Free Ascendance by John Birmingham Page A

plans.
    ‘The Sliveen report the Dave and this other champion, a female calfling of many clans and names, feed and recover near the site where she slew Angrbult ur Threshrend.’
    ‘Midtown, coolio.’
    ‘You are familiar with this quarter of the human settlement, Superiorae?’ asked Guyuk.
    ‘Sure. We’re golden, boss. We just keep him down there and away from us. Might even be able to lure this jackass into a trap.’
    Compt’n ur Threshrend turned back to the majorae.
    ‘That thing old Angry Bull did, messing with the Dave and his bitch. Can you do that, Mandy? Could you teach me?’
    M’randm ur Threshrend’s lips peeled back from the fang tracks that occupied most of his head.
    ‘I cannot teach you, no, Superiorae. You have not yet matured enough to practise the technique. But all of the Clan Threshrendum currently in Manhatt’n sensed the contest between our fallen one and this female calfling. The knowing of it is common. Angrbult ur Threshrend engaged in a contest of randorii with her.’
    ‘Dunno it,’ said Compt’n ur Threshrend.
    ‘You would not,’ Lord Guyuk explained. ‘M’randm ur Threshrend is correct, Superiorae. Randorii is an ancient combat discipline of the empath clans. It is a contest, always fatal, between the most skilled and knowledgeable Threshrendum. You are an eon from mastering it. Do not forget that only a few turnings past you were not even Threshrendum, but mere thresh.’
    ‘Yeah, yeah, everyone’s down on the new guy. So your randy-roaring technique. It’ll shut down the Dave when he tries to go all Flash on a motherfucker?’
    M’randm ur Threshrend appealed to Guyuk.
    ‘I do not understand, my Lord.’
    ‘I think the Superiorae asks whether the randorii is an appropriate counter to the Dave’s ability to move with great and terrible swiftness.’
    ‘Ah,’ the older empath said. ‘It is. The Dave and his companion do not simply move with this noted swiftness, you see? It seems a matter of their thinkings rather than their exertions. Hence, the randorii .’
    ‘I see,’ said Compt’n ur Threshrend, turning his attention fully to Guyuk. ‘Looks like some motherfuckers gonna be getting some respect for Team Threshrend then, doesn’t it?’ And back to the majorae. ‘You done good, Mandy. Make sure all my threshies who are cool with this randorii kung-fu thing know about it before you go back topside, though.’
    ‘The knowing and thinking of it already spreads fast through the clan, Superiorae. But I shall do as you insist.’
    ‘Dude, that’s all I ever ask.’
    *
    Lord Guyuk had to concede that as difficult and annoying a counsellor as the empath had become after absorbing the minds of so many different humans, his advice was sound. Guyuk was now convinced that humans were no longer the unvarying herd of cattle written of in the scrolls. To have raised themselves so far above their natural station in the absence of the Horde, it must be the case that just as a legion was composed of officers and lower ranks, so too must the clan of humanity.
    Thresh-Trev’r had been useful in the way of a very crude and simple tool, but Compt’n ur Threshrend had the tactical and strategic capacity of a regimental commander; and a regiment of Grymm too, not just Hunn. His plan was indeed unaffected by the abrupt and unexpected intervention of the human champion. Or champions, Guyuk reminded himself.
    ‘You see, we’re cool,’ said Compt’n ur Threshrend after Lieutenants Grymm escorted the Threshrend Majorae from Guyuk’s chambers. The lord commander did not need to pause to translate the strange human vernacular. He knew the Superiorae meant the attack could proceed as planned.
    ‘And so we return to the Above?’ Guyuk said.
    ‘Totes.’
    The lord commander grunted in satisfaction. He had also learned this was a human term appropriate for signalling affirmation.
    ‘My homeboy there,’ said Compt’n ur Threshrend, indicating the door through which the