"Good idea," Jack said, getting a grip on the green K'da's crest. "You spot any trouble, just whistle."
CHAPTER 10
Draycos was waiting for him another hundred yards ahead, hidden behind a particularly large tree. "You all right?" Jack asked anxiously as he stretched his hand behind the tree, glancing back first to make sure Alison wasn't watching.
"I am fine," the dragon assured him. He touched a paw to Jack's hand and vanished up his sleeve. "Four of the enemy have been neutralized, at least temporarily."
"Great. Tell me about it."
He listened as the dragon gave him a quick summary, the gold-scaled head draped as usual across Jack's right shoulder. "Good job," he said when the other had finished. "Hamstringing those first two was especially smart. It'll take a week of re-growth treatment before they can do anything but hobble."
"Thank you," Draycos said. "Unfortunately, I will probably not be able to use such a trick a second time."
"That's okay," Jack assured him. "Now they'll have to keep an eye on what's going on above them, around them, and below them. That's bound to slow them down a little, and every bit helps."
"Agreed," Draycos said. "Has the first K'da switch taken place yet?"
Jack nodded. "About ten minutes ago." "How did Alison react?"
Jack glanced back again. "Actually, I don't think she noticed."
"How could she not?" Draycos countered. "She is right in back where she can see everything."
"I know, but everyone was very cool about it," Jack told him. "The next batch of K'da just sort of drifted over to their chosen Erassvas; then they went up one sleeve while the old batch came out the other. Very slick. I'd told Hren to keep it a secret, but I hadn't really thought he and the others could pull it off."
Draycos was silent a moment. "We can hope they will continue to be as capable." he said, sounding doubtful. "Still, now that I'm here, we can take rear guard while Alison leads. That way, she will be facing away from the K'da for the next transfer."
"If she'll let me," Jack warned. "Don't forget, she's the one with the gun."
"You do not need a gun," Draycos pointed out. "You have me."
"I know that, but Alison doesn't," Jack reminded him.
"You will find a way to convince her," Draycos said. "I have confidence in you."
"Thanks," Jack said. "Any ideas on what we do when it's Greenie's turn, by the way?"
"Greenie?"
"Our leader of the pack," Jack said, nodding at the green K'da padding along beside him. "Alison's bound to miss him. Especially if she's the one leading him at the time."
"That would certainly make her wonder," Draycos agreed with the first touch of humor Jack had heard from him since they'd arrived on this world. "We will have to call a rest break when that time comes."
"I suppose that'll work," Jack said. "Any chance you can give me some warning before he needs a host?"
"I can do that," Draycos assured him. "Tell me, did Taneem return safely?"
Jack frowned. "Who?"
"I mean the gray-scaled K'da."
"Oh—him," Jack said, looking around.
"Her." Draycos corrected. "She is a female."
"Ah," Jack said. He'd wondered earlier whether there were any females among the group. "Yeah, there she is—over to the left." He half-turned his torso so that Draycos could see her through the opening in his shirt. "Looks okay to me."
"Good," Draycos said. "She followed me, and I had to send her back."
"Did she give you trouble?"
"I doubt any of these beings are capable of giving genuine trouble to anyone," Draycos said scornfully. "I was merely concerned that she had returned safely."
"Ah," Jack said, nodding. "You called her Taneem?"
There was a short silence, and he had the odd impression that Draycos was actually embarrassed. "She looks very much like someone I once knew," the dragon said at last, reluctantly. "I apologize for the confusion."
"No, that's all right," Jack assured him. "We can call her Taneem if you want to."
"I do not want to," the dragon growled. "My Taneem was nothing like this. I do not wish her name associated with these . . . creatures."
"Okay, fine," Jack said hastily. "I'm sorry I even brought it up."
He felt the dragon move restlessly against his skin. "I am sorry in turn," Draycos said more quietly. "I will try not to—just a moment."
"What?" Jack asked, coming to an abrupt stop. He knew that tone, and it usually meant trouble.
"Something ahead," Draycos said. His tongue flicked out through Jack's shirt as he tasted the air. "Animals. Many of them."
"A herd of something?" Jack asked hopefully.
"Or a pack of something," Draycos said grimly. "There is no way to tell whether or not they are predators without seeing them."
Jack looked over his shoulder. He could see Alison through the trees, but her attention was on something off to her right. "Clear," he told Draycos, putting his hand around the side of the nearest tree. "Go."
Draycos shot out of his sleeve, his claws catching the tree trunk in a solid grip as he passed. Scampering up the trunk like a giant golden squirrel, he vanished into the foliage above.
"Jack?" Alison called. "You'd better come see this."
"Corning," Jack said. Giving Greenie a pat on the flank, he headed back.
He found her staring up into one of the larger trees. "What do you think?" she asked, gesturing.
Jack followed her pointing finger. Eight feet up the trunk was a spot about a foot and a half across where the bark had been almost completely torn off. "Looks like something was trying to carve its initials in the tree," he said.
"And kept making mistakes and having to erase," Alison agreed. "You can see claw marks there at the edge."
Jack nodded. They looked very similar, in fact, to the marks made by K'da claws.
