Dragon and Herdsman

"He's got the Kapstan circling around behind us," Alison said. "But Draycos says it's going too fast to be dropping troops."

"So here's the deal," Frost said. "You've got ten minutes to follow the sound of my voice and get to a big clearing right below the floater. If you surrender there, I promise your girlfriend and the Erassvas can go in peace."

Draycos frowned, flicking out his tongue. There was a new scent suddenly drifting toward them, an odor he couldn't quite place.

"Option two is that you keep going until you reach the river," Frost went on. "Means more walking for you, but, hey, you're probably used to that by now. If you want to do that, fine. We don't mind waiting a little longer to pick you up."

"What is that smell?" Taneem asked, her tongue flicking out rapidly as she tasted the air.

"What smell?" Jack asked, sniffing.

"I don't know what it is," Draycos said. "But it seems familiar."

"And then there's option number three," Frost said, a sudden dark edge to his voice. "That's the one where you stay right where you are . . . and you and all your buddies get to burn to death."

Alison inhaled sharply. "No," she breathed. "He wouldn't."

And suddenly the strange odor clicked. "He would, and he is," Draycos said tightly. "The transport is spraying a semicircle of aviation fuel across the trees behind us.

"He is going to set this part of the forest on fire."

CHAPTER 26

On their previous days the group had walked carefully and deliberately through the forest. Jack and Alison and Draycos had tried to watch all directions at once, watching for ambushes and traps.

Today, all that was forgotten.

They ran. All of them, even the Erassvas. They ran as fast as they could, dodging trees and bushes, stumbling over roots and small hollows hidden beneath the matting of dead leaves.

And as they ran, one by one the brightly colored Phookas faded to black.

The rest of the forest animals were on the move, too. Small animals scampered around them, and at least two herds of hornheads went lumbering past in the distance. Large and small predators alike were also on the move, ignoring potential prey as they fled from the fire chewing its unstoppable way toward them through the trees.

And it was gaining. At first Jack had dared to hope that Frost was bluffing. But after the first five minutes of their mad dash he was able to hear the distant crackling of the flames whenever the group paused for a minute's rest. Slowly but steadily the sound increased until he was able to hear it even over the rapid swishing of their feet and his own hoarse panting.

He could smell the smoke, too, as the wind generated by the fire blew it ahead of the flames themselves. He had no idea how fast a forest fire moved, but already he could tell that they would have little margin for error. Clenching his teeth, blinking his eyes against the tendrils of acrid smoke burning at them, he focused on his footing—

And nearly ran into Hren as the Erassva suddenly stopped in front of him. "What?" he gasped as he managed to brake to a halt. "What is it?"

"There," Hren said, panting even harder than Jack as he pointed ahead. "The river."

Jack stepped around him. It was there, all right, glimpses of blue water between the trees. At the front of the group he could see Alison and Draycos talking together in low voices. "Stay here," he told Hren. "Try to keep everyone together."

Jack maneuvered his way through the crowd, automatically patting and stroking the heads of the more frightened Phookas as he passed them. Off to the side, behind some bushes, he caught a glimpse of Draycos's diversion tree, still bent over with the comm clip dangling from it. "I hope you two have a plan," he said as he reached Draycos and Alison.

"We must first see how the enemy is positioned," Draycos said, keeping his voice low. His green eyes glittered unnaturally brightly against his black scales.

"Then let's do it," Jack said. "Alison, stay here and watch the others."

"Watch them what?" she retorted. "Panic? Hren and Taneem can watch them do that. Give me the machine gun—we're wasting time."

Jack glared at her. But she was right, and the distant crackling of the flames was getting louder. Unstrapping the gun from his shoulder, he handed it over. "Now be quiet," she warned. She started forward, Draycos moving into place beside her. Jack followed, hoping it wouldn't be as bad as he feared.

It was. In fact, it was worse. A hundred yards north, the Kapstan transport was hovering fifty feet above the river. Its stubby wings were discolored from the smoke of the fire it had started, its nose and weapons pointed vigilantly at the forest where Frost expected them to emerge. Behind and above it, moving up and down the river like a roving patrol, was the floater.