//------------------------------//
// Day 64 
// Story: The Winding Northward Road 
// by Rambling Writer 
//------------------------------//

Woke up this morning, and first thing I heard was that the gang had been caught and much of their loot had been retrieved.

To say I was enthusiastic would be an understatement.

Savannah showed me the pile of stuff they’d recovered.  Most of it wasn’t mine, and I had to stop myself from claiming that this one really nice canteen belonged to me.  But I found all of my own stuff, and it wasn’t even damaged.  I guess if this gang was stealing things, they wouldn’t want to damage them, but I was still happy.  They even managed to recover my money.

I felt a lot better when I woke up.  Could walk around without wincing.  Doctor said if I felt like I could leave, I could leave.  I decided I felt like I could, so I set out once I’d gotten a map and oriented myself.  Slower pace, so I wouldn’t set anything off.  Sore, but I could walk.  Not too bad.  Didn’t go as far as I liked, but considering I didn’t know whether or not I’d be going at all yesterday, I’ll take what I can get.  Hopefully I’ll feel better and be able to go farther tomorrow.  If not… well, I can still get home like this.  It’ll just take a real long time.

Before I set out, I asked Savannah about gangs in the area: had ALL of this one been captured, were there any others in the area, if so what were they like, etc.  She said all this one’s members had probably been captured, but her posse would be scouring the area for the next few days, so any ponies that had managed to escape would have to lay low, and I wouldn’t have to worry about retaliation.  And part of the reason this one was such a hassle was because they were the only ones around.  If there’d been others, they’d be more used to this sort of thing, but here, their only experience was with this one group.  That seemed like some weird reasoning to me, but oh well.  If there’s no one else around that wants to take my stuff, I’m fine with that.

So I’m off.  Not too far from Lareindo now.  Less than two weeks.  After passing through all this desert, it’ll feel good to sleep in my own bed again.

My body, it still feels quite sore.
Like I’ve never felt it before.
If it doesn’t get better
I’ll just have to weather
The pain until I reach my own door.

Okay, it’s not that bad.  The doctor did give me some painkillers, and they help.  But this makes a better poem.