Dragonback 05 Dragon and Judge (29 page)

I know, but this is just ridiculous
. The stream of thoughts
paused, and Draycos sensed the boy trying to hide his anxiety.
You
sure you're going to be all right
?

They will never see a thing
, Draycos assured him. With a
casual leap, he came out of the back of Jack's shirt. "I'll be back for
you soon," he added quietly.

"Be careful," Jack warned. He looked out the door again and gave
Draycos a thumbs-up.

Nosing his way between the streamers, the K'da slipped onto the
bridge. He gave the area a quick scan, then turned halfway around and
stretched up to the stone above the doorway. Setting his claws into the
cracks and crevices, he started to climb.

He went up just far enough for his hind claws to get a grip of
their own before changing direction and working his way horizontally
around the pillar. When he reached the far side he turned head downward
and climbed back down to the ground.

For a minute he paused there, crouched against the stone, his eyes
probing as his tongue flicked out to taste the air. But except for the
two guards lazing around on the opposite side of the pillar, the area
was deserted.

The first thing on Draycos's list of things to do was to locate
their transport. Fortunately, there were a dozen scents unique to
flying vehicles, scents he could smell drifting along on the nighttime
breezes. Keeping alert, he set off across the fields.

He found the Golvins' shuttle and Bolo's aircar together in a
cavernous machine shop that filled the entire ground floor of the
pillar farthest from the river. As usual with Golvin construction, the
shop had no door, but both vehicles had been anchored to the floor with
metal chains.

That, at least, would present no problem. Slipping inside, Draycos
extended his claws and began working on the chains tying down the
aircar. Within ten minutes, he had it freed.

Now came the tricky part.

The Golvins stationed beneath Langston's cliffside prison turned
out to be no more alert than the ones back at Jack's apartment.
Apparently, the novelty of nighttime guard duty, and the watchfulness
Draycos had seen on his first visit, had worn off quickly after
Langston's move to his new quarters.

Still, this time it wouldn't be just a poet-warrior of the K'da
slipping in and out. This time, he would be attempting to smuggle out a
full-sized human. Sternly warning himself against over-confidence, he
climbed across the cliff to the cave mouth and slipped inside.

Langston was lying on his side on his cot, his back to the
entrance as Draycos padded over to him. He reached out a paw to touch
the man's shoulder—

"Draycos?" Langston murmured.

Draycos felt his tail twitch in surprise. "Yes," he murmured back.
"You're a very light sleeper."

"I've been expecting you ever since I saw them lock up your
Judge-Paladin," Langston said. "What's the story there?"

"The same as yours," Draycos said. "You're both victims of the
fear created by an eleven-year-old threat."

"So what do we do about it?"

"We end it," Draycos said. "Tonight."

"Sounds good to me." Langston started to roll over.

"Wait," Draycos said, putting a restraining paw on the man's
shoulder. "Before you look at me, I have to warn you that my appearance
may shock you."

"Hey, in this light you could be covered with scabs and I'd never
notice," Langston said. "No problem."

"I'm serious," Draycos said. "The guards outside aren't very
alert, but even they would wonder at a startled shout coming from up
here."

"I said no problem," Langston said, a little impatiently. "What's
the big shocker?"

"I am a dragon."

There was a brief silence. "A dragon," Langston repeated, his
voice flat.

"Actually, I'm a poet-warrior of the K'da," Draycos said. "But my
appearance is that of a small dragon."

"Interesting," Langston said. "Can you fly and breathe fire?"

"Regretfully, no," Draycos said. "Both abilities could be very
useful."

"I've always thought so," Langston said. "Okay, I'm ready."

He rolled over. Even in the dim light Draycos could see his face
suddenly tighten. "Floos on a frissle. You weren't joking, were you?"

"Did you think I was?"

"Yeah, mostly." Langston reached out a hand, paused. "May I?"

"Certainly."

Gingerly, Langston touched the side of Draycos's neck. The touch
steadied a little, and he ran his fingertips down the scales to
Draycos's shoulder. "Well, if you're robotic, you're the best floosing
robot I've ever seen."

