Dragon and Herdsman

"Out of the way," Alison snapped, elbowing him in the ribs as she darted past, her Corvine already in her hand. She disappeared around a stand of tall reeds as another scream sliced through the air. Cursing under his breath, Jack dashed after her.

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."

CHAPTER 17

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.