Temple of the Slayer, formerly the Well of the Yammosk
Wreckage of the Baanu Amnan, Tingel Arm, Wild Space
Day 189, 30 ABY

The Temple of the Slayer no longer bore any sign of the battle that had been fought between the legendary warleader Drathul Amnan and the heretical Dark Jeedai and Sseeth two years ago. In the middle of the half a kilometre wide chamber, the depressed Well of the Yammosk, where the central brain of the worldship had lived, had long been drained of the yellow-green film of mucous that once nourished the holy war coordinator.

These days it was the Place of Sacrifice. The shapers had needed to regrow much of the chamber from where the yammosk’s gargantuan tentacles had ripped the worldship apart in its death throes. The new walls had been built in the same ancestral architectural designs. In the floor, passages had been carved into the yorik coral for the blood from sacrificial victims to flow to the ngdins who then consumed it for the Yun’o. The blood was harvested chiefly from Shamed Ones who claimed Shimrra was dead instead of trusting the Warmaster’s word.

Throughout the chamber, crab-harps roamed freely, beating their spare legs against the leathery drums on their backs to provide a constant background harmony in sharp contrast to the slurp each time one of the ngdins cleaned up a pool of blood.

Taug Lacap crossed the chamber, heading towards the charnel pit in the centre where the daily sacrifices were thrown to the carnivorous yargh’uns. Seef, the High Priestess, was already there. As was Tsaak Shai, the Warmaster’s personal seer. The pair appeared gripped in one of their regular disagreements.

Taug grimaced—an act that looked strange on his mutilated face, shaped as it was into a likeness of the Twin Lover Gods such that one side appeared male, to represent Yun-Txiin, the other side female, representing Yun-Q’aah. He never had liked Tsaak; the seer was too wrapped up in Yun-Yammka’s ways, and too dismissive of religious protocol. It didn’t help that, like Varesh, Tsaak still refused to accept Shimrra was dead.

The seer was going to be a lot worse after Taug gave his new update on Tolok Amnan.

As Taug approached, Tsaak did not bother to greet him.

‘We’re discussing your latest report on Domain Amnan,’ Seef said, her voice still terse. The High Priestess was naked apart from a fresh splatter of blood from the recent victims she had now lathered upon her breasts and upper torso. ‘Tolok has gone too far this time.’

Taug nodded in agreement. He spared a glance at Tsaak, who still had not moved. ‘He has already violated the Great Doctrine with his relationship, not just with someone from another domain, but from another caste. This new request to assign Jeedai to the Yammka was inevitable.’

That got Tsaak’s attention. ‘And what do you propose, apostle?’ the seer whispered, his voice sharp enough to silence the nearby crab-harps. ‘That we execute them both?’ He spread his arms as if to take in the whole chamber. ‘And what then? Without Domain Amnan there would be no Yammka’s Sword. Without the Baanu Amnan’s resources the Warmaster would not have regrown his lost battlegroup. Do you think the Fearsome One blind? He has distrusted this worthless domain since he allied with them—but sacrifices must be made.’

‘But Jeedai?’ Seef added. ‘Jeedai? The gods would never condone Tolok’s heresy.’

‘Yun-Yammka will understand,’ Tsaak retorted. ‘The Jeedai will yet face judgement at the Gate to the Lands of the Dead. Shimrra understood the need for the Slayers. Is this not the same?’

‘It has been more than seven klekkets . . .’ Taug said slowly. Seef glanced sideways at him, but he decided to risk the question anyway, ‘You still believe the Supreme One lives?’

Tsaak was quiet for a long moment, then said, ‘As long as the Great Doctrine is true, the Dread Lord lives, is that not correct?’ The look in the seer’s eyes made it clear the issue was not open for debate. Not that Taug could argue anyway. They had never been without a Supreme Overlord before. Shimrra’s disappearance—alive or dead—still made no sense.

‘Perhaps it is time we started thinking about a . . . regent,’ Seef said, ‘for until such time as the Great Lord returns.’ The naked priestess stared down into the yargh’un pit to watch the rodents chomp up the last few bones from the morning’s sacrifices. ‘I think it fair to conclude Varesh has become an augury of the Cosmic Lord’s will.’

Taug did not speak. Apart than the Supreme Overlord himself, only the members of the Order of Yun-Yuuzhan communed with the Cosmic Lord directly. If Seef believed the Warmaster had become a vessel for Yun-Yuuzhan, then none but Shimrra could dispute it.

Tsaak looked as though he had been struck in the face by a senalak. After a rather uncomfortably long silence, the warrior-seer finally said, ‘If that is what you ordain then, High Priestess, I am in no position to disagree. And if what you say is true, I am sure the Warmaster will have no objections when he returns from his current battle.’

The blood soaked priestess nodded. ‘Then so be it. We will allow Tolok’s indiscretions for the time being. But when the Supreme One returns the young commander and his illicit lover can expect to answer for their crimes in blood.’