Part 8 (1/2)

The others muttered similar imprecations at him as he moved up and down the line, expostulating with the Pilgrim-candidates. Hah finally stopped and stood there, wanting to howl aloud with rage, like a Wookiee. Chewie did howl in frustration.

”Chewie, short of setting my blaster on stun and shooting them all, there ain't no way of stoppin' them,” the Corellian observed, bitterly.

”Hrrrrrrrnnnnnnnn,” Chewie agreed, sadly.

In a last ditch effort, Han tried talking to some of the younger people, even going so far as to offer one or two a job. None would listen to him. He soon gave up in dis-gust. This had happened to him once before, on Aefao, a remote world at the opposite side of the galaxy from Nar Shaddaa. There had been an Ylesian revival, and Han had tried to warn those who were heading for the s.h.i.+ps, but he found he couldn't compete with the Pilgrim-candidates' wide-eyed memories of the Exulta-tion. Only a few of the small, orange-skinned, hu-manold Aefans had listened to him. Over a hundred had boarded the Ylesian missionary s.h.i.+p ....

Hah watched the line of Corellians shuffling into the waiting transport, and shook his head. ”Some people are just too dumb to live, Chewie,” he said.

Or too desperate, the Wookiee rejoined.

”Yeah, well, just another reminder to me that stickin' your neck out is a good way to get your head chopped off,” Han said, disgustedly, as he turned his back on the doomed Corellians and began walking away. ”Next time I think about doin' that, pal, I want you to give me a Wookiee love-tap that will put me on my b.u.t.t. You'd think 'after all these years I'd learn .... ”

Chewie promised, and, together, they walked away.

Despite the fact that he had his undersized hands full running Besadii, Durga the Hutt refused to give up his search to find his parent's murderer. Six members of the household staff had died under rigorous interroga-tion, but there was absolutely no indication that any of them had been involved.

If the household staff was innocent, then how had Aruk been poisoned? Durga had another conversation with Myk Bidlor, who confirmed this time that there were traces of X-1 in Aruk's digestive tract. The lethal substance had indeed been eaten.

Durga terminated the communication, and went for a long undulation, roaming the halls of his' palace, thinking. His expression was so forbidding that his staff already highly nervous, and understandably so- fled before his approach as though he were an evil spirit from the Outer Darkness.

In his mind, the young Besadii lord was going over the last months of his parent's life, mentally ticking off every moment of every day. Everything Aruk had eaten had come from their own kitchens, prepared by the staff of chefs-including the ones now deceased. (He made a mental note to hire two new chefs .... ) Durga had had the entire kitchen and the servants' quarters scanned for any trace of X-1. Nothing. The only place that they'd picked up even the smalle~ hint of the substance had been on the floor in Aruk's office, not far from his usual parking spot for his repulsor sled. And that had been just the barest trace.

Durga frowned, contorting his birthmark-stained features into something resembling a demon-mask. Something was higgling at him. A memory. Niggling... wiggling... niggling...

Wiggling... wriggling! The nala-tree frogs/ Suddenly the memory was there, sharp and clear. Aruk, belching as he reached for yet another live nala-tree frog. Up until now, Durga had never considered the possibility that the poison could have been deliv-ered by means of a living creature-after all, it seemed only reasonable that the creature would die from the poison long before it could be ingested.

But what if nala-tree frogs were immune to the ef-fects of X-l? What if their tissues had been filled with ever-increasing amounts of X-l, without affecting them?

Aruk had loved his nala-tree frogs. He'd eaten them every day, sometimes as much as a dozen of them every day.

”Osman!” Durga bellowed. ”Fetch me the scanner!

Bring it straight to Aruk's office!”

The Chevin appeared briefly, acknowledged the or-der, and then vanished. The sounds of his running feet faded into the distance. Durga began undulating at top speed toward his parent's sanctum.

When he reached there, he was only seconds 'ahead of the panting servant, who was carwing the scanning device. Durga grabbed it from his hands, then rushed into the office. Where is it? he thought, looking wildly around.

Yes, there! he realized, heading for the corner. Stand-ing in the corner, forgotten, was Aruk's old snack-quarium. He'd used it to keep live food fresh, and, the last few months of his life, that live food had mostly been nala-tree frogs!

Thrusting the scanher's probe-tip into the snack-quarium, Durga activated the instrument. Moments later, he had his answer. The mineral deposits on the globe's gla.s.sinc sides contained sizable amounts of X-l!

Durga let out a bellow of rage that made the furniture rattle, then went berserk, smas.h.i.+ng the snackquarium with one mighty blow of his tail, slamming his bulk into furnis.h.i.+ngs, crus.h.i.+ng and destroying everything in his path. Finally, hoa.r.s.e and panting, he halted in the ruins of Aruk% office.

Teroenza. Teroenza sent the frogs.

Durga% first impulse was to fly to Ylesia and person-'ally smash the t'landa Til to a b.l.o.o.d.y pulp, but, after a moment~ reflection, he realized that it would be be-neath him to soil his hands and tail on a lesser being. Besides, he couldn't just do away with the High Priest. Teroenza was a good High Priest, and would be hard to replace. The Besadii lord was uncomfortably aware that if he had Teroenza killed, the t'landa Til on Ylesia might well refuse to continue their charade as priests in the Exultation. Teroenza was well-liked by those who served under him. He was 'also an able administrator, who had brought Besadii ever-increasing profits from the spice factories.

I'll have to have a trained replacement ready to step in before I act against him, Durga thought.

