Chapter 18: "On the Road"

The vineyard lay abandoned, the servant's quarters, kitchen and storehouse all in various states of disrepair. The vines, the privy and wine press were all overgrown by overburdened vines. To the average traveler passing by on the roadside, it was an unremarkable site, just another sign of decay creeping into the countryside.

But to Zeta, it was a valuable clue. That Caseus had done a damn fine job of tying her up, even adding some more ropes before leaving. She had spent a full day struggling before she was finally able to wriggle free. Why he had chosen to spare her was beyond her. What had all that talk about her father and Petraz been about too?

She had managed to follow their trail far enough to point her in the direction of Padtū, before a flash rain shower had washed the tracks clean. By the time she had arrived in the town, the Royal family and her father had already departed. She had hastily scribbled out a letter to her father, telling of this monstrosity known as Harada, and sent it off, carried by a messenger pterosaur. Then, after purchasing a new bow, she had set off on the trail again.

Inquiring around town, nobody had seen the maiasaur in town; no surprise, given how much she had told them. But the other three had hardly made a secret about their presence. Picking up their trail to the vineyard had been easy. She looked over the smoldering remains of the campfire, several hours old at most, then to the tracks heading northeast.

Get after them, she thought to herself. You can't disappoint Father again!

***

The midday heat was truly miserable. Caseus was thankful he had found some extra wineskins left empty in the quarters, as Arabella had already drained his waterskin. He and Shawk had grown accustomed to trekking through all seasons, and had both learned how to ration water and pace their drinks efficiently. Psaltria, meanwhile, with her size and wounds, almost drank the last pond they had found dry.

Still, even he was finding it hard to resist the temptation to down a whole wineskin. It had been some time since he had travelled this stretch of road, and he had forgotten how little shade there truly was. They passed a rather weary looking man riding atop a Triceratops, desperately trying to hide beneath the meager shade the Beast’s frill provided.

“Don’t fret, there should be a temple not much further along,” Caseus panted. He began rubbing his chest as they went. He felt another type of burning in his chest, and for a moment he thought it may have been some heartburn from breakfast. However, neither eggs or grapes typically gave him that sensation. And there was also the fact that it seemed to radiate out from just beneath his burn scar, but almost as quickly as it appeared, the pain vanished.

They passed another Man and Beast duo, this time a merchant, his cart of wares being hauled by a Dilophosaurus. The mid-sized theropod seemed to be truly suffering in the heat, tongue flopping out, panting heavily. Its dense coat of feathers was certainly not helping things; it was for that reason dilophosaurs, when left to their own devices, typically spent the middle of the day resting in shade.

Meanwhile, the merchant drank greedily from a water gourd, water spilling down his chin and neck.

Caseus felt his face involuntary twitch at that. Before he could think his actions through, he turned around, dashing back down the road towards the cart.

“Wait! Just a moment!” he called. The cart halted, though Caseus did not even acknowledge the merchant as he approached the dilophosaur.

The dinosaur looked at him, its eyes half-lidded from exhaustion.

“Hey! What do you think you're doing?” the man shouted. “My Beast isn't a pet!”

Caseus ignored him as he uncorked one of the wine skins. He could afford to spare just one. The dilophosaur eagerly gulped down the water, its eyes widening. Amidst the gulps, it gave what appeared to be a slight nod; a silent thanks.

Only when the wineskin was totally empty did Caseus turn to leave. The merchant gave a slight scowl as he walked by. Caseus simply ignored him, but a shrill hooting sound from the dilophosaur did get a slight smile from him.

“Thank you, kind sir!”

Arabella was staring at him intently as he fell back in step.

“What is the matter? Is something on my face?”

She immediately blushed, looking the other way. “N-no! Nothing at all!”

***

After several more hours of walking, with intermittent breaks in what little shade there was, the temple finally came into view on the horizon. Meant to be a resting place for travelers rather than purely a place of worship, the main worship chamber and ziggurat was surrounded by a residence for the clergy, a stable, and a small inn. The whole compound itself was built on the boundary of a dense cypress forest.

