Chapter Thirty-One

Briar

After I had finished my business in the woods, I was making my way back carefully with the lantern I had from Hunter's stash for tonight's activities to pass the night away with.

I had gone a fair distance so as not to be seen but now I wished I hadn't of done that. The lights of the campfires could no longer be seen. The darkness was oppressive out here and I felt there was more out here watching me than I could guess at.

I decided to cast my magical senses wider to feel the nature around me better and get to know the lay of the land but it was kind of a sensory overload for me. The nature all around me could clearly sense my presence in their midst as they were drawn to my magic and they all wished to commune with me but it was all too overwhelming to handle the intense sensation.

I slowly retreated from their reach carefully so as not to be ensnared amongst all the gentle green lights of energy I sensed more than actually saw but as I was retreating, a red spiking energy sensed me in this world and shot toward me in this magical landscape of the mind.

I reacted without thinking and I blindly snapped the connection fast and found myself being thrust back into the real world around me with my feeble lantern's light fighting back the darkness.

It took a moment to regain my normal night vision and senses but I knew I needed to go and quickly. I pushed off in the direction I judged the camp was in, jumping over the tree roots that the wildly swinging lantern in my hand revealed in my hurry to try to get away from whatever was out here looking specifically for me now but it was too late as I heard a crashing sound that seem to come from all around me and I halted in my escape, trying to get my whooshing breath back under control as I watched the darkness in rising fear.

I slowly spun around in a circle holding my lantern out away from me to shine further into the darkness to see what was out there and I halted as a pair of eyes glowed back at me and slowly blinked.

So this was some kind of animal but how could I sense an animal? I could only sense plant related things as far as I knew but I didn't want to find out what this was and I knew I was too far away even for the fleet footed Fae guards to reach me on time to stop anything from happening to me even if I called out for help now, that much I knew to be true.

I placed one trembling foot back and then I slowly slid my other foot back as well. But the thing in the dark gave me a warning growl and I froze my movements.

After what felt like an eternity of waiting, my arm holding the lantern up was beginning to tremble and a cold sweat slid down my back. Only then when my body was beginning to feel the strain of freezing in place did the creature then stalk out of the darkness slowly, first revealing one fur covered paw after another and its pointy eared head appeared a moment later, blinking green gold eyes lazily up at me as it approached.

I realised as it revealed more of its form that I had seen something like this from a picture book I once looked at, that this was a wolf that stood before me but of a curious colour, the wolf's fur was the same colouring as its eyes were that was reflected in the light of my lantern and the animal halted right there in the circle of my light.

As I stared in shock at the beast before me, it studied me back as well with it's glowing eyes and then it began to slowly walk closer towards me, it's body on high alert, it's ears twitching back and forth as it kept watching me.

Soon it was right in front of me, my head dropped down to keep it in my line of sight and the wolf sniffed me delicately and made up its mind about something as it pushed its huge head into my empty hand and nudged it as if it wanted me to rub its head like a pet.

I gave out a half startled choke of laughter as it repeated its head rubbing thing with my hand and the tension wound in my body suddenly left me and I found my legs slowly giving way as my knees hit the ground before me to feel the little sharp rocks and twigs dig into my flesh though the material of my trousers.

'I- I never had a pet before so I don't really know what to do, well more like definitely not allowed one before,' I babbled on quietly and nervously to the wolf who gives an aggravated huff at me and continues to try to get my hand to rub his head which I begin to do but rather clumsily.

It's fur was warm, silky and soft to the touch as my hand slid through the strands as I continue to its ministrations. It was unbelievable that I found myself in this situation at all and not being attacked as I first thought, there was something definitely different about this creature as it began to close its eyes.

'I think I got to go now,' I explain quietly to it as I scratch behind its ears and the wolf opens up its eyes wide again to give me a look as I stop giving it attention and take my hand slowly.

'My companion will get worried that I've gone for so long,' and I slowly stand up and ease my hand back from the strange wolf, looking around the dark woods that I now realise I don't know which direction to go in as I turn a full circle again, shining the lantern that I've never let go of yet outwards towards the trees.

'I think I'm lost,' I admit aloud to my strange companion and the wolf huffs again at me and it looks like its almost rolling its eyes at me in understanding and pads off in a direction away from me into the woods and then stops and looks back over its shoulder expectantly at me.

'So you want me to follow you?' I ask and it huffs again and I take that as a yes. 'Do you really know the way back to the campsite?' I ask it and the wolf signals with a head jerk to follow and it starts to pad away from me into the dark not waiting for me this time. I don't move out of indecision for a moment as I debate internally about do I follow a strange animal and possibly find my way back to the camp or will I get led deeper into the woods to end up being thoroughly lost this time.

