how you have shown him the Embrace of Pain, how you have introduced him to the Boiling Caress. You spend time with him, watching him, talking to him, teaching him about us, revealing our secrets to him.”
“I see. And this is considered a threat?”
“If he were to escape, Master.”
“Could he, Lian? Could he leave this place?”
“No, Master, we would not permit it.”
Shedao Shai spun and closed the gap between them in two blurred steps. He grabbed his aide by the shoulders and slammed him back into a wall, cracking the panel. “We would not permit it? You would not permit it? You suppose, somehow, do you, that I would permit it? That I will somehow let him escape me? That I will somehow let him talk me into releasing him? Is this what you think?” He slammed Lian against the wall again, then let him go.
The Yuuzhan Vong subordinate fell to his knees, then pressed his face to the floor. “No, Master, we only fear—I fear—for your union with the gods. Your congress with this alien will change him and could change you.”
“Is that what you truly think?”
“Fear, Master, fear.”
“Then master your fear.” Shedao Shai spun on his heel, took a single step away, then turned again, fast, catching Lian beginning to rise. Shedao flicked a foot out, clipping Lian in the chin. The kick spun the subordinate around and battered him against the wall a third time, then left him huddled as paint and plaster dust settled over him.
Shedao Shai pointed a quivering finger at him. “You are not my master, I am yours. What I do to learn about the enemy is mine to do. Yours is not to question me. Yours is not to listen to the gossip of my inferiors. You are here to undertake the menial tasks that are beneath me, so I may concern myself with more important matters. If this does not suit you, I can find you a world to administer.”
“No, Master, no!” Deign held his hands up, though whether to ward off another kick or beg forgiveness Shedao Shai could not be certain. “I meant no offense, Master, but to acquaint you with the murmurings of those who might plot against you.”
“If there are plotters against me, Lian, you should have had them eliminated.” Shedao Shai folded his arms over his chest. “Now, go down there and send Elegos to me. I will be in the tank chamber.”
“Yes, Master.” Deign rose slowly, sliding up the wall. “At once, Master.”
Shedao Shai waited until Deign had staggered several steps toward the door. “One more thing.”
“Yes, Master?”
“Remove your mask before you speak to him.”
“Master?” The terror in his aide’s voice had a piquant quality to it. “You cannot—”
“I cannot?” Shedao Shai closed slowly with his trembling aide. “You will remove your mask, send Elegos to me, then install yourself in the Embrace of Pain. If you are out of it before the sun rises again, I will kill you myself.”
“Yes, Master, as you will it.”
Having set aside his own mask, Shedao Shai watched one of the large predatory fish swimming slowly through the watery cylinder. He’d studied the fish a lot, watching it and its fellow tear into meat, ripping away great bloody hunks. Bits of flesh slowly sank through the water when they fed, to be snapped up by the other fish. Bones tumbled to the bottom of the tank to be cleansed by snails and other small creatures. Nothing is wasted. The harvest of pain brings bounty for all, as it should