Bossling

If he can hope to go up higher only as the result of making himself useful to some boss or bossling, in matters having nothing in the world to do with the discharge of his legitimate duties, …

A thousand tribes' worth of memory and rite flowed underground, cooling for a year, to roar like a cataract at the appointed hour, and inevitably to dry up again, some bossling having carried off the tawdry shield.