I make a decision and hope it's the right one, making it more out of fear of losing my only possible guide out here. I plunge in after the strange wolf and catch up to walk besides it, my free hand lands gently on its back and I leave it there so I don't lose the wolf as it looks at me once and huffs again, as if to say about time, before turning its head away to look where it's going.

Because of the darkness and because everything looks the same, my telling of the passage of time is out of whack, I had no idea how long I've been out here already. I didn't know if Hunter had gotten worried yet over my absence and was organising a search party for me already but it didn't seem to take all that long with the wolf leading me before I began to start seeing the campfires in the distance again.

The wolf even led me all the way back through the break of the trees I originally stepped through and right back to Hunter's campfire, who was waiting for me with two more cups of steaming tea in his hands that he just poured out. As I look at him, I notice Hunter's mouth is wide open in shock as he takes in the sight of me and my new companion with my hand still in its fur.

'Thank you so much for leading me back!' I say in relief and happiness to the strange wolf and pat it on its back enthusiastically at a job well done.

Hunter opens and closes his mouth a couple times before he manages to get some words out for me to listen to. 'Who-who's your new friend Briar?' He asks me with a bit of a quaver in his voice and strange look about his face.

'Oh it found me in the woods and I got lost because I thought something was chasing me but it turned out to be this wolf who was just interested in me is all and it's even helped me find my way back here,' I tell Hunter, 'it seems to like me I guess?' And I shrug my shoulders self consciously, 'I've never really been around animals, so I'm not totally sure,' I confess.

'I- I see,' Hunter says carefully to me and says in an observational way, 'it's a male by the way, I can see that from here,' Hunter says as he slowly puts the cups of tea on the ground and stands up as if getting ready to run.

'Briar, why don't you slowly come over here to me and leave the wolf there?' Hunter asks as a suggestion to me and I frown as the wolf in question looks from me to Hunter and just sighs at us and sits on his haunches and leans heavily into my leg and I find my hand has slipped up from its back and is now resting on the top of his head and apparently nudging my hand again to fuss him there.

'Why?' I ask Hunter, looking confusedly at him and the wolf who just wants my attention and so I talk to Hunter to try and reassure him.

'At first I was afraid when I first saw him too, but he's not bad at all, he's been a helpful boy and I think he likes me for some reason and maybe wants a bit of company after being alone? Maybe? I don't know, but he seems really friendly?' I babble on to Hunter.

'From what I've read in books, I was led to believe that wild animals were more scary,' I say as I begin to scratch behind the wolf's ears again and he gives off a small contented sigh at my touch. I must be getting better at fussing now I thought with a small measure of pride.

Hunter listens to me ramble on with his mouth still opening and closing in shock, his eyes growing wide but he finally spits out some words in disbelief at me, 'Why, you say?' He asks incredulously and tells me the answer without waiting for me to say anything, 'Because that's not a wolf Briar, it's a Fae and it's definitely no one I recognise from this camp!' Hunter states that last part a little hysterical like, pointing at the creature besides me and I look down at the wolf who just looks up at Hunter and actually does give him an eyeroll I notice and his long, pink tongue is lolling out the side of his mouth as if he's laughing at Hunter's behaviour.

'Really?' I ask in a small voice of disbelief to him. 'A Fae?' I repeat what Hunter has said to me.

'Really! Come to me now Briar,' Hunter says coaxingly, 'there's also going to be two very pi-! I mean annoyed Fae shifters here soon to physically separate you two, to protect you from the outsider,' Hunter warns me softly, his hand is outstretched towards me, encouraging me to reach out to him and join his side but suddenly there's a huge disruption in the night coming from behind us at the other end of the camp and there's sounds of fighting breaking loose in the distance. Hunter looks as startled as I feel as we both turn to look in that direction at the sudden unexpected sound.

The wolf looks at me and emits a soft whine from his throat, putting its ears back at the sound as well thats coming towards us but he moves to stand in front of me and looks over his shoulder as if to tell me to stay put behind him and he faces forwards again, the signs of the fight heading towards us all too quickly.

'This is bad Briar!' Hunter tells me and stands next to me quickly, regardless of the strange wolf for company. 'It looks like the enemy has finally found us at last,' he tells me and the fighting we could hear has finally reached us and the surging chaos engulfs and swallows us in the oncoming fight.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

I reach for my hidden weapons, given to me from the sickle thorns from what feels like ages ago, even if it's only been days in reality and their reassuring weight in my hands, sends a feeling of comfort through me. I know Ruby promised to train me with them but I still have some fighting experience anyway and I hold both my arms out, one raised by my head and the other held at stomach height as I await for anyone to attack me first so I can defend myself.

'So, is this a good time to tell you I don't fight?' Hunter mutters to me as he grabs the nearest thing to hand and that's a book from the from pile on the floor and puts his back to my back protectively. The wolf in front of me sounds like it just snorted at Hunter but maybe I imagined that in the moment. It is noisy after all.