Except that these scratch marks were much farther apart, which meant this animal had much larger paws. And they were eight feet off the ground. "I don't think we want to run into this guy," he said.
Alison snorted. "I don't think I'd even want to see him in a zoo," she said darkly. "I don't know if he'd bother a Phooka, let alone a whole group of them. But the Erassvas would be like dumplings on the hoof to something this size."
"Assuming he's a carnivore."
"It would be criminally stupid to assume anything else at the moment," Alison said. "Any thoughts?"
Jack chewed at his lip. "Seems to me our best bet would be to group all the Erassvas together in the middle where we can protect them."
" 'We'?" Alison said pointedly.
"Fine; where you can protect them," Jack said. "Whatever. Then we let the Phookas roam around the outside, while you and I stay near the Erassvas."
"That's pretty much what I was thinking," she agreed. "Unless, of course, you're ready to give up on this caravan and send them back home."
"Not with those mercs still on our tail," Jack said firmly. "They'd slaughter the whole bunch of them."
"Why?" she demanded. "That's the part I don't get. Why .would the Malison Ring waste perfectly good ammunition on any of them?"
Jack sighed. "I already said I can't explain. Trust me; we have to stick together."
Alison sighed. "Fine," she said in resignation. "In that case, we'd better start looking for a good place to turn west. We're going to need those foothill caves more than ever now. In fact, we're going to need a whole apartment complex worth of them."
"We're not going to the hills," Jack said. "I've been thinking, and I'm not sure anymore that the Essenay was destroyed like Frost thinks. I'm thinking maybe it just hid in the river and is making its way down toward us."
"Really," Alison said, her dark eyes probing his face. "You have any evidence for this? Other than wishful thinking?"
"Not really," Jack had to admit. "But the computer is pretty resourceful."
"The computer?" Alison asked pointedly. "Or your uncle?"
J
ack frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't play cute," she growled. "I heard that other voice, just before that last explosion. It didn't sound like any P/S computer system I've ever seen. Where was he hiding, anyway?"
Jack suppressed a grimace. He'd been hoping she hadn't caught Uncle Virge's change in tone there at the end. "I'm sorry. I really can't talk about that."
There was a long, uncomfortable silence. "You know, Jack, it can be fun to have secrets," she said. "But sometimes those secrets can turn around and bite you on the butt."
"Don't treat me like a child," Jack snapped. "I can't talk about it. Period."
Her lips tightened briefly. "Fine," she said. "Have it your way. I just hope you'll find it in your heart to loosen up a little before something I don't know kills me. So you want to tell Hren about our new marching order? Or should I do it?"
"I'll tell him," Jack said. He nodded at the claw marks. "And given that, I think that if I'm on point I should carry the Corvine."
"You ever fired one before?"
Jack gave her a lopsided grin. "I had ten whole days of training back at the Whinyard's Edge, remember?"
"That's what I thought," Alison said. "Tell you what. I'll keep the Corvine, and I'll take point."
"Whatever," Jack said, trying to keep the satisfaction out of his voice. Perfect. "You corral Greenie, and I'll go find Hren."
They'd been traveling in their new formation for nearly an hour when Draycos finally reappeared, slipping into sight through the undergrowth. "About time," Jack said as the dragon put a paw on his outstretched palm and vanished up his sleeve. "Any problems?"
"None," Draycos said. "The animals I smelled were plant-eaters, though with quite formidable-looking horns. I was able to drive them on their way with little difficulty."
"And this took you a whole hour?"
"No, of course not," Draycos said. "I scouted ahead for other potential threats, then circled back to see if I could learn what the mercenaries were doing."
"And?"
Jack felt a whisper of movement across the back of his right leg as the dragon twitched his tail. "I found no signs of pursuit," the other said. "Either they are still pondering their next move or else they have already decided on a different tactic."
"Probably the latter," Jack said. "I just hope it doesn't involve bringing the Kapstan over the forest and strafing randomly until they hit something."
"They wish to capture you alive," Draycos reminded him.
"They wanted Uncle Virgil alive," Jack countered. "I'm not so sure how badly they want me by myself."
"We shall see," Draycos said. "At least the heavy foliage will prevent them from using the transport's infrared detectors to easily locate you. And of course, they still do not know how K'da appear on such detectors."
"Don't be so sure," Jack warned. "Remember, Frost and Neverlin are working with the Valahgua. If I were Neverlin, as soon as I knew a K'da had survived I'd have screamed for all the data they've got on your people. Including how you show up on IR detectors."
"That data would not do them any good," Draycos said. "Valahguan sensors work differently from yours."
"Maybe," Jack said. "But don't forget that the Malison Ring had four of the Valahgua's nasty little Death weapons when they attacked your advance party. If the Valahgua were willing to hand those over, I don't think they'd be too hard to talk out of a couple sets of sensors, too."
"Perhaps," Draycos conceded reluctantly. "Odd. The Valahgua have always been very protective of their technology. But you're right—the Malison Ring certainly did have Death weapons."
"Which we'd better hope are a long way from here," Jack said as that thought suddenly struck him. "They could just sweep it across the forest and be done with it."