“Ah, finally! Sweet relief!” Arabella exclaimed. Her dress was thoroughly soaked with sweat, her hair bedraggled. Caseus wasn’t much better; he had stripped off his vest, dampened it with water, and tried in vain to keep cool.

“Not quite,” Shawk said cautiously.

“Indeed,” Psaltria concurred.

“What is it?” Caseus asked. “What do you smell, or hear?”

“I hear the sound of a fight,” Psaltria said.

Shawk sniffed the air. “It smells and sounds like multiple men and Beasts are involved.”

Caseus sighed as he fastened his khopesh sheath.

“Well, let’s see what the ruckus is.” He began to run on ahead, as best he could considering his current exhaustion, before he felt something lift him off the ground. It was Psaltria, scooping her head up between his legs, tossing him back onto her shoulders into a riding position.

“Please my prince, I am not totally feeble,” she said.

As they got closer, it became clear how chaotic the scene was. There were two Beasts and five humans standing about, four with weapons drawn. The fifth, an older man, was standing alongside one of the Beasts, a Stegosaurus. The two seemed to be acting to keep them separate from the other Beast, a carnivorous theropod. With the bull-like horns over its eyes, hide covered in knots and bony plates, and its stumpy arms even shorter than a Tyrannosaurus, it was undoubtedly a Carnotaurus.

The carnotaur had what looked like a bolas only wrapped about one leg, clearly having failed to snare it. Several arrows littered the ground around it, having failed to pierce its hide. There was an unmistakable bloody slash across its snout though.

As for the opposing side, one of the armed men was laying on his back howling in pain, clutching his broken leg, which was bent backwards at the knee, swollen and purple.

“Please! This is a place of rest and worship! Not violence!” the older man in the middle shouted. Clearly he was the priest, dressed in clerical robes of white and deep midnight blue, as well as sporting the shaven head of a priest.

The Stegosaurus, a female, judging by the dull coloring of the triangular plates running down her back, was adorned with the pure white cloth of a nun, interwoven amongst those same plates. She acted as the barrier between the carnotaur and the men. Caseus and Arabella could clearly understand her plaintive bleating.

“Please!” she pleaded with the carnivore. “More violence will only make things worse!”

“Why the hell should I care?!” the Carno snarled back. “They attacked me first!”

“Oi! What seems to be the problem here?” Caseus called, dismounting from Psaltria as they approached. He was cut off from asking anything else by a wail of “Mama!” from Arabella. She promptly jumped from Shawk, scrambling behind the bulk of the larger dinosaur.

So much for all that bravado this morning, he thought.

Their presence had done enough to draw the attention of the others.

“Piss off! Do not interfere!” one of the armed men shouted.

“Do not get in my way, humans!” the Carno hissed. “They provoked this!”

The priest tried to speak, but seemed lost for words. It was as if he wanted to ask for help, but at the same time, did not wish to draw anyone else into the conflict. So the stegosaur spoke instead.

“Please good sir! This fighting must stop!”

“Now, I had intended to rest at this fine place for the evening, only to find this commotion. So tell me, what has happened here?”

“Wait a moment. Is that you Harada?” a voice said. One of the men, the one with the bow, had been kneeling beside the injured party member. He stood, revealing himself to not be a man, but a familiar boy.

“You bastard! Monster!” Caseus recognized the swollen, bandaged nose he had broken just days ago.

“So we meet again, Kai,” Caseus shook his head. “I see you have all been rather busy.”

In fact, as he looked at the other members of the party, he realized they had been members of the posse from Zab.

“Indeed! I have been.” The boy had an eerie smile on his face. “And I have decided to heed your advice.”

He knocked an arrow, and aimed the bow squarely at Caseus.

“It is as you said. We live in uncivilized times. And that calls for uncivilized measures.”

And he let the arrow fly.