Dragonback 04 Dragon and Herdsman (27 page)

Jack nodded. "My main comm clip's still wandering the forest
attached to one of the hornheads, but I've got a spare in my shoe heel.
Once we're close, I'll try giving Uncle Virge a call. With luck, he'll
have a floater antenna up and will be able to hear us."

"And if we're not that lucky?" Alison asked. "You have a Plan B
ready?"

"We have that covered," Draycos assured her before Jack could
answer. "But I do not intend to give up on Uncle Virge quite so
quickly."

"I'm not giving up on him," Alison protested mildly. "I'll be the
first to cheer if we hit the riverbank and find the
Essenay
sitting there with its hatch open, ready to lift." She frowned. "
Essenay
,"
she repeated thoughtfully.

"What is it?" Jack asked.

"I was just thinking," she said slowly. "
Essenay
is a
really odd name for a ship. Is that its christening name?"

Jack shrugged. "It's the only name I've ever known it by. Why?
Does it mean something?"

"Not to me," Alison said. "Though now that I think about it I
suppose it
could
be initials—'S and A.' Did Virgil Morgan have
two middle names?"

"As far as I know, he didn't have any," Jack said.

"What is this christening name you speak of?" Taneem asked.

"That's a ship's official name, the one registered in the Orion
Trade Association files," Alison explained. "A lot of people then give
their ships what are called private or personal names."

"Like a nickname," Jack added. "A ship might be listed as the
Rick's
Café of Casablanca III
, but its owners just call it
Ricky
.
There are an awful lot of ships flying around out there, and they all
have to have unique christening names."

"And again,
Essenay
sounds like a private name," Alison
said. "Have you ever looked it up on the official lists?"

Jack snorted. "This may come as a shock, but I've spent most of my
life
avoiding
everything official that the Orion Arm has to
offer. This doesn't strike me as a good time to change that policy,
either."

"I understand that," Alison said patiently. "I was just wondering."

"Wondering is wonderful exercise as long as you don't overdo it."
Jack looked back at Draycos. "You think we should wonder about scouting
ahead a ways and see what Frost might have cooking?"

"I don't think that will be necessary," Draycos said. "I have not
heard the floater or the Kapstan at all today."

"But he could have sent some troops in along the river by boat,"
Alison pointed out.

"True," Draycos agreed. "We shall have to be careful as we near
the river itself."

"So we don't take a walk?" Jack asked.

"
I
take a walk," Draycos said, standing up and stretching,
cat-style, with his forelegs thrust forward and his tail high in the
air. "There is no need for you to go with me. But I will require your
comm clip."

"Be careful," Jack warned, digging the comm clip from its hiding
place in the sole of his left shoe and handing it over. "Out here in
the middle of nowhere, Frost wouldn't have much trouble locating it."

"I understand," Draycos said, fastening the clip to his crest at
the back of his neck. "Alison, can you adjust your comm clip frequency
to match Jack's? We may need to use them together at some point."

She nodded. "No problem."

"Good." Draycos lifted his head and darted his tongue in and out a
few times to taste the air. "I will be back as soon as I can." With a
final look at Jack, he loped down the hill and disappeared into the
forest.

"He should not go alone," Taneem murmured, her tail lashing
restlessly as she gazed after him.

"Draycos knows what he's doing," Jack assured her, trying to hide
his own quiet misgivings. "He can take care of himself."

"You mean up to now he's been lucky," Alison said bluntly. "We all
have been, mainly because Frost has been trying to take us alive. But
sooner or later, even the best warrior's luck runs out."

"Not tonight it doesn't," Jack said, glaring at her. "And you're
not going to talk that way again. Understand?"

For a moment they locked gazes. Then, Alison's eyes flicked to
Taneem, and her lip twitched. "You're right," she apologized. "I'm
sorry."

"Yeah," Jack growled. "Give me the gun and go find someplace to
lie down. I'll take the first watch."

"Sure." Alison handed over the machine gun. "Taneem, you feel up
to doing a little night patrolling?"

