Chapter 55
The lake west of the city: 12 votes
After a moment to consider her options, Kestrel angled her wings and banked to the left, setting her sights on the calm lake outside of the city. If there was ever a place to lie low in relative safety, the trees near the shoreline would be the best stretch of land. They grew close enough together that even from above, Kestrel had difficulty seeing through to the ground; that would hopefully keep the Gang’s wagons and camp hidden from above in case any lawponies happened to be flying by. She frowned as thoughts of a rainbow pegasus entered her head. Lawponies weren’t their only concern; judging by how many soldiers the Gang had killed during their stay in Rock Ridge, they might soon have the military breathing down their necks in addition to the Pinks. If the two partnered up to find them…
Kestrel shook her head and began to glide down to the ground. Worrying about the future was Tumbleweed’s job. Worrying about the present was her own. And presently, the Gang needed a safe place to stage scores out of, and with a city like Hoofston to pick over, it needed to be as safe and secure as possible.
An opening in the trees allowed Kestrel to flutter down to the ground, her hooves flattening dried grass with a soft crunch. She was immediately thankful for the shade as she looked around; Hoofston may have been a little wetter than Rock Ridge, just wet enough for some better foliage to grow here and there, but it was still far enough south that the sun could be plenty scorching during the afternoon. Down here close to the lakeshore, however, a gentle breeze carried cooler air in over the water, and Kestrel left her spotted wings hanging open enough to let it cool them down. First impressions were already going well.
The shore was also deserted; Kestrel was thankful for that. The west bank of the lake was almost certain to not be as frequented as the east side, given its distance from Hoofston itself, and she didn’t see any signs of fires or hoofprints in the mud that would indicate ponies had been here recently. Coupled with a nice little clearing to park the wagons beneath the trees and some reeds to hide the camp from the opposite shore, the little lake seemed like everything the Gang could have asked for.
The next step involved finding a way to get the wagons to the clearing she’d investigated. The trees, though thinning out the further away from the fresh water she went, were still distributed enough that finding a clear path to get wagons through to the clearing proved more difficult than anticipated. She found a small path between a few leaning ash trees that would be barely wide enough for Trixie’s wagon; the lower branches would probably scratch off some of the paint, but with a careful driver, they could squeeze it through alright. Getting in and out would take some time, however, and that meant leaving camp in a hurry if need be wouldn’t be an option. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that, though; almost everything else was perfect.
After a few minutes to rest her wings and take a few gulps of fresh water from the lake, Kestrel took to the skies again, backtracking her flight to the rest of the Gang. She had to fly a few minutes to get back to the main road, and then follow the road back west until she found the two wagons lumbering across the dirt. When she did, she slowly circled back to the ground, letting her wings rest, before alighting a few yards out ahead of Roughshod as he pulled the supply wagon along the road, Wanderer and Miss Irons riding in the back. Smirking at him, she waited until he marched closer before leisurely falling in at his side. “Certainly’s takin’ you long enough,” she teased him. “Don’t tell me you’re tired.”
“You wanna haul a wagon full of gold around?” Rough grunted back, raising an eyebrow. “This wagon would break your back.”
“Good thing we already got you broken in, then.” Kestrel lightly swatted his flank with the tip of her wing and stepped aside. “I found a place. Gonna tell boss about it.”
“Yeah, you do that…” The muscular stallion set his jaw and continued to pull, his massive hooves digging into the dry dirt road with every step as the sweat glistened on his coat and dribbled down the sides of his harness. Kestrel left him to it, pausing by the side of the road until Trixie’s wagon rolled up after him, currently pulled by Snapshot, who quietly labored under the sun.
“Where’s the boss?” Kestrel asked him. “I found us a camp.”
“In the back,” was all Snapshot said, talkative as usual. Kestrel tipped her hat in acknowledgement and let him roll by before knocking on the side of the wagon with a hoof.
Tumbleweed stuck his head out of the window after a few moments and looked down at Kestrel. “Kessie? Back already?”
“I ain’t as fast as Silvie, but I can be fast when I wanna be,” Kestrel said, shrugging her wings mid-stride. “I found us a good spot for camp. Little place by a lake west of the city. We’ll be nice and hidden there, ain’t have to worry none about gettin’ chanced on by wanderers.”
“A lake, hm?” Tumbleweed rubbed his chin. “Yeah, I think some fresh water oughta do us some good. It’s plenty idyllic, I trust? I feel we’re owed somethin’ a little nice after everythin’ we’ve been through these past few months.”
“I might make a career for myself as an artist, givin’ enough time there,” Kestrel said, lightly smirking. “That or a fishermare. I bet the fishin’s good.”
Tumbleweed chuckled. “I do not understand the pegasus fascination with seafood, Kessie. I simply do not.”
