The Younger Gods

"You might say that she even won a war for us when she gutted out Takal Bersla. Torl was watching when that happened, and Tori's seen a lot of nasty things happen to people, but he told Cap'n Sorgan that he almost threw up when Alcevan spilled poor Bersla's insides all over the temple floor."

"It couldn't have happened to a nicer fellow," Keselo agreed. "We might want to stay back just a bit, Rabbit," he said then. "I see several varieties of bugs approaching those lion-bugs, and I suspect that open war is just about to break out."

"You're right there, friend Keselo," Rabbit agreed. "I see a dozen or so very large spiders on the other side of this chamber, as well as the lion-bug, some beetles that look like they're wearing armor, and some wasp-bugs flying around with their stingers held at the ready. Do all bugs have those great big eyes?"

"They want—and need—to see everything, Rabbit." Then Keselo gasped. "What is that thing?" he exclaimed.

Rabbit stared at the creature Keselo had just pointed out. "She actually tried to imitate Longbow!" he exclaimed.

"It looks that way to me too," Keselo agreed, "but it has six limbs instead of only four, and it's carrying two bows instead of only one."

"Now this I want to see," Rabbit declared. "If that thing shoots two arrows at the same time, it can kill more of its enemies than any other bug thing could ever manage."

Keselo and Rabbit watched closely, and sure enough, the archer bug was killing two lion-bugs—or beetle-bugs—at the same time. The dead bugs with arrows in them began to pile up.

"She's good," Rabbit reluctantly admitted. "Longbow never misses, but he only uses one bow."

"Look out!" Keselo exclaimed as a heavy crashing sound came from overhead.

Rabbit and Keselo pulled back from the large chamber as the overhead ceiling began to shatter. They could see a new kind of bug above them, and they had big rocks in their claws.

"They're huge!" Keselo exclaimed. "They have to be at least ten feet tall, and they're slamming boulders down on the top of the ceiling. The whole thing will collapse any time now."

Then a flock of the bug-bats came flapping in overhead, and they began attacking the lion-bugs and the bug-archers.

"That's it!" Rabbit declared. "Let's get out of here, Keselo. It's time to go on back and tell Omago what's going on in this part of the nest. Give them a couple of days, and there won't be any bugs left alive anywhere in this nest."

"What a shame," Keselo murmured, and then the two of them ran back toward the central shaft, and they didn't even laugh very much.

Chapter Three

When the two explorers returned to the main cavern, the Aracia creature was still screaming, but no other bugs were around anymore.

"I wasn't sure just what 'Vlagh' was supposed to mean back in the old days," Rabbit said. "That's why we called her Big Mommy. But I do know what it means now."

"Oh?" Keselo stepped in. "What's that?"

"I'd say that 'all alone' comes pretty close, wouldn't you?"

"Not quite, friend Rabbit," Longbow said. "If you listen carefully, you'll hear some other screams coming from a different part of the nest. The pretty lady delivered another screamer while you two were roaming around in the nest. The one called Alcevan is back home now, and she'll be able to listen to Big Mommy's screams for a long, long time."

"Except that she won't live for a long time, will she?" Keselo asked.

"Pretty Ara took care of that before she brought Alcevan here," Omago replied. "Alcevan will live for as long as Big Mommy keeps screaming. Artistic screaming deserves an audience, wouldn't you say? There are solid stone walls between those two, so they won't see each other or be able to speak to each other. They'll exchange screams, and that's all."

"Duets are a bit nicer than solos," Keselo said.

"It's all over, then, isn't it?" Rabbit said, feeling just a bit sad that his days in the Land of Dhrall were coming to an end.

"Are you saying that you'll actually miss this war, Rabbit?" Longbow asked.

"Not the war as much as I'll miss the friends I've made here." Then he snapped his fingers. "What do you think, Keselo?" he asked. "Should we tell Longbow about the imitation of him that Big Mommy made just a while back?"

"Are you sure that it won't offend him?" Keselo asked.

"It's real hard to offend Longbow, friend Keselo," Rabbit said. "Anyway, Longbow, it seems that you really impressed Big Mommy with your bow and your arrows—enough, anyway, that she made her own version of you. It wasn't at all bad, either. Of course, it was a bug, so it had six legs instead of only four. After it'd learned to stand up on its two hind legs, it had four arms to work with. That meant that it could hold two bows and shoot two arrows at the same time. It wasn't a half-mile away like you are, but up to a hundred or so paces away from its enemies, it could kill them two at a time." Then an odd notion came to him. "I'd be willing to bet that Omago here could modify you just a bit and give you an extra two arms—or maybe take a quick look at an octopus and give you six arms altogether. You could kill a whole army all by yourself if you were built that way."

Longbow smiled faintly. "Very interesting, friend Rabbit," he said. "And just where were you planning to set up your arrow factory after Omago gives me all those extra arms? I'll need a lot of arrows, you know."

Rabbit winced. "I'll forget all about this if you will, friend Longbow," he said.

"Whatever seems right to you, little friend." Then he looked at Omago. "Are we finished here?" he asked.

"Unless you'd like to stay and listen to the Vlagh scream and wail," Omago replied.

Longbow shrugged. "After you've heard a few hours of screaming, it starts to get a bit boring. Why don't we go back to Gunda's fort and let everybody know that the war's over now, and that it's not very likely that it'll come back."

"Good idea," Omago agreed. "Let's go."

"Why didn't you just drive a dozen or so arrows into her, Longbow?" Sorgan asked the archer after Omago had described the current condition of the Vlagh to their friends in the large room at the center of Gunda's fort a few days later.

Longbow shrugged. "Omago persuaded me not to," he replied. "She might have taken a minute or so to die if I'd driven an arrow into her. Now that all her children are dead and she'll never lay any more eggs that will give her other children, she'll remain in that nest screaming in agony until the end of time. In a certain sense she's paying for each and every one of our friends that the bug-people killed. I'd say that she probably wanted me to kill her, but I've always made a point of never giving the Vlagh anything she wanted."