Druid Chronicle Ch. 01

At the moment, the cart could go no further. The jungle had become too thick and the idea of a road he had been following was impassable with two horses and cart wheels to take care of. He hopped down from it and left it where it was. He didn't think he needed to go much further. He clutched briefly through his shirt at the amethyst medallion hidden underneath and concentrated hard. He glanced over at his bag lying on the floor boards of the cart. He had items in there that might help but he didn't feel it was worth wasting them. He set off into the jungle on foot.

He pushed through a few sets of fronds thinking that the trail should be at least a little bit obvious. It was no good to be completely hidden out here. There was a rustling somewhere above him. Birds? Monkeys? Or...

He didn't see anything but when he reassessed his position he thought maybe there was a faint game trail after all. He followed it. It was hot and humid and he was drenched in sweat when the path he had been following ended in a small circular clearing. The sky was visible straight up. He mopped his face off ineffectually with his damp shirt and took stock of the situation. He noticed the large flower but kept himself from staring at it. It was bigger than he was but it was artfully hidden behind leaves and fronds such that one couldn't be entirely certain it was all one pink flower and not dozens of small ones. He glanced quickly to the other side of the clearing. Were the vines moving? He felt certain if he were to turn around he would find no easy way to backtrack.

Well, this is what he had come for. Time to lay out his gamble. He walked to the center of the clearing, sat down there and faced the flower. He held his hands out from his body trying to look completely non-threatening.

"I would like to talk, if you don't mind, ma'am".

"Ma'am?" he thought to himself. Why had he tacked that onto the end. It sounded a little ridiculous.

Nothing happened. He waited, patiently, several minutes. Then he tried again.

"I know I'm not really supposed to know you're here before you've shown yourself but I have specifically come seeking you. I am no danger to you, in fact I would like to present an offer to you."

Quiet once more but it was broken after a bit by a delicate feminine laugh.

"You are no danger to me? I should think not." The voice didn't come from any one specific direction.

"Would you please hear me out?" he asked.

A persistent creaking noise became suddenly louder and vines around the clearing started to move in different directions. Everything came alive. Most importantly, the fronds in front of him parted and the now obvious huge pink flower tilted forwards towards him.

He remained still. In his peripheral vision he could see the vines had come much closer and he suspected venomous thorns on some of them. The flower opened, the petals peeling back slowly. As they did, they revealed first the head of a beautiful woman. Her skin was green, her eyes were dark green on light green. Her hair was an even darker green.

The flower stopped just shy of revealing her breasts and she leaned forward on one petal with her arms crossed. Her cleavage was obvious and substantial. The scent of the flower was strong and he found himself on the verge of dizziness despite the amulet and his preparations. It was good he was seated.

She smiled alluringly. "Now then. What have we here?"

"My name is Orren. I am a mage, of sorts."

She laughed again. "Of sorts? Of what sorts."

He shook his head, "It's a long story and it's not relevant right now. I need to warn you."

She appeared to take him more seriously. "Go on."

"You had two visitors recently. I think." He paused. Her smile was gone. The clearing was still.

"Perhaps." Was all she offered.

Emboldened he pressed on. "You did and sometimes you release your visitors and sometimes you don't. These, it appears, you did not."

She said nothing.

"One of them was sort of important." He added.

Leaves and vines made a commotion to his right, not far from her and her flower. They pulled back revealing a considerable pile of bones. From this distance, they appeared mostly human.

"And you want him back? I can't say I cared for him"

"I don't.. I didn't care for him either. In fact I would commend you on your choice except it is going to have repercussions. Severe repercussions."

She twirled a lock of her hair in one hand and did a fine job of looking uninterested. "Objectively speaking, that sounds a bit like a threat."

The vines were very close to him. He thought he'd better get to the point. "You ate the son of the Sherriff and the son of the Lord Mayor. People know you exist out here somewhere, they know what happened, more or less, they are coming as a large group to destroy you."

No real reaction from her. "Well... it's nice of you to take such a vested interest in my well-being. Since you are a mage, of sorts, and you did manage to find me, you're probably also aware I could be extremely difficult if not impossible to find, should I desire to be so."

