Chris stopped sleeping on the fifth night.
It wasn't something he chose to do. His body just decided it was done with the whole sleeping thing on its own. He'd lie down, close his eyes, and his mind would immediately flood with Rootmind data instead — thorn vine positioning, cactus spread rates, the latest patrol route the mobile vines were running along the eastern approach. The network was everywhere now, threaded through the village like a nervous system that had grown too large for the body it was in, and every time he closed his eyes he was pulled right back into it, feeling the shape of every root and tendril and defensive position he'd spent the last couple days putting together.
He gave up trying after the third time he woke himself up mid-dream because one of the mutts got to close to a spike bush, the lack of any action from the dungeon also adding to his growing worry and stress. Realizing sleep was pointless he left his little hut, gently patting the world tree that had grown as tall as he was now on the way out.
The village looked so different now, holding only bare notes of what it was before as it now had new buildings, the trio of trees standing at the center having grown slightly bigger with the various wooden gourd growing plants responsible for there plates, bowls and all other goods slowly having crept around them yet it made him feel like it was waiting for something to happen. The various thorn vines could be seen crawled along the inner walls in overlapping layers, still small but their barbed runners where thick enough to stop a man from climbing over now and dense enough that you couldn't even see from under the ramparts. Ghost plants had spread across the ent wall on the eastern side, their pale translucent bodies wrapped around the ancient wood in spirals, giving off a cold steady glow that turned the wall into something that looked less like fortification and more like the ribcage of something enormous and patient, he had slowly been trying to get them to spread through the village proper.
Chris paused at the northern gate, watching the thorn vines shift under his touch, adjusting their grip on the wood and let out a soft sigh, recently he had to try harder to keep his mind out of the network, if he didn't he would feel everything within fifty feet of the wall through the Rootmind. Every root, every tendril, every seed the plants would drop.
He couldn't help but smile and shake his head as he felt the cacti, they had begun to radiate a kind of joy as if they were winning something only they understood. They'd spread further than he'd expected once he helped transplanted them and encouraged there spread, their shallow root systems finding water in places he hadn't known water existed and denying moisture the further out they where, it didnt effect the mist much but it did ensure past a certain point the ground ended up even drier than it already was, their needles had also thickened into something closer to spikes with the previous green barely visible now.
He felt Korr before he saw him. The demon always moved quietly when he wanted to that Chris figured was from the many years of military training, but the Rootmind didn't rely on sound to find people which is why the previous incident with Sera bothered him even more. The familiar pattern of his weight and stride that Chris had learned to recognize as clearly as a voice.
"You're up rather early," Korr stated as he approached. The sky was just starting to lighten in the east, the grey predawn giving everything a flat colourless quality that made the ghost plants on the ent wall glow brighter by contrast before ever so slowly dimming.
"I couldn't sleep."
That remark had him frowning, "You haven't slept in two days noe. I've been keeping count." Korr told him flatly, His red eyes moving slowly across the landscape, reading it the way Chris had seen him read battlefields as he seemed to already be cataloguing positions, measuring distances, noting angles of approach and fields of fire. "When this starts, you'll need your head clear. Being exhausted will just make you a liability."
"I know that." Chris said with a sigh.
"Then get some proper sleep."
"I can't!" Chris snapped, his knuckles going white as he balled them at his sides, feeling the bark ridges catch on his sleeve as he shook ever so slightly. "Every time I close my eyes and begin to relax the Rootmind drags me back into the network, theirs just too much going on. Too many things still need to be put in place and positioned, it says its not doing it or atleast not intentionally but it happens all the same."
Korr was quiet for a moment as he seemed to process that before turning and looking at Chris with an expression that was hard to read in the half-light, it seemed to be something between assessment and something that might have been concern.
"Show me what you've built so far." He half asked half ordered.
"You already know though." Chris replied, meeting his gaze before sighing and showing him with commentary what had been done, the Rootmind talking through him as Korr no doubt noticed well they went around the village and its new layers. First walking to the edge as far out as possible, where he pointed out the cacti in the dry riverbed then to the spike bush kill zones Korr himself had organized into overlapping fields, the thorn vines that had spread along the northern and western approaches in tangled mats thick enough to tangle legs and trip horses and then to the mobile vines ran patrol routes between the outer ring and the Ent walls, clearly training to be fast enough to intercept anything that made it through the first layer and tough enough with various gimpy plants helping to make sure they would down whatever got between the two zones or at least slow them down.
The Ent walls themselves were the second ring with thorn vines on the north face, numerous bamboo groves along the eastern and western approaches that could harden into near-solid barriers on command along with a large amount mixed in, laying across the ground and ready to snap when ready. The scream flowers where distributed at regular intervals to act as an alarm network. The cloud tree's mist had thickened over the past week, pushed out past the walls to create a band of low-lying fog that obscured sight lines and muffled sound. Anyone approaching from the south would walk into it blind and deaf, and by the time they found their way through, the inner defenses would already know they were coming and beyond that was there core area, the village itself.
