If not for her having taken off her over-shirt during the night, we would never have found her—for it was only after giving it to Kesabe and having him sniff it that the Dutch Shepherd was able to track her: a trail which had led straight to the gas station and the allosaurs from the day before—not to mention Essie herself; who stood trembling yet defiant amongst the ruins and seemed almost to be goading the animals on, daring them to attack.
“Essie! Good God, Essie!” I shouted, fighting the reins, as Blucifer—panicked by the predators— leapt and circled and whinnied, kicking up dust. “What have you done?”
“Oh, don’t you see? We had no right! No right at all!”
I dismounted quickly—having wrested Blucifer into submission only briefly, for he snorted and charged away even as I found my fo
