Carmino

Pea, Oza, Dew and Joe slept soundly next to their campfire. Each of dreamed sweetly or not at all under the starry, open sky. A light wind blew across the plain they rested in and caused their camp fire to flicker uncomfortably. Almost eighty yards away from the camp three sets of yellow-green eyes shown in the dark, these eyes belonged to dark figures crouched in the tall grass. These dog-like creatures were cautious to move any further to the dying fire.

"Ahhh, ya smell that?" the first one asked," They ssssmelles good...lets eat 'em!" he lurched forward.

"Shh! Git back 'ere ya git!" hissed the sceond," 'Ah smell em too...but theres one of 'em, 'Ah don't know..."

"She's right," said the third in a grizzly voice," Theresss one...I never smelled it before. We ssshould wait...or one of usss goeses over der and see 'em."

The third and first looked to the one between them and sniggered. She was shoved by both to get closer. She crept cautiously toward the campfire, her paws barely made a sound when they glided through the grass. As she neared the fire her dog-like features showed in the faint light. She was ten yards away from the crew of travelers and stopped. The thing she never smelled before sat up. The second figure dropped to the ground as quietly as gravity would let her. She held her breath by holding her muzzle shut with a forepaw in desperation not to be seen. The strange thing looked around with his orange and white stripped head, it didn't seem to see her. The thing stood up and stretched it's long arms with a yawn and then it crouched over the dying fire. The hidden figure heard the fire blaze more and he began to panic if her shape would show out in the grass.

The figure heard the fire maker sniff the air. She had had enough, she jumped up and sped back in her comrade's direction. The fire maker called out to her but the figures were whooping, yipping and howling as all three of them raced off into the night. The fire maker made sure the ponies around him were safe and sound and he went back to sleep, or as close as he could get to it.

The mares woke up near noon and were delighted to see Joe making breakfast, Pea's favorite: oat meal. Pea wolfed her share down quickly in anticipation to be on the move again. Dew however took her time in eating. Joe sipped some coffee he had made and craned his neck to see Oza. The dragon was about eighty yards away, he seemed to be looking at something. Joe excused himself from breakfast and trotted over to the dragon, as he neared he noticed that Oza seemed to be tracking something.

"You following something, bud?"

"Joe need to see this," Oza said as he crouched," See foot print on ground? three things were at campsite last night."

"They didn't take anything, did they?"

"No, Oza check," the dragon reached into the bent grass," This is something of theirs... see?"

Oza had a small clump of dirt in his palm, when he brushed it for a little white shown in stead of brown. It was a small bird skull, with a small hole to fit onto a neckless. He handed to Joe and gathered more and a small piece of cord. They were all small skulls, teeth, and claws. Oza strung them back onto the cord and tied it. Joe watched confused as Oza placed it gingerly back where he found the pieces.

"Why'd you do that?"

"It looks like special neckless, owner will come back to look for it and be happy to see it fixed," Oza said with a grin," Oza don't think they are bad, they ran away from Oza when they saw him. Thought Oza was scary."

"Well...what should we tell the girls?"

"Joe can say what he wants, Oza don't feel like going somewhere his friends didn't need to go again!"

The dragon laughed and he patted the mule's back. The mule laughed nervously at the dragon's fearlessness of being followed or hunted. They went back to the camp where Pea had already packed all of their supplies and was itching to get moving. Dew smiled at Pea's anticipation and when the boys were close enough the mares headed off. The plain they were on was expansive and scattered with farms, each of these homesteads had sod houses and sparse wheat groves. The crew was on the trail for about a week and in that time several things happened.

Joe and Dew saw their first tornado in a nasty storm that rolled over the great plain. Once the storm was over a massive heard of bison were on the move, being held back by the storm. The crew had never seen such a large group of...well anything. They sat and gazed at the massive heard while it passed and some of the bison seemed to be making waves around something. In a short moment the massive heard blazed off into the distance. Oza was the first to spot something on the plain that was recently occupied by bison.

"Oza sees...a house?" He seemed to count with his fingers for a moment," lots of houses there Pea, more than Oza has fingers!"

"Can you see anything there, you know, besides the houses?" asked Dew.

"Oza sees manny ponies, most with wings. The rest have none."

"Ms.Gravel?" asked Joe," should we check it out?"

"That could be a risk...we don't know whats down there..."

Pea was cut short by Joe who jumped on ahead. Pea was a bit startled by this,"Joe, what are you doing?" she called.

