That was one of the things Perennius was kicking himself about. There were others. “Good idea,” the agent said after a moment’s consideration. “I’d been sort of hoping they’d have an outpost or the like short of the hole. Try these out.” He slapped his body armor with his chaingauntleted hand. “With one or two of them, I mean. If it’s going to be all five at once, I think we’d better chance – getting undressed for not being parched when we hit them.” The agent made a quick sweep of the horizon. He turned his body to the right, then to the left as far as the saddle permitted.
Gaius clucked his own horse forward, down the trail. Perennius recalled something Ursinus had said while they watched the donkey being killed. “It jumped us when we were watering the horses. …” Instead of following his companion, the agent tugged his horse’s head around. By turning the animal, he had a full view of their back-trail despite the constricting gear. “Fucking whoreson,” Perennius muttered.
Half a mile behind them, hunching over the previous ridge as if following a scent trail, was the black and crimson figure of the allosaurus.
Perennius’ horse saw the great hunter at the same time its rider did. The horse froze momentarily. The agent’s quick tug at the reins became a vicious yank as he felt himself balked. “Ride!” he shouted as he spurred the horse. “Bastard’s after us!”
Gaius had not had time to react to the warning before the dragon’s savage cry echoed around them both.
The road was wide enough for two horses abreast under normal circumstances. At their present headlong gallop, Perennius thought it better to follow Gaius than to attempt to close on him. The call of their pursuer was a better spur than anything on a rider’s heels, but the cry was driving the horses to the limits of their footing. They were following a country track hacked along hillsides, rather than a well-laid military road. Perennius was a competent rider but not a brilliant one. Now he braced himself with one hand on a fore-pommel to keep from sliding onto the horse’s neck as they pounded downhill.
Ahead of them, Gaius’ mount leaped the narrow creek
without slacking or wetting its hooves. Perennius knew the limits of his own ability too well to risk prodding his own horse into a similar jump. A trick that was simple if executed with proper timing would be skidding disaster if that timing were off. As it was, one of the horse’s unshod hooves did turn on a smooth stone. There was an explosion of spray and a heart-stopping moment for the rider. Only Perennius’ iron grip on the saddle kept him from high-siding. That would have left him stunned in the creek as the monster bore down. The agent swayed drunkenly. As his horse bolted up the rise, he was forced to drop the reins and clutch the pommels with both armored hands.
The men would not have had the opportunity to check on their pursuer even had they not been encumbered by the metal they wore. The beast’s gurgling roar burst over them redoubled as the horses were only starting to gallop up from the creek. The dragon had crested the rise from which they had first seen it. That meant that it was covering at least three feet of ground to every two of theirs. Perennius had assumed that nothing as huge as the allosaurus could keep up a high rate of speed for more than a short spurt. The truth was a draining surprise.
Ursinus had been wrong. He and his two companions had not escaped because they outrode their pursuer. They had been saved by the sacrifice of the fourth member of their party. It was as brutally simple as that. And with the same horses burdened by men in full armor, there could be no question at all of how the present race would end unless the riders found a haven which their speed could not vouchsafe them.
Gaius charged over the rise, by now three lengths ahead of the agent. The younger man tried to wheel his horse to face the monster. Perennius, half-blind from sweat and frustration, almost rode into him. Gaius was drawing his spatha. “Ride you idiot!” the agent screamed. He was aware that Gaius must be speaking also and that both of them were barely able to hear their own voices over the cry of the allosaurus.