Dragonback 04 Dragon and Herdsman (18 page)

He came around the reeds to a horrifying sight. A huge
brown-and-gray creature the size and general shape of a Kodiak bear was
lumbering through the group of Erassvas, his huge forepaws flailing
away at the fat aliens as they tried desperately to get out of his way.
Two of them were already sprawled unconscious on the ground behind him.

The Phookas, far nimbler than their hosts, so far seemed to have
avoided the beast's claws. But for all their extra maneuverability,
they seemed equally bewildered and helpless before the fury of the
attack.

Alison skidded to a halt in the mat of dead leaves and raised her
gun. "Don't shoot," Jack snapped. "You'll hit one of the Erassvas."

"We have to risk it," she snapped back.

"No, we don't," Jack said, grabbing her gun arm and pulling it
down. "Draycos—
go
!"

And with the banshee wail of a K'da battle cry, Draycos leaped
from beneath Jack's shirt.

Even over the rest of the noise Jack heard Alison's strangled
yelp. Draycos's leap landed him against the side of a tree; grabbing
the trunk with all four paws, he shoved off it, hurling himself like a
self-guided missile at the attacker.

The Kodiak paused in his rush, lifting his head toward this new
threat. But it was already too late. Draycos's forelegs caught the
beast solidly in the throat, the claws digging into the thick fur. The
rest of the K'da's body whipped around that pivot point, and a split
second later Draycos was dug in on the creature's back.

The Kodiak roared, a deep throbbing that seemed to cut straight
through Jack's stomach. The beast reared up on his hind legs to tower
above the Erassvas and Phookas, his huge forepaws reaching back over
his shoulders to try to dislodge this insolent Phooka that had dared to
fight back.

But while he might have tangled with an occasional Phooka, he had
never before faced a K'da. Draycos dodged the long claws with ease,
ducking or slipping sideways on the creature's broad back. Twice
Draycos met the incoming paw with a counterslash of his own claws,
eliciting more of the low-pitched bellows. Through it all his sharp
teeth continued to dig into the creature's back, and his tail whipped
with stinging force against the Kodiak's sides and the back of his hind
legs. The beast continued to roar, but to Jack's ears the bellows
seemed to be taking on an edge of desperation.

And then, suddenly, it was over. Rearing up one final time, the
Kodiak swiveled on his hind legs and dropped to the ground. On all
fours again, he loped back the way he had come.

Draycos stayed with the Kodiak for perhaps twenty feet, apparently
making sure he was really serious about leaving. Then, with a powerful
four-footed spring, Draycos shoved off backward from his grip on the
Kodiak's fur, looking for all the world like a fighter pilot ejecting
from a damaged aircraft. He landed on the ground and paused, watching
and listening until the crashes of the creature's exit were lost in the
forest murmurs.

Only then did Draycos turn around and walk back to the group.

"Mother of God," Alison murmured, her voice as tight as Jack had
ever heard it.

Jack looked at her profile, suddenly aware that he was still
holding her gun arm. "It's all right," he said. "He's a friend."

With a clear effort, Alison dragged her gaze away from Draycos.
For a moment her eyes held Jack's; then they dropped to his open shirt.
"Yes, he was riding my skin," Jack confirmed, a sinking feeling in his
stomach. Now, with the danger past, the full implications of revealing
Draycos's secret to this girl were starting to hit him.

"What—?" She swallowed hard, looking back at Draycos. "What
is
it?"

"You asked me once what a K'da was." Jack nodded to Draycos. "This
is Draycos, poet-warrior of the K'da."

Alison took a deep breath. "I see," she said. To Jack's mild
surprise, her voice was almost back to normal. "Well."

Reaching down, she pried his hand off her arm. With only a slight
hesitation, she dropped the Corvine back into its holster. "Well," she
said again. "We'd better check the Erassvas. See who needs patching up."

She turned a cool gaze onto Jack. "And after that," she added,
"we're going to sit down and have a
long
talk."

Fortunately, the Erassvas were more shaken up than actually hurt.
Apparently, the Kodiak's attack strategy was to stun his victims and
then go back and finish off whichever one he chose as the meal of the
day. Jack and Alison got them settled under the trees, applied a few
bandages where claws had cut through skin, and left them to rest and
recover.

