Druid Chronicle Ch. 01

"How long ago did you come up with this plan?" she asked.

"Two days."

"You were busy then."

"Yes I was" he agreed.

"How far could you reach from here?" he asked her.

"In what way?"

"How far away would you know what was happening."

"Who or what else was in the jungle?"

"Yes."

"Nowhere else now. Eventually though there is no limit. I would grow and expand my range."

"And your.." he turned to look at her. She was right there behind him. Eyes reflecting the pale orange light of his sorcery. "... you?"

"What you think of as my body? This whole courtyard. Maybe a short distance through the arches with enough preparation."

"Do you want to see the other sites?"

"No."

"No?"

"I will live here. But when you die...?"

He had expected this question. Alraunes typically had a very long life span. "It goes back to ruins. I have no heirs."

He unhitched the horses first. They had to be exhausted as well. He led them around to the other side of the castle where a short trail connected to their barn and pasture.

He came back to the cart to find that Ephenome had unfurled vines everywhere. She was already through each of the courtyard arches and over one wall. He had to find the strength to move her once again, relying heavily on the stored power in his amulet. Once he got her into the pit it was clearly far too big. Then he had to move dirt back into the pit which she arranged to her liking. It was likely after midnight when he finished. He collapsed against one of the stone walls. She looked much more like a potted plant than she had out in her jungle, but she was here and she was alive.

"Is there water near?" She asked.

Her voice was strained and he looked at her more carefully. She looked more gray than green but his sorcery light could've been responsible for that.

"Over that wall there is a basin. Part of an old fountain. I'm not sure how much is there."

Her flower remained mostly closed with just her head peeking out.

"You don't need to stay here with me." She told him. "I need water and sunlight in the morning and time to recover. You should go inside your home."

"Yeah well, I have a bit of a secret to reveal about that... There really is no inside. I've been living out of the basement section that I've cleared but the ground floor is just rubble.

"Then we are starting from the same situation." She said.

"Every day I move one of the old stones into place and seal it there. It will take me a year to rebuild the first floor."

"It's enough water for now." She told him.

He hauled himself upright using the wall. He was dizzy. "I need to sleep."

There was no answer. He walked towards the central walls of his castle surprised at how unsteady he was.

"Oh..." he called back to her. "There's a gnome. He takes care of the grounds, such as they are. Don't eat him."

Still no answer. He shrugged and stumbled down the stairs. The door opened at his touch, he sealed it behind him and collapsed onto his bed. He managed to get his boots off and nothing else before he fell asleep.

He woke up starving and thirsty and certain he had been asleep for quite a while. It was almost always pitch black down here without candles or sorcery and he summoned a bit of the latter to look around. There was something new. About three inches of a vine-like root came through the wall and dangled along it about half way up from the floor. There was foundation stone around these rooms even underground.

"You found a way in." He said to the root.

He stripped off his clothes and threw on some slightly cleaner replacements aware that he needed to bathe. On the way through his main room he drank several cups of water and then went outside to discover it was dawn.

There was no way this was the dawn of the same night, was there?

He walked out into the courtyard. Ephenome seemed better established. Her vine network crossed all the stone walls but left a nice web of paths for someone like him to walk on.

"Ephenome." He said as he approached her flower.

It slowly peeled back revealing her hair and her eyes.

"Orren." She didn't sound all that well.

"What's wrong?"

"Water."

"What's wrong with it?"

"More."

"Those fountains are filled from a stream that runs down to the ocean here. Some of the water is diverted into the pools, it should refill."

"I'm using it all."

"How long was I asleep?"

"Two days. I checked on you."

"I noticed. Don't destroy my foundation please."

"Destroy it? I'm probably improving it."

"How much water do you need."

"A lot."

"How much?"

"So much." She did not look happy. Or well.

He nodded. "Ok, I need to eat first, I'm weak."

"I can help with that."

He looked up at her. "What?"

Her flower peeled back revealing her shoulders and arms and the tops of her breasts. She reached into the foliage behind her and produced a branch with a half dozen dark purple fruits.

"Are those..." he started to ask.

"Yes. Eat them."

He took the branch from her staring at the fruit in wonderment.

"Is it safe?"

"Of course it's safe. I grew them for you." There was naked annoyance in her voice. He felt a bit guilty and so he immediately took one of the fig-sized fruits and bit into it. It was amazing. It was sweet and juicy and his body responded almost immediately to the presence of food. He was halfway through them before he remembered she was still there.

"These are incredible."

"Thank you."

He set the other half of the fruit aside and walked closer to inspect her.

"Will you always need this much water?"

"No. But the move.."

One of her arms was hanging limply outside her flower. He found her hand and squeezed it. She squeezed feebly back.