"What would convince you I'm a living being?"

"Actually, right now I don't care what you are," Langston said. He
threw off his blanket, and Draycos saw that he was fully dressed in a
dark green jumpsuit and low boots. "Not as long as you get me out of
here."

"That is the plan," Draycos agreed. "Collect anything you wish to
take with you."

"It's collected," Langston said, reaching to the floor and picking
up a handkerchief tied into a bundle. "How do we do this?"

"I climb sideways away from the cave," Draycos said. "You hold on
to my tail."

"Ah," Langston said, sounding suddenly doubtful. "Your— uh—?"

"It will work," Draycos assured him. "You're not much bigger than
my symbiont, Jack, and I have successfully carried him that way."

"Your
symbiont
?"

"Yes," Draycos said. "A symbiont is one who shares—"

"I know what it is." Langston shook his head. "I can see we're
going to be having a long talk when this is over." Taking a deep
breath, he stuffed his handkerchief bundle into the front of his shirt.
"Let's do it."

The first stage of the journey was the hardest. Draycos had to
climb quietly, without knocking any bits of stone onto the lounging
Golvins below. More than that, he had to do it with a hundred and forty
pounds of dead weight hanging on to his tail.

Fortunately, he'd done the trip enough times that he knew a route
that would work. A few tense minutes later, they were safely away from
the guards and starting down. A few minutes more, and they'd made it to
the canyon floor.

"That was interesting," Langston said, crouching behind a cluster
of tall grain plants as he rubbed at the cramped muscles in his hands.
"What's next?"

"We collect our transportation, pick up Jack, and leave," Draycos
told him. "Though flying through the canyon's many obstacles may be
difficult in the dark."

"Don't worry about that," Langston assured him grimly. "Just show
me to the pilot's seat and get out of the way."

"The vehicles are across the river," Draycos said, pointing with
his tongue. "The nearest bridge is this way."

They had made it across the cropland to the river and were nearly
across the bridge when the nighttime silence was suddenly pierced by a
warbling shriek.

Draycos leaped the rest of the way across the bridge, landing in a
crouch on the far side. Langston was right behind him. "What the floos
was
that
?" the human demanded.

"I would guess someone has discovered my sabotage," Draycos said,
turning his head to look behind them. Across the canyon, shadowy
figures were climbing rapidly up the
cliff
face toward
Langston's former prison. "They're about to discover your absence, as
well."

"Terrific," Langston growled. "What's Plan B?"

"The same as Plan A, only noisier," Draycos told him, flicking out
his tongue. So far there didn't seem to be any Golvins between them and
Jack's apartment. "We free Jack from his guards, attempt to fight our
way through to the aircar, and escape."

"Simple, but lunatic," Langston said. Probing briefly into the
river mud, he came up with a pair of fist-sized rocks. "After you."

Draycos headed off, angling their course so as to approach the
pillar from the rear. Somewhere along the way, the K'da combat pattern
kicked in, pumping extra blood into his muscles and turning his scales
from gold to black.

But it was growing more and more clear that all the camouflage in
the world would be of limited value. As they traveled, he heard a half
dozen more of the shrieks, some from the direction of the vehicle shop,
others from Langston's now empty prison.

The alarm was out. By the time they reached the pillar the whole
canyon was starting to come awake.

"How many guards?" Langston whispered as they sidled around the
cold stone toward the front.

"Two when I left," Draycos whispered back, slowing down. They
rounded the final curve and came within view of the bridge.

To find that the two guards had been joined by two more. All four
were standing alertly at the bottom of the bridge, two of them looking
up toward Jack's door, the others looking back and forth across the
area around them. All four had arrows out and nocked at the ready in
their bowstrings.

"Not good," Langston breathed in Draycos's ear. "Mostly open
ground, too."

"But delay will only make the odds worse," Draycos pointed out.
"I'll circle around the other side and try to draw their attention and
fire. If I succeed, move in and try to take them from the rear."

"Got it."

"And don't forget that these aren't our enemies," Draycos added
firmly. "They're as much the victims of evil as we are."

"I'll try to remember that," Langston said sourly. "Good luck."

