Dragon and Herdsman

CHAPTER 21

They'd been traveling about two hours when they hit the edge of the bog.

Hit it quite literally, in fact. Jack didn't even spot the silent, algae-covered water until he'd taken his first knee-deep step into it.

"How's it look?" Jack asked as Draycos reemerged from between a pair of droopy-leaved trees, picking his way carefully across a narrow land bridge.

"Like most such places," the K'da replied. "A great deal of water, much of it nearly impossible to see until one is already in it."

"Could you tell how big it is?"

"I estimate it is at least a few miles across," Draycos said. "It will take the rest of the morning to get around it. Possibly longer."

Jack chewed his lower lip, an idea beginning to play at the edge of his mind. "What if we go through it?"

Draycos arched his neck. "You must be joking. Didn't you hear what I just said? Bogs and swamps, particularly unfamiliar ones, are among the worst places possible for a soldier to make a stand against an enemy."

"Normally, sure," Jack agreed. "But this isn't a normal military situation. Frost wants me alive. He wouldn't dare attack around this much water, even with just tanglers. Maybe even especially with tanglers."

Draycos twitched his tail. "Yet if he should decide to take that risk, we would find ourselves with little maneuvering room."

"Yeah, but his men would be in the same boat," Jack pointed out. "And since you K'da seem to fight as well from trees as you do from solid ground, you'd run rings around them."

Draycos twitched the end of his tail. "I still do not like it."

"Neither do I," Jack conceded. "But Alison's in no shape to fight right now, and I really don't want us to have to face down Frost's men without her. Seems to me that every hour we can keep him off our backs is an extra hour for her to try to snap out of whatever's gotten its grip on her."

He nodded toward the bog. "The only question is whether we can get all the way through without losing anyone. And whether there's more than one way out the other side. Be kind of counterproductive if we went all the way through and then came out to find an ambush all set up and waiting for us."

"As to the latter, I expect there will be multiple exits," Draycos said. "As to the former . . . we will find out soon enough."

The bog was humid, full of buzzing insects, and disgustingly smelly. But aside from that, it wasn't nearly as bad as Jack had expected.

The Erassvas, for all their bulk, turned out to be surprisingly nimble when it came to maneuvering along narrow land bridges. Even when they strayed off the path, they tended to float high enough in the water that it was easy for them to pull themselves back to safety. The insects and odors didn't seem to bother them at all.

Even better, Jack quickly discovered that Greenie had a knack for finding a path through the pools and stands of reeds. After the first mile, in fact, Jack was confident enough of the Phooka's abilities to send Draycos back to the rear of the party to watch for stragglers.

Through it all, Alison and Taneem dozed peacefully.

A little before noon they reached a sort of island amid the stagnant water and Jack called a halt. With Hren's help he got Alison and her vine hammock off the two Phookas and onto the ground.

He was sitting under a tree, munching on a ration bar, when Draycos arrived from the rear. "How are things going back there?" he asked the K'da.

"The mercenaries appear to be behaving themselves," Draycos told him, stretching out on the ground. He looked as tired as Jack felt. "The Phookas are a different story entirely."

"Keeping you busy, are they?" Jack asked, feeling a little guilty. While he'd been plodding more or less straight through the swamp, the K'da had been putting in a lot more miles, much of it probably leaping back and forth between trees.

"In truth, it is not as bad as it could be," Draycos conceded. "They still seem to prefer to stay as close to you as possible. But in this terrain, they are often unable to see you. It is at those times when they have a tendency to wander off."

"Maybe I should try to put myself somewhere in the middle of the group," Jack suggested. "Greenie seems capable enough of finding his own way."

"But without you, I doubt he will continue at the necessary speed," Draycos pointed out. "No, this still remains our best marching order." He looked over at Alison. "Has there been any change in Alison's condition?"

"Not that I could see," Jack said. "She seems to sleep pretty soundly, except when she's dreaming or something. She does a lot of twitching and muttering then."

"Anything you could understand?"

Jack shrugged. "A few words here and there. Frost got mentioned a lot, and so did Neverlin. Braxton's name came up once or twice, too."