Afterward, as promised, Alison walked Jack over to a different
tree—one within sight of the Erassvas—and sat him down.

And with Draycos standing mostly silently at Jack's side, he told
her the whole story.

"I'll be fraggled," Alison murmured when he'd finished. "You two
have
definitely
been through the meat grinder on this one."

"And it's not over yet," Jack said, studying her face. But she was
every bit as good at masking her thoughts and feelings as he was. Her
face said exactly what she wanted it to, which in this case was
basically nothing.

"So why haven't you taken this to the Internos government?" she
asked. "The Malison Ring's a pretty big group, but StarForce could eat
them for breakfast."

"That would be great," Jack agreed. "
If
we could trust
them. If
I
were Neverlin, I'd have made sure I got to a few of
the top people in StarForce, the Internos Police, and maybe even the
government itself before I started this whole thing. Nothing big or
fancy or obvious, but enough to cover my back."

Alison made a face. "You may be right," she admitted. "Though if
it makes you feel any better, I doubt the whole Malison Ring is
involved. Frost is only—let's see; only the fifth or possibly fourth in
the chain of command. General Aram Davi is the man in charge, and I
haven't heard his name even mentioned. Best guess is that Frost is
pulling this underneath Davi's nose."

"Rather like Neverlin was doing," Jack said, nodding. "It would
certainly be nice if that was the case. Might limit his manpower even
more."

"Not to mention his resources," Alison agreed. "What
I
don't get is this business of cozying up to the Valahgua. Aren't they
worried these guys will turn around and bite them once the K'da and
Shontine are out of the way?"

Jack shrugged. "Maybe Neverlin thinks he can handle them."

"Or perhaps he does not truly understand the threat," Draycos
added. "I have met Neverlin only twice, but he does not seem to plan
sufficiently far ahead."

"More likely you've just managed to catch him by surprise," Alison
said. "Normally, Neverlin's the type who plans everything out to the
last detail, with contingency plans already prepped for anything that
might go wrong."

"And you know all this how?" Jack asked.

"My dad did a scam once on one of the Braxton Universis board
members," she explained. "I remember him saying at the time that
Neverlin was the one he was going to really have to keep an eye on."

"Then we're back to him thinking he can handle the Valahgua," Jack
concluded. "He must have one beaut of a trick up his sleeve. Especially
since he's seen their Death weapons in action and knows what they can
do."

"Which brings us to the other really big question mark," Alison
said. "Namely, what the blazes are the Valahgua doing in the Orion Arm
in the first place?"

"They wish to destroy us, of course," Draycos said, his tail
lashing the air restlessly.

"I'm sure they do," Alison said. "But way out
here
, this
far from their main stomping grounds? What did you
do
to these
guys, anyway?"

"We did nothing," Draycos insisted, his voice dropping ominously.
"They attacked
us
."

"Easy, Draycos," Jack soothed. "I'm sure she didn't mean anything
by that."

"Or maybe she did," Alison retorted. "Round-trip, we're talking
about a four-year mission here. Nobody does that unless they have a
very
good reason for it."

"Maybe they just don't like leaving loose ends," Jack said,
keeping a wary eye on Draycos. The dragon still looked offended, but he
had his annoyance under control again. Three and a half months of
dealing with Uncle Virge's snide comments had apparently done a good
job of thickening his skin. "Or maybe they think the K'da and Shontine
are planning to regroup here and come back after them."

"If so, they are wrong," Draycos said. "We have left our homes
forever. Here is now where we shall live, or where we shall die."

"Still seems like overkill to me," Alison said. "But I suppose
that's not something we need to worry about right now."

"No, what
we
need to worry about is getting off this rock
alive," Jack agreed. "Do you really have people coming for you? Or was
that just some scam?"

Alison's lip twitched. "Oh, they're coming," she said sourly.
"Problem is, they could get here anywhere from now to two weeks from
now."

"Terrific," Jack growled. "And you were planning to mention this
when?"

"I wasn't, because it wasn't any of your business," Alison said.
"I was expecting you to just drop me and take off."

