The Epic of Brightblade Warpony
Chapters IV
As Brightblade and Epona set out on their quest, Brightblade continued his narration.
Ramon and I built a small fire near the gorge. There was no sign of activity in the shadows
on our side, but we could hear chattering from the far side. The night passed uneventfully.
As the bleak dawn broke, we broke fast on dried mushrooms. They were chewy and
flavorless but they filled our stomachs. As we began our trek, I quickly realized that our
progress
would be slowed as we climbed out of the valley. Fortunately there was no sign of the
inhabitants
of the valley, at least not during the first day's journey. That evening we finished the last of our
mushrooms around a small fire.
The next day we set out with only some water in our stomachs. It was about midday when I
realized that Ramon was no longer with me. "Ramon!" I called, "Ramon, where are you?" I
began to panic; my heart almost stopped when I heard a noise in the brush. "Who's there?" I
uttered weakly.
Ramon appeared from the thorns carrying two fresh mushrooms. "Don't worry," he said
"It's only me, but you should be quiet. I've seen signs of those things. We're not out of the
woods
yet."
We rested and ate the mushrooms; they were better than the dried ones, less rubbery
anyway, and they tasted rather bitter. As we resumed our travel we again heard the sounds of the
mysterious inhabitants of the valley following us. That evening, the eerie character of the fire
again haunted me. A strange feeling in my stomach made it hard to sleep.
Walking the next day was as difficult as sleeping had been the night before. I pleaded with
Ramon to let me rest a day, but he insisted that we press on. My legs felt like rubber but I made
my best effort to walk. My memory of the rest of the day is fuzzy, but I got the impression that
we
were not making much progress.
As I lay near the fire Ramon built that evening, he opened the wine jug and gave me a drink
in hopes that it would ease my ailment. It was strong stuff and it burned my thought, but it
numbed
the pain in my gut.
That night as I lapsed into and out of consciousness, I recall that Ramon was talking
continuously, though I cannot say what he talked about. I couldn't make any sense of it as
Ramon's
rambling was intermingled with strange dreams and hallucinations.
The next day we did not travel. I lay incapacitated by my illness while Ramon scurried
about gathering firewood. That night Ramon was silent, at least when I was conscious. At dawn
Ramon told me that he was going to scout ahead, to see if he could find help. Before he left, he
made me take another drink of wine and told me to keep the fire burning night and day. I was
too
weak to argue with him.
I remember little of the next day-and-a-half save fear.
By the time that Brightblade reached this point in his tale, he and Epona had reached the
pleasant fields of Ponyland. It was near noon and as they sought a place to take lunch, they
encountered three ponies, Sundance, Firefly, and Tabby, who were out on a picnic. "Hey,
Brightblade!" Sundance called. "Who's your new friend?"
Brightblade introduced Epona to the ponies.
"Where'd you get the cool hat?" Firefly asked.
"That's a long story; I was just telling it to Epona."
"Why don't you join us on our picnic and tell us all the story?" suggested Tabby.
"I don't know if we have the time for that. We're on a very important journey."
"Oh, nonsense," said Epona. "Time is not that short that we cannot afford to be
sociable."
ChapterIII
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Chapter V