"Yes, of course." Taneem stood up, her eyes still on the spot
where Draycos had vanished. "What do you wish me to do?"

"Nothing fancy," Alison said. "Just take a few circles around the
camp, watching for predators and soldiers. If you smell or hear
anything that seems threatening or even strange, you come and get
either Jack or me. Understand?"

Taneem ducked her head. "Yes."

"We just want to make sure nothing sneaks up on the Erassvas and
your fellow K'da," Jack added.

"Phookas," Taneem corrected him, looking down at the group of
dragons at the bottom of the hill. "They are not K'da."

She looked back at Jack, an oddly intense look in her silver eyes.
"Not yet."

The river turned out to be considerably closer than Alison had
guessed. Barely two hours after leaving camp, Draycos caught his first
scent of the water. He spent the next half hour moving cautiously
toward it, his senses stretched to their limit, watching for the ambush
that must surely be waiting.

But there was nothing. No soldiers, no booby traps, no Kapstan, no
floater, no boats, no hint of the enemy. It was as if the Malison Ring
had given up.

He'd remembered from their earlier aerial view that the river was
a wide one. But natural features always looked larger and more
impressive at close range. For a minute he stood at the edge of the
river, gazing outward at the water flowing slowly past, its edge
rippling quietly against the bank. Even at night, it was a majestic
sight.

But majestic or not, a river was a terrible barrier for a soldier
to be trapped against. Perhaps that was why Frost's soldiers hadn't
bothered to capture the riverfront. Perhaps their plan was to simply
sweep in from the south, behind the fugitives, and pin them here with
nowhere else to go.

Alison had said that the Erassvas and Phookas spent their lives
circling the edge of the forest as they foraged for food. That meant
they had to cross the river twice per circuit, which implied they
either could swim or else knew how to construct boats.

But in this case neither method would do them any good. As soon as
they were on the water and out from under the protection of the forest
canopy, they would be easy targets for airborne gunners. That was
undoubtedly what Jack had been thinking about when he'd suggested that
he and Draycos slip away and try to draw Frost's attention.

The problem with Jack's plan was that it wouldn't work. There was
simply nowhere in the eastern grasslands where the two of them could
hide from the mercenaries. Certainly not for the ten or eleven days it
might take for Alison's friends to arrive. If Jack was going to evade
capture, he would have to stay with Alison and the others in the forest.

Which meant that if they were going to have any chance of drawing
the Malison Ring away, Draycos would have to do it alone.

And of course, without Jack along, he would die in the process.

He gazed across the river, snatches of old epic poems and songs
running through his mind. As a warrior of the K'da he'd had to face the
possibility of death many times. But it was somehow always different
each time it happened. And it wasn't something he'd ever became used to.

Especially when it would mean abandoning such a young and
inexperienced host. Would Jack be able to manage alone?

More important, would he be able to learn the location of the
refugee fleet's rendezvous point alone and be able to save the rest of
the K'da and Shontine?

There was no way to know. But Draycos had no doubt that the boy
would try his very best to do so. Jack had fully adopted the K'da
warrior ethic of service to others. Even with Draycos gone he would
continue the mission as long as life remained in him.

The K'da lashed his tail firmly. Yes, Jack would do his best. But
Draycos had no intention of laying such a heavy burden on the boy's
shoulders, not unless and until there was no other choice. Retrieving
the comm clip from its place on his crest, Draycos gave the air one
final sniff and clicked it on. "Uncle Virge?" he called softly.

There was no answer. "Uncle Virge, this is Draycos," he said
again. "If you can hear, please respond."

Again, nothing. Draycos left the comm clip on another few
heartbeats, then switched it off again. As Jack had pointed out, the
device would stand out like a beacon in the wilderness, and there was
no point in giving the Malison Ring the exact location where he and the
others would be coming out.

Unless . . .

Attaching the comm clip to his crest again, he leaned out over the
water and looked in both directions. Downstream, he decided. Backing up
into better cover, he headed east, looking for a good spot.