He had even figured a way to weaponize the ghost plants wrapped, their cold glow providing nighttime illumination but they could also be used as flash bangs. He already had a few growing in clusters that could be triggered through the Rootmind on command, both on vine or after being thrown. There was also the vile pitcher plant, similar to the alcohol and amber honey maker ones, this one though was established near the southern gate, their three-chambered bodies swelling with its strongest acid that Chris had already started draining into gourd-shell balls — round, thin-walled and fragile, made so they would shatter on impact and splash acid that would leave chemical burns on any skin it touched. He had forty of them stockpiled so far but he wanted a hundred set and ready for when the war came.
And there near the center of the village, a short distance from the tree's sat the Rootmind itself. It had grown from a bulb to something... More, numerous bulbs littering across various vines dug into the ground, having long since gone from a sensor network to a key part of his command structure, threading through every layer of defense and carrying most of the load for him which is why he was rather annoyed about still being pulled into the network.
Chris could feel the connections near instinctively now, the way information moved through the network faster than sound. A thorn vine on the outer perimeter could register movement and the Rootmind could pass the warning in the time it took a man to draw breath. The scream flowers had been among the first to join it, wanting to be more than a close range sensor or stunner. The spike bushes where next and then bamboo's till everything was deeply connected to it almost like a hivemind and yet retaining there individuality. Everything now able to respond to a single impulse all tied directly to him.
"You might not like it but you have managed to build a half decent living fortress," Korr told hm. They'd stopped at the eastern wall now, looking out over the approach where the numerous cattails he planted where spreading through the fog bank in thick clusters, their brown sausage-shaped heads rising above the mist that nurtured them. The roots where a tangled web that would grab at anything trying to move through the fog as a extra security measure. Chris had positioned them in staggered rows so that anyone fighting through one patch would immediately stumble into another. "I've seen how sieges work and the kind of defenses that hold against them, given the amount of time you have had this is rather decent."
"But?"
Korr's jaw tightened as his eyes narrowed. "Numbers." The word was said with a heavy weight Chris all but felt. "Your defenses are layered and they're smart, they'll kill a lot of people before they get close and if were lucky will act as both a deterrent and moral breaker but they're still walls at best. Walls that can break when hit hard enough. The Empire has mages, siege engineers and even there heroes who can shatter stone if used correctly or trained right. They have time to figure out your pattern and find the gaps. Not to mention there forward camp has no doubt been watching which would give them more information on what to expect." He paused, "At least on what they may have been able to see through the mist."
Chris didn't say anything. He'd had the same realization at least a hundred times already. The Rootmind gave him awareness of all his plants and events but awareness wasn't soldiers, it was alarm systems, tripwires and the ability to respond faster than a human commander could shout orders but at the end of the day the village was defending itself with plants against what was no doubt a professional army. The realization he kept coming to was always ugly.
"The demon scouts moved again last night," Korr continued, not giving him time to settle his thoughts. "Closer than before and I know they're mapping your defenses well testing your response and reactions."
"I know. I pushed two thorn vine bushes further out to cover the gap they were using and tried to add rotational randomness so they cant properly plan there movements."
"They'll find another gap once they feel it isn't worth wasting time there though." Kor pointed out calmly.
"You're not going to hold the outer ring," Korr said evenly. "Not against what's coming if the enemy knows properly what there doing. They'll push through the cacti, they'll burn the thorn vines and they'll break the spike bush lines even if it means sacrificing a few of there own. It's best you accept that now so you dont end up spending resources trying to keep something that's already lost. The Ent walls out there will be a stalling measure at best."
"I know all that." Chris said with a glare, already having done what he can to prepare for the feelings that would no doubt flood through.
"What you do with the space between it and the inner ring matters far more more. The thorn layered Ent walls, the fog and the various kill zones you've set up inside the perimeter, that's where you make them pay and begin to break them. Pull the outer defenses back as the line breaks well, channel them into the kill zones you've prepared, make every step they take come with a cost well having the remainder of the outer ring and further swarm them from there openings."
He paused for a moment, his gaze sweeping the fog bank. "Those things you've been growing in the southern fields are extremely decent, along with that acid your developing and whatever those pale glowing lights that easily blind, they would be extremely useful at night."
Chris nodded. It was the same layered-defense logic Aldric had outlined during one of there brief talks, but hearing it from Korr felt different. Aldric talked about logistics and efficiency well Korr talked about survival.
"The cattails seem to like spreading when its dark so ill try to guide them and help them again tonight," Chris said, clearly trying to change the subject, slowly growing worried about overthinking. "I think having them spread in a few more patches. There learning to use there roots to actually grip and hold someone now, not just slow them down or trip them."