"It does not work that way," Draycos said. "Even in the vacuum of space the Death is a fairly short-range weapon. On a planet's surface, its range is much less."
"How much less?"
"Considerably," Draycos said. "In a forest like this, with life all around, no more than two to three feet."
"Thank heaven for small favors," Jack said.
"Yes," Draycos said. "Were there any problems while I was gone?"
Jack shrugged. "Alison's mad at me for keeping secrets, and there's something out here that likes to rip off tree bark eight feet off the ground. Aside from that, not much."
"'Yes, I saw similar claw marks up ahead," Draycos said. "But they appeared to be several days old. Perhaps the creature has moved on."
"I hope so," Jack said. "Because if he hasn't, we're probably going to lose a Phooka or two down the rabbit hole."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning that with the Erassvas together in the center this way, the Phookas have a bad habit of ranging away from the main group," Jack told him. "Far enough out, in fact, that they—blast." He pointed to the left, where a pale burgundy K'da was walking briskly away. "Come on. Let me show you how my day's been going."
The maverick K'da had worked his way around a stand of bushes by the time Jack reached him. Completely out of sight of the main group, digging industriously at a small insect mound, he would probably never have noticed if he'd been left behind. "Come on," Jack said, getting a grip on his crest and tugging on it. "Come on, big fella."
Reluctantly, the K'da allowed himself to be pulled away from his snack. Jack eased him around the bushes and started working his way back toward the edge of the group. "And it hasn't stopped, either," he continued to Draycos. "No matter what the Malison Ring has in mind, once it gets dark we absolutely have to quit for the day. If we don't, we'll probably lose half of them by morning."
"Perhaps I can help," Draycos offered. "I can patrol the outer edge of the group and watch for stragglers."
"Kind of like a sheepdog?"
"Not precisely the way I would have phrased it," Draycos said stiffly. "But essentially correct."
"What if Alison sees you?"
"What if she does?" Draycos countered. "What would one more K'da be among so many others?"
"I don't know," Jack said doubtfully. "She's pretty sharp, and there aren't any other gold ones. But you're right, I can't keep them all together myself. Let's give it a shot."
Draycos bounded from Jack's collar onto the ground. "You return this one to the herd and then cross over to the right flank," he instructed. "I will stay on this flank, and also keep watch to the rear."
"Where you'll be handy if the Malison Ring makes another move?"
"Not if," Draycos corrected him grimly. "When."
CHAPTER 11
His offer to watch the Phookas, Draycos quickly discovered, was easier to make than to fulfill.
For starters, the creatures were every bit as irresponsible and simple minded as Jack had warned. With the Erassvas mostly out of their sight, it took nothing more than an interesting log or bush or rock to lure many of them off the proper path. No sooner had Draycos gotten one back on-course than someone else would wander away.
It was a constant job just keeping track of them all. From the sounds of rapid footsteps he could hear on the other side of the traveling formation, he could tell that Jack wasn't having any easier a time of it.
What was far worse than the physical activity, though, was the constant pain of seeing his people reduced to animals.
If that was indeed what had happened to them. Because there was another, far worse possibility.
The possibility that this was in fact the natural state of the K'da. That it was only through their long relationship with the Shontine that Draycos's people had been lifted to the level of civilized beings.
It was a terrifying thought. If it was true, it would mean that the legends about their early relationship with the long-lost Dhghem were false. It would mean that stories of how the kidnapped K'da had planned and executed an escape from the Cark slavers were completely made up.
It would mean their entire history was a lie.
To his surprise and shame, he found that he could
n't face such a possibility. He, Draycos, poet-warrior of the K'da, had finally found something he was frightened to face.
So instead, he threw himself into his work, focusing his full attention on keeping his half of the herd in line. Perhaps later, when things were quiet, he would be able to take the time to think about who and what he and his people truly were.
It was just as well that he chose to ignore such questions and turn his full attention on the duties of the present. It was on one of his wider-ranging herding swings that he discovered the Malison Ring's trap.
It came as a distant but familiar whiff of scent as he was corralling a particularly stubborn K'da. Somewhere to their left, he recognized, a group of humans had gathered.
For a few seconds he stood still, his tail hooked firmly in the errant K'da's crest, trying to decide what to do. The humans weren't very close, probably at least a mile away. If he left immediately, he should be able to see what they were up to and get back before Jack and the others got too close.
But if he left right now, this particular K'da would almost certainly wander off again.
The greatest good for the greatest number. It was one of the basic rules of life and warfare, a rule he'd been taught in childhood. From some of the comments Uncle Virge had made over the past three months, he knew it to be a human saying as well.
And yet he also knew that a warrior could focus so much attention on the greater number that the needs of the individual became lost in the mist.
So where did his responsibilities lie here?
From behind him came a soft snuffle, and he turned his head to look. The gray-scaled K'da, the one he'd dubbed Taneem, was watching him, a mildly puzzled expression on her face.
Draycos cursed beneath his breath. He didn't have time for this.
And was instantly ashamed of himself. The needs of the individual . . .
A sudden idea struck him. If Draycos's people had indeed been raised up from the level of animals, maybe that potential lay deep within these K'da, too.