Dragonback 04 Dragon and Herdsman (25 page)

He'd been right the first time. They were indeed fleeing from
demons.

Only the demons weren't behind them. They were riding them.

"They're on the animals!" Draycos barked. "Tangle the animals!"

But it was too late. The five Malison Ring soldiers had already
leaped backward out of their makeshift saddles, hitting the ground
running. As the hornheads sped mindlessly on, the soldiers trotted to a
halt, swinging their weapons up into firing position.

One of them staggered and collapsed unconscious as Alison got him
with a tangler round. But before she could get off a second shot she
was forced to dive for cover as two of the others sent machine-gun
bursts spattering through the bushes beside her. She made it behind a
tree, pressing herself against the trunk as the two soldiers continued
to fire. The other two looked straight up at Draycos, still clinging to
his ropes.

And with the bitter sense of having been caught like a freshly
trained recruit, Draycos realized he was trapped. There was no cover
anywhere around him, nowhere he could leap to or climb to in time.
Nowhere at all he could go.

Except down.

Bracing himself, he let go of the ropes.

The first burst of machine-gun fire sliced through the area he'd
just left. He tucked his legs and tail close in toward his body as he
dropped, trying to make the smallest possible target of himself. Below
him, the tangler-webbed group was slowing as the sensors in their
quick-drop harnesses spotted the ground approaching and put additional
friction on the ropes. Another salvo of machine-gun fire shot past,
closer this time, one of the rounds twitching across the tip of
Draycos's left ear.

And as he reached the falling soldiers, he snapped his legs out
and grabbed hold of the webbing on the far side, putting the webbed
group between him and the two gunners.

But the gunners weren't going to be thwarted so easily. Both
continued firing, sending short bursts past either side of the group,
pinning Draycos in place while they waited for their moving target to
stop moving.

A second later it did just that. The webbed soldiers hit the
ground, toppling over in a confused tangle of torsos and legs and
tangler thread. Draycos dropped flat behind them, pressing himself
against the ground as he again used their bodies for cover.

But that cover wasn't going to last long. One of the two
mercenaries continued to fire bursts across the left side of Draycos's
shelter, blocking any escape in that direction, while the other began
circling to Draycos's right. Unless the K'da did something, and fast,
in another few seconds he would be directly in the second soldier's
line of fire.

And he would die.

He risked a look around the mass of bodies, wondering if Alison
might be in a position to counterattack. But she was pinned down the
same way he was, with one of her pair of soldiers raking her tree with
fire while the other circled to the side to try to get a clear shot.

And then, even as Draycos braced himself for a desperate and
almost certainly fatal dash for safety, over the stutter of the machine
guns he heard a war whoop.

He turned his head. Jack was charging across the battle zone
toward him, firing his tangler wildly at the soldiers as he ran,
screaming defiance at the top of his lungs.

It was probably the last thing the mercenaries expected from their
young quarry. It was certainly the last thing Draycos expected, and his
warrior's instincts winced as the boy deliberately threw himself into
harm's way.

But if the soldiers wanted Draycos dead, they wanted Jack alive
even more. For a second the machine-gun fire stopped as both soldiers
switched over to their tangler settings.

It was all the opening Draycos needed. Bounding over the pile of
webbed soldiers, digging his claws into the threads for extra traction,
he threw himself at the nearer of his two attackers.

The other tried to swing his gun up, but he was too late. Draycos
slammed into him, grabbing his combat vest with one paw as he slapped
the side of his head with the other. The soldier's knees buckled as he
blacked out, and Draycos turned toward the other gunner.

But before he could shove off the unconscious soldier something
hard slammed into his side, and an explosion of white threads burst
around the two of them. An instant later a jolt of current arced
through him, turning his muscles to jelly and dropping him and the
soldier together onto the ground.

Clenching his jaws, Draycos tried to force his body to respond. At
least he wasn't unconscious; apparently with the charge split between
two of them it had been low enough to leave him awake.

But it had been more than enough to also leave him helpless. It
would be at least another few seconds, he estimated, before his muscles
would be back under his control.