Jack made a face. But in all fairness, she
had
told him he
didn't have to stay with her. "Yeah, whatever. So bottom line is that
they probably won't get here until it's all over."

"Basically," she conceded. "Which means it's up to you and me and
Draycos."

"And Uncle Virge," Jack reminded her.

"Assuming the ship survived," Alison agreed. "Incidentally, not
that it matters right now, but I don't think Uncle Virgil could have
pulled off a personality imprint like that with a P/S/8. That's got to
be at least a ten or eleven in there."

Jack shrugged. "He upgraded everything else on the
Essenay
.
Why not the computer system, too?"

"Point," she said. "So if the
Essenay doesn't
come for us,
we'll need to think about a place to hole up for a couple of weeks."

"You speak of the rocky area at the western end of the forest?"
Draycos asked.

"Unless you saw something better as we were coming in, I'd say
that's our best bet," Alison said. "The problem is that we have a lot
of bodies to hide.
And
a lot of associated mouths to feed."

She looked over at the Erassvas huddled together around their
trees. "Unless you're ready to cut them loose."

"No," Jack said firmly.

"It would be easier for us," Alison persisted. "And in all
honesty, it might be better for them."

"What, getting abandoned in the woods with a lot of predators
they've probably never even seen before?" Jack growled. "How does
that
qualify as good for them?"

"Because it would get them out of the sights of the predators with
guns," Alison said bluntly. "Once we aren't with them anymore, what
reason would Frost's men have to bother them?"

"Because they're K'da," Jack said.

Alison raised her eyebrows. "Are they?"

"Of course they are," Jack said. But even as he said it he could
feel the sand sliding out from under his argument. After all, Draycos
himself had called them animals. Did the physical form matter when the
mind wasn't there?

He set his jaw. No. Whether they were as alive and intelligent as
Draycos or not, the Phookas still deserved to be treated with dignity.
"They are," he repeated firmly. "Besides, we've also dragged the
Erassvas out here. We just going to abandon them, too?"

"Well, there's definitely no reason the Malison Ring would care
about
them
," Alison pointed out, looking at Draycos. "You're
the local expert, Draycos.
Are
these K'da, or aren't they?"

Draycos turned to look at the Phookas as they dug for grubs. "They
have the form," he said, his tail lashing again. "But for the rest . .
. I do not know what could have happened to make them this way."

"Something in the food, probably," Jack said. "It's the same
biomass the Erassvas eat from, after all, and they're nearly as
oblivious as the Phookas are."

"Though that predator—what did you call it again?" Alison asked.

"A Kodiak," Jack said. "I think it's a kind of bear."

"I notice that Kodiak didn't seem especially lethargic," she said,
her voice suddenly thoughtful. "And he's eating from the same biomass.
Draycos, you called your relationship with Jack a symbiosis. Does that
mean you take nutrients from him?"

"No," Draycos said, his eyes still on the Phookas. "There is no
chemical transfer. I take merely a place to rest, and give only
companionship and protection in return."

"And advice," Jack added, trying to lighten the tone a little. He
couldn't afford to let Draycos slip back into one of these black moods
of his. "He gives a lot of advice, too."

"And I'll bet it's sorely needed," Alison said dryly. "No, I was
just wondering if there might be more to it than just the Phookas'
food."

"Like what?" Jack asked.

"I'm just guessing here," Alison said slowly. "But remember, I saw
you playing soldier in the Whinyard's Edge a couple of months ago.
You're a lot more confident and capable now than you were then. A
lot
more."

Jack shrugged. "Maybe I'm just a late bloomer."

"Maybe," Alison said. "But maybe you and Draycos are doing some
trading in something besides nutrients. Something like attitudes and
skills, maybe."

Jack opened his mouth . . . closed it again. Some of the decisions
he'd made back at the slave camp had been suspiciously like those of a
certain K'da poet-warrior of his acquaintance. "Draycos?" he invited.

"I do not know," the dragon said. His agitated tail swishing had
settled down to the slow circular tip movements that showed he was
thinking hard. "No one has ever suggested that such a transfer takes
place between K'da and host."