Ralph and the Pixie

But the night passed undisturbed, and with the first grey light of dawn, they ate a light breakfast, broke camp, and were under way once more.

The terrain was very uneven, but not difficult. They were on a wide path that was covered with a thick brown carpet of evergreen needles, and it wound up and through convoluted knees of rock, switched back and forth, up and down steep ravines, passed along the rims or bottoms of steep gulleys, and wove its way ever deeper into the deep forest.

They often crossed small streams and rivulets of water. The path passed over these by means of small stone bridges. Many of the refugees wondered at these, for they had been expertly, if crudely made, and had an ancient look about them.

By the day’s end, the forest floor had taken on a different character, as had the forest itself. The trees here were as many, but grew thinner and stunted, allowing more light to reach the forest floor, which grew lush and green. Often the refugees would see clumps of wild flowers and flowering bushes beside the trail and off in the forest. Thick moss grew on the native rock and dead or fallen trees, as well as many types of lichen, toadstools, tree fungus, and mushrooms.