Orren had no idea how long he slept but the next time he woke up he felt well enough that he wanted to tend to his property. Ephenome opened her flower completely and he reluctantly kissed her goodbye and stepped down onto the grass. His clothes were piled there waiting for him with his amulet on top.
He put the amulet around his neck and looked down at himself. He was naked of course and somewhat sticky with probably an assortment of fluids. He decided it was better to leave his clothes off.
Hallem, the gnome who worked here, walked into the courtyard. Hallem took little interest in what Orren did and did not appear fazed to find him standing there naked.
"This plant wants to tell me what to do. Should I be taking orders from it?"
Orren looked back at Ephenome.
She stared back without comment.
He nodded. "Yes Hallem, she's in charge of the jungle now. The gardens and the fields are still yours to maintain as you think best."
"Whatever." He replied and walked away.
"He's not very friendly but he gets a surprising amount of work done."
Ephenome had closed her flower back as far as her upper chest.
"How do I communicate with you when I'm not here?" he asked.
"What point is there in doing that?"
"I don't know, what if there is danger?"
"I will take care of it."
He didn't have a ready answer for that, but she did offer a partial solution.
"Pull on the root. Pull hard. It will warn me. As for you..."
There was an odd aroma, faintly smoky.
"Will you be able to recognize this smell?"
"Now I will."
"It means I want you to come here as soon as you can."
"Okay, what sort of range does that have?"
"I'll expand, so will my range."
The smoky was gone and now there was a spicy, acrid scent. It made his eyes water a little.
"This one means danger, do not come to me. Get away."
"Understood."
-
Two months passed. He dug the water course deeper and wider from the natural stream into the pools and fountains of his ruined castle. It provided more reserve water for Ephenome. He returned to placing one stone per day and the walls of the ground floor grew higher. The front façade and outer walls were almost complete for that first floor and he had inner walls to repair before he could replace the ceiling and potentially move into the ground level of living space.
He did not leave his estate as he had no need to. He was self-sufficient here. He talked with Ephenome on most days and spent the night with her regularly. She grew rapidly, alarmingly even. It was the shoulder of the rainy season and there was plenty of both rain and sun. He built the supports for his greenhouse and started moving his collection of plants there even without the walls completed. With Ephenome's guidance they thrived beyond what he thought possible.
Once or twice a week he walked the fields that led down to the seashore. He would sit on a bluff and study one of the few spell books he had managed to collect. Sometimes, even looking down at the pages of his books he became convinced he was being watched. He felt uneasy at that wide expanse of water and he worried about the potential for someone or something to arrive unnoticed by sea.
The side of his castle that was opposite to Ephenome's courtyard he left alone for the most part. It was another grassy partially ruined courtyard with a massive banyan tree out in the center of it, well away from the home. It was unlikely he would ever build to heights rivalling that of the tree. Ephenome stayed away from that side as she did with the back, presumably due to lack of dense foliage for her vines to cling to. Towards the front of the estate she had no such qualms. He wasn't sure how far her reach extended now but it was considerable.
He had heard nothing from town.
-
"Is this it?" Dar asked.
"Somewhere across that field." His partner answered. He was squinting at a map in the disappearing twilight.
"Somewhere?"
"Yeah, somewhere. That's all the detail I have. You could learn to read a map too, Dar."
"Fuck off Bailey. That's why you're here."
Bailey bit back a retort and tucked the map back into the bag. He started to loosen the straps on his horse's saddle.
"What are you doing?" Dar asked him.
"Aren't we going to camp here for the night?"
"Here?"
"Why not? We've got protections."
"No, let's go in now."
"Now? It's after dark."
"Yeah so? You said this guy wasn't a real sorcerer."
"He's still a partial sorcerer, and people say he's a little... you know. What if he doesn't let us in?"
"We aren't going to ask him to let us in."
Bailey rubbed the top of his head, then sighed and tightened the saddle again. "Isn't the point to have him cooperate with us?"
"No. That's why you're not in charge any more. The point is to make it clear that I'm in charge and he has no choice but to cooperate."
-
Orren was asleep in his underground room and then he fully woke up all at once. He was wide awake, certain that something was wrong. Ephenome? He sniffed the room and could detect nothing. His own magical protections then, but where? If Ephenome hadn't reacted it had to be from the ocean or from the other side.
He leapt out of bed and put on clothes in the dark. He wasn't willing to use sorcery without knowing what was happening. He decided to go for the banyan tree courtyard first. There was a half moon in the sky casting enough light to see by. It was quiet, late enough that even the insect hum had died down. His alert system was designed to give him more information than this. It wasn't that, so what was it then? Instinct? Had he just had a nightmare?
He touched his amulet and cast his senses about him and found nothing to be alarmed by. The tree caught his attention briefly. The base of the trunk seemed to sparkle in the moonlight. Perhaps it always did that, he wasn't out here much at night. He tried to scan the branches but its canopy was so far above him there was nothing to see. Magical sight certainly revealed no danger there.
Nothing here then, so he decided to walk a little ways towards the ocean. Something caught his attention first though and he turned back to the tree. There was a woman standing not five feet in front of him. He yelped and staggered backwards several steps.
Where had she come from? She was petite with long straight brown hair and she was wearing a short dress that appeared to be made of tiled leaves. She was barefoot and carried nothing. She pointed towards the front of his house with some urgency.
"What is it? Who are you?" He asked.
She pointed again, then shook her head and walked quickly past him around the back of the house. Confused, he followed her.
She crossed the weaving paths amongst the pools back there and then rounded the far side of the house into Ephenome's courtyard.
Ephenome's flower was half open and she was alert and facing away. The faint smoky smell quickly became noticeable.
"We have company." She said quietly.
"Yes we do." He agreed.
She turned towards him and saw the strange woman and said, "Oh!"
The strange woman walked directly to the alraune and thrust both her arms into Ephenome's flower.
Orren had no physical weapons but he quickly summoned an arrow through sorcery which hovered over his shoulder.
"No! Wait!" Ephenome said. "It's okay."