He found it a hundred yards away and a few yards in from the
river: a stand of the by-now familiar rubbery trees and their attached
vine meshes. He hadn't brought any rope along, but the vines should be
strong enough for what he had in mind.

Quickly, he cut a group of them from their trees and tied them
together. When he had about sixty feet he tied one end to the base of
one of the trees and began climbing the tree next to it, the other end
of the vine rope in his mouth.

He'd already done this once, back when he and Jack had taken out
the Malison Ring's double ambush line, and he had the technique down to
a science. Within a few minutes he had the tree bent over and tied in
place. Cutting one final length of vine, he walked over to the treetop,
which was now sticking out sideways a few feet above the ground. The
other time he'd done this, he remembered, his approach had flushed a
group of birds from those upper branches.

Sure enough, another small flock erupted from the tree as he
neared it, the branches swaying madly as the birds flapped away from
the potential threat.

Perfect.

Tying his last piece of vine to the treetop, letting it hang
loosely down, Draycos retraced his steps back to where he'd first
emerged from the forest to the riverbank. There, he retrieved the comm
clip from his crest and switched it on. "Uncle Virge, this is Draycos,"
he called again. "Please respond."

Again, there was no reply. Leaving the comm clip on, he backed
away from the river into the concealment of the forest and silently
counted out thirty seconds. Then, tucking the comm clip beneath his
left foreleg, he broke abruptly into a loping run eastward toward his
rigged tree. To anyone monitoring the comm clip's movements—and he had
no doubt Frost's men were doing just that—it should look like he had
just fastened the device to an animal and sent it scurrying away.

He and Jack had already used this trick once, of course. Still, it
was likely Frost would simply assume his opponents were running out of
fresh ideas.

Draycos came within sight of the bent tree and slowed to a trot.
The birds had returned to their meal in the upper branches in his
absence, again taking off as he approached. Fastening the comm clip to
the piece of vine he'd left hanging, he backed away to watch.

Sure enough, with the threat gone, the birds began to return to
their meal. Each one that landed set the branches swaying, the movement
translating down the vine to send the comm clip moving in small,
unhurried circles.

Draycos smiled again. Frost might be suspicious, but he would have
no choice but to conclude that the comm clip hadn't simply been dropped
in the leaves in hopes of making him look in the wrong direction.
Between the breeze and the birds, there should be enough movement to
prove the comm clip was attached to
something
, and he would
certainly conclude that that something wasn't Jack or Draycos.

And he would also know the area where such a diversion had been
arranged would be the last place the fugitives would actually head for
in the morning.

Which meant that when he set up his watchers above the riverfront
in the morning, this would be the one spot on the entire river they
would be most likely to ignore.

It was late when Draycos got back to the camp. Almost too late,
and he could feel the uncomfortable tingling in his scales as he
exchanged nods with Alison and slid up onto Jack's arm.

He had thought he'd been quiet enough not to disturb the boy's
sleep. But even as he positioned himself on Jack's back the other
stirred. "Draycos?" he murmured.

"Yes," Draycos confirmed, feeling strength flowing back into him.
"All is well. Alison is on watch, and there are no enemies nearby. Go
back to sleep."

"Okay," Jack said, clearly sliding back toward unconsciousness
again. "You find Uncle Virge?"

Draycos grimaced. "We will find him in the morning," he promised.
"Sleep now, and I will do likewise."

" 'Kay," Jack mumbled. "Pleasant dreams."

Under the circumstance, Draycos doubted that any of his dreams
would be pleasant. But he would nevertheless make sure to get as much
sleep as he could.

One way or another, this would end tomorrow.

The next morning, as the Phookas performed their morning dance,
Draycos told Jack, Alison, and Taneem the whole story.

They were, to put it mildly, unimpressed. "That's it?" Alison
asked when he'd finished. "You've got us an exit point barely a hundred
yards from where they're expecting us to come out anyway?"

"I did not have time to go farther," Draycos told her stiffly.
"And it is not merely those hundred yards. If they believe we sent a
decoy east, they will almost certainly conclude that we have gone west.
They will therefore concentrate their forces on that part of the
riverbank."