"Braxton the man or Braxton the corporation?"

"I couldn't tell," Jack said. "Most of the rest was verbal scribble."

"And Taneem has been with her the whole time?"

"Like a squatter in cheap housing," Jack said sourly. "I'm thinking that the next time she hops off to get a snack, we might want to make sure she stays off. At least for a while."

"I'm afraid you're right," Draycos said regretfully. "I do not understand what is happening between them. Certainly nothing like this ever happens between K'da and Shontine."

"But remember what Alison said," Jack reminded him. "You and the Shontine may already be so much alike that you just connect naturally together—your basic square pegs in the square holes. Taneem's coming from a"—he glanced quickly around to make sure none of the Erassvas were in hearing distance—"from a lethargic slug of an Erassva to a vibrant, smart-mouthed human. Maybe it's taking them both a while to acclimate to the change."

"Perhaps," Draycos said. But he didn't sound entirely convinced. "We can only hope the stress will not damage either of them."

"Yeah." Jack popped the last bite of the ration bar into his mouth. "Let's get Alison back in her hammock and hit the road."

It was late afternoon when they finally reached the end of the bog. "Nice to be on solid footing again," Jack commented as he and Draycos maneuvered Alison out of her hammock onto the ground. "Any sign of the bad guys?"

"I smell no one," Draycos said, his tongue flicking rapidly in and out of his snout. "Perhaps they have lost our trail."

"More likely they just decided they might as well take the rest of the day off," Jack said. "They'll probably be back full strength bright and early tomorrow morning."

"I hope for their sakes—" Abruptly, Draycos broke off, his head twisting to the east.

"What?" Jack asked, his hand going automatically to the machine gun slung over his shoulder.

"A predator approaches," Draycos said, turning to face that direction. "Another of the species we fought yesterday."

"Where?" Jack demanded, scrambling to his feet. One brush with the Kodiaks had been more than enough for him. Glancing down at his weapon, he switched it over to machine-gun mode. It would be risky to use the noisier setting, but he had no intention of trying to restrain such a beast with tangler cords.

"There," Draycos said, his tongue darting out.

"Got it." Lifting the gun, pointing it in the direction Draycos was facing, Jack braced himself.

"What's going on?" Alison murmured.

Startled, Jack looked down at her. Her eyes were half-closed, but she was definitely awake. "Predator on the way," he told her, feeling a flicker of relief. Bringing a comatose girl back to civilization hadn't been something he'd really been looking forward to. "Another of our friendly Kodiaks, Draycos says."

"Got it," she said, fumbling in her holster for her Corvine. The fingers paused, her eyes widening as she suddenly noticed the machine gun in Jack's hands. "What in the—? Where'd you get that?"

Before Jack could answer, there was a rustling in a group of bushes on the far side of the clearing, and a Kodiak lumbered into view.

Jack raised his gun a little higher, setting his teeth together as he aimed at the animal's massive torso. Beside him, he sensed Draycos lowering himself into a crouch, claws digging into the ground as he prepared to spring. "Easy," Alison murmured. "Let him get closer."

Jack nodded silently. The Kodiak took a couple of steps forward, then paused, his head moving back and forth as he surveyed the silent Erassvas and Phookas frozen in place watching him.

And then, to Jack's amazement, the beast turned and clumped back into the trees.

"Well, that was interesting," Alison said, pushing herself to her feet. She swayed a bit, and Jack caught her arm to steady her. "I'm okay," she said as she regained her balance. "What in the world did you say to him?"

"I threatened his family, of course," Jack said, peering through the trees where the Kodiak had disappeared. There was no sign of the creature. "What do you mean, what did I say? I didn't say or do anything." He nodded toward Draycos. "Maybe the other Kodiak has been spreading the word about Draycos."

"No," Draycos said, straightening out of his crouch, his tail tip making thoughtful circles in the air. "I believe he was more concerned about the Erassvas."

"You're kidding," Jack said, frowning at the bulky beings. They didn't look any more threatening than they usually did.