There was a sudden movement, and out of the corner of his eye he
saw Jack drop to his knees beside him. "Draycos!" the boy gasped.

Get away
! Draycos tried to snap. But his mouth couldn't
even manage that.

Besides, it was already too late. A pair of boots stepped into
Draycos's field of view, and with a startled squawk Jack was hauled to
his feet. "Got him," the soldier called.

"This one, too," someone else called back.

With a supreme effort, Draycos turned his head. One of the other
soldiers had a grip on the back of Alison's shirt collar and was
half-pulling, half-dragging her toward them.

"Do we even want her?" the third soldier retorted as he walked
toward Jack, his gun pointed warily at Draycos. "I thought we just
wanted Morgan."

"Hey, you want her popped, I'll be glad to do it," the soldier
holding Alison offered, giving her a shake. "She's the one who waxed
J'nauren."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Jack spoke up quickly. "Frost
is going to want her alive."

"She something special to you?" the soldier demanded, shaking
Alison again. "Huh?"

"Alive
and
unharmed," Jack added. "He's going to want the
K'da alive, too."

The third soldier grunted. "Oh, absolutely," he said
sarcastically. "We'll get him a nice box of scorpions, too."

The feeling was starting to come back into Draycos's muscles now.
Carefully, he tried moving his forepaws. They twitched a little with
the effort but otherwise were definitely recovering. If Jack could
stall for another few seconds, Draycos would be ready for action.

Problem was, he was still tied up in the tangler webbing, his
claws turned toward the unconscious soldier and away from the threads.
He would have to turn his forepaws over to get to them, and he would
have to do so without the soldiers noticing.

"We leave the K'da but take both kids," the soldier holding Jack
ordered. "The colonel can sort 'em out back at camp. Give Rinks a call
and have him fire up the winch."

"Right," the third soldier said. Shifting his gun to a one-handed
grip, he reached toward a comm clip on his collar.

And with a shriek, a gray tornado erupted from the back of
Alison's collar.

The soldier holding her never had a chance. Even as he jumped
back, Taneem's claws slashed across his throat, nearly severing his
head. The third soldier snarled something and grabbed his gun again in
a two-handed grip, whipping it around as he tried to bring it to bear
on this new and unexpected danger. Beside Draycos, Jack slammed hard
onto the ground as his guard shoved him away and grabbed for his own
weapon. Taneem hit the ground, spun around, and launched herself toward
the two remaining soldiers.

And with their full attention on her, and none of it on him, Jack
reached over and dug his fingers beneath the tangler mesh. His
fingertips touched the end of Draycos's right forepaw—

In a fraction of a second Draycos had slid up the boy's sleeve
onto his arm and from there onto his back. A fraction of a second more,
and Draycos had launched himself out again through the back of Jack's
collar.

But the K'da's muscles were still not entirely recovered from the
tangler shock. His leap was awkward, his attempted blow against the
nearest soldier's head weak and off-target.

But it didn't matter. As Taneem's sudden appearance had drawn
their attention away from him and Jack, Draycos's own attack now drew
their eyes away from Taneem.

And before they could recover she was there, claws and teeth and
tail slashing wildly and frantically. Five seconds later, it was all
over.

Draycos took a deep breath. "Is everyone all right?" he asked.

"I think so," Alison said, her voice shaking as she came toward
them. "Mother of God. That's . . ."

"Yeah, I know," Jack assured her. But he didn't sound all that
steady himself. "Welcome to the club. Taneem? You okay?"

Taneem didn't answer. She was staring at the soldiers she'd just
killed, her eyes wide with disbelief. Her back and tail were arched
with a growing horror as the reality of what she'd just done began to
sink in. "Taneem, are you hurt?" Draycos asked.

With an effort, she turned to look at him. "What?"

"We asked if you were hurt," Draycos repeated, walking over to her.

"No," she said, her voice distant. "No, I'm all right." She
started to look back at the soldiers.

"Look at me," Draycos said. "Taneem,
look
at me!"

