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.