“It’s good energy for flyin’ all day,” Kestrel answered. “You need it when you got two more limbs.”
“I’m sure.” He looked further up the road for a moment. “How close are we to this spot?”
“Maybe ‘bout an hour or so,” Kestrel said. “It ain’t too far from here, though we’ll have to go off the road some. Hopefully the gold wagon don’t break down on the rougher ground.”
“It should be fine,” Tumbleweed said. “It’s made to carry more.”
“Yeah.” Kestrel pointed lazily at the wagon with a wing. “How’s Silvie?”
“Sleepin’ some more,” Tumbleweed said. “I’m makin’ sure she don’t get any worse, though she’s already on the mend. She’s tough for a small thing like she is, I’ll give her that.”
“I’d say she’s proved to us all she’s serious ‘bout this life by now,” Kestrel said with an approving nod. “Least she’ll be able to rest plenty by the lake.”
“She sure needs it.” He waved with his hoof. “Go lead Rough and Snapshot to this new camp of ours. It’ll be good to get off the road and have someplace we can call our own for a little while.”
Kestrel nodded and did as she was told, spreading her wings to fly back up to Roughshod. After taking the lead from the stallion, she led the little caravan down toward the lake, breaking from the road and crossing the scraggly drylands between it and the trees. After some time to help guide the wagons through the narrow path in the trees, Kestrel joined the rest of the able-bodied members in unpacking and unloading while Miss Irons swiftly organized the camp with an efficiency only she seemed to possess. Within an hour, the Gang had arranged their camp with the two wagons to the north and south, the lakeshore to the east, and the path back out to the west. While everypony else slowly explored their surroundings, taking in the sights of the nearby lake, Tumbleweed simply stood in the middle of the camp, closed his eyes, and inhaled deeply. When he exhaled, he looked up and found Kestrel, smiling.
“This… this is a good place,” he said. “Good for the soul as well as the wallet. We’ll do well here, alright, long as we don’t make too much noise and bring the Pinks down on us.”
“We somehow got through that mess in Rock Ridge without no Pinks chasin’ us,” Kestrel said.
“You can bet it got their attention, though,” Tumbleweed said. “And Hoofston ain’t that far from Rock Ridge. Word’ll probably get over here soon enough that we was in the area. ‘Specially since it seemed to be public knowledge who we was by the time we left.”
“So what’ll we do, then?” Kestrel asked him. “Lay low? Move fast?”
“That depends to be seen,” Tumbleweed said. He looked over the camp and nodded to himself. “We’ll take it easy today, get some rest. I think tomorrow we’ll at least get some more supplies from Hoofston. We need beer if we’re gonna celebrate our great escape, y’know.”
Kestrel lightly smiled back. “It wouldn’t be a party without any of that.”
“Then take it easy tonight, and we’ll see what we got tomorrow,” Tumbleweed said, patting Kestrel on the shoulder. “We’ve got a bright future ahead of us, Kessie, a bright spot of hope in an ever darkening periphery. We play our cards right, we could be leavin’ Hoofston with enough cash to get outta Equestria for good.”
“I certainly hope so. I’m plenty tired of runnin’.”
Kestrel touched the brim of her hat as Tumbleweed walked away to check on the rest of the camp. One day to relax, then back to work. Things had been so hectic lately she felt like she hadn’t had a chance to unwind in forever. The only question was how to spend the rest of the day?
1. Play some cards with Roughshod, Wanderer, and Trixie.
2. Spend some time with Silver.
3. Help Miss Irons and Tumbleweed get the camp organized.
4. Explore the surrounding terrain alone.
5. Relax, pass the time, and be ready for tomorrow.
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I'd say spend some time with Silvie. Bond over being shot all the time.
4. No reason not to double check our surroundings.
I say 3. If we’re still on thin ice with Tumbleweed, which I’m honestly not sure about, helping him set up camp would be a good way to keep smoothing things over. In addition to that, we are the second in command, it would be good to show that we’re willing to put in the grunt work required for that by helping all the “main” people set up camp.
I’d vote 4, but that alone at the end scares me quite a bit more than it probably should.
I think we should check on Silver. Poor thing, she did so much back there. We should at least see how she's doing.
Option two. Take the time to check in on Silver, see how she's doin'. The company will do her good.
Silvie
Option 2, check on Silvie
Im gonna vote for 3
Silvie.
2. Spend some time with Silver, the poor thing allmost got killed and is still healing. She can use some TLC.
Sweet, we got the lake. Hopefully that inability to leave quickly won't come back to bite us in the future.
Tumbleweed approves.
I say 3, work on those second in command skills and responsibilities and help set up camp.
3. Seems where everyone else is headed.
Option 4 because exploring is cool.