Two weeks, maybe three. Possibly three and a half weeks, he honestly wasn't sure anymore. Time was lost with space and space wasn't coming fast enough.
Trolls were massively strong warriors, capable of demolishing whole buildings like living wrecking balls... but they were also huge, clumsy, and so set in their ways that travel took forever. Add in one cantankerous old wizard, the majority of the group's inability to travel during the daylight hours, and the necessary needs of one uncomplaining human female, and Jim was not surprised that their ragtag group had only just crossed the California/Nevada border in the dusky, gray light of early dawn that morning.
Getting his whole pack safely from Southern California to New Jersey was starting to look like an impossible feat. Or – at the very least – an extremely long, hot, and exhausting feat. All the same, they had been relieved to cross the border as it marked some form of progress. Progress that – despite Glug's constant whining about not having any... well, Glug; despite Dictatious's groveling and shuffling along blindly; despite Bagdwella's screechy, 'better than thou' voice complaining at every opportunity – they had actually gotten a teeny, tiny bit closer to their goal.
The sense of victory only lasted so long, as the sun had risen closer to the horizon and the landscape became thinner, starting to give way to desert. There had been a moment of slight panic at the lack of shelter, but Claire's confident, soft voice had gently reminded everyone that they had been carefully following along the surface of a carven system for a reason. There hadn't been an urgent need for the system's use before then, coverage during the day was easy to find as they had traveled through the forests and mountains. Thankfully, Blinky had been quick to pull out his horngazel and create a portal through the ground to the caverns below, and they had all made it safely inside just before the sunlight reached the area where they had been congregated.
The cavern system was huge, going further in all directions than Jim — even with his now-enhanced eyesight — could see. Claire had clung to him, blind in the complete darkness, until glowing crystals had been brought out by their troll owners. The air was chilly and smelled damp, but clean, and there was an underground river flowing clear, cool, and gentle through the middle of the room that they had found themselves in.
The sight was so welcome and his pack was so tired and grumpy that it was discussed and decided that they would stay put for a couple of days to recuperate before returning to the surface to begin traveling again. They were all reluctant to travel through the caverns, given the inability to judge the layout. Cave-ins and shifting rocks were always possible, not to mention that — while their current area seemed safe — there was no telling what could be lurking further out. Jim would be damned if he was going to risk dragging his pack and mate through a Nyarlagroth nest or the like.
Jim sighed and opened his eyes, shaking himself free from his thoughts. Despite his initial freak-out over his new form, it hadn't taken him long to accept and adjust to the changes. Merlin finally being able to finagle his magic into getting the Amulet to release was a big help too. Even a troll, let alone a troll/human hybrid, could only go so long without a bathroom break.
But there were times when his new trollish traits clashed with his existing human traits; or, in this case, they had decided to combine forces and give him a mental breakdown. With the change had come a more animalistic nature to both his mind and instincts. He could see further in both light and dark, he could hear better, and he could smell practically everything — and, therein lay the problem.
Jim had noticed fairly quickly that his now-enhanced sense of smell was his strongest new ability. He could smell the mold on the wall, the calcium in the rocks, the minerals in the water, the type of wood that they had used to make a fire, the Argyle socks that NotEnrique had carefully tucked away in Claire's pack, and Claire...
