That allowed Nukurren the time she needed to finish Ludumilaroshokavashiki. Again, she was impressed by the speed and dexterity of the female warrior; but it availed Ludumilaroshokavashiki nothing. She was overconfident, as Nukurren had known she would be. The demon lunged in with a headthrust of her spear. It was a clever feint, designed to draw forth a missed fork-stroke. But Nukurren’s battle-experience was by far the greater. Instead of the fork-stroke she expected, Ludumilaroshokavashiki found her spear entrapped by Nukurren flair; and then, helpless, came the fork-stroke which spilled her to the ground, her armor splintering under the impact.
Nukurren spun about and, without even looking, rolled to the side. The demonlord’s spearthrust missed her completely. She lashed with the flail and then, pleased beyond measure, saw that Yoshefadekunula had again avoided it by that impossible upward spring.
But I know it now, demonlord.
She could not deny the satisfaction it gave her to swat the demonlord in midair, with a stroke of the fork which was, perhaps, excessively harsh.
She spun about. Three of the demons were beginning to rise, but Nukurren stilled them with quick touches of the flail. These were not blows, simply touches. But they were enough to drive home the lesson. All were now at her mercy, and there would have been nothing, had they been using real weapons in a real battle, to prevent her from slaying them.
She stepped back and set down her fork and flail.
“That is the first lesson. There will be no other today. Tomorrow I will begin teaching you the Utuku way of war, so that you may learn how to combat them. But today’s lesson is the most important lesson of all, and you must think upon it.”
She rolled up her instruments in the reed-bundle and carried them back to the hospital.
Late that night, Dzhenushkunutushen came to the hospital and sat by Nukurren’s pallet. He said nothing for a time, nor did Nukurren.
At length, Dhowifa spoke.
“Are you hurt?”
Dzhenushkunutushen’s face crunched. The ummun crunched their faces many different ways, but Nukurren thought this was the gesture of ruefulness.
“I hurt all over.”
“Good,” said Nukurren. “It will prepare you for tomorrow. Where you will hurt again, but will be wiser.”
Again, the crunch. Slightly different.
“Some friend you are!”
Only her long years of shoroku kept Nukurren’s mantle gray. For some time, she did not trust herself to speak. Dzhenushkunutushen rose and began to leave.
Softly, to his back, Nukurren said: “I have never had a friend. Except Dhowifa.”
The demon stopped in the doorway. He turned around and came back to Nukurren’s pallet. As always, she was struck by the strangeness of his colors, the white passion of his skin and the blue fury of his eyes.
“I have never known loneliness,” he said. “I think you have never known anything else.”
“That is true. Except Dhowifa.” She felt her lover’s soft touch.
Dzhenushkunutushen lay down on the floor next to the pallet. “Tonight I will sleep here, Nukurren. There are lessons which you need to learn also.”
Soon, Dzhenushkunutushen fell asleep, as, shortly thereafter, did Dhowifa. Nukurren remained awake long into the night. Never once did her shoroku waver. But the time came when one of the great palps which had brought terror and death to so many over the years reached out. Reached out, and gently touched the soft yellow hair of the demon lying next to her.
Chapter 21
In the days after the shocking defeat which the huge new gukuy had delivered to Joseph and his lieutenants, Indira found herself, much against her natural inclination, visiting the training field. She said nothing to anyone, simply watched as the new arrival—Nukurren—began showing the human warriors the Utuku methods of combat.
On the second day of the new training regimen, Ushulubang arrived. She was accompanied by Dhowifa, riding in her mantle cavity, and a large number of Pilgrims. Indira immediately knew, by some subtlety in their bearing, that these Pilgrims were former warriors. They were carrying reed-bundles laden with unusually designed weapons, including shields. From descriptions she had heard, Indira realized that these were replicas of Utuku weapons. After a brief consultation between Ushulubang and Nukurren, the Pilgrims donned the Utuku armament and began acting as the mock opponent for the human platoons.