"They have a mage. A real one, not like me. They have a sorcerer. On top of that they don't intend to find you so much as burn this entire section of the jungle down."

She straightened up when he said that, briefly exposing her ample breasts to him. He concentrated on her face as much as he could.

"They're going to try to burn the whole jungle in the hopes of killing me?"

The use of the word 'try' did not escape him. "Yes my lady. They will have quickfire."

"Quickfire?" She repeated, perhaps a little bit concerned now. Then, "my lady?"

He shrugged. "I don't know your name. I wasn't sure what to call you."

"You should ask then." She waited.

Sheepishly, he asked. "What's your name?"

"Ephenome." She stressed the PHEN and the ME syllables. "So why are you here? If you're right and they are really serious there is nothing I can do about it."

"I came once I heard their plans. Partially to warn you, but also because I have an offer to make you."

"Go on."

"Is it true you have some ability to move?"

"I don't think I like the idea of sharing my abilities with an unknown mage."

He glanced around the clearing, which showed him just how trapped he was. "I do not think I'm getting out of here alive unless you allow me to leave. My questions have a purpose."

"I can only move in a very limited range. I am rooted, like all of my kind."

"But you could uproot yourself?"

"As a form of suicide? Yes, I could."

"I could move you."

She laughed. "Preposterous. Do you know how big I am? And where would you be moving me to? I would rather be consumed by quickfire than be on display at some school for mages."

"No. That's not..." She was still laughing.

"Ephenome!" He yelled at her.

She stopped and several vines starting pushing against his back, forcing him to move closer to her. The scent was stronger now, much stronger.

"Please don't do that." He asked

She nodded. "Impressive, you have some resistance. Most men would be drooling on my petals by now."

"I'm..." She was quite close. Her breasts were just above eye level and it was hard to look away. He was finding it hard to think straight. He felt like he was starting to fall towards her. Was he?

Using all his willpower he focused on the amethyst against his chest and it was enough to clear his head.. for a moment at least.

"Stop that. I am serious about moving you to a good location. I know it's high risk, I know it won't be easy and I know you'd have to sacrifice a lot."

She seemed to back off on the flower scent a little bit. But she leaned down towards him so their faces were on a level. She examined him closely.

Finally she said, "Kiss me."

The vines were at his back and she was reaching for him. He had nowhere to go and before he made a decision to do anything she was kissing him. She smelled wonderful. Her lips were soft and she twined her hands into his hair and pulled him into her.

She broke the kiss and leaned back. The flower did as well. He was standing on his own again although with a little difficulty. He had to shake his head to clear it.

"Wow" he said, unable to come up with anything better.

She smiled. "You're a druid?"

"I was trained by a druid. I was also trained by a magician. And a sorcerer. All separately. I'm some sort of hybrid."

"Then you learned of my kind from the druid?"

"From all three, but the druid was the most accurate."

"You should have known that presenting yourself to me as a druid would have been better than as a mage. Alraunes have at times worked with druids and even witches. Rarely, if ever with mages."

"I didn't really think about that."

"Your proposal seems idiotic but your intentions seem to be good. Tell me why I would do this."

"You can read my intentions?"

"From a kiss, to some extent. I could maybe read them in much more detail if we went further but I'm not going to force that on you right now."

He ignored that. "You would survive. I can get you into my wagon. As much of you as we can fit. I know that's a huge sacrifice but you would live. I have land of my own, it is not far from here. It is wild, untouched jungle for the most part, on a peninsula. Humans have not spoiled it, they don't go there. I know I can't know for sure what you would be looking for if you had to choose a new home but I think this would meet your requirements."

"Who lives there?"

"No one. There are ancient ruins of a castle that the jungle has reclaimed. I hope to rebuild it and live there. Then I will live there and no one else. No other humans."

"What do you get out of this?"

"Protection."

"I am to be your watchdog?"

"You are to rule the jungle. It is what alraunes do."

She was silent.

"You're considering it at least."

"I don't know that I'd survive the move."