Also, Durga reflected, the evidence against the High Priest was purely circ.u.mstantial. It was remotely possi-ble that Teroenza was innocent. Durga had kept a close eye on Teroenza~ expenditures, and no large sums of credits had left his account. He could not have pur-chased the poison unless he did it in a very clandestine way... and he did not have the kind of credits it would take to purchase large amounts of X-1.

Unless he sold that wretched collection of his .... Durga thought, but he knew that hadn't happened. He kept close watch over all the s.h.i.+pping manifests going into and out of Ylesia, and Teroenza had, in fact, been adding to his collection for the past nine months.

The Besadii lord resolved to begin training a new t'landa Til that very week. He'd continue his investiga-tions, and by the time the new High Priest w~ts ready, he'd hire a bounty hunter to bring him Teroenza~ horn. Durga envisioned the horn, mounted on the wall of his office, right next to Arnk~ holo-portrait.

Teroenza might not be the only one who deserved to die on Ylesia. Someone had had to capture the nala-tree frogs, put them into s.h.i.+pping containers, and load them onto s.h.i.+ps. Durga resolved to investigate the situation from all angles before placing his bounty.

Of course the real murderer was the individual who had purchased the X-1 and masterminded the entire operation. Jiliac was his prime suspect. She had the credits, she had the motivation.

Durga had already begun searching for links be-tween Jiliac and the Malkite Poisoners. Now he would 'also search for links between the Desilijic leader and Teroeuza ....

Surely he'd find something . . . some record. s.h.i.+p-ping records, deposits of credits, withdrawMs, records of purchases... somewhere there would be evidence that would link both Teroenza and Jiliac to Aruk's death, and he, Durga, was going to find them.

He knew that the search would require both time and credits. His own personal credits, unfortunately. Durga didn't dare jeopardize his admittedly precarious position as leader of Besadii by spending huge amounts of the kajidic's money on what would be called a per-sonal vendetta.

Zier and his other detractors were already watching him, just ready to pounce on unjustified expenses.

No, he'd have to pay for it himself... and it would strain his personal resources to do so.

Durga thought for a moment of Black Sun. A word to Prince Xizor, and he'd have all of Black Sun's impres-sive resources at his command. But that would be open-ing the door to a Black Sun takeover of Besadii, and possibly all of Nal Hutta.

Durga shook his head. He couldn't risk that. He didn't want to wind up as one of Xizor's va.s.sals. He was a free and independent Hutt, and no Falleen Prince was going to give him his marching orders.

Durga left Aruk's smashed office, and went to his own. He had a long session of work at his datapad be-fore him. He couldn't let his work for Besadii suffer, so most of his search would have to be done at night, while most Hutts were sleeping.

Grimly, Durga reached for his datapad, and began keying in requests for information.

He had found his parent's murderers, he was sure of it. He knew the how, and the why. Now to gain the proof that would allow him to challenge Jiliac and de-mand persona] satisfaction for a blood-debt.

Durga's tiny fingers began racing over his datapad, and the greenish tip of his tongue protruded from the corner of his mouth as he concentrated ....

Teroenza paced slowly down the hallway in the Yle-sian Administrative Center to meet with Kibbick. The Hutt ”overlord” had requested his presence almost twenty minutes ago, but Teroenza had been busy. In the old days he'd never have dared to keep a Hutt lord waiting, but things on Ylesia were changing, slowly but surely.

He, Teroenza, was taking over. That idiot Kibbick was just too stupid to realize it.

Every day he was making plans, hiring the additional guards Durga had authorized, and fortifying the planet. Instead of hiring mostly Gamorrean guards, strong but even dumber than Kibbick which was saying something!--Teroenza was carefully choosing tough-ened mercenary fighters. They cost more, but they'd be worth it in battle.

And Teroenza knew there was going to be a bat-tle .... The day would come when he'd have to openly declare his break with Nal Hutta. Besadii would never take such a bid for independenee lying down, but Teroenza planned to be ready. He would direct his troops in battle, and victory would be theirs!

The High Priest was already making arrangements to bring the mates of the t'landa Til priests to Ylesia. His own mate, Tilenna, would be one of the first to arrive. Kibbick was such an idiot that he probably wouldn't even notice for some time. The differences between male and female t'landa Til were most readily appar-ent to t'landa Til. To most other species, except for the male's horn, they appeared virtually identical. Teroenza was also planning on increasing the defenses, even if he had to sell off part of his collection to do it. He'd checked the price of a ground-mounted turbo-laser and been horrified, but perhaps Jiliac would help him out with the credits he needed. After 'all, he, Teroenza, was the only one who could implicate her in Aruk's murder. It made sense that she'd want to stay on his good side.

When Teroenza reached Kibbick~ audience cham-ber, he hesitated before the port'd, consciously sum-moning up enough of a servile air to pa.s.s. He didn't want Kibbick to be aware of his contempt. Not yet. Soon, though ....

Soon, Teroenza comforted himself. Play your part. Listen to him babble. Agree with him. Flatter him. Soon you won't have to do this any more. Only a few more vwnths to put up with his foolishness. Soon ....

One of the first things Han Solo did 'after getting the Millennium Falcon was challenge his girlfriend, Salla Zend, to a race. In the smaller, unreliable Bria he'd never had a hope of defeating her swift Rimrunner, but nOW...

Whenever the two of them happened to have cargoes bound for the Kessel Run, the two smugglers would race through that dangerous area of s.p.a.ce. They fre-quently ran spice and other contraband to the Stenness System, and the Kessel Run was the fastest way there.