Dragon and Herdsman

He leaped straight upward, grabbing onto the trunk of the nearest tree with his claws. His next leap cleared a row of bushes and landed him on a thick branch two trees over. He trotted along that branch to the trunk, then out again along another even thicker branch until he had a clear path to the next tree.

Two minutes and eleven leaps later, he had made it back to the edge of the clearing.

He was just in time. At the far side, six men in combat suits were marching in a two-by-two formation along the path Jack and Alison had first taken into the forest. As they reached the clearing, their guns swept warningly across the lounging Erassvas. Fortunately, the aliens made no sudden moves, hostile or otherwise. A few of them gazed curiously at the invaders, but most ignored them completely.

Draycos eased his way a little farther around the side of the tree trunk he was clinging to, studying the mercenaries as they headed for the clearing's center. They were walking openly, almost carelessly, with no attempt at caution or concealment.

Yet Arthur Neverlin knew Draycos had survived the Iota Klestis ambush. More than that, he'd seen the K'da poet-warrior in action. Could he have failed to warn Colonel Frost?

Draycos's jaws cracked open in a tight smile. No, of course Frost knew. Those six soldiers marching across the clearing weren't the attack force at all.

They were the bait.

Draycos took another, more careful look. This time he saw them: two pairs of camouflaged soldiers slipping quietly through the forest a few feet outside the edges of the clearing, one pair on each flank. An attacker careless enough to throw himself at the men in the clearing would find himself in a deadly crossfire.

The six mercenaries reached the center of the clearing and stopped, looking around and quietly talking among themselves. The two outrider pairs stopped, too, standing back-to-back and watching for trouble.

Back-to-back was a good defensive formation. Unfortunately for them, Draycos also knew how to deal with that one. Fixing their locations in his mind, he started to climb farther up the tree.

And then, from behind him came a soft crunch of leaves.

He twisted his head around, legs tensing for a powerful thrust that would shove him away from the tree and out of the line of fire.

But it wasn't a Malison Ring soldier back there. Nor was it Jack or Alison.

It was one of the K'da.

Draycos hissed between his teeth. He'd noticed this particular K'da the minute Jack had entered the clearing earlier. She was beautiful and graceful, with the gray scales he'd always wished he'd been born with. She reminded him strongly of one of his best friends when he was growing up, a friend named Taneem who had later died in a Valahgua attack.

But Taneem had been smart and funny and kind. The bright silver eyes now turned up toward him held none of those qualities.

He took another look around the side of the tree. The soldiers were still talking together, but he knew that wouldn't last much longer. If he didn't go now, he wouldn't have time to get into position once they all started moving again.

He turned back to the gray K'da. She was still watching him, her head cocked slightly to the side as if trying to work out why in the world this golden stranger was hanging on to a tree when all the really tasty grubs were on the ground. If Draycos headed off to the attack, the main group of soldiers would reach her before he could get back.

And bait or not, they certainly had live ammunition in their weapons.

Perhaps they would be better off dead. Draycos had said that earlier to Jack, and he was still wincing at the callousness of his words. If they had been any other species of nonsentient animal, he would certainly have treated them with compassion and care. How could he do less for his own people?

Even if they were his people in name only?

Climbing down the tree, he padded as quietly as he could to the silver female's side. "We have to go," he said.

Her silver eyes blinked at him, but otherwise there was no response. "We have to go," Draycos tried again, switching this time to the K'da language. Still nothing.

With a sigh, he flipped his slender tail up to catch her at the spot behind her crest that he'd shown Jack. "Come," he said, and started down the path.

He'd expected her to resist. To his mild surprise, she followed him willingly.

Early in their relationship, before Draycos had discouraged such talk. Jack had occasionally referred to him as his pet dragon. Now, it seemed, Draycos had picked up a pet dragon of his own.

They reached the left-hand path where Alison had taken the group, to find that the opening had vanished behind a wall of freshly cut bushes supported by a few large branches. Clearly, Jack had been busy in his absence.