"Not at all," Draycos said. "Their odor has changed since last night. I noticed it this morning but assumed it was due to the change in their diet."

Just about the time Hren was warning Jack that the Erassvas wouldn't give up their lives easily, in fact. "You think they've finally gotten roused?"

"Something has certainly happened to them," Draycos said. "And many animals use scent cues to hunt. Perhaps their current odor is one which warns predators away."

"Actually, that makes sense," Alison murmured. "They're such obvious targets they ought to have gone the way of the dodo by now."

"Until something kicks in the adrenaline," Jack said. "Something like the first Kodiak attack yesterday."

"So the first predator gets a free shot at a given group, and everyone else after that has a fight on their hands," Alison concluded. "At least until the Erassvas' biochemistry switches back again. I guess this Kodiak must not have been hungry enough to risk it."

"Maybe," Jack said. "I somehow doubt the mercs will notice the changed attitude, though."

"Or will care even if they do," Alison agreed. "Let me see that gun, will you?"

"Don't worry; we dumped the tracker," Jack assured her, putting the safety back on and handing it over.

"Unless they got cute and threw in a backup." For a moment she turned the weapon over in her hands, poking and prying and peering at its various components. Then, with a grunt, she handed it back. "It's clean."

"Like I already said," Jack reminded her, "So what was this all-day nap of yours all about?"

"Fraggled if I know," she admitted. "But I do feel a whole lot better than I did yesterday. Maybe I was just tired."

"Join the club," Jack said with a sniff.

"I'm sorry—would you like to ride for a while?" Alison asked sweetly, gesturing to the vine hammock at her feet.

"What about Taneem?" Draycos asked before Jack could come up with a suitably sarcastic answer.

"She's fine," Alison assured him. "She's been sleeping most of the time, too, I think. But she's fine."

"This from your vast experience with K'da?" Jack put in.

Alison gave him a look of strained patience, then lifted her collar an inch and peered down into her shirt. "Taneem?" she called.

For a moment nothing happened. Then, the upper right side of Alison's shirt stirred and the top of a dark gray K'da crest pushed up against the cloth as it transformed into three-dimensional form. Alison opened her collar a little more, and the crest was joined by the top of Taneem's head and a single silver eye peering through the gap. "Yes?" a tentative voice asked.

Jack felt his mouth drop open a little. Taneem was actually speaking?

"This is Jack, Taneem," Alison said, pointing to him. If she was surprised by the Phooka's new verbal skills, she didn't show it. "And this is Draycos. Do you remember them?"

The single visible eye swiveled to look first at Jack and then at Draycos. "I think so," Taneem murmured.

"They're friends," Alison said, talking to the Phooka as if to a young child. "Do you understand?"

The eye swiveled to Jack, then back to Draycos. "I think so," she said again.

"Good," Alison said. "Then—" She broke off as the dragon crest abruptly flattened back down onto her skin. "Taneem?" she called. "Taneem?"

There was no response. "She's a little shy, I think," Alison said. "Still, it's progress."

"It is indeed," Draycos agreed, his tail making slow circles again.

"Aren't you glad now that we saved them?" Jack asked.

An instant later he wished he'd kept his mouth shut. Draycos spun to face him, his crest stiff, glowing green eyes glittering unpleasantly. "Sorry," Jack apologized hastily. "Sorry. I didn't mean it that way."

The crest relaxed a little. "I know," Draycos said, some of the fire going out of his eyes. "Yet you are right. To my shame, you are right. For a time I did not permit myself to hope."

"Just don't hope too high and too fast," Alison warned. "This whole thing is very new to her. She's not going to be operating at the level of a K'da poet-warrior any time soon."

"I'm just glad she's able to talk," Jack said. "And in English, yet. Is that what you were muttering in your sleep? English lessons?"

Alison frowned. "What are you talking about? I don't talk in my sleep."

"How would you know?" Jack countered.

"My parents told me," Alison retorted. "What was I saying?"

Frost, Neverlin, Braxton . . . "Just your basic nonsense muttering," Jack said. "Nothing I could make out. So you weren't teaching her English?"

