Dragon and Liberator

I suppose, Jack conceded. I was still hoping I could do something more permanent to it.

Things don't always work out as we hope, Draycos said. That's the way with many endeavors, and warfare is no different. The warrior must always be ready to adapt to the unexpected. The K'da paused, and Jack could almost see one of his open-jawed grins. Wasn't that also true in your previous profession?

Jack had to smile. Believe it, buddy, he agreed. I can't even count how many times Uncle Virgil had to scramble like crazy to fix some plan that was about to go gunnybags on us.

Then this is merely standard procedure for both of us, Draycos said. Very well then. Two Death weapons to go. We'll leave yours for last, since there's a chance they won't find the damage—

Hold it, Jack interrupted, frowning. Was that a light he was seeing in the distance ahead? Close your eyes a second, will you?

Obediently, Draycos shut his eyes, cutting off their green glow. It was a light, all right, Jack decided as he peered down the tween gap. Had the Brummgas found one of the other entrances?

A second later, he got his answer. With a thunderous roar that was even louder than usual in the confined space, someone ahead opened fire.

Draycos was off Jack's skin in an instant, grabbing the boy's arm and pulling him straight down. Jack landed on his chest on the meshwork floor, the impact knocking half the breath out of him. Another second, and he was slammed again as Draycos landed full length on top of him. "Draycos—!" he gasped with what air he had left in his lungs.

"Stay down!" the K'da shouted in his ear, the words barely audible over the gunfire. "Ricochets!"

Jack tensed. With the sound of the firing hammering his ears, he hadn't even heard the quieter impacts of the bullets themselves as they bounced their way between the walls of the tween gap.

A second gun joined the first, this one somewhere behind and above him. "Do we have a plan?" Jack called.

There was no answer, only a strange squirming of Draycos's body on top of his. The K'da's weight was still pressing him against the mesh, making breathing difficult.

A third gun opened up ahead and above him. Then a fourth added its roar to the din, and possibly a fifth. Jack pressed his cheek against the mesh, waiting helplessly for the bullet that he knew was bound to find him.

And then the mesh suddenly gave way beneath him, dumping him sideways toward the deep chasm below.

He yelped with surprise and a flash of panic. But even before the yelp made it out past his lips his fall was stopped short. There was another second of confusion and dizziness.

Then his brain cleared, and he understood. Draycos had cut the mesh floor beneath them on only three sides, and their combined weight had then bent it down like an opening trapdoor. Draycos, all four sets of claws gripping the mesh, was holding them sideways against the open flap. "We must get away from here," Draycos said in Jack's ear.

"I'm with you, buddy," Jack said. "How?"

In answer, Draycos stretched out his top two limbs a few inches, easing the pressure on Jack's body Jack tensed again, but with the K'da's lower legs still hooked to the mesh flap he was in no danger of falling. "Roll over so that you're facing me," Draycos said.

It was tricky to maneuver in the cramped space and with the small amount of slack Draycos had given him. But the guns still thundering all around them made for good inspiration. Jack got himself turned around in Olympic-record time. "Now hold on tightly," Draycos said.

Jack wrapped his arms and legs around the other's torso. Draycos let go with his front paws, lunging forward and grabbing the underside of the mesh just in front of their hanging flap. He walked the paws forward, working his rear paws onto the mesh behind them.

And with that the K'da headed off, moving rapidly along the underside of the mesh.

With the long tween gap yawning under him, the booming gunfire rattling the metal above him, and the violent jostling as Draycos clawed his upside-down way beneath the mesh, all Jack could do was shut his eyes, wish he could shut his ears, and hold on for dear life. The bouncing went on and on. . . .

Abruptly, Draycos stopped. "Hold tighter," he ordered over the noise of the gunfire.