Draycos backed up and retraced his steps around the pillar,
swinging wide toward the river. A minute later, he once again came
within sight of the four guards.

For the first few crucial seconds they didn't seem to notice him
among the shadows as he turned inward. Then, one of them jerked in
shock as he spotted the black creature racing toward them. Gurgling
something incoherent, he snapped up his bow and fired.

The shot went wild, the arrow swishing into the plants two yards
to Draycos's left. But the gurgle and shot were enough to alert the
other three. They twisted around to face Draycos, and three more bows
were lifted toward him. Draycos dug his claws into the ground and
dodged to the side, switching to an evasive zigzag pattern.

And suddenly Langston was there among the Golvins, clubbing coolly
and methodically with his rocks. By the time Draycos reached them, all
four guards were sprawled on the ground. "Piece of cake," the pilot
said, a note of grim satisfaction in his voice. "Man. If I'd known it
was that easy, I'd have done it a long time ago."

"This was the easy part," Draycos reminded him, peering at the
fallen Golvins as he trotted to a halt. He couldn't tell if they were
still breathing, but Langston's blows hadn't seemed overly violent.
"The next part will be—"

"
Draycos
!" Jack's voice shouted from overhead.

Reflexively, Draycos leaped to the side as he twisted his neck up
to look.

But the move was too late. Even as his eyes registered the fact
that there was a fifth Golvin just emerging from Jack's apartment, he
heard the snap of a bowstring.

And a searing jolt of pain exploded into his side.

With a desperate lunge, Jack hurled himself through the streamers
at the doorway, slamming his shoulder into the Golvin's back with
everything he had.

But he was too late. Even as the Golvin gave a strangled little
squeak and toppled off the bridge, Jack saw Draycos jerk violently as
the arrow buried itself into his side.

"No!" he yelped. Throwing himself onto the bridge, he half ran,
half slid down the rough rock to the ground.

Draycos was lying on his side when Jack reached him, panting with
shallow breaths, the arrow sticking out of his rib cage. "It's okay,"
Jack breathed, his heart thudding violently as he dropped to his knees
beside his wounded friend. "We'll get this out." Steeling himself, he
reached for the arrow.

"No—leave it alone," someone said from behind him.

Jack turned as a heavily bearded man—Langston?—dropped to one knee
beside him. "He's hurt," he snarled.

"I know," Langston said, his voice grim. "But pulling it out will
just make it worse." He held up one of the other Golvin arrows. "See
this wide arrowhead? You pull it out, and it'll just tear more of the
flesh and muscle. Besides, it's helping stanch the blood right now."

Jack looked down at Draycos. His glowing green eyes were
half-closed, the muscles in his neck working with pain. "What if it's
poisoned?"

"I don't think it is," Langston said. "These look like hunting or
fishing arrows. There's no reason to poison those."

He looked over his shoulder. "But if we don't get out of here, and
fast, it's not going to matter much. They're on the move."

"So we need to get to the aircar." Reaching down, Jack took one of
Draycos's paws in his hand. "Draycos? Can you get aboard?"

The K'da blinked, turning his head as if noticing Jack for the
first time. "Jack?" he croaked.

"The aircar's a bust," Langston said tightly. "They're on to us.
Our only chance is to go to ground for a while." He thrust two Golvin
bows at Jack. "Take these. I'll get your friend."

Jack brushed the bows aside. "I'll do it," he said. "Draycos? Come
on, symby. You can do it."

The green eyes blinked, and Jack could see the K'da struggling to
focus his thoughts through the agony. His paw shifted in Jack's grip.

And to Jack's relief he slid up the sleeve onto Jack's arm.

Langston stuttered out a startled curse. "Holy—Where did he—?"

"He's gone two-dimensional and is riding on my skin," Jack said.
"It's a symbiotic thing—I'll explain later." He started to get up.

And froze in horror. Lying on the ground in front of him was the
arrow that had been in Draycos's side. The arrowhead and first inch of
the shaft were black with K'da blood. "It's not stanching the blood
now," he heard himself say. "Oh, no. No."