Dragon and Herdsman

Dragon and Herdsman is the fourth book of Timothy Zahn's Dragonback series, and depicts the adventures of 'Jack' (a young former burglar), 'Draycos' (a dragonlike entity periodically assuming two-dimensional form against the skin of a humanoid host), and 'Alison' (an industrial spy, approximately of Jack's age), on a forested Earthlike planet.
Publication History
First published 2006 by Tom Doherty & Associates, New York.
Sequels
Its sequels are Dragon and Judge (2007) and Dragon and Liberator (2008).
Plot
Having discovered that the mercenary organization 'Malison Ring' coöperated in the destruction of Draycos' shipmates, Jack and Draycos infiltrate one of its establishments; but Jack is immediately captured, on false charges of desertion. He is rescued by Alison, who later persuades him to convey her to the planet 'Rho Scorvi', where the peaceful, humanoid 'Erassvas' coëxist with the dragonlike 'Phookas': a less-intelligent population of Draycos' own species, the 'K'da'. They are pursued there by the Malison Ring under 'Col. Maximus Frost'; whereupon Jack, believing that the Ring will destroy the Phookas, himself guides them and 10 Erassvas (the latter hosting each Phooka) to a river, where his aerospace craft Essenay is concealed. En route, the herd and its guides (including Draycos and Alison in addition to Jack) are menaced, and sometimes attacked, by the Malison Ring, but repel most of the attacks until the final struggle at the river. Alison having learned of Draycos' existence, adopts the Phooka 'Taneem' as her own companion, and thus stimulates a greater intelligence and abilities of speech, akin to those of Draycos himself. At the river, all the leading characters (including 'Uncle Virge', the artificial intelligence guiding the Essenay) coöperatively defeat the Malison Ring. Having left Rho Scorvi, Alison sends a secret message to her superiors elsewhere, reporting her adventure and sentencing the Phookas to transfer from the Erassvas to human hosts (this is left ambiguous until the final book).

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