He walked away from her into the middle of the courtyard clearing that she had left available for him. He took off his shirt which left his amethyst pendant visible to her. She didn't react but he felt certain she would've taken notice of it. If she was going to live here there was no point in keeping secrets.

He knelt in the grass, clutched the pendant with one hand and dug the fingers of the other into the dirt. He started with magic. It took a while, maybe half an hour until the atmosphere around the castle and for a considerable radius around him was almost buzzing with energy. This was still a jungle and it was always humid here and that made the job a little bit easier.

With the water content of the air heavy around him, he relaxed his spell and switched over to sorcery. He let the amulet which was now glowing purple drop against his chest and he stood with both arms above him.

He could feel the added energy from Ephenome's fruit inside him. It was more power than he normally controlled and it wanted out. Patiently he ignored it and built the spell in all directions around him. He could see nothing but his own purple glow now but he didn't really need to. When he could hold everything no longer he let out a wild yell and fell to his knees, pounding the ground with both hands.

The moisture in the air materialized everywhere around them as rain. It didn't just fall to the ground in drops though, it came in sheets, almost like a solid mass. It hit his back and head with considerable force and he sprawled on the ground beneath it, holding his breath until the water had pooled on the ground and the air was air once more.

He rolled onto his back in several inches of water. It would soak in but it would take a little time.

"Orren?" He heard her voice after a few minutes, or maybe longer. "What was that? Rain?"

"No. Rain is hard, takes a long time. I just pulled the water out of the air. Water that was already here. Is it helping?"

"Yes. That was impressive."

He didn't answer. It was too much effort. He pushed himself towards the fruit he had left, and struggled into a sitting position so he could eat some more. He felt exhausted in a different way now. He examined his amulet and saw nothing but the multi-faceted purple stone.

"Too much."

"Too much what?"

"Too much. I need..." He needed to be right back in bed. It seemed like an epic journey to get there though. "Rest. So much more rest."

"Come here." She said.

"Can't."

"Come on. I can't get to you yet. You need to get closer."

'Why?' he wondered. He was too tired to ask though. He literally crawled on hands and knees towards her until he found a vine, then he followed that. Then her hands were on his shoulders helping him up.

"Rest here with me." She said quietly into his ear.

She lifted him up, over the edge of her flower.

"No..." he said with little force. This was dangerous, bad.

"Shush. You're in no danger."

He was lying on something soft. She was beside him. The scent of the flower was notable but pleasant and he was way too tired to react to it. The petals were closing and it was getting dark.

"Sleep." She whispered into his ear, and he did.

He dreamt of fruit and juice and water and flowers and woke to the realization that the floral scent was all around him. He was in the flower. He was also alive. Whatever he was lying on was contoured oddly but not uncomfortably and it was so soft. She was alongside him. He referred to her, even in his own thoughts as the woman-ish part of her inside the flower but he knew she was also the flower and roots and leaves and the vines as well.

He opened his eyes and could see nothing. Total darkness. He couldn't even tell what part of her was pressed up against his shoulder, his hip, his leg.

The flower opened at the top ever so slightly. Of course she would know when he was awake.

Just a little bit of light came in indirectly. He could see her mossy hair strewn across his chest. Her legs... well, her thighs were alongside his but then halfway down her calves her legs just became part of a stem that disappeared into the flower. Her arm was draped over his waist and he was suddenly aware he was naked.

"How do you feel" she murmured quietly into his ear.

"A little better. What has happened?"

"There was naturally occurring rain on the second day we slept. I've had plenty of water. On the third day I sent for a friend and there was more rain. She came on the fourth day and confirmed what you said. They burned that part of the jungle. Many others lost their homes as well, perhaps their lives"

"Do you seek vengeance?" He asked.

"No. It is not in my nature to do so. My friend however, she is angry, others too. She is concerned that some of your kind are suspicious I was not killed in the blaze and may still seek me. She is also concerned that I trusted you."

"Don't call them my kind, I have nothing to do with them."

Her hand moved across his stomach and chest and it occurred to him as she did so that his amulet was gone. He startled slightly.

Her head came up and he was looking directly into the greenness of her gaze.

"My clothes?"

"Nearby, I have kept them safe and dry. You may have them when you want them."

"And my amulet?"

"The same. Do you want it now."

He did, he was nervous without it, but he didn't want to sound like he needed it. "No as long as it's safe."

"It was rough against my skin." She paused. "Is it the source of your power?"

He didn't see much harm in telling her now. "No, more like the opposite. I am the source of its power. I store magical energy inside it to draw on later when I need it."

"That's why you could resist me, before?"

Orren didn't think he had done a whole lot in the way of resistance but he didn't argue. "Some. Some of it's innate."

She was silent for a moment and he suddenly wondered what she was up to.

"You don't need any of your tricks. I'm not here to resist you."

