Dragon and Slave

"Hey!" Noy said, grabbing at Jack's sleeve and pointing toward the grandstand.

"Over there. What's that?"

"Where?" Jack asked, peering into the darkness.

"Over there," Noy said, pointing harder. "I saw two little green lights."

K'da eyes? "I'll check it out," Jack said briskly. "Maerly

I'll catch up in a minute." He headed toward the grandstand at a quick jog, slowing to a walk as he reached the structure. "Draycos?" he whispered.

"Here," the dragon called back. From behind a large wooden box two glowing green eyes appeared.

"You're lucky we even noticed you back there," Jack commented, stepping close and sticking out his hand. "Noy must have really good eyes."

"In actual fact, I was staring at you for over a minute," the dragon said.

Putting a paw on Jack's hand, he slithered up his sleeve. "If you had not seen me, I would have moved farther along your path and tried again."

"I was hoping you'd come up with some clever way to reco

"Most impressive," Draycos said. "Jack, we have a problem. The military transports are gone."

Jack nearly tripped over his own feet. "What?"

"Most of those who came for the auction have left," the dragon said. "The only vehicle still there is a single civilian craft. I suspect it belongs to Arthur Neverlin."

Jack hissed between his teeth. If he hadn't stopped to go back and check on Noy...

He shook the thought away. "So Neverlin's still here," he said. "Makes sense.

He's probably in there raining fire and brimstone on Gazen over my disappearance."

"Very likely," Draycos said. "However, our problem still remains. From the view I had of his vehicle, I do not believe it will be strong enough to destroy the gate."

"Even if it was, we'd be left with no way to get out ourselves afterward,"

Jack agreed grimly. "Unless we walked, and there are a whole bunch of Brummgan guard posts along the way."

"And most likely better protected than those I eliminated near the slave areas,"

Draycos said. "They would of course be alerted now, as well."

"So a stroll down the driveway is out," Jack said, slowing down. They'd better work this through before they rejoined the rest of the group. Reaching to his left collar, he tapped his comm clip. "Uncle Virge? How's it going?"

"Just fine, Jack lad, just fine," Uncle Virge's voice came back. "I've got them pi

"How many are there?" Draycos asked.

"Twenty-five," Uncle Virge said. "Mostly Brummgas, though I spotted three humans in the group."

"And you are certain they are still there?"

Jack felt his lip twitch. "Oh, boy," he muttered.

"What?" Uncle Virge demanded. "What is it?"

"The overhang," Jack told him. "Sure, they can't see you; but you also can't see them. They could be sidling their way along the wall back to the house right now."

"Or are moving toward the gate to cut off our escape," Draycos added. Uncle Virge muttered a very rude word. "I will be—"

"It's too late to worry about it now," Jack cut him off. "Anyway, you're still keeping them away from the Clax-7s. That's worth a lot."

"The value may be about to drop," Uncle Virge said, his voice suddenly tight.

"I'm picking up a signal from the mansion. Gazen is ordering two Dji

Jack squeezed a hand into a fist. "How soon till they get here?"

"Depends on how ready they are to fly," Uncle Virge said. "Ten minutes, maybe fifteen. Twenty if you feel especially lucky today."

"I don't," Jack said, ru

"I might be able to blast open the gate from out here," Uncle Virge suggested doubtfully.

"Don't even try," Jack warned. "They're bound to be ready for something like that."

"What do you want me to do, then?"

"Might as well keep those Brummgas pi

"Take off where?" Uncle Virge demanded. "Jack, lad—"

"The frame of life is rigid," Draycos spoke up. "The time of life defined."

There was a short pause. "Understood," Uncle Virge said. "Watch yourself, lad."

He clicked off. "What was that?" Jack asked Draycos as he turned off the comm clip from his end. "More of your K'da poetry code?"

"Yes," Draycos said. "It is part of a saga about the siege of Colthin. In that action, the attackers continued to circle the fortress, evading the defenders'

weapons and gradually ru

"Not exactly the situation here," Jack grunted. "But close enough. I guess."

"The point is that he will remain in the area, and merely evade the fighters'

attacks," Draycos said.

"That's the theory, anyway," Jack said, breaking into a run again. "Okay, here's the plan. We get back to the group, tell them to follow, then hoof it full-speed to Neverlin's shuttle."

"And then?"

Jack shook his head. "We'll figure something out."

He caught up with the rest of the escaping slaves, delivered his instructions to a reluctant and increasingly nervous-looking Maerly

And there was still no response from inside the mansion. It was as if the Brummgas had completely missed what was happening, or were huddling deep inside their stone fortress, trembling with fear.

Or were simply waiting patiently for the slaves to walk into their trap.

"Well, there it is," Jack muttered to Draycos as he studied the shuttle squatting fifty yards away. It was a fancy one, all right—not much smaller than the Essenay, all steel and molded high-strength plastic and hand-polished chrome, with quadruple drive engines and at least that many lifter panels. Apparently, Neverlin was one of those who believed that the more backup systems, the better.

Or maybe he just liked loading his vehicles with expensive extras. In the shadows under the shuttle, Jack could see a set of fold-in, heavy-duty landing skids, the kind that guaranteed landings so soft that Neverlin wouldn't spill even a drop of whatever drink he was holding at the time. "Nice-looking parlor," he murmured.

"Pardon?"

"Literary reference," Jack told him. " 'Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly.' I don't suppose there's any way for you to tell if they're waiting inside." He snorted. "Let me rephrase that. Is there any way for you to tell how many of them are waiting inside?"

"I am sorry," Draycos said regretfully. "I can smell Brummgan scent, certainly.

But the wind has faded, and I ca

Jack rubbed his chin. "Let's do a numbers game, then. Uncle Virge said he had twenty-five of Gazen's troops pi

"Fifteen."

"Making forty in all," Jack said. "Fleck's top estimate was that Gazen had seventy armed thugs. Figure at least six more in those hidden guard huts between the house and the gate, plus another ten inside the house to protect the Chookoock family in case we take it into our heads to charge the place. Any of those figures sound too high?"

"Possibly even a bit low," the dragon said slowly. "With an attack coming from a

ship as well-armed as the Essenay, and with the gate the only clear way inside, I would post at least ten guards along that approach."