"Not that I know," Alison said, still looking troubled. "I assume she picked it up the same time Hren and the other Erassvas did. So what's our current plan?"

"We've veered east from their last ambush attempt, so it's probably time to turn north again," Jack said. "If your guess a couple of days ago was right, we've still got two or three more days before we hit the river."

"Then we'd better move it," Alison said. "What was this about an ambush?"

"It didn't work," Jack said. "We can leave the details until it's too dark to travel."

"Fine," Alison said. "You can go back to your herding—I'll take point."

Heading north, as it turned out, was easier said than done.

The first obstacle was a line of crumbly-edged cliffs like the one the ill-fated red Phooka had fallen down on the evening of their first day in the forest. Alison found a way through, but it cost them time they didn't really have to spare.

The second obstacle was another bog, or perhaps an arm of the same one they'd spent the day slogging through. Alison was half-inclined to go on in, citing the same reason of enemy stalemate that Jack had given Draycos earlier in the day. She seemed surprised and even a bit embarrassed when she learned that the party had already done that once, and that Jack for one had no interest in a repeat performance.

The sun was dropping toward the horizon and a line of evening clouds was creeping across the sky when they finally finished circling the swampland and Alison called a halt. "What do you think?" she asked as Jack and Draycos joined her. "We've got maybe another hour of light left. Do we want to keep going north, or should we angle northeast and get back to the path we were on earlier?"

Jack peered through the trees, studying the terrain. Neither direction looked any better or worse than the other. "I vote for northeast," he said. "That'll put the bog at our backs, which means they probably won't be coming at us from that direction."

"And we'll have a place to retreat to if necessary," Alison agreed. "So we'll angle northeast until dark, then turn north again tomorrow?"

"That should work," Jack said. "Draycos?"

"I have no objections."

"Good." Alison craned her neck. "Anyone seen Taneem? She hopped off just before I called break."

"She is over there," Draycos said, flicking his tongue to the side.

"I see her," Alison said, nodding. "Taneem? Come on, girl. Time to go."

Obediently, Taneem trotted toward them. She eyed Jack and Draycos a little nervously as she approached, sidling gingerly past them as if afraid to touch either of them. She placed one of her forepaws on Alison's outstretched hand, and a second later had gone two-dimensional and slithered up the girl's arm. "At least she's not completely oblivious to the universe, like the other Phookas," Jack said.

"No," Draycos rumbled. "Instead, she has become excessively timid."

Jack had hoped the K'da wouldn't notice that. "Give her time," he urged quietly. "Like Alison said, she's new to this."

"I know," Draycos said. But Jack could still hear the disappointment in his voice. "Come—help me get the rest of the Phookas moving."

He padded away. Jack looked at Alison, lifted his eyebrows. "I don't know," she said, shrugging helplessly. "But he's right—let's get moving before we lose the daylight."

It was quickly clear that neither the Erassvas nor the Phookas were really interested in going any farther. As Draycos set off on his moving-sentry duty he could hear Hren complaining to Alison, insisting they be allowed to settle down for the night. For her part, Alison responded by ignoring his protests and continuing to walk.

The Phookas, without the ability to complain, simply began dragging their feet. Draycos could hear Jack's running footsteps weaving in and out of the herd as the boy urged, cajoled, and occasionally ordered them to keep going.

Once or twice Draycos heard the sound of a light slap when none of the words would do the trick. More frequently, he heard a muttered curse that the boy had apparently borrowed from Uncle Virge's vast collection of such words. Clearly, Jack was as exhausted as the rest of them.

But one way or another, he kept the herd moving, and he kept it mostly together. Draycos kept an eye out for stragglers as he ran the perimeter, again finding himself impressed by Jack's ability at the task. There were very few stragglers that made it anywhere near Draycos, and even those Jack usually managed to snag before the K'da had to step in.

The sky overhead was darkening, and he was starting to look for a suitable place to camp for the night, when he heard the sound of the Malison Ring floater.

He froze in place, swiveling his head back and forth. It was coming up from behind them, from the south, he decided. And unlike earlier that day, this time it was headed straight for them.

The long-expected attack had begun.