She smiled and kissed him on the forehead. "Tempting, but you are weak and I don't wish to hurt you."

He snaked an arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him before closing his eyes again. He was still tired. He was ostensibly very safe at the moment. He was inside an Alraune flower and she apparently had no desire to consume him. On top of that they were behind the assortment of magical protections he had spent most of the last year designing. Still he was vaguely worried, he had been unconscious much of the time since returning.

"Can you tell what is happening?" He asked, realizing it was a vague question.

"Of course, but it's not all me. I am so small here for now, I have to rely on passed information from other trees, vines. I have learned about your realm, at least as far as the meadows where your horses roam. It is open there as far as the sea, yes?"

"There are a few isolated trees but mostly grassland, yes."

"Your protections are known to the jungle. It approves."

Orren was taken aback by that statement. "I didn't realize.."

"You are a druid? You should know."

She was right. "In the future, would you relay any requests?"

"Yes." She sounded close. He opened his eyes to find her face right in front of his. He realized she didn't breathe, at least not from this part of her body like a human would. No rhythmic motion, no breath, probably no heartbeat, no heart. She was staring at him.

"What?"

"Thank you for the water. It was necessary."

"Of course."

"You are formidable." He felt like she was really trying to say something else but he didn't know what.

"As are you."

She rolled her hips, swinging a leg over him and now she was above him, her breasts hanging down to touch his chest, her hips suspended above him. His instinct was to press his hips up towards her but he was also still worried.

"Are you... Do you need to feed?" He asked a bit nervously, uncertainly.

"I am not a succubus, I do not feed though sex." Her voice was low, quiet, husky. "It is sometimes, seldom, for mating. Mostly it is just for fun."

His body was reacting to her presence and while he couldn't see down there, he must almost be touching her. It was a major effort to keep his hips down against the flower. He was already starting to sweat a little without even moving.

She smiled, a slow predatory, sexy smile. It showed her gleaming white teeth and he wondered for just a moment why she needed teeth. Then she dropped her hips all at once and he was inside her and he stopped wondering about anything at all.

"Oh!" He managed before she was kissing him again and her hips were thrusting against him. He held on to her waist and let her do all the work. In almost no time he was on the verge of coming and he tried to tell her somehow but she was still fervently kissing him so he just let himself release inside her. She broke the kiss finally gasping and her hips bucked erratically against him before she relaxed, half atop him, half on one side.

He found a shoulder just in front of his mouth so he craned his head enough to kiss that. He felt better in all ways. If he had Ephenome on his side, perhaps there was safety here after all. Why did he feel so much safer?

"What are you doing to me?"

"I'm done doing it to you."

"No I mean why do I feel so uncharacteristically secure and carefree?"

"You love being in my company?"

He didn't say anything and she laughed. "It's due to pheromones from me. I can't control it like I can other scents. If you don't like it, you shouldn't fuck me."

"A little late for that isn't it?" He kissed her again. She had no bones. Not true bones anyway. She looked like a very attractive woman but if he applied enough pressure to any part of her it would eventually bend in ways human anatomy wouldn't.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked him. He'd been staring at her shoulder as the nearest part of her.

He was honest. "I'm thinking about how non human you are." He could feel her tense up.

"And?"

"And nothing. I don't know that much about you. Some of what I've learned is true and some things are legends and some things I just have no idea about. It's fascinating. Druid schooling doesn't really teach you things like.. how to bring an Alraune to orgasm."

"You figured it out just fine." She whispered to him. Then after a moment, "I have known a lot of humans, but you are unusual mage-sorcerer-druid. How do you reconcile your teachings?"

"What do you mean?"

"As a druid you must be taught to prize the natural world above all things."

"Yes."

"As a mage you must have vowed to use your powers to protect and advance humanity."

"Also, yes."

"So what if they conflict?"

"Do you need to ask? You are here because I made that choice."

"So you've broken your vow as a mage?"

"I don't think so. The people of the city didn't need to kill you. They didn't need to destroy the jungle. If they've invited the wrath of the jungle into town then they must live with their own actions. If I found myself in such a scenario though, I would do what I can to protect the innocent."

"So you pick and choose which parts of humanity you'll defend."

"All mages do. There are rarely trials because it's rarely a black and white situation."

"They accept that you've turned to other forms of magic?"

"They think it strange. However, most of them are aware the magician I was studying under was killed. It's a traumatic situation and they give me more leeway because of it."

She was silent and he was certain she had more questions but had decided not to ask further.

"I need more rest." She told him. "Weeks of rest, of anchoring myself here and of growing. You are welcome to stay here though." She tugged on his lower lip with her own lips. "Very welcome."

"It's tempting."

"I can make it more tempting." She kissed his chin, his neck, his chest...

"I think I can stay a little longer." He said

The flower closed completely and left them in darkness.