"I'll check it out," he called back," and if I die, no big deal. You'd know this town would be bad and would go around!"

"Joe, stop!" cried Pea. Her plea fell onto deaf ears.

"Should we wait for him here, Pea?" asked Dew,"Or should we follow him?"

"Ponies and dragon should stay," Oza sighed as he sat in the grass,"Joe wanted to go alone in there, right?"

Joe felt almost proud as he neared the strange town, he felt as if he could repay the life debt he owed Pea and the others by being the first to be there. He approached the first building in his path and gasped, it had Bounty posters on a large board and had a small band of creatures surrounding it. There were five standing with their backs turned to the mule, unaware of his presence. There was a cobalt Pegasus, a slim unicorn, a Llama with a long rifle, a rather feminine pony and a deer of some sort.

"Well aren't you an odd bunch?" Joe smirked without thinking.

"Hmm?" asked the pegasus," Woah, sorry mate. Didn't see you there!"

"Lash?" whined the pony," who's the big mule? He looks like the bounty hunter type."

"Don't get any funny ideas," snapped the Llama," were the only real bounty hunters out here in Breeze."

Joe's face was blank for a moment as he tried to absorb the odd introduction,"You must be mistaken folks, I-I'm no bounty hunter...just passing through."

"Thats a load of bull!" chuckled Lash,"The whole bloody 'passing through' thing is what all bounty hunters say. Which one you after?"

"...'Pardon?"

"The bounties, mate, which one you want?"

Suddenly the rest of Lash's crew were on edge, they all started shouting in protest.

"I guess I wouldn't hurt..." Joe shrugged,"To see if I could find some quick cash."

"Come on Lash, why are you givin' this guy first dibs?" cried the unicorn in a voice that was difficult to tell what gender it belonged to.

"Why not?" said Lash calmly," besides...you want to fight that train of a mule?" Lash gestured the massive mule.

The unicorn shrunk down, the rifle toting Llama however, didn't feel the same. He lifted his gun that was mounted on his back. The rest of Lash's crew were wide eyed.

"Alright mule," the llama scowled," 'quick cash'? All of these bounties are over 50k Bits! Just who do you think you are?"

"Oi Sanchez, calm down, mate!" groaned Lash.

"No, Sir its fine," Joe said cooly," Sanchez is it? Well 'mah name is Joe...Trainwreck Joe. You see these scars?" He arced his neck up to expose his massive scar along his chest.

"So? what are those from, some little bar fight?" The Llama spat.

"This," he gestured to the scar that ran from the base of his forearm and up most of his neck," Is from Dead Eye D, a head Borgota mobster from Big Apple..."

The bounty hunter Llama broke into a cold sweat," A-and the one b-btween your eyes?"

"Some Unicorn tried to shoot me, about the distance between you and me now."

"DUDE!" said the deer quiet suddenly," This guy is bitchin'!"

Joe smiled. The rest of the bounty hunters laughed nervously. Lash motioned the mule to come closer.

"Say mate, yah need employment? I could use some muscle like yours in my crew."

"Thank ya kindly, Mr.Lash...but I can't."

"Ah a lone wolf I see, well thats cool. Could I...er...we hang out with ya?"

"Ummm, I guess?" Joe looked at each of the hunters nervously.

The bounty hunters all crowded around Joe and lead him through the Town. Joe gathered quiet a bit of information before he left:

Firstly the town's name was Breeze. It was a major trading post since its built smack in the middle of the Tecumseh Air Current; a massive wind current running straight through a chain of islands. Lash or Whip Lash, (his full name) was the leader of a roaming band of bounty hunters called the Patch Batch. There was Sweet Summer (the rather feminine pony), Zip  Zap ( the ambiguous unicorn), Sly Francis (The deer, who had a roll of something he was smoking all the time Joe say him.) and Mr.Sanchez, the sharp shooter of the Patch Batch. The toured him through the almost empty sod town. There were a few settler ponies there but the rest of the populace were either griffons or Pegisi. They lived, or visited Breeze as couriers for various businesses or services along the Tecumseh Air Current.

Along with several hours of tales of hunting glory and unnecessary swearing  Joe heard something about how the town was in trouble. It used to be bigger but since life was so tough in the plains many residents left, not to mention the growing population of Gnolls in the area. The Patch Batch had Joe in the town tavern for almost five hours, when they were to drunk to keep their stories straight the mule made a few goodbyes to the drunken crew.  Once he left the sod walls of the building he went back to the bounty board. He looked in disbelief at some of them, he snatched them off the board and raced at full speed to the ridge where Pea and the others were waiting. His heavy weight was heard well before he arrived to where the mares and Oza were sitting.

