Eric Flint - Mother of Demons

"My people, Ghodha-who include far more than Kiktu-would have no difficulty accepting Yoshef as a commander. They would accept it in the same way that they have accepted Enagulishuc as our common language-and for the same reasons. No, more than accept it. They would feel a great sense of confidence, knowing they were led by the demon who slew the Utuku commander with a single cast of his spear."

Kopporu drew a deep breath. Here it is.

"But it would be a false confidence. The army would not be stronger with Yoshef as its commander rather than me. It would be weaker."

Another deep breath.

" Much weaker."

A small uproar followed. Quickly quelled, however, by Indira's firmness.

"Explain, Kopporu," she commanded.

Kopporu held up an arm.

"One. The incredible success of Yoshef's apalatunush in the recent battle was due primarily to surprise. The Utuku had never seen dem-ummun before. Suddenly, monsters were upon them, fighting in a manner which they had never experienced. The ummun had won half the battle before it even started. But this element of surprise will not last forever. We will enjoy it in the next battle, because no Utuku survived this one. Over time, however, the gukuy of all lands will become familiar with ummun and their battle tactics."

She held up a second arm.

"Two. The ummun are by no means invincible, or indestructible. You, Ghodha, are impressed by the fact that the ummun suffered few casualties in the battle. I was impressed by that also. But, since I have spent some time now with the ummun, I have been impressed by another fact.

"There are very few ummun. Not more than triple-eighty warriors. It is true, the young ummun will eventually be able to take their place in the apalatunush. And, over time, their numbers will grow. But there will always be far more- far more-gukuy than ummun. Once that fact becomes known-which it will, there is no way to keep it a secret forever-our opponents will understand that they need only kill a few ummun to cripple the apalatunush."

A third arm. And a fourth.

"Three. And, closely armed, four. Our opponents are powerful in numbers. Does anyone doubt that the Beak of the Utuku would sacrifice eighty-or more-warriors in order to kill a single ummun? Or any of the awosha of the south? And that is my fifth reason. The Utuku are our immediate enemy. Soon enough, the Beak will seek to avenge her humiliations upon us. But the Utuku are, in many ways, the most poorly equipped to fight ummun. Given their numbers, their tactics have worked well against the tribes of the plain. But they are very badly designed against the ummun methods."

A little diplomacy, here. Kopporu made the gesture of respect.

"You yourself, Ghodha, are a former battle leader of the Anshac legions. Would the legions have fared so badly against Yoshef's apalatunush?"

Ochre. Then, the gesture of grudging admission.

"Probably not. Certainly not-in a second battle. Where they understood what they were facing."

"Exactly. The Anshac discipline is, in all essential regards, as good as that of the Utuku. But the Anshac are far more flexible and clever."

One of the Opoktu clan leaders spoke.

"But we are not at war with the Ansha," she protested.

"Not yet," replied Kopporu. "But we will be."

Another uproar, quieted by Indira.

"Explain," she commanded.

Kopporu held up a sixth arm.

"The reason loops back to the question. I have listened carefully to everything Inudira has said, over the past many days. Most of it has been strange to me, and new, and difficult to comprehend. But one thing has become clear. I understand it, because I myself spent a lifetime as a warrior trying to change my tribe's methods of war. Tried and, for the most part, failed. Why? Because-as Inudira has explained-the way in which a people makes war is ultimately an extension of the way they live. Tribes will fight like tribes. Prevalates like prevalates. Savages like savages."

Kopporu groped for words.

"I cannot explain this well. Inudira could explain it much better. This much I know. The whole world is changing-and was, even before the ummun came. You all know this is so. You especially, Ghodha. Nowhere is change coming faster than in the south. Why are there so many former helots among my people? Because the lot of the helots is growing worse in the south. More and more helots are becoming outright slaves. The prevalates are going to war with each other more and more often. More and more, they are encroaching on the plains. And now, a great new cloth is being woven. We are weaving it here, on the Chiton. The cloth we call the nashiyonu. The new army we are building is only a single thread in that cloth-and not the most important one. Think of all the other threads we have decided upon. The new yurts for teaching new skills. The new trade routes we will seek to uncover. The new arts and crafts we will create. All of these things, sooner or later, will bring us into battle with the Ansha-and all the southern prevalates."

She fell silent. After a moment, all eyes turned to Indira.

"Is this so, Inudira?" asked Ghodha.

"Yes. Everything Kopporu has said, and more. I will elaborate on her words, at a later time. But Kopporu has stripped the meat from the shell."

She looked at Kopporu.

"Your conclusions, battle leader?"

"The army of the nashiyonu must be a gukuy army, in its essence. It must be built and led according to the best principles that we know, along with the new things which Inudira will teach us. But those must be principles which gukuy can use. Principles of the flail, not the spear. The ummun apalatunush will have a place in that army, for there are special things which they can do which we cannot. But they will not be at the center, when the clash of armies comes.

"The army should therefore be commanded by a gukuy. Whether that gukuy should be myself, or another, is a different question. But it must be a gukuy. We can, and will, learn much of the art of war from the ummun. And there will always be ummun in positions of command and advice. But no ummun could ever understand a gukuy army as well as a gukuy.

"And, it would be a waste. There are so few ummun, and they know so much. Even the young ones, who remember little of any world than our own, know far more than any gukuy. I would not see them wasted on a battlefield, any more than necessary."

She made the gesture of profound respect to Joseph.

"I, too, was awed by Yoshef's cast of the spear. But I would rather see him cast his thoughts into the sky."

In her mind, Ushulubang also made a gesture of profound respect. Not toward Joseph, but toward Indira.

Shrewdly done, Mother of Demons. As always. There will be no hesitation, now, at selecting Kopporu.

With quite a different mental gesture, Ushulubang considered Ghodha.

I believe I shall make a point of talking more often with that one. Rather too full of the Answer, she is. Answers which would have killed her, and them, had it been she who tried to lead an entire people through the Swamp. Even now, she cannot see past Kopporu's crude armor. It has not yet occurred to her to wonder: how is it that a "barbarian" could see things which I could not?

Because the barbarian, whether she knows it or not, follows the Way of the Question.

But that is for the future. For the moment, there is still a matter to be resolved. There is, after all, a core of meat at the center of Ghodha's prejudices.

For the first time since the council began that day, Ushulubang spoke.

"I fully support the proposal to make Kopporu the commander of the army. But a problem remains, which is the nature of the army itself."

She waited, allowing the council to digest her words.

"Is it to be a Kiktu army? No, clearly not. Kopporu has told us herself that she seeks to adopt Anshac methods-and even more. The methods which Inudira has begun to explain. But that will require the tribespeople to learn a whole new way of war. A difficult thing to ask, especially of warriors who are rightfully proud of their accomplishments in battle."