After moving away from the Sea of Roots, Solor ran toward the cliff. His small body was nimble as he dodged tree roots protruding from the ground, leaped over mossy rocks, and pushed through the dense branches of thickets.
Until an uneasy feeling washed over him, his nose sniffing several times. He smelled something—an odor he had not encountered in a long time. Solor's ears caught the repeated rustling of leaves, occasionally interspersed with the creaking of wooden branches.
He tried to concentrate while crouching slightly. His face stared down at the leaves and roots nestled in the mossy ground below. His hand dug into the moss, as the movement drew ever closer.
"Uncle...!"
He stood up, startled.
"Hah... I didn't expect this. I thought you were swept away into the river..." Solor embraced his horse, which was being led by Agniran.
"Are you... alright...?"
Solor raised his index finger. He shook his head with his face tilted slightly downward, causing the curved ponytail atop his head to sway a few times.
"Shh...!"
Suddenly, the repeated rustling sound drew nearer. Solor's eyes fixed on Handoko and Joko, who were running toward him with anxious expressions. Solor's index finger remained raised, signaling the three of them to stay quiet.
"I smell something foul!"
His words instantly prompted the three youths to start sniffing as well. Every so often, Handoko glanced at Joko, who met his gaze with a shake of his head. Solor bent his back once more and followed the foul stench, stepping through the bushes.
"This way...!"
Solor ran back toward the forest, moving away from the Sea of Roots. He came to a halt. His eyes stared at the ground and mossy rocks buried under chaotic roots. Unexpectedly, he discovered the paving of Jalur Lumut, which stood out in faint white contrast amidst the moss.
He straightened his posture as the arrival of the three youths broke the silence.
"What is it, Uncle?" asked Agniran, who was still leading Solor's horse.
"Here..." Solor said. "I smell the stench of a carcass."
The three of them exchanged worried glances, remembering a similar occurrence at the beginning of their journey here. Handoko and Joko slowed their run as Solor signaled them again by raising his index finger.
Solor's gaze swept across his surroundings, looking over the shaded wilderness with towering rain trees. Their protruding roots appeared blanketed in fog and moss. The three youths followed his gaze, taking in their environment. As they walked, they headed toward a wide, lush green clearing filled with uniformly short plants and a few moss-covered rocks.
A short distance ahead, they spotted a cluster of giant flowers blooming in exquisite elegance, emerging from a mound of earth. Their broad, purplish-magenta petals dangled like royal drapes, encircling a central spadix that stood three times the height of a human.
"Wow..." Solor walked closer.
As they drew nearer, it became clear that the flowers were fanning out the fog.
"So this is where that stench of a carcass is coming from?"
The three youths were equally captivated, marveling at the grace of the giant flowers before them, which seemed to offer their sublime beauty.
"Is this a taro flower?" The tallest youth among them walked up to the flower, his fingers touching the tip of its petal, feeling the striped texture that dangled down.
Solor smiled, then bent his body and slipped beneath the canopy of the petals. Joko and Agniran smiled as they observed the splendor of the giant flowers, seven fathoms wide, their color striking a stark contrast against the green shades of the Lumut Mountains wilderness.
Solor's hands began digging into the mossy earth, clearing away bushes and roots.
"Use this, Sir?" Joko offered his machete to Solor.
"No need, I can dig it up with my hands just fine. The soil here isn't too hard."
Joko responded with a broad smile, nodding along, before searching for a spot to join in digging the ground.
"Sometimes I wonder," Handoko said, standing with his feet slightly apart as he stared at the ground beneath him, his hands busy prying at the soil with the tip of his spear. "A machete for digging?"
Joko's digging shifted closer to Handoko's. Joko's inefficient digging technique showed the tip of his machete prying at the earth with far less strength than Handoko's spear.
Clang!
Joko's machete accidentally struck Handoko's spear.
"Ugh... dig over there!" Handoko shoved Joko aside, sending him stumbling slightly.
Joko flashed a sweet smile at Handoko, who was still busy digging. "I'm helping you dig!"
"Later, once the tubers are visible!" Handoko replied, paying him little mind.
A moment later, they successfully harvested taro tubers from beneath the flowers.
"Wow, what an abundant yield!" Handoko's long, pale fingers wiped away the remaining soil and fibers from the surface of a coconut-sized tuber that had been split open in his lap.
Solor smiled, his lips curling up the ends of his straight, chin-length mustache. "This much is enough." He lifted a tuber similar in size to Handoko's, then walked over to store it in his horse's saddlebag.
"Don't carry too much, Hand," Agniran said as he reached out, handing several pieces of tubers toward Handoko in front of him.
"This pungent stench of a carcass reminds me of the beginning of our journey here..."
"Stench of a carcass?" Solor's hands, busy tidying the saddlebag, came to a halt. He turned and looked up at Agniran, who stood beside him wiping dirt off his fingers.
Agniran nodded, causing his middle-parted hair covering his black udeng to sway gently.
"That was when we first saw the Circle of Darkness," he said in a firm voice.
Solor's eyes widened in shock. He instantly spun around to face Agniran. "You be careful with that!" His index finger tapped Agniran's thigh, and he quickly turned to lead his horse away to cut the conversation short.
Agniran remained standing straight, watching Handoko and Joko walk away following Solor, who was leading his horse a short distance ahead.
Agniran's body felt warm as the misty air enveloped his surroundings. He stood frozen with a blank stare. His eyes blurred briefly before clearing up again as he gazed at Solor's small figure.
Agniran knew all too well that what he had just spoken was forbidden. Now he had to be far more careful not to speak of it again, especially to someone he had only just met. A feeling of guilt crept into his chest.
Before long, they resumed their journey together toward the cliff to traverse Jalur Lumut.