"About time!" Dew scoffed," What the heck took you so long?"

"This..." Joe said out of breath," these...papers...have-"

"Oh just let me see!" Dew sighed as she took the yellowed papers. She stare wide eyed at them.

"Pea! You wont believe this!" Dew squealed.

"What is it?" Pea's voice trailed off as she read the papers," Damn it! We have bounties on our heads?! How'd that happen?"

"Really Ms.Gravel?" Joe groaned.  Dew sat and giggled like a child as she stared at the bounty letters.

"Dew, whats the deal with you? Don't you now having a price on your head is a bad thing!"

"But look!" Dew said with glee," They're giving out one hundred and eighty thousand Bits for me! I might as well turn my self in!"

Pea shook her head," Okay...so Joe anything else you learn?"

"Well...ahm...theres some critters runnin' around causing trouble in the area. There called Gnolls but I've never heard of those things."

"Gnolls?" asked Pea perplexed," Those are bad news...ever heard of a Diamond Dog?"

"Yeah, I saw a few in the ally ways of the city, why?"

"Imagine one of those Dogs," Pea said with a wild look," okay...now imagine it even stinkier, meaner, and bigger!"

Joe closed his eyes for a moment,"...nope, I got nothing. Ah just don't have that  big of an imagination thing like you, Ms.Gravel."

"Thanks Joe!" Pea giggled," but really, Gnolls are bad news," She pursed her lips and cringed,"They love eating ponies...as far as I know..."

"Pea, don't worry your pretty head over them, Oza and I will keep you and Dew safe. Isn't that right Oza?"

"Yes, Oza will beat up pony-eating-dogs for his friends." The dragon said rolling his slender shoulders like a boxer.

Pea and the gang decided it would be best if they took a wide turn around Breeze to be safe. Oza suggested that to get to the Library faster they would travel both night and day, much to Pea's dismay. The dragon reassured her that they would be safe. They traveled through a rather windy night that was blanked by dark clouds in the midnight sky. Not to far behind them a lone pair of yellow-green eyes watched them. This was the visitor from the night before, she held a javelin with a wide iron tip. She could make out in the dark the tallest one 'Fire Maker' as she called it. She saw though that the smaller ones looked up to him...needed him. She didn't have it in her heart to shoot. She put it back in its quiver and sat frustrated in the grass, holding the mysteriously repaired neckless in her paws.

"Why Fire Maker have to fix my neckless?" she thought to herself,"I can't hurt them now...but I'm so hungry" she punched the ground in dismay.

Meanwhile at Breeze the Patch Batch were finally sobering up. They had rented a room at the tavern and it's small space seemed more cramped with the five of them inside. Zip was going through their bounty letters and was stumped, Lash leaned over to see what the unicorn was looking at.

"You seem upset, 'ol chum. You must've read those bloody thing a dozen times by now!"

"Your right ,Lash...but this one really bothers me."

"Which one,mate?"

"This one; Sponge." Zip said, pointing to the picture on it.

"So, thats there so we know what he looks like."

"I know that but did any of you actually read them?"

The Patch Batch all shook their heads. The ambiguous eyes of Zip  went from member to member with disappointment," Would you like me to read it then?"

Before any of them could answer Zip began to recite the letter;

To All Bounty Hunters, Adventures, Mercenaries etc. :

The City State of Big Apple has placed a Six hundred and eighty thousand bit bounty on the mule known as Sponge. He is a dangerous criminal and recently escaped prison under the charge of the massacre of the Shell family. Also with extortion, criminal activity, disturbing the peace, and rejection of the Mule Codes. He is in league with the Borgota Mob and is extremely dangerous. Be aware that he can take bullet wounds with minimal effects on him, so be precise with your aim.

Sponge is a navy blue mule with very dark hair. He is almost three heads taller then the average adult male pony and his flank mark is a skull wearing a mobster's hat. Sponge may seem like a gentile giant upon meeting, but don't be fooled! He is a dangerous killer and is wanted by the Big Apple State dead or alive.

-Chief of Big Apple Police

The Patch Batch sat in horrified silence. Lash was crest fallen along with the others. Trainwreck Joe fit Sponge's description perfectly, even though they didn't want to believe it. They had spent awhile with that mule and never once felt in danger once they got to know him. They sat and consulted for a while on if they should actually try and bring the mule in dead or alive....

TO BE CONTINUED...