Draycos leaned out from Jack's shirt as far as he dared. On the far side of the planter, between Jack and the Parprins, was a set of steps leading upward into an alcove. He couldn't be certain at his angle, but it looked like the alcove led up into a doorway. 'That opening to your right,' he told Jack. 'Move them in there. It may be a doorway that will allow you into the building. If it is not, it will at least provide cover from the popcorn bombs.'
Jack shook his head. 'I can't,' he said. 'It's too far.'
A shot slammed into the far side of the planter, nearly toppling it over onto Jack. The boy jerked, then curled even more tightly around himself. 'Listen to me,' Draycos said, keeping his voice quiet and steady. 'The enemy is not trying to shoot civilians. If they were, those three would already be dead. We may assume they will therefore not deliberately shoot at you if you are merely trying to help them.'
Jack shivered. 'But if no one's shooting at them, why should I do anything?'
'Because a random shot may still find them if they stay where they are,' Draycos said. 'And because it is your duty.'
Beneath him, he felt Jack's muscles tense. 'All right,' the boy said, taking a deep breath. He hunched his shoulders, taking another careful look over the top of the planter.
And then, so suddenly it startled even Draycos, he was on his feet, running a zigzag path toward the Parprins.
Draycos had just enough time to flatten himself onto Jack's skin before they were there. 'Come on,' Jack urged, tugging at the mother's arm. 'Come on. We've got to get inside.'
For a second the Parprin female just stared blankly up at him. Jack tugged at her arm again, pointing toward the stairs and the alcove.
Then, just as suddenly as Jack had made his decision, the mother made hers. Scrambling upright, she grabbed her cubs' hands and raced toward the alcove.
Jack stayed right behind them until they reached the steps. Then, bounding up past them as they climbed, he pushed the door open and hurried them inside.
The room they found themselves in took up the entire front of the building. Small round tables were laid out in what seemed to be a random pattern, with tiny colored disks neatly arranged on them. The windows were large, facing onto the street and also to both sides. None of them had curtains or barriers of any sort.
Near the center of the room was a wide staircase leading up to the second floor, with a set of curved metal railings on both sides. 'Make them sit beside the staircase,' Draycos whispered to Jack. 'It will give some protection from fire through the windows.'
'I should be out there,' Jack muttered as he herded the Parprins to the side of the stairway. 'I should be out helping them.'
'You cannot,' Draycos told him firmly. 'You have no weapon. You can only stay here and guard the civilians.'
'But those are supposed to be my comrades out there,' Jack insisted. 'You're the one who's always talking about duty. How can I just sit here while they're getting shot at?'
'You cannot help them,' Draycos repeated, flicking his tongue out once through the gap in Jack's shirt. The smell of Parprin wasn't one he had tasted before, and he made a mental note of its texture. 'But I can. And I will.'
Jack exhaled in a huff. 'Okay,' he said. 'Be careful.' He helped the Parprins down with their backs against the stairway wall; and as he did so, he lifted his left hand over the top of the railing.
Draycos was out of the sleeve in an instant, leaping onto the stairs. With his scales tingling, his battle senses fully alert, he headed up.
Chapter 12
The second floor was much like the first: wide spaces, tables with merchandise, no cover near the windows. Draycos didn't pause, but continued up the next stairway to the third floor.
There he found what he was looking for. This floor, instead of being devoted to merchandise, had been divided by low partitions into an orderly maze of small ofEce-like areas. Even better, the windows were partially covered by thick, decorative drapes. Keeping to the cover of the partitions, he made his way to one of the side windows and looked cautiously out.
The side of the next building was perhaps ten feet away, an easy leap for a K'da warrior. He scanned all the windows, but there was no one in sight. Apparently, the attackers were concentrating on the street side, where the Edgemen were pinned down.
Still, they hadn't completely neglected their defense of this side. Between the two buildings a steady trickle of popcorn bombs was raining down.
It was an interesting defensive method, one which the K'da and Shontine had never used. The popcorn bombs were propelled outward from a central launcher somewhere on top of the building. As each bomb cleared the edge of the roof, it sprouted a small parachute, which stopped its outward motion and turned it instead to fall straight down. The parachute then popped off, sending the bomb falling at normal speed toward the street below.
For a few seconds Draycos watched the bombs, studying their pattern. With the proper timing, it should be cub's play to get though it.
The rooftop was a little ways above his position as he looked out the window, and he couldn't see if there was anyone up there tending the popcorn machine. Still, the Edge manual had said such devices ran automatically, so it had probably been left on its own. He would have to risk it.
He looked down, and felt his jaws crack open in a tight smile. Whatever else the popcorn bombs were supposed to do, they were also having an unintended but useful side effect. Just as the gunfire from the windows was creating a hazy smoke screen around the tops of the buildings, so too the bombs were creating a smoky mist of their own at ground level.
Which meant that, when he made his move, neither the attackers nor the defenders would see a thing.
He pushed open the window and backed up to midway across the room. There he crouched low, watching the bombs fall past the window. He could feel the blood pounding through his body, pouring oxygen and nutrients into his muscles in preparation for the effort ahead. Out of the edge of his eye he could see the golden color in his scales turn to black as some of the extra blood flow trickled into them.
The K'da warrior was ready.