"You're strong right now." He glanced over at the bone pile

"When I cut off 90 percent of my body I will not be strong. If my roots leave the ground I will not be strong."

"I have prepared more than one area for you if you agree to it. You have your choice of three sites."

"You ask too much."

"I wish I had more time to earn your trust but I don't. Thirty men will march from the city today. They'll be here tomorrow. I can't think of another way for me to stop them by myself. If I somehow did, they'd probably just send a hundred the next day."

She was silent once more. The petals of her flower had closed all the way to her neck.

"Is there anything I could do to convince you?"

"Yes. Let me poison you."

"What? How would that help?"

"It's a neuro-toxin. It makes it harder for you to resist suggestions. In this case it will make it harder for you to lie." She didn't say 'impossible' but he felt that was the intent.

"You think I'm this good of a liar?"

"I don't know you."

"Fair enough." He sighed. "How long will it last?"

"About an hour, maybe two."

He closed his eyes. "Okay, do it." After all, she didn't really need to ask his permission.

"Give me your hands." She was right in front of him again, breasts on display, arms held out. He took her hands.

"Why?"

"Just in case you fall." As she spoke the last word he felt a sharp pinch on his neck and then there was a vine on his shoulder.

"Oh." He said.

Nothing seemed to be different at first.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"Yes." His neck was a little bit sore but she was still holding his hands. "I have some resistance to, umm. Things."

She smiled. She was beautiful. "You do. I think a little bit of resistance is okay though."

"What is this for anyway. The venom." He was having a difficult time forming long sentences. It really felt like he was drunk.

"I use it to help seduce men. Or women."

"I wouldn't think you need help."

That earned him a much bigger smile. "Why thank you Orren." She let go of his hands and he tilted sideways slightly. He probably would've fallen but it wasn't possible because there were vines there now.

The flower petals had opened and he found himself staring unashamedly at her breasts. He wanted to touch them, kiss them. Somewhere in his head a voice was telling him that was impolite but it didn't carry any weight. Anyway, she seemed okay with it.

"Would you like to see more?" The petals were still opening slowly. An erotic show on its own. He could see her flat stomach, narrow waist and the swell of her hips. The petals stopped there.

He was probably drooling. Certainly he wasn't having any coherent thoughts. Then the petals closed up again and he found himself staring at her face. It was all he could see.

"Why do you want me at your castle?"

"Not a castle. Just some stones."

"Yes well, why do you want me there."

"You could keep everyone out. Except me."

"You don't want any human companions at all?"

"No."

"Why not?"

That was tough. He was struggling to grasp enough ideas long enough to get something useful out. She realized that after a moment.

"Never mind. Do you want me as a companion?"

He smiled back at her. "You seem nice." A little clarity hit him then and he realized he had a ridiculous grin on his face. He got rid of it. "I would leave you alone if you wanted to be alone."

She was so close to him again. Her voice was a soft whisper. "Is that what you want?"

His left arm seemed to be bound up somehow but his right was free. He threw it around her shoulders which also encompassed some of the flower and pulled her towards him into another kiss. His aim was a little off and it was awkward but he got the point across.

Somehow the kiss actually cleared his head a bit. She ended it but stayed just inches from his face.

"I don't know what I want." He told her. "I'm attracted to you, I'm afraid of you. I want to save you and I want to run away and I want to climb in there with you even if it means my own death. How stupid is that."

"That's the venom talking. The rest of it isn't stupid at all."

He was falling away from her, very slowly. The vines were lowering him to the ground but he didn't really have the will to resist. They laid him there and slowly snaked away. He stared at the blue sky and thought about nothing in particular until he fell asleep.

He woke up, remembered where he was and sat up suddenly. It was still daylight. He looked around for Ephenome and found her behind him. "What happened?"

"You slept the rest of the venom off. You'll probably be thirsty."

"What else?"

She looked at him with her giant dark green on light green eyes for several seconds. "Let's do it."

