Dragon and Herdsman

He trailed off, looking around as a thought suddenly struck him. Every other morning during this trek Alison had been the first one up and ready to go. Usually she'd been right in his face when he opened his eyes, in fact, nagging him to get his butt in gear.

But this morning, she hadn't yet even made an appearance. "Have you seen Alison?" he asked, getting to his feet.

"She was over there," Draycos said, flicking his tongue toward some of the red-berry bushes where Hren and the other Erassvas were chowing down. "Just past the Erassvas."

"Come on," Jack said, picking up his borrowed machine gun/tangler and looping its strap over his shoulder.

They found Alison lying on the ground on her back, her head partially propped up on a thick tree root. Her eyes were closed, but Jack could see her chest rising and falling rhythmically with her breathing. At least she wasn't dead. "Alison?" he called as he and Draycos approached.

There was no response. "Alison?" he repeated, crouching down beside her and shaking her shoulder. "Come on, girl. Time to wake up."

To his relief, she opened her eyes. But only halfway. "Jack?" she croaked.

"I'm here," Jack said. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," she said, closing her eyes again. "Just sleeping."

"We can see that," Jack said, easing her open collar back a couple of inches. There was no sign of the gray dragon on her neck or shoulder. "Where's Taneem? Alison, where's Taneem?"

"Over there," Alison said, lifting her hand from her lap and pointing vaguely around her. "Hungry. Went for breakfast."

"I'll find her," Draycos said. Turning away, he ducked around the milling Erassvas and disappeared.

"Are you feeling all right?" Jack asked, looking down at Alison again.

"I'm fine," she said. But there was no particular life in her voice, and the words were noticeably slurred. "Just tired. Already told you." With obvious effort, she opened her eyes again. "Anything wrong?"

"Aside from you, no, everything seems fine," Jack said. "Draycos has been around the camp, and says no one's sniffing around."

"Good," Alison said, closing her eyes again. "Maybe we scared them off."

"Hardly," Jack growled. Even in the middle of a conversation she was starting to slip away again. What had Taneem done to her, anyway? "No, they've just switched tactics. Alison?"

"Good," she muttered. "Sure you and Draycos can figure it out."

"Alison?" Jack shook her shoulder again. "Alison!"

But she was asleep again. This time, no amount of shaking would rouse her.

"Blast," Jack bit out, getting back to his feet and looking around for Draycos. The K'da was nowhere to be seen. "Draycos?" he called. "Draycos!"

A couple of the Erassvas looked up, then returned to their berry picking. "Come on, dragon," Jack muttered, looking around. His gaze fell on one of the matted vine meshes— "You," he said, stepping over to the nearest Phooka. "Yes, you," he said as the animal looked up. "Come here."

He hooked a pair of fingers behind its crest and pulled it over to the vine mesh. "Here—cut this," he ordered, pointing to the vines at the edge of the mesh. "Right here. Understand?"

The Phooka looked quizzically up at him. "Cut," Jack repeated, lifting one of the Phooka's forepaws and making slashing motions across the vines. "Cut. Come on, you stupid—"

"I can do that," Draycos's voice put in from behind him.

Jack looked over as the dragon loped up to him. "There you are," he said accusingly. "Where have you been?"

"Looking for Taneem," Draycos said. "I can smell her, but I don't see her anywhere. She must have gone farther away than usual."

"That's Taneem for you," Jack gritted. "Come on, get this cut, will you? We need something to carry Alison with."

"Can you tell what is wrong with her?" Draycos asked, slashing his claws through the vines at the points Jack had indicated.

"All I know is that I can't get her to stay awake," Jack said. "We're going to need the Essenay's medical diagnostics to get anything more than that."

"You intend to use this vine mesh to carry her?"

"The mesh, and a couple of Phookas," Jack said. "We'll tie it between them with pieces of rope and lay her on it."

"That should work," Draycos said. "Shall I select the Phookas?"

"I'll do that," Jack said. "You go get the rope from my pack."

"Are you certain you are up to the task?" Draycos asked.

"What, picking out a couple of stretcher carriers?" Jack scoffed. "I could do it in my sleep." He looked down at Alison. "No offense," he added sarcastically.

"I meant, are you certain you wish to deal with the Phookas?" Draycos said. "You seem less patient with them this morning."

Jack curled a hand into a fist, a flood of anger and disgust rising chokingly into his throat. Sternly, he forced it back down. "I'm frustrated, that's all," he said.

"With the Phookas?"

"With everything." Jack eyed Draycos. "Well, not with you," he amended. "But with everything else."

"I'm sorry," Draycos said, ducking his head in apology.