Roland paused, and reached out one hand to touch the Cat's back. Its fur was startlingly soft, and the creature chirped at his touch.
"I ain't ridin' that thing," Jimmy backed away instead of stepping closer.
The creature turned its head and let out a bone-chilling hiss through its teeth, startling both men.
"Easy now, Cat," Roland pressed his hand deeper into the soft fur, patting the creature like he would a horse. "Jimmy's ornery, but I need him around… probably," He shot a glance at the wary little man.
"Don't need a ride. I can keep up," Jimmy insisted stubbornly. "Never was fond of cats."
The last part was mumbled, but earned another displeased sound from Cat's mouth.
Irrationally fearing that delay might offend this creature, Roland climbed onto its back as carefully as he could. He imagined it wouldn't take kindly to having its fur accidentally pulled out.
"Like that?" He asked, finding a place between the first and second pairs of legs. The Cat chirped in response, which Roland took to be an affirmative answer. He leaned forward and grabbed two fistfuls of fur at the base of the neck.
He recalled a mother cat back home carrying her kittens by the skin here, and hoped the anatomy was similar enough that he wouldn't anger this creature by holding on. The thought had barely passed through his mind when the pair shot forward with amazing speed.
Roland ducked closer, afraid of being caught by a low-hanging branch. Even with Roland's weight, Cat was faster than any horse he'd ever ridden. Alarmingly so.
The trees and vines of the jungle became a dark blur. Whether Jimmy could even see them, let alone keep up with them, was put into doubt. Roland felt his stomach lurch and focused his eyes on a spot between Cat's shoulders to keep the dizziness at bay.
The cool night air whipped his face as the moon's last light faded from around him.
Roland hoped the dawn wasn't far behind, but there was no way to know for sure. Cat stopped as suddenly as he had begun his run through the forest, causing Roland to sit up and slide down from the creature's back.
"Thank you… I need to find something better to call you than Cat." He murmured, patting the animal's side.
A rumble came from deep in the creature's chest, and he pressed firmly into Roland's hand. Startled, the man began to scratch deep in the fur, his alarm changing to cautious amusement as the giant feline contorted and twisted its body until Roland was apparently scratching exactly the correct location.
"You'd think with six paws and so many teeth that you would be able to scratch yourself wherever you wanted to your own satisfaction," The man commented idly, earning a soft chirp as a reply. "Now where have you brought me… Judah?"
The new name seemed to please the large animal, judging from the rumbling purr that emanated from its sides. The ride had lasted only a matter of minutes, as far as Roland could tell, but they had been moving so quickly that they could easily be many miles from their starting point.
Judah glanced back over his shoulder and huffed with almost human frustration. Eyeing Roland for a second, the great cat took three strides forward, to the crest of a hill.
The man followed, slowly, trying to match the silence of the beast's steps. As he reached the top, he quickly moved to one side behind a tree before looking again.
Three giants sat together by the light of a large fire: The giantess that they had seen before, and two males. Between them in a large clearing was a sort of animal pen, but filled with the Cetoan sailors.
Roland swallowed his fear and willed his gaze to leave the men to search for more details. They looked as if they needed saving, but how? There would be no possible way to outrun the giants.
The most he could hope to do with so many men would be to have them scatter like ants into the jungle so that they could not all be found, but that plan promised that most of them would be lost, or eaten by other jungle creatures. They would have to get to the coast somehow, where the giants presumably could not go without breaking great holes in the ground and falling into the cave below.
At least, if Jimmy's theory about the footprint-holes was true.
Roland focused on the giantess. She held something in her hand, and appeared to be speaking to it. Not it, him. Was that Edmar?
He'd met his cousin less than a handful of times, but the man bore a strong resemblance to Haf. It was his youth and arrogance that set him apart from his father more than any physical attribute.
The giantess appeared to be in amused conversation with him now, as if she'd never interacted with so small a person. She probably hadn't.
Edmar appeared to be uncomfortable in her grasp. She lifted him to her mouth as if to eat him, but a shout from him gave her pause.
Roland was so engrossed in his observation that he missed Jimmy's arrival. Judah grunted lightly, and Jimmy gave the feline a wide berth.
"What we lookin' at?" The smaller man panted, taking deep, heaving breaths.
"See for yourself," Roland whispered, pointing to the clearing below. He didn't dare be too loud, even though they were unlikely to be overheard at such a distance.
Stranger things than that had happened.
"She gonna eat him? Or yap at him? Women, I tell ya." Jimmy shook his head. "Don't know which would be worse."
Ignoring the controversial statement, Roland pointed down to where the Cetoan soldiers were kept.
"That fence around them looks high. I think they could get over it if they worked together, but I'm not sure how to orchestrate an escape without the giants noticing." He confided.
"Blast that. Idiotic plan. I'm not being bait or distraction for anything," Jimmy huffed.
"I wish I could hear what they were talking about," Roland mused, again overlooking Jimmy's commentary.
"That I can help with, even though your dumb cat wore me flat out with that run."
Judah bared his teeth, causing Jimmy to take a step away. "I'll be back soon."
And with that, he was gone.
Judah laid down beside Roland, his ears still alert and looking down at the people below.
"I wish you could talk," Roland whispered, and received a short chirp of a reply.
What an odd creature. How long, exactly, did it plan to stay with Roland? A smirk crossed his lips as he thought of the giant cat following him back to his house in Klain. The guards at the gate would have heart attacks over it. Though the notion was amusing, Roland was sure the creature would tire of him soon and go about his business. Or get irritated and eat him. It certainly had the power to do so.
Roland reached over to scratch behind Judah's ears, which the street cats from his childhood had enjoyed. It seemed cats of all sizes held some traits in common, for a low purr soon permeated the air.
The situation below seemed tenuous. Edmar had apparently convinced the giantess to open her hand and let him sit on her palm instead of holding his arms pinned within her fist. A cold thought wrapped itself around Roland's heart. What was Edmar convincing the giants to do? It didn't quite seem like he was negotiating for the Cetoans' release.
The female, at least, seemed to be paying attention to what he was saying. The two males were far less interested and soon took up the playing of some manner of game involving the rolling of tree trunks between them.
The beardless one suddenly frowned as the elder rolled. A booming laugh shook the ground Roland sat on and caused him to cover his ears in pain.
Judah's ears flattened to his head in displeasure, but otherwise he remained unfazed by the occurrence.
"Laughter? The ominous roaring in the jungle… was laughter??" Roland was incredulous. It drove home the point of how helplessly small the humans were in comparison to the giants.
"Yeah, ain't that somethin'?" Jimmy replied. "I figured it might be."
"Where did you come from?" Roland inhaled sharply, afraid Jimmy's coming and going might startle Judah. The cat, however, remained nonplussed except to bestow a huge, toothy yawn that gave a startling view of all of its razor-sharp teeth. With a snap, his mouth closed again and he leveled a bored look at the small man.
"Same place I went. Investigation. That's what we're here for, ain't it?" He shook his head as if Roland was slow.
"Well?" Roland put his hand to his forehead.
Maybe he was slow. This whole endeavor was incredibly taxing and all he really wanted was to make the worlds safe so he could go home.
"Looks like the giants are gonna follow the Void."