Ylesia by Walter Jon Williams Read Free Book Online

Lah were accidentally sprayed with poison, Thrackan himself might have a running head start before Yuuzhan Vong warriors began to massacre everyone present. Fortunately no fatalities occurred.
    â€œA shabby lot of useless wretches, totally without spirit or discipline,” Maal Lah commented as he walked with Thrackan to the riding beasts.
    â€œI agree, Commander,” Thrackan said.
    â€œDiscipline and order should be beaten into them. What I wouldn’t give to see them in the hands of the great Czulkang Lah.”
    Now
that
might be fun
, Thrackan thought, though without knowing who or what Czulkang Lah might be. Thrackan always enjoyed a good thrashing, provided he wasn’t the one on the receiving end.
    â€œI’ll dismiss their commander,” he said. Their commander was a Duros, and therefore expendable. He’d replace the Duros with a human, provided he could find one who might conceivably be loyal.
    â€œI trust the Peace Brigade fleet is ready?” Maal Lah said.
    â€œAdmiral Capo assures me that they are fully trained and alert, and eager to serve alongside their gallant allies, the Yuuzhan Vong.” Actually Thrackan had no great hope for the motley force that was the Peace Brigade fleet. In fact he rather hoped that Maal Lah would be so disgusted as to execute the Rodian Admiral Capo, thus providing another vacancy Thrackan could fill with a human.
    Again, if he could find one to trust. Here that always seemed to be the problem.
    Reflecting that he was a little old for this sort of thing, Thrackan followed Maal Lah up the vine ladder to the purple-green resinous tower atop the six-legged form of a Yuuzhan Vong riding beast. The quednak’s moss-covered scales reeked of something that needed flushing down the nearest sewer. At the urging of its intendant handler, the beast lurched to its feet and set off for Peace City at a slow walk. Thrackan hoped the motion wouldn’t make him ill.
    A pair of swoop analogs—open-cockpit fliers with a crew of two and sped along by dovin basals—rose to take position on either side of the riding beast. Maal Lah wasn’t trusting his life entirely to guards who moved on foot.
    Thrackan cast a glance at the double file of Yuuzhan Vong warriors trotting along in the big reptoid’s wake. By the time they traveled the twenty-two kilometers to Peace City, perhaps even the fabled Yuuzhan Vong would be tired of the pace.
    â€œNow that we have more of your people on the planet,” Thrackan ventured, “I wonder if we might better provide for their spiritual needs.”
    Maal Lah’s answer was dry. “How would you do that, Excellency?”
    â€œThere are no temples to your gods here. Perhaps we could provide one for your people.”
    â€œThat is a generous thought, Excellency. Of course, it is
we
who would have to provide the template for the structure, and, of course, the priest.”
    â€œWe could donate the ground, at least.”
    â€œSo you could.” Maal Lah considered for a moment. “As with many of my clan, I have always been a devotee of Yun-Yammka, the Slayer. It would be an act of devotion to foster his worship on a new world. Of course, the worship requires sacrifice . . .”
    â€œPlenty of slaves for that purpose,” Thrackan said, as heartily as he could manage.
    Maal Lah bowed his head. “Very good. So long as you are willing to donate one from time to time.”
    Thrackan waved a hand dismissively. “Anything we can do for our brothers.” At least he could make sure none of the victims were human. “I have a piece of land already in mind,” he added.
    He certainly did. The land in question was adjacent to the Altar of Promises, where the t’landa Til administered to the slaves their daily dose of telepathic euphoria. The t’landa Til were said to have powers over all humanoid species, and Thrackan was inclined to wonder if that included the Yuuzhan