Chapter 416: Downpour
Elmo had a hard time walking as he climbed out of the hydra's lair. He didn't mind it, and in fact felt pretty good about it, but it did feel rather awkward.
Jonas didn't seem to pay any mind o Elmo, much like he usually did, but Elmo was confident that he was on Jonas' mind, even at that time.
"I'm pretty sure the others have moved on ahead of us," Jonas commented as Elmo caught up with him at the entrance to the lair and Elmo could see him motioning towards some tracks in the bog.
Or not, Elmo thought to himself, feeling a little deflated at that knowledge that Jonas' mind had already stopped thinking of him directly.
"Well, should we continue after them?" Elmo asked as he felt a raindrop hit his face, hoping that eventually Jonas would have times when he just thought of Elmo rather than him in addition to something else.
Jonas made a noise that wasn't quite a growl, but it wasn't a long grunt either. Elmo wasn't sure what to make of it, or even what to call it, but it was clear that Jonas wasn't confident about whatever choices he was considering.
"We probably should, although we're probably not going to make it very far before the rain really slows us down," Jonas said, looking back at the cave that led to the hydra's lair. Elmo wasn't sure what he was thinking of at that moment, especially when he shook his head and started walking out into the bog, ignoring the fat rain droplets that were falling.
Elmo found that walking out of the hydra's lair and across the bog were two different things. While he was still having difficulty walking along the solid stone, walking through the mud that kept pulling at his legs each time he tried to pull them out as he walked along was even more difficult.
It didn't even take very long before he felt his legs starting to ache from the exertion. He hoped that it would go away at some point, but as the rain started to come down harder, he started to get the sense that he wasn't going to be able to lose that pain. At least not for a while.