Eric Flint: Mother of Demons

Until a demon had arrived before Kopporu, where she stood with Guo, overseeing the massacre. Not the implacable demon, but one which seemed overcome by misery.

In tribal trade-argot, the demon had ordered Kopporu to halt the killing of the new Utuku recruits.

"Others must be kill," the monster had said. "Not new Utuku. New Utuku take alive. Our mother say so."

Guo's mantle had turned bright blue, then. The battlemother had bellowed with rage, and raised her maces.

"No one-no demon-no one-will stop my people from avenging themselves upon those who ate the flesh of their own tribe!"

In a movement too fast for Kopporu to follow, the demon had flickered back, out of range of Guo's maces. But it had not fled. Nor could Kopporu see the slightest tinge of pink in the brown misery of its hide.

Guo's words of rage could have been heard all over the battlefield. Kopporu's eyes scanned the field. And, within a heartbeat, saw the sight she feared most.

A file of demons was racing toward them. At their head sped the one who had slain the Utuku commander. The implacable one-black as ever.

Sooner than Kopporu would have thought possible, the demons stood before them. Ranging themselves in a half-circle, their darts held ready.

The implacable demon stepped forward. Its way of walking was still strange to Kopporu, although she was beginning to see how the demons moved. But, strange or not, Kopporu could not miss the poise and sureness of the monster's stance.

The demon spoke-in Kiktu, to Kopporu's relief. Trade-argot was a crude language.

Much too crude for negotiations. And if there was ever a time to negotiate, Guo-you young idiot!-it is now.

"Why have you threatened my battle leader?" demanded the black demon.

Before Guo could erupt again, Kopporu explained the situation quickly. From the corner of her eye, Kopporu saw that Woddulakotat was whispering rapidly and urgently into his future-mate's tympanus. She felt some relief, then. The eightweeks in the swamp had taught Kopporu much. Not least of those lessons had been to remove her prejudices concerning the wisdom of males. Especially the eumale Woddulakotat, who, young as he was, had proven to be a shrewd and quick-witted adviser.

The demon pondered Kopporu's words for a moment, and then spoke softly.

"I can understand your emotions. But-are you the battle leader Kopporu?"

Kopporu made the gesture of affirmation.

"We had thought it must be so. Let me take the moment to extend my admiration to you, battle leader Kopporu. And that of my mother, and all my people. The exploit which you and your people have accomplished in crossing the Lolopopo will live for ever. And you have proven your worth-again-on this field of battle."

Kopporu relaxed slightly. She recognized diplomatic flattery when she heard it, of course. But that was all to the good. A demon which was willing to extend some flattery was not, hopefully, given to the same temper tantrums as the fool Guo.

But flattery, as always, served only to sweeten the sour food which followed.

"But I must still insist that you stop the killing of the new Utuku."

Kopporu could not restrain Guo in time.

"Why?" roared the battlemother. "And who is this mother-who can give commands to my people?"

Kopporu emitted the soft whistle which serves gukuy as a sigh of exasperation.

Who do you think-idiot?

The answer came as no surprise.

"Her name is Inudiratoledo. She is my mother-and the mother of us all."

The Mother of Demons. Whose children are like bolts of lightning.

The demon's-head?-turned away. Kopporu saw its little eyes scanning the field of battle.

"As to your first question-why? I do not know the answer. Although," the demon added slowly, "I am beginning to understand. This-and many things about my mother which were not so clear to me before."

Strangely, its eyes began to shine. As if there were a sudden film of water upon them.

But the moment passed, almost before it began. With a quick gesture, the demon wiped its eyes. Then it stepped forward, and there was no mistaking the meaning of that motion.

The Law will now be spoken.

"What is your name, battlemother?"

It was not a question, really. It was a command. Spoken in such a tone that even the fool Guo answered without hesitation.

"Then, listen to me, Guo. Listen carefully, and never doubt what I say. This-"

A quick gesture encompassed the battlefield.

"-is how it is for one reason. And one reason only. It is not so because of the flails of your warriors, nor the power of your own mace. You fought well. Very well. But you would now be nothing but meat in the bellies of the Utuku-"

Guo began to protest, but the demon's voice overrode even hers.

" Except for one thing, battlemother! Except that our mother told us a secret. A terrible secret. A secret which destroyed an army."

The blue in Guo's mantle faded, replaced by dappled ochre, pink and orange.

"It is true, then?" the battlemother asked uncertainly. "She is the one we have heard of? The one who knows the secrets?"

The demon hesitated. Kopporu saw something change in the monster's shape. She was not sure what it was. Something in the way its-tentacles?-attached to its upper body. The attachments seemed to move downward somehow, and the demon suddenly looked smaller.

"Yes," it said softly. "She is the one. The one who knows the secrets-and what comes with them."

It pointed again to the battlefield.

"This resulted from one of her secrets. But there was another result as well. This -also caused my mother a great and terrible anguish. I know it is so. I have been told by those of my warriors who saw her leave."

All softness vanished. The demon's next words could have forged the bronze blades of a flail.

"I will not visit further grief upon my mother, nor allow others to do so. Do you understand, battlemother? I hope so. I have heard much said of the Kiktu, and all of it good. I would welcome you as friends-and perhaps more. And so-I know this to be true-would my mother. But that is for the possible future. For the present, the matter is simple. If you do not stop the killing-"

The last words struck like the flail itself.

"-then the only gukuy who will survive this field of battle will be the Pilgrims and the new Utuku. You, and all your people, will join the other corpses."

Kopporu had turned on Guo, then. She herself knew the tones of authority, and she explained to Guo in the simplest of terms that, Great Mother or no, Guo was still nothing more than a warrior under her command. Did she understand?

Even Guo, even the young fool Guo, who had forced the black demon to declare his authority over them, had finally understood. The battlemother had remained silent, while Aktako and the rest of Kopporu's guard carried the word to the warriors.

The warriors had obeyed. Reluctantly, true. But Aktako and her cohorts knew how to enforce commands, and the slaughter of the new Utuku stopped. Or, at least, the slaughter of those Utuku whose cowl-scars were very fresh. "New" Utuku, after all, is a term which can be interpreted in different ways; and the warriors were in no mood for any but the most literal interpretation.

Kopporu suspected that the young demonlord knew how often the Kiktu warriors were violating the spirit of the command, but the monster said nothing. After a time, Kopporu decided that the demon was not, in truth, seeking a confrontation. Simply a lessened pain in his mother's heart.

Do demons have hearts, I wonder?

The Mother of Demons would never know how many Utuku could have been spared. But she would see captives-several eighties of them, in the end-and would perhaps be satisfied.

I hope so. I hope so.

And now the moment had come. At the head of her army, Kopporu entered a clearing in the center of a small-village, she thought. On three sides of the clearing stood oddly-built, square yurts. On the fourth side was a grove of those plants which the Old Ones called "oruc."