The early part of the journey was fairly straightforward. Roland continued following the path hewn by Edmar's men in the light of the green moon. He had elected to let their eyes adjust instead of using torches. They were less likely to attract unwanted attention this way, even if it was a little more difficult to see their immediate surroundings.
He stepped carefully, long knife at the ready, and had fitted his thick gloves back on lest he catch himself on a thorny vine.
The jungle was full of noise. Though in the camp, most of what could be heard was the far-off racket they were sent to investigate, here away from all the people, a more subtle blend of nature was detectable.
Sounds that Roland guessed were from large insects, or at least loud ones, softened when his steps drew nearer. He wouldn't even know that Jimmy was behind him at all if it weren't for the occasional sound of spitting or grumbling. His feet were absolutely silent.
Roland's weren't exactly loud, after his time with Rhone training on how to run swiftly and silently. He wasn't even running right now, and still he felt his feet were positively cacophonous compared to Jimmy's light steps. The man might as well be floating.
He glanced back. Was that within Jimmy's capabilities? Despite his talkativeness of late, he was still extremely mysterious in most respects.
Though the shadows were deep, as far as he could tell, Jimmy's feet were, in fact, on the ground. The little man looked at Roland in irritation.
"Care to take the lead?" Roland whispered.
Jimmy grunted softly in response, moving more swiftly than anyone looking at the man would have thought him capable of.
The larger man had to pick up his pace, leaning into a jog as he picked his way through the foliage, trying to keep up. No wonder it seemed like Jimmy could disappear, he was ridiculously stealthy.
Roland was barely catching glimpses of the quarter-halfling ahead on the trail. Had he left it entirely? A wind moved through the trees, casting eerie green shadows all around them.
The smells of the flowers intensified here, further away from the ocean. The oddly sweet air of the sea became almost cloying now. The Rhone prince regulated his breathing as best he could through the thick scent with his rapid pace.
Rounding another corner, he almost tripped over the little man, who was kneeling on the ground.
He froze, unsure of what the man was doing and if it required Roland's silence. He knelt as well, in case Jimmy had seen something and was crouching to avoid being spotted in return.
No, there would have been a signal if that were the case. If Roland hadn't seen him in time and tripped over him, that would have made enough noise to let everything in a wide radius know that they were there.
"What are you doing?" Roland whispered.
"What's it look like?" Jimmy responded sarcastically.
"I don't know, it's dark," The taller man rolled his eyes.
"Get better eyesight. I forget how fragile and blind you people are sometimes." Jimmy sighed.
"You're mostly human," Roland reminded him.
"Well, I got the best parts of all. Paragon of hybridity, that's me."
"You haven't told me what you're doing." Roland was quickly growing frustrated.
"Herbs. Saw some herbs, cutting 'em. Might be useful." Jimmy grunted.
"You recognize them? You know what they do?" That was impressive, particularly in the dim green moonlight. Roland thought he was doing well to make out the silhouette of the trail ahead. He had no capacity to identify individual plants along the sides.
"Don't recognize 'em. Don't know what they do." The man replied flippantly. As Roland gazed closer he realized Jimmy had a small pair of garden shears and was taking clippings of a few different plants.
"Then why–"
"When you've been at this as long as I have, you get a sense for what's important. What's special. Some plants're the same here, same in the Dark, same at home. Some's unique. Don't know what these are, but they smell important."
"They… smell important." Roland repeated with exasperation.
"All right, done," Jimmy slipped the bag he was using to store the herbs into his pack. "Let's go."
"Sure. Whatever you say."
"Darn right, whatever I say," Jimmy mumbled. "I'm right about lots more than you want to admit."
Roland couldn't dispute that at the moment, having no real evidence to the contrary. It did make him wonder afresh about Jimmy's theories for the noise.
They took up the quick pace again, ghosting through the jungle, pausing occasionally to listen or to make sure they didn't fall into another great hole like the one the Cetoans had camped next to.
Encountering two more holes of similar shape and size, Roland took the opportunity to try to peer down into them. Alas, the dark of night afforded him no clues as to the mystery.
Jimmy's knowing "hmph" was particularly irritating, given that he wouldn't expound upon whatever observation he was making.
It was unclear how many hours they moved like this. Roland had to initiate breaks for water and food; Jimmy seemed not to be affected by such needs nearly so much as his human counterpart.
An occasional murmured comment about being 'soft' and 'pampered' made Roland bite his tongue not to give a sarcastic retort about how being larger required more food and water than Jimmy's small form.
He considered himself above such provocations… at least for the moment.
At first it seemed like the roars were no nearer than when they started, but they rose steadily uphill as they went. Still no sign of dawn, even when they finally topped a ridge. Then it was clear they were much closer to whatever it was they were hearing.
Roland chewed at the inside of his cheek. It was a shame that the dark continued, but at least the full moon hadn't set. He squinted into the darkness in the distance; their perch atop what turned out to be a very large hill gave them a view which would, he imagined, be spectacular in the daylight.
The trees were far taller here than at the coast. Roland hardly noticed as they hiked, not bothering to look upward all that often, but now it was obvious looking out: though the first trees they had encountered were of a height he was accustomed to, the trees further in rose to startling elevation.
As he looked at the path winding down sharply from the outcropping where he stood, he realized it descended at a pace far more rapid than the view of the forest canopy would have made him believe.
The trees ahead must be hundreds of meters, or more, in height.
"I feel rather small, don't you?" He quipped to Jimmy, who grunted at the lame jab at his height.
"Bout to feel much smaller, iff'n I'm right." The man responded.
"What does that mean?" Roland squinted.
"Come on. You're not as dumb as a lot of humans," Jimmy coaxed. "Those holes. What they look like to you?"
"... holes." Roland answered lamely. "Large holes in the ground that open up to some kind of enormous cavern."
"Think about the shape of 'em and get back to me." The smaller man shook his head in disappointment, and then led the way further along the roughly hewn path.
The shape? Sort of oblong, and uneven. Roland thought about the first one, which he'd examined the most thoroughly. He tried to imagine looking at it from overhead, sketching a rough outline of the shape in his mind.
Narrower at the end towards the sea, but sort of pinched slightly in the middle before growing wider towards the inland direction.
Feeling smaller…
"Footprints??" Roland asked in alarm. "You think those holes are footprints???"
"Mmmm," Jimmy hummed from ahead. "Something heavy enough to punch a hole straight through the land, a few times. Of course it'd head to higher, thicker ground that would hold it up better."
"And 'it', in your opinion…" Roland asked.
"We'll see soon enough," Jimmy sniffed at him. "You noticed the sounds died down a bit?"
He hadn't actually. That was embarrassing. But it was true, things had become far quieter. Whether that was good or bad, Roland couldn't very well say.
An animal resembling a very large, furry lizard stalked across the path ahead, and Jimmy held up a fist as the signal for Roland to stop. The two stared at the creature, which blinked eight large eyes at them before it turned its scaled head away and stalked into the darkness in pursuit of something else.
Roland shuddered slightly, but then the ground shook and the jungle roiled. Creatures ran past them, and the two ducked behind a large tree trunk to let the herd by without being trampled by the strange, horned animals.
Once they were alone again, they pressed forward, into a clearing that was shaped exactly like the holes they had passed before. Jimmy shot him a significant look, and Roland frowned.
"You really–" Roland's question came to an abrupt halt as the moon was eclipsed and the sound of crashing made both men scramble out of the clearing to avoid the descent of a very large foot.