She had already cleared a path for the wagon which he was able to drive right up to the central part of her body. What followed was quite horrible for her. She uprooted herself. She shedded dozens, maybe hundreds of vines which were left behind on the jungle floor. Orren had to use magic to lift her central body, the flower and main roots as well as many secondary ones. By the time he had her in the cart, he was exhausted. She was inside the flower, crying.

With as much of her as possible wound tightly into the cart, he threw a giant sheet of burlap over the entire thing and cinched it down along the back and sides. He intended to leave an opening at the front for her but she had fully withdrawn into her flower which was tightly closed. One of the outer petals had fallen off and lay on the ground alone in the clearing. He took the bucket of hay he had brought with him and spread it haphazardly over the burlap. His plan was to tell anyone who asked that he was just moving hay.

He climbed on and got the horses moving. Twice he needed to use magic to keep the very heavy cart from getting stuck.

They reached a more substantial grass and dirt road along one edge of the jungle and followed that back to the main road where the horses had a slightly easier time. Thankfully, there was no other traffic and they were almost an hour away from where he had found her before they even passed any other travelers. The first several hours passed quickly. Orren was tired from his exertions and the horses almost drove themselves so he sat in a near trance on the hard seat and let them do their thing.

A couple hours before dusk there was a rustling behind his head which jolted him fully awake. Ephenome had lifted the burlap up enough so she could see ahead of them.

"This is a road?"

"Yes."

They passed several other wagons and some foot traffic in both directions. She watched most of it silently.

"No one talks to other travelers?"

"We wave, we nod. Maybe a few words but mostly not. How are you feeling?"

"Unspeakably terrible. This is so completely foreign to me though that it is distracting."

"Just don't let anyone see you."

Dusk came. Orren felt they were only about an hour away. He had been taking smaller roads to avoid the vicinity of the city just in case and it was adding time to their journey.

"Can we travel at night?" Ephenome asked from behind him.

"We have to. I can't leave you in there overnight."

"Can they see?"

She meant the horses. "Not at night, but we'll take care of that as we need to."

He was pretty sure she was watching intently the rest of the time. Night fell but he knew this part of the country extremely well. So did his team. They turned off the main road and followed the dirt track slowly across a meadow. At the far side was a old stone wall higher than the horses' heads. He led them to a large iron gate that appeared to be long unused.

He touched his hand to his amulet and spoke a few words. The gate didn't open, it just ceased to be there. He walked the team through and then put the gate back in place. Now away from the road and any possible spectators he used his sorcery talents to summon a pale orange ball of light which floated on ahead of them.

"Your skills are better than I would have guessed." Ephenome told him.

"This is all basic stuff."

"Perhaps." She didn't sound convinced.

The 'road' into his ruined castle wound through dense jungle. It was overgrown in places and they squeezed past a few tight sections. In one of them Ephenome asked him to stop. He did.

She worked one vine loose and it snaked out of the front of the wagon and twined onto a mass of overhanging foliage. She didn't say anything.

Many minutes passed, he didn't know if she was gaining nutrients or knowledge or something else. The horses stamped a bit impatiently but he allowed her to do it.

Finally, the vine retracted. "You can continue. Thank you."

He flicked the reins and the horses moved on down the path.

"The pits you dug are actually too big." She told him.

He was impressed that she could somehow know that. "I didn't know how big you would be."

"I will admit, this is a good place. It is an old jungle, there is more magic here. It's why you chose it?"

"Yes."

"Why the location inside the stone walls?"

It took him a moment to realize she was asking about one of the pits he had dug.

"I hope to build a greenhouse near there eventually. A covered, protected area for plants to grow in."

She laughed, it was weak and short but she laughed. "Alraunes do not need protection from the weather."

"It's not really for you, it's for my plants. For spells, ingredients. I thought you might want to be near that though. I really didn't know what sort of range you have and if you'd want to be far away from me or..."

She was silent for a while. They were passing the furthest location out but he didn't say anything to her yet.

"I would like to see the place between the walls."

"Of course. We call that a courtyard."

It was a modified courtyard with a low stone wall and several arches set into each of the three sides that didn't abut the castle wall. He had dug most of the center out and there were large mounds of dirt around the edges.