Dragon and Herdsman

He looked back at Alison and Draycos in confusion— "There," Draycos said, nodding his head downstream.

Jack looked, to find the transport was indeed in that direction.

But it wasn't flying, and it was definitely not interested in shooting at anything. It was lying half-submerged in the water, spinning slowly around as the current dragged it eastward. The floater was there, too, hanging on to the transport's single visible wing, clearly trying to keep it from sinking the rest of the way.

He frowned back at the others . . . and then, slowly, his waterlogged brain understood.

He turned his head in the other direction. There, also half-submerged, was something that looked like a frozen bulge of water sitting in the middle of the river. Even as he watched, the bulge faded away, replaced by the familiar bulk of the Essenay, its lasers pointed watchfully toward the crippled Kapstan.

"What do you know," he heard himself say as Alison grabbed his right arm and started pulling him up onto the bank. "I guess the chameleon hull-wrap does work underwater."

And then she took hold of his left arm, and a sudden flash of pain arced through him, and everything went dark.

CHAPTER 27

"I hope you realize, Jack lad," Uncle Virge said sternly, "that by all rights you should have had your whole arm torn off at the shoulder."

"Okay, so it was a gamble," Jack admitted, wincing as the Essenay's medic chair finished bandaging his left arm. Even through the painkillers the elbow and shoulder still ached. "But I figured that if Taneem could get around onto my back fast enough most of her momentum would spread itself over my whole body and just shove me down into the water instead of breaking my arm."

"Thereby offering you an excellent chance of drowning," Uncle Virge countered. "Wonderful set of options you gave yourself."

"Yeah, but it worked," Jack reminded him. "Better than just worked, too. If Taneem hadn't been up there distracting Frost's men, you might not have gotten away with that sucker shot that took them down."

"It was not a sucker shot," Uncle Virge said stiffly. "I'd been locked onto your comm clip signal for two hours, just waiting for you to give the order to go into action. Why didn't you?"

"For starters, we weren't sure you were still even with us, let alone hanging just offshore," Jack said. "Anyway, what are we arguing for? You crippled the Kapstan, and Frost and his buddies are miles away by now trying not to drown. Life is good."

"Anyone home?" Alison's voice called from out in the corridor.

"Like there's somewhere else I could go?" Jack called back.

She stepped through the doorway, Draycos and Taneem at her side. "Not really," she agreed. "What's the damage?"

"Just a sprain," Jack told her, lifting his bandaged arm for her inspection. "No bones broken, no ligaments or tendons torn. A week or so and I should be fine."

"I owe you my life," Taneem said, ducking her head shyly. "I do not know how to thank you for that."

"No thanks needed," Jack assured her. "K'da warriors' ethic says you do what's right no matter what the risks." He lifted his eyebrows at Draycos. "Right?"

"Correct," Draycos said.

Uncle Virge snorted again. "Courage and ethics are fine in their place, Jack lad," he said. "But there's a not-so-fine line between them and reckless stupidity."

"Actually, I have to agree with Uncle Virge on this one," Alison seconded. "That was a pretty boneheaded thing to try."

"There was nothing boneheaded about it," Jack insisted. "It was simple basic physics. The big danger with water landings is hitting the surface, right? I just arranged things so that I was already through the surface, and she never actually hit it."

"It was still a terrible risk," Taneem said. "I will dedicate my life to repaying my debt."

"Fine," Jack said. In his opinion, she was blowing this way out of proportion. But there would be time enough later for Draycos to talk some perspective into her. "I take it that means you've decided to stay with Alison?"

"You weren't really expecting her to go back to the Erassvas, were you?" Alison asked.

"I just wanted to make it official," Jack said, trying very hard not to be irritated. Now that they were safe, Alison's knack for rubbing people the wrong way was coming out full bore again. "Besides, it's not just up to her. K'da don't impose on someone without the host's permission."

Alison looked down at Taneem. "Actually, this is pretty cool," she said, stroking the gray K'da's crest gently with her fingertips. "I'll let her stick around. At least until the rest of her people get here."

"Her people are out there," Uncle Virge muttered.

"Her former people," Jack told him firmly. "Speaking of which, did they all get across the river okay?"

"They swam it like fish," Alison assured him. "Large, lumpy fish, of course, but fish nonetheless."

"Hren said they would attempt to cross the forest and then circle back around the edge to rejoin the rest of their group," Draycos added.