"Good. The more they have to look down, the less they'll see what's waiting above them." Korr said, clearly happy to see Chris planning beyond the short term.
"I noticed that Sera's ribs have been bothering her, care to enlighten me on what happened?" Korr asked simply, not really caring but needing to know how badly it would effect what was to come.
"Ask her yourself." Chis said "All I'll say is that her past caught up to her."
He seemed to consider that before slowly nodding. "Then she's fine." Korr's mouth twitched. "If her ribs were actually broken she'd be limping and glaring at everyone who noticed. The fact that she's only glaring without heat means she's healing at the very least."
Chris almost smiled at that. Almost. "That's a surprisingly specific diagnostic method."
"I've known her long enough at this point to read the levels of her hostility. You're currently at a six out of ten. That means she's almost back to normal." He joked making Chris actually smile and shake his head, happy for the distraction.
"If your not going to sleep, and with the sun coming up it means you should atleast get something to eat," Korr said as he began to walk away.
"Your starting to sound like Sera now."
That caused him to pause for a moment. "I will admit she has moments where she's right now go, you're no good to anyone if you collapse halfway through the first assault because you forgot that humans need food, especially as you seem determined to not get any sleep." Chris could have sworn he saw a faint smile cross his features before it seemed to tighten, his voice soon carrying the flat authority of someone who'd given orders to soldiers for decades and wasn't accustomed to being argued with. "Try to get what rest you can though, even if it ends up being short and intermittent. I've seen brilliant commanders, sharp tacticians and people who could read a battlefield like a poem push themselves through the planning, through the preparation and through sleepless nights leading up to a siege, not eating and instead overthinking, all of it leading to them collapsing a few days in because their bodies gave out or they had burnt themselves out to the point of not being able to hold a plan together, often failing to even adapt to the changes on the battlefield, make sure you don't become that person."
Chris seemed to think about it, feeling Korr keep his eyes on him,"I'll eat after I check the western approach."
"Not good enough. You will eat now." It wasn't a suggestion. "The western approach isn't going anywhere. Your plants are doing their jobs and the only thing that's going to fall apart if you don't take care of it is you."
Chris opened his mouth to argue but paused when he saw the look in Korr's eyes, how it was all but daring him to try and argue, it wasn't a fight so he did as he was told.
As he ate some dried meat he wondered around, allowing his awareness to spread through the Rootmind, monitoring the outer perimeter while his body did the boring work of staying alive, a thought that troubled him far more than he would ever admit, The vile pitchers leaves rustled nearby, their chambers sloshing with acid that glowed faintly green in the morning light. It was three times the size of the other two, slowly opening it's leafy lid on its main chamber for Chris to check the amount of acid it had produced thus far. High-grade, shivering slightly when he heard from the rootmind that it had made the acid stronger, strong enough now to eat through leather and cloth and claimed it could burn into skin in under a minute.
"What is it?" Korr asked, having appeared beside him without making a sound again and having watched as he froze up.
"Something big, numerous and a lot of heavy contacts all moving together." He frowned, closing his eyes as he took a slow breath well sinking himself into the network. "Wagons? Maybe siege equipment. They're really clumped up together so I cant tell for certain, just that there's a lot of them."
"There getting into position, no doubt a outer camp from which they will be waging attacks from as they slowly move in." Korr told him with a firm expression but something behind his eyes went cold and sharp in a way that Chris had learned to recognize as the demon shifting from soldier to commander. "Then we're out of time for preparations. Whatever isn't ready now doesn't get to be ready."
Chris looked out over the village. At the ent walls wrapped in thorn vines and ghost plants, feeling the spike bushes moving along their patrol routes as the various other plants seemed to stand firmer, having felt his anxiety.
It wasn't enough though. He knew that but it was what they had, and it was going to have to be enough, because the alternative was standing here doing nothing while an army walked through the front door and destroyed everything he had created.
He pushed those negative thoughts down and began giving mental orders. There were still plants needing to be put into position. Still gaps to close. They where getting close but they might still have some time as little as it may be to do some final preparations.
"Get everyone to their stations," Chris said, his voice coming out steadier than he felt. "Tell those wishing to fight the outer ring is disposable and prioritize there own lives. Tell them to fall back to the walls when it breaks, not before and make sure to tell Sera I said her ribs are her problem and if she tears them open again because she's too stubborn to rest, I'm having the medicinal grass wrap her in a full body cast."
Korr's mouth twitched into an actual smile this time. "That's rather cruel and unlike you but its the type fo thing she'll respect at the very least."
Chris watched as he walked off toward the northern wall, shouting names and commands in a voice that carried across the village. People starting to scramble about. The last pretense of normal morning routines dissolving away as the word spread. The village shifting from settlement to garrison in the space of a few minutes.
His thoughts going to how he needed to finish the acid balls. Forty wouldn't be enough even if the new batch would be enhanced.