Dragon and Herdsman

CHAPTER 22

"Jack!" he called, turning inward toward the main group. "Alison! They are coming!"

"Where?" Alison called back.

"Above and to the south," Draycos told her as he leaped over the last line of bushes between them. Across the way, he saw Jack hurrying toward them, gripping his machine gun awkwardly across his chest.

"I hear it," Alison confirmed grimly, looking up at the dark canopy of leafy branches high overhead.

"Where are they?" Jack demanded as he ran up.

"Straight above us," Alison told him. "No place to land—must be planning a rappel drop."

Jack looked up. "No, that's too simple," he said darkly. "Frost has something else in mind."

Above them, the sound of the floaters lifters changed subtly. "Perhaps so, but this is certainly part of it," Draycos told him, looking around. Just to the side of the likely drop zone was a tall, thick tree. "Get the Erassvas and Phookas out of the way," he ordered, leaping into the tree's lower branches. "Then stand ready." He paused and looked down. "Tanglers only, please," he added.

"You got it," Jack said, thrusting his gun into Alison's hands. "Here—you're a better shot than I am. I'll get the others to cover."

Draycos turned back around and headed up the tree. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the familiar blood trickles flowing into his scales, turning them from gold to black. In the deepening gloom, it would be an effective camouflage.

He was sixty feet off the ground when, with a faint rustle of branches, six coils of rope dropped into view through the canopy, unrolling themselves to the ground. Draycos froze, pressing himself into the crook of a large branch. A second later, in perfect unison, six Malison Ring mercenaries in quick-drop harnesses crashed through the canopy, machine gun/tanglers at the ready, sliding swiftly down their ropes toward the ground.

They were lined up three by three, each soldier of a threesome separated by two or three feet, with about six feet separating the two different groups. Apparently, three of them were dropping from each side of the floater, which clearly wasn't a very big aircraft. The result was an attack group that was forced to bunch up more than they probably would have liked.

From Draycos's point of view, it was as good a setup as he could have hoped for. Bracing himself, he watched as the soldiers continued sliding toward the ground below.

And as they passed his position, he leaped.

His outstretched left paw caught the nearest rope just above the soldier's head, his momentum shoving the soldier back into his fellows as they all continued to slide down their ropes. With his grip on the rope as a pivot point, the K'da's leap changed abruptly into a sweeping, horizontal circle. His body caught the other two ropes of his group as he swung around them, squeezing all three closer together. His tail snapped out as he continued his circle, snaring the farthest rope of the other threesome, as his hind claws likewise caught the other two.

And with all six ropes now in his grip, he ignored the sudden flurry of shouts and activity from below and curled himself into a ball.

And as he pulled the ropes together, the six men suddenly found themselves clustered together like fruit on a vine. "Now!" Draycos shouted.

The word was barely out of his mouth when the first of Alison's tangler cartridges sizzled its way upward, catching the nearest soldier squarely across his chest. The white threads whipped out, entangling him and the two men beside him, as the shock capacitor sent a jolt of current through all three of them. Still firing, she moved sideways beneath the dropping men, methodically plastering the entire group. A couple of seconds later, the now-unconscious soldiers had been turned into something a giant spider might have wrapped up and tucked away for a future meal. "Is that it?" Alison called.

Draycos looked up, listening for the sounds that would indicate more soldiers were on the way. But he didn't hear any.

What he did hear was the faint noise of drumming hooves below him. Hooves that were rapidly coming closer.

He turned his head back toward the ground, trying to locate the sound. From the west, he decided. A moment later he spotted a small group of bodies racing toward them. "Alison!" he called again. "A group of horn-headed plant-eaters are coming toward you."

"I hear them," she called back, turning to face that direction. "Sounds like a stampede."

"Get everyone on the eastern sides of the trees where they'll be safer," Draycos ordered. He was catching more glimpses now through the branches as the animals approached. There seemed to be just five of them, running as if a demon was pursuing them.

A demon, or perhaps one of the Kodiak predators. Draycos shifted his attention to the trail of scattered leaves swirling behind them, searching for signs of pursuit.

And because he was looking in the wrong direction, he was caught completely by surprise when the five animals burst into view beneath him.

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."