'Well neither do I really but I know the basics,' I tell him truthfully whilst trying to watch everywhere at once.

'Can't you use your magic to fight?' Hunter shouts this last part with a shriek as an enemy has spotted him and Hunter hefts his book at the enemy's head and then he quickly rearms himself with another book as the attacker has dodged out of the way but the wolf with us lunges toward him and bites down on his leg to bring him down screaming into the dirt, just as another enemy has fended their way through everyone else to get here and they lunge at me next with a raised sword and I meet towards their attack and I fend them off for a moment.

My sleeves begin to slip down my arms and my eyes catch sight of the sickle thorn saplings wrapped around me, keeping me company all this time and I feel their fright pumping through me as they don't know what to do either.

I reach out to them and realise that they are feeding on my fear as well as their own and they're struggling through that to still try and lend their power to me by growing rapidly up my arm, sprouting thorns pointing outwards defensively from my skin and using their power to strengthen my arm to help push the enemy back away from me.

'Make them all sleep!' I scream in desperation as I throw the attacker backwards and the words hang in the ensuing silence for a moment as if the battle has stilled for that moment.

I see the strange wolf or Fae that Hunter has told me about, is still holding that first attacker on the ground as another enemy has raised their sword in the air to bring back down on the wolf to hurt it.

Hunter has dashed forwards, away from me because he sees Ruby fighting with her back turned to us and is about to get a sword put through her from another enemy, whilst she fights someone else off by using a sword she has picked up from somewhere.

Hunter knocks the guy off balance long enough to see that both of them crumple to the floor in a heap behind Ruby. She looks behind herself in time to see that Hunter is about to get stabbed instead of herself and she thrusts her free hand out towards them and sends a blast of fire in the assailant's way, throwing him back off of Hunter. This leaves a very stunned Hunter looking up at her before Ruby turns back round and grins maniacally for all to see as she lights her sword on fire and finally lets loose, not caring who sees her use magic now as she sweeps through the battlefield.

Mistress Garnet is back to back with Lord Ashton who's fighting with a sword and she's blasting away at the enemy who's trying to kill her and him by using her own strong gusts of wind magic to knock them off of their feet if they get too close to them both.

I see her look over to me in that slow second of time when I screamed and the sickle thorn saplings have followed through with my command and have formed their golden flowers allover my arm, spewing forth their sleeping pollen heavily into the air before me and a gust of wind whips right past us and spreads the golden pollen far and wide with help from Mistress Garnet who saw and understood my need right there and then.

Suddenly the battle is over as quick as it was started before. The potent sleeping pollen is being inhaled by them all as it hangs heavily over everyone around the area and so I see both friend and foe dropping to the ground fast asleep no matter what they're doing or where they are.

The sounds of thuds echo in the campsite around me and even though the battle was short, I'm breathing hard and shaking from the adrenaline dump in my system. The saplings who are still wrapped all the way up my arm, are trembling themselves and hold me tighter as I drop my weapon to the ground to run my hand carefully over the young vines, avoiding their thorns to give them comfort.

'You did good my friends, thank you,' I murmur and continue to caress them until they feel like they are safe again to retract their thorns and recede back down the length of my arm, feeling that I'm also safe again for now.

'Thank the Gods for your brave little friends,' Hunter says coming up besides me, in a relieved sounding voice, he's also heavily covered in glittering gold pollen and trying to blink it out of his eyes and scrubbing at his face to remove the sticky pollen from his skin.

I jump a way a little as he's surprised me and he bends down to retrieve my blade for me, noticing that I had dropped it, 'Careful now, you don't want to lose something this special,' Hunter says and hands it back gingerly to me, the blade in his hand so the handle points towards me instead.

'How are you awake right now?' I ask him in disbelief as I take back my knife in a stunned state, gawking at him from head to toe.

'We-ell,' Hunter draws out the word, 'I guess the Ruby Bumble-barb's potency is helping me out?' He says a little unsure about it all really and I see that he's swaying on his feet and blinking a bit dazedly at me. 'I see you don't get affected at all by the pollen,' Hunter points out and slurs his words a little.

'No, I don't,' I tell him and again I don't elaborate further, 'since you're awake you can help me,' I tell Hunter and he looks at my face and blinks owlishly at me, waiting to hear what it is I want him to do.

'Identity friend from foe for me in this group and help me tie them up and then as we go through them all, we heal the more serious injuries,' I tell him the plan I thought off on the spot and he nods at me a little tiredly but I can see he's still with me.

'Ok,' Hunter says to me, 'what do we use to tie everyone up with?' He asks, looking around the clearing and I pull my shirt up out the way and untie my pouch from my belt and open it up to summon the seed I need for this kind of job.

