Qelah Kwaad abased herself before the polyp throne as the rumble of Shimrra’s voice washed over her. She cringed and was ashamed.
“Rise, Adept Kwaad,” Shimrra said.
Knees shaking, she did so. “Dread Lord,” she said. “How can I please you?”
“You already have. The mabugat kan were of your shaping, were they not?”
“They were, Lord Shimrra,” she said.
“Master Yim brought them to my attention. She said you were the brightest of her pupils.”
“She did?” Qelah was surprised. She had always thought Master Yim was jealous of her.
“We have used them with great success. The infidels are now largely without long-range communications. It has been an invaluable aid to our war effort.”
“Thank you, Lord. I am pleased to have been of service.”
“Of course you are,” Shimrra growled reproachfully, and his Shamed jester capered gleefully.
She felt like cowering back into a crouch, but the Dread Lord had bid her stand, so she stood her ground.
“The loss of Master Yim was a great blow,” Shimrra went on. “But her work must continue. You will be elevated to master.”
Qelah hoped her fierce exultation did not show.
“I am not worthy of the honor, Great Lord, but I will do my best to excel.” She knew she was babbling, but she couldn’t stop. “I have developed a new sort of ship, one that should counter many of the new strategies of the infidels. And as for the Jeedai—”
“What of the Jeedai?” The words came out with such force that her tendrils felt as if they were being swept back, but this time she was not dismayed.
“I believe I have an answer to them,” she said.
“Besides the mabugat kan, I have for some time been developing a powerful new suite of bioforms designed specifically to counter the threat of the Jeedai. I am not far from completion.”
“That has been promised before,” Shimrra said. “But the promise has never been fulfilled. Those who fail me do not find favor.”
She understood that lack of favor also meant lack of breath, but she plunged on. “I am certain you will be pleased, Dread Lord,” she told him.
“Very well. You will ascend to master tomorrow. You will work directly beneath Ahsi Yim.”
Qelah took a deep breath. She had a chance at more. Could she flinch from taking it?
No.
“Yes, Lord,” she said. “A member of Nen Yim’s domain.”
Shimrra’s mqaaq’it eyes flared a brighter red. “What could you mean by that, Qelah Kwaad? Do you imply something?”
“Nothing, Lord,” she said. “I spoke out of turn.”
“I hear something in your words, Qelah Kwaad,” Shimrra said, dangerously. “Shall I rip open your mind and see what I find there?”
“It is only that things have been strange,” she said, in a rush. “Master Yim stayed apart from us, working alone. She was totally absorbed in some new project none of the rest of us knew about. And then the Jeedai came, and took her away, and whatever it was, I know not what, but Ahsi Yim—” She broke off.
“Go on,” Shimrra breathed.
“Ahsi Yim—did not seem surprised. And I heard her tell someone, They took the ship.”
In fact, Ahsi Yim had seemed as surprised as anyone, and she had said no such thing. It was actually a warrior who had told her he’d seen a strange ship fly out from the damutek. By now, everyone knew it.
“You think Ahsi Yim had some part in Nen Yim’s kidnapping.”
She lifted her head and spoke more boldly. “If it was a kidnapping, Lord Shimrra. The damutek’s defenses failed. I do not see how infidels could accomplish this.”
“The Shamed heretics were also involved,” the Supreme Overlord pointed out.
“With respect, Lord—would they know how to disable a damutek’s defenses and leave no trace of how it was done? I could not do so. Was some shaper greater than Nen Yim Shamed, that this knowledge would reside with the rabble?”
Shimrra somehow seemed to tower even higher, filling the room, the world, the universe.
“What do you know?” he thundered, and she suddenly realized she had somehow misstepped. “What do you know of the ship?”
A great invisible claw seemed to clamp about her head, its grip growing swiftly tighter. She felt the joints of her body twitching strangely. Her nerves turned to fire, and she sought something, anything to say, and anything that would turn his gaze away from her. If he had asked her at that moment if she was lying, she would have admitted it, admitted that her words were nothing more than thud bugs cast toward Ahsi Yim, so that Qelah Kwaad might be master shaper.
But he hadn’t asked that. He’d asked about the ship.
“Nothing more than that it exists!” she moaned.
“Nen Yim told you nothing of its origins or nature?”
“Nothing, Dread Lord,” she gasped, swaying. “She stayed to herself! She did not speak of it!”
The pressure suddenly dropped away. The pain recoiled itself back into her brain.
“Your ambition is clear,” Shimrra murmured. “But you raise interesting points. They bear investigation.” He glanced at Onimi. Then he looked off at some unseen thing above her.
“Go,” he commanded. “Return tomorrow and learn your fate.”
She left. When she returned the next day, she was again directed to take up her master’s hand, and she never saw Ahsi Yim again.