Drachon left them. Farish was sad to see such a newly-made friend go so suddenly, but he must have had his reasons.<span style="font-style: italic">Bigger things, hmm...?</span>the boy thought.<span style="font-style: italic">That reminds me! Those demons... they were organized, but their leader didn't seem strong enough to keep them in check so easily... and there were so many of them... I wonder if, maybe, they were all subordinate to a much stronger demon. But if one that powerful wanted this mysterious object so badly, why not come get it himself when it was clear his minions were failing? Could he have been...?</span><br/><br/>The boy let his train of thought trail off as the fox Anithrope gave them some last-minute advice. He looked at the others that would be following him and noted the size difference. No way would their footprints look natural with his stride length. Well, it wasn't like they were in as much of a rush anymore... he could be cautious.<br/><br/>Chizu crawled to the top of his head and began giving directions, so the boy lead the others toward their hopeful hidey-hole. He was fairly light weight, and stepped carefully, so he didn't really leave any footprints for the others to try and step in.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">"Hey, Chizu,"</span>Farish whispered in Elvish, hoping to keep his hunch between the two of them for now.<span style="font-style: italic">"Could you tell? That group of demons... had they come by ship?"</span><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #00FFFF">"Yeah,"</span></span>she responded, in her own version of Elvish, a sound almost like cooing it was so smooth.<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #00FFFF">"They smelled of sea water. They had to have been sailing a long time for the rain not to have washed the smell away, like everyone else. Why?"</span></span><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">"Methodin is a port town,"</span>he replied quietly.<span style="font-style: italic">"It makes sense for demons to arrive by sea, since they live on their own island. I just... don't know if we want to go back there after this. Their "boss"... I don't think he was the BIG boss, so we might be seeing reinforcements. And if the first ones came from the sea, the others might too. I think we should work our way farther inland, or at least away from easy access points like Methodin."</span><br/><br/>The Wind Sprite responded with a very serious-sounding purr, then continued with her directions until a fairly large tree came into view. The forest had gotten thicker as they went on, so it wasn't that out of place, but it was still slightly bigger than the others. Chizu took flight and soared to the left base of the tree, then down into a medium-sized bush and was gone. Figuring that must be the way in, Farish followed her, parting the leaves of the bush to reveal a hole.<br/><br/>"Wait a moment, please," he said to the others. "I'll test it." He was gone before they (mostly Morys, he expected) could protest. He was the smallest among them, so it made sense for him to test the size of the hollow. Also, he knew a light spell.<br/><br/>Adjusting himself so he would descend into the hole feet first, Farish found that the root structure was almost like a ladder leading into the hollow; though the roots made it impossible to have dug straight down, so the tunnel twisted and changed sizes here and there. He followed it down, and when it felt like he'd met solid ground, quickly cast his little light spell. A glowing orb formed in his hands, then rose up, hovering at the top of the cavern and bathing it all in a soft glow.<br/><br/>Looking around, this hollow was big enough to fit all of them for sure. They probably could have had decent elbow room even if Drachon and that fox had come with. The ceiling was almost twice as high as he was, also, and there were piles of leaves on the ground that must have served as beds. It was impressive, compared to what he'd been expecting. Chizu seemed to realize this, as she was sitting in the middle of the hollow with a somewhat smug smile on her face.<br/><br/>Farish made his way back up the root semi-ladder to give the others the go-ahead. "It's most certainly big enough," he smiled. "The tunnel gets narrower at some points, but I think we'll all fit." And so he made his way down again, waiting eagerly for the others so they could tend to any final business before he could get some sleep.