Dragonback 04 Dragon and Herdsman Read Online Free PDF Page B

standard for you to
top."
    "Number one," Jack said, holding up a finger, "she got me out of a
tight jam."
    "I thought getting you out of jams was what your tame K'da
poet-warrior was for."
    Draycos stirred against Jack's skin. "He could have gotten
me out, yes," Jack said hurriedly before the dragon could speak.
"Alison got there first. I owe her."
    "So buy her a liner ticket to Rho Scorvi and send her on her way."
    "Number two," Jack said, lifting another finger, "I never did find
out what kind of game she was playing back at the Whinyard's Edge
training camp. Given that whatever it was nearly got both of us killed,
it might be nice to see if I can wheedle it out of her."
    "She was running a scam, of course," Uncle Virge huffed. "Just
like you were."
    "And third," Jack said, lifting one final finger, "the people she
was avoiding back at her ship were from Braxton Universis."
    There was a short pause. "Are you sure?" Uncle Virge asked, his
huffiness suddenly gone.
    "Positive," Jack said. "I saw one of them back on the Star of
Wonder . His name's Harper, and he's one of Cornelius Braxton's more
trusted bodyguards."
    "Are you suggesting Braxton is interested in this girl?"
Uncle Virge asked.
    "If not him, then it's someone else high up in the corporation."
    "Or they could merely be interested in Alison's friends," Draycos
suggested. "The ones she said she was riding with."
    Jack shook his head. "There aren't any friends. That ship is hers."
    "Are you certain?"
    "Trust me, I know a lie when I hear it," Jack said. "The point is
that if Braxton is interested in her, maybe we should be interested,
too."
    "Seems to me it's just one more reason to cut her loose at the
first stop," Uncle Virge said darkly. "Or had it occurred to you that
there's just one person at the top of Braxton's interest list right
now?"
    "Arthur Neverlin," Jack agreed. "But if Alison is working for him,
why did she spring me just now?"
    "Maybe he wants to give us some rope," Uncle Virge suggested. "A
little running room to see how much we know. It just seems to me that
the timing of this little rescue is awfully convenient."
    "True," Jack had to admit. "Still, if she did overhear
them yesterday, it wouldn't have taken her any time at all to put
something like this together. We know she's partial to sopor mist—she
probably had everything she needed already aboard her ship."
    "I still think she's here to worm out your secrets," Uncle Virge
insisted.
    "Or perhaps she hopes you'll lead her to your uncle," Draycos put
in thoughtfully. "Recall that on Brum-a-dum they were still trying to
use you to get to him."
    "They were, weren't they?" Jack said slowly, thinking back to that
conversation. Unless they just wanted revenge . . . but Neverlin didn't
seem the type to waste time with revenge. Not his own time, anyway.
"Granted, Alison could be all of that. Even so, I think our best bet is
to hold on to her, at least for a while. How does that saying go? Keep
your friends close, and your enemies closer?"
    "That's the one," Uncle Virge said with a sniff. "And if you ask
me, it's a very stupid saying. I say keep your enemies as far
away from you as you can."
    "And your friends?" Draycos asked.
    "Better to make do without them," Uncle Virge retorted.
    Jack sighed. In Uncle Virgil's world, people had always fallen
into one of two categories: the ones he could use, and the ones he
couldn't. "Friendship," "affection," "trust"—those might as well have
been alien words as far as he was concerned.
    Maybe Jack himself had been an exception. Then again, maybe he
hadn't.
    But things were different now, he reminded himself firmly. He did have a friend—Draycos—and he was going to make that friendship work.
    And part of that process was for him to earn the dragon's respect,
which meant keeping his promises. "No one's suggesting we have to
become Alison's best friends," he told Uncle Virge. "But we are going to take her to Rho Scorvi. Period."
    "Whatever you say, Jack lad," Uncle