Taneem flinched, twitching her head back to him. "I'm sorry—"

"Now listen to me," Draycos cut her off, putting into his voice
every bit of the weight from his years as a warrior. "What you did, you
did to protect your host. If you hadn't acted, they would have killed
her. Perhaps not now. But they
would
have killed her."

Taneem's breaths were coming quick and shallow. "But—" She started
to turn back to the bodies.

"Do not look at them," Draycos ordered, flicking his tail up
against the side of her muzzle and pressing her head firmly back to
face him. "They are dead, you killed them, and it was necessary that
you do so. That is the reality."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jack stir, and glanced a
silent warning at the boy. Early in their relationship, Jack had made
it very clear that killing wasn't acceptable here in human society, not
even when K'da and Shontine law would have permitted him to dispense
such justice. Draycos had accepted that, and had ever afterward tried
to neutralize their opponents without permanent damage.

But this was hardly the same situation. Clearly, Taneem already
understood that killing wasn't to be used except as a last resort. What
she needed now was reassurance and comfort, not guilt or a legal
opinion.

Fortunately, Jack got the message. He nodded fractionally at
Draycos and kept quiet.

"He's right, Taneem," Alison said, coming up and stroking the side
of Taneem's head. Her hand, Draycos noticed, was shaking a little, too.
"You saved my life. As well as the lives of Hren and the rest of your
friends."

"Speaking of which, can we put this discussion on hold until we're
out of here?" Jack said, peering up at the sky. "Sooner or later
they're going to start wondering what's holding up the show."

"Agreed," Draycos said, looking around. The Erassvas and Phookas
were starting to come out of their hiding places now, with Hren and
Greenie in the lead. "Alison, get the green Phooka and start moving
north," he ordered. "Jack, you will organize the herd and keep them
together. Taneem, you go with Alison."

"Just a second," Alison said. Stooping down, she retrieved one of
the dead soldiers' machine guns. "If you don't mind?" she asked,
holding it out toward Draycos.

"My pleasure." He slashed his claws across the metal shoulder
stock, cutting it and its embedded tracker away from the weapon.

"Thanks," Alison said, slinging the gun over her shoulder. "Come
on, Greenie. Time to go, boy."

Obediently, the green Phooka lumbered over to her, glancing
indifferently at the three dead soldiers as he passed. Alison hooked a
finger behind his crest, and together they headed off. "Go on, Taneem,"
Draycos prompted. "Stay with her."

"All right." Taneem gave one last, lingering look at the soldiers.
Then, arching her back once as if trying to shake away the memory, the
Phooka turned and left.

Draycos watched her go, something stirring deep within him. No;
not the Phooka. Not anymore.

Taneem was a K'da.

Jack stepped beside him. "Well," he murmured. "Suddenly this is
getting very interesting."

"Indeed it is," Draycos agreed grimly. "Come. We must find a
camping place before it becomes fully dark."

They found a good place half an hour away beside a small creek.
Jack and Alison got the Erassvas and Phookas settled; and then, at
Alison's insistence, she and Taneem took the first watch.

Jack argued a little, but not very much. He was exhausted, and
even though Draycos hadn't said anything, Jack knew the K'da was tired
as well. And as Alison pointed out, she and Taneem
had
slept
most of the day.

Still, desperately tired or not. Jack slept fitfully, waking every
hour or so from a bad dream. Most of those dreams ended with a vision
of the dead soldiers Taneem had killed.

Rather to his surprise, the mercenaries didn't launch another
attack that night. Alison woke him up a little after dawn—Draycos was
already up—and after a quick breakfast and the Phookas' morning dance
they were off.

Jack did notice that Taneem didn't participate in the dance. She
watched instead from Alison's side, her tail lashing restlessly.

They made good time that day. For once the terrain seemed to be
working in their favor, with no cliffs or overly wide streams or large
bogs in their way. There were still the stands of rubbery trees and
their vine meshes to deal with, more of them with every mile they
traveled. But with Taneem at the front of the group with Alison there
were no more delays while they waited for Draycos to finish his rounds
and cut through the vines.