Dragonback 01 Dragon and Thief by Timothy Zahn Read Free Book Online Page A

then."
    They headed off. The damage wasn't as bad up here as it had been
along the sides of the hull, Jack noted, but the handful of trees
lining both sides more than made up for it. Most of them had been
smashed into toothpicks as the ship plowed through the area, and those
that remained standing had been knocked about at crazy angles. Mostly
they were leaning away from the ship, but a few were actually leaning
toward it.
    Everything within sight, trees and ground alike, had been scorched
and blackened by the heat of the crash. They were probably lucky the
crash hadn't sparked a forest fire.
    From the direction of the wrecked bubble behind them came the
faint sound of crunching metal. Jack spun around, tangler in hand, but
no one was visible. "You think the ladder went down?" he hazarded.
    "With some assistance, yes," Draycos agreed. "I believe the
pursuit has begun. Come; over here."
    He veered suddenly toward the edge, aiming toward a tree that was
leaning inward. "Wait a second," Jack said, frowning, as he turned to
follow. "The Essenay 's still further back."
    "If we remain here, they will have a very limited search area,"
Draycos explained over his shoulder. "On the ground our chances of
eluding them are greater."
    "Yeah, but it's forty feet to the ground," Jack objected. "There
was a ladder built into the hull near where I came in—let's use that."
    "All ladders will be watched," Draycos said. "This they may not
expect."
    "Right," Jack muttered, throwing a dubious look at the tree they
were making for. Leaning toward the ship, yes, but at its closest it
was still a good ten feet away. "I suppose it's too late to mention
that my species doesn't jump nearly as well as yours does."
    "Do not worry," Draycos said, trotting to a halt beside the tree
at the point where the hull started its downward curve. This time he
didn't even bother to crouch, but just jumped from a standing start
over to the tree.
    For a second he hung there, all four feet clinging to the tree
with claws Jack hadn't noticed before. Then, turning his head, he
peered back toward Jack. "Leap when I say," he said. "Ready—"
    With a convulsive jerk, the dragon pushed away with his hind legs
and arched his whole body backwards, like a reversed vid of how he'd
landed on the tree in the first place. The arching continued until he
was stretched straight back toward Jack. His tail uncurled and
stiffened—"Leap," Draycos ordered.
    If Jack had stopped to think, he never would have done it. To jump
to the tail of an unknown alien as it hung from a fire-damaged tree was
an amazingly stupid thing to do.
    But all he could think about at the moment was the tangled Brummga
and his buddies. He jumped as ordered, caught the gold-scaled tail, and
a second later slammed against the blackened tree trunk as the dragon
collapsed back to vertical again.
    "Can you climb down from here?" Draycos asked.
    "Sure," Jack said, breathing hard as he shifted his grip from the
dragon's slippery tail to the tree itself. He hadn't managed to get his
feet up in front of him in time, and the impact had knocked a fair
amount of the wind out of him. Fortunately, his jacket had protected
him from the worst of the scrapes he might otherwise have collected.
Taking a couple of deep breaths to steady himself, he started down.
    Most of the branches had been splintered or knocked off by the
ship's crash, but there were enough limb stumps still sticking out to
provide hand and footholds. Draycos, having swiveled around on the tree
until he was facedown like a squirrel, passed him going down the
opposite side of the trunk.
    Two minutes later, they were on the ground. "Where now?" Draycos
asked.
    Jack looked around, orienting himself as he brushed the worst of
the soot off his hands. "This way," he told the dragon, angling off
through the scorch zone. "There's a small clearing we were able to put
down in, just past that ridge over there. Uncle Virge?"
    "The ship's ready," Uncle Virge's voice came from