Eric Flint - Mother of Demons

The gesture of grudging admission.

"Much better, in fact. You see how they are not simply swarming mindlessly, as usual?"

Indira looked again. After a moment, she saw what Ghodha was pointing to. Order began to appear out of chaos.

"They are fighting in organized groups. I can see it now. Sloppy, I think, but-organized."

"Yes. They are very sloppy." A whistle of derision. "You should see the Anshac legions!"

Again, pink and ochre rippled.

"What am I saying? Even the Anshac are nothing, compared to your own ummun apalatunush."

Ghodha turned and looked to the south. Indira's eyes followed. Ludmilla and Takashi's warriors were racing back and forth, slicing the Utuku flank to ribbons. The platoons had broken into squads, now, each of which operated independently-but still within the organized control of their leaders.

Indira turned and pointed back to the west.

"Explain further."

Ghodha looked away, slowly. Indira was amused at the veteran warrior's obvious reluctance to forego the pleasure of watching master craftsmanship in her trade.

A moment later, Ghodha continued.

"The Kiktu possess three strengths in the art of battle. As individuals, their warriors are excellent. It cannot be denied. There are none on the Meat of the Clam who surpass them in the use of fork-and-flail, and few who can claim to be their equal. Look there! You will see what I mean."

Indira followed Ghodha's pointing palp. She saw, at the edge of the battle, that a Kiktu had somehow managed to lure a single Utuku away from the lines. The single combat which followed was horrifyingly brutal, but illuminating. The Kiktu warrior picked apart the Utuku's clumsy defenses. Within seconds, the Utuku shield was stripped away by a flail-blow that was almost too fast for Indira to follow. Seconds later, the Utuku's right ped was a bloody mass of shredded flesh, and the Utuku slumped. A split-second later, the Kiktu's fork slammed into the left side of her opponent's mantle. The Kiktu threw herself to the side, levering the Utuku onto her back. The four flail-strokes which followed completely disemboweled the doomed warrior.

More than disemboweled, thought Indira, repressing a sudden taste of vomit. All the vital organs of a gukuy, except the brain, are located right under the belly, with no cartilage or shell or thick integument to protect them. That's not just guts being strewn all over the plain. That's her heart, her liver, her inner lungs-everything.

Somewhat shakily, she asked Julius: "This is what you were telling me, isn't it?"

Julius' face was pale, but his gaze was steady.

"Yes, love. Although-I won't be so smug about it, anymore. Not after seeing that."

He took a deep breath.

"The gukuy pay a price for the way their bodies evolved. In their manipulatory limbs as well as their peds. For reasons I can only guess at, gukuy evolution put almost all their fine control into their arms. Wonderfully precise and delicate organs, those are. Maria told me she's planning to train gukuy surgeons. She thinks they'll make better surgeons than humans, once they learn the skill.

"But their tentacles lost something in the bargain. They're very strong, and fast. But they don't begin to have the fine coordination of human arms and hands. That's why the gukuy can't really use weapons like spears. Or swords. With spears, they'd miss their targets. And with swords, they'd be more likely to hit with the flat of the blade rather than the edge. What results is-"

He pointed to the battlefield. Then, suddenly, turned away. Indira could see him struggling with his own stomach.

When Julius turned back, his face was even paler.

"But, like I said, I won't be so smug about it any more. Never having seen a gukuy battle, I expected something much more clumsy. I never dreamed that you could do so much damage with a flail."

Indira turned back to Ghodha.

"Continue, please."

"Their second strength is their speed."

Somehow, watching the battle, Indira no longer found the term "gukuy speed" an oxymoron.

"The Kiktu are very swift and agile. Nothing, of course, compared to"-a quick, admiring glance to the south- "ummun, but for gukuy-very fast. Very fast. You see how they lure Utuku after them into little traps?"

Indira watched for a minute or so, and nodded.

Ghodha made the gesture of admiration.

"The Kiktu excel in the art of ambush. Many foolish and arrogant Anshac legion commanders have led their warriors to disaster, from underestimating the cleverness of the barbarians."

Ghodha now pointed to the center of the Kiktu lines.

"Finally, they have the battlemothers." Faint ripples of blue and yellow appeared on the warrior's mantle.

"It is a barbarous custom. But-"

The blue and yellow vanished.

"-I admit, it is terrible to face a Kiktu battlemother in battle. Especially one with good flankers."

Ghodha paused, examining the battle.

"The flankers of this battlemother are excellent. You see how they force the enemy to face their battlemother's maces? Leaving them nowhere to dodge aside?"

Indira nodded.

"Nothing can withstand the strength of a battlemother. The strongest armor is like paper beneath the blows of her mace."

Indira winced. Just that moment, an Utuku warrior burst- like a ripe tomato-under the mace of the battlemother.

"Faced with a battlemother, a warrior can only rely on speed and agility. That is the purpose of the flankers-to nullify the enemy's maneuvering room."

The sound of Joseph's bellow drew her eyes back to the center. He had decided, Indira saw, that the climatic moment of the battle was upon them. Quickly scanning the field, Indira thought his judgement was correct. The Utuku right had been shredded by the platoons; the left, forced to fight the Kiktu alone, were on the verge of collapse; there remained only the huddled center to be-smashed.

Joseph was already racing off the knoll, straight toward the Utuku center. Jens and his squad kept pace with him. A moment later the human warriors drew even with the Pilgrim line. The Pilgrims immediately followed the charge.

The drums of the Utuku center began beating frantically.

Ordering what, I wonder? What orders do you give your butchers-when the demons come?

Of the human warriors plunging toward the Utuku center, only Joseph held a javelin. At the last moment before reaching the enemy line, he cast his weapon.

Indira watched-first with surprise, and then with awe-as Joseph's javelin rose higher and higher into the sky. Higher and higher. Beyond its flight, far back, stood the figure of the ogghoxt commander.

I don't believe it.

"I don't believe it," whispered Julius. "That's a gold medal in the Olympics."

The javelin reached the top of its arc and began sailing down.

"No, Julius," she said.

Straight toward the ogghoxt commander.

I don't think she even sees it coming.

The javelin struck right between the commander's eyes, and sank at least two feet into her head. She fell like a stone.

"That spear cast belongs to an earlier time. Only Homer could have done it justice."

Joseph and Jens, side by side, smashed into the Utuku. The other members of the shock squad formed a wedge behind them. As the ferocity of their attack split open the Utuku center, the Pilgrims poured in behind, widening the breach.

On the left, Ludmilla and Takashi now ordered a change in tactics. The platoons abandoned all subtlety and fell onto the Utuku, assegais flashing. The Utuku right flank, already demoralized, began to give way completely.

On the right, Indira heard a sudden burst of gukuy voices, speaking in a tongue she did not know.

Kiktu battle language, she realized. Far back, perched upon a battlemother who had remained out of the fray, she spotted the figure of a gukuy. The new commands were issuing from her, and being passed forward. Suddenly, the Kiktu warriors abandoned their fluid maneuvers and smashed directly into the Utuku.