My thoughts are instantly relaying my urgent need to my family seed member, who eagerly does what I ask of them to help me immediately as there's no time to waste.

The glowing green seed floats in the air before me for a moment and then lands on the ground and grows up rapidly in an instant to form a fully grown Whip-willow tree making both me and Hunter take a few steps back as it expands further outwards as well as shooting upwards.

'We can use these for ropes,' I gesture, as my family member, the Whip-willow, sheds its supple and strong trailing branches onto the ground and grows more replacements to use for this current job.

The branches were known to be used for its namesake, the actual making of the weapon but they could also be used for making some of the strongest rope to be found.

'A- amazing,' Hunter stutters out in awe, 'how did you do that?' He asks me turning to look at me with a mixture of genuine curiosity and wonder on his face.

'I didn't really,' I say not explaining anything really. I don't want to go into any details just yet, a feeling of fierce protectiveness towards my seed family washes over me and I once again secure my seed family back to my belt again.

I then place my hand on the Whip-willow's strong, gnarled trunk and place my head against the rough bark as well, communing my many thanks to it silently and it shakes its branches at me in acknowledgement of what I have just said to it and it stands by to wait and grow more branches as we need them.

'Go. Protect friends,' the Whip-willow's deep enchanted voice echoes in my mind and I nod and step away from it and gesture to Hunter to follow my lead and silently gather the branches from the ground together with me and then follow to the nearest few people knocked out onto the ground that are closest and that I already knew were our enemies as they were the original ones attacking us in the first place.

We made quick work of those few, binding them tightly and lightly healing any injuries we found on them as well. We were bestowing charity upon the enemy even if they would never know about our kindness.

As I surveyed the extent of what we had to do, I could see it was going to be a lot of work, the ground was littered densely with sleeping bodies covered in the thick blanket of glinting gold pollen, making them all look like funny gilded statues of some kind.

'Amazing,' Hunter mutters again to me in the darkness that was lightening quickly as we moved just as swiftly as we could through the groups of people. We only had to return only once to the Whip-willow tree for more vines to complete our goal.

'You're showing no sides of tiredness at all and you've healed so many already,' Hunter points out and marvels at me.

I glance at him distractedly as I rapidly tie another up that Hunter has identified as the enemy and he heals a member of his, our, travelling group that needed an extra boost because of a profusely bleeding arm wound that was taking too long to heal and I say to him, 'Well, I am on Ruby Bumble-barb too, remember?' I finished tying that one up and wait for Hunter to point out another one for me to do.

Hunter just shakes his head at me in denial and carries on working besides me but he is showing signs of lagging behind in healing compared to me now that I've taken time to notice.

'Can't we wake up Lucas and his Grandfather who could help us out?' Hunter asks me hopefully and I glance at the thick layer of sparkling golden pollen all over everyone and I shake my head no at the idea he's mentioned.

'The pollens too thick for any waking antidote that you may have on you to work on them quickly enough and my own method would wake everyone up all at the same time before we have managed to tie all the enemy up,' I point out to him.

'The faster we do this, the sooner I can wake them,' I explain to Hunter who is looking more decidedly shaky now and I wait for him to point out another and I dash off to do it as fast as I can.

Somewhere along the way, I took note of where everyone I knew was that had collapsed as well. Ryo, Prince Raine, Ruby, Mistress Garnet, Lord Ashton and I even found Mender Lucas and his Grandfather tucked away in a corner.

I checked them all thoroughly and efficiently healed any injuries I found on them and placed them in a more comfortable position before moving on to another person and then another, in this mixed group of travellers and enemies that's laid side by side.

'It took just under hour at best, with our rapid and efficient way of dealing with it all. The sky was now lightening from grey to pink now, indicating that soon the sun was going to rise, when I and the now exhausted Hunter regrouped next to the Whip-willow tree who was still waiting for me patiently.

I held my hand out, palm upwards towards it and said, 'Thank you so much my dear friend and family member for your help today,' I said gratefully aloud to the Whip-willow tree, who lifts its thin branches to gently touch my head as if it patting me and I smile in return.

I feel the tree's emotion that it was happy to help me and it begins to shudder and shrink rapidly back to its original form as a gently glowing, green seed that floats straight back into my outstretched palm. I quickly retrieve my pouch again from my belt and placed the Whip-willow seed gently back in with my other seed family members inside the pouch and I hear them also welcoming and praising the Whip-willow seed at doing such a good job.

I tie the leather pouch back in place on my belt and Hunter looks at it with obvious interest, but when he looks up at me, Hunter shrugs and just says to me, 'I'll wait til you're ready to tell me more about it,' he says softly with a small encouraging smile on his lips for me.

Hunter then gestures to me with his arms held up and flung wide open at the chaotic clearing of the sleeping bodies before us, 'Now show me how you're going to wake up all these people?' He asks me with obvious interest colouring his voice.