A Thorny Tale

A Thorny Tale: Part two

Chapter Seven

Strangers in the dark

Ryo

I had left my scouting party behind in the town, they were blending in with the locals and acquiring information and various other items that we needed to transport the 'package' that Raine was meant to retrieve but I had heard earlier upon arrival that we now had to retrieve Raine as well much to my amusement. I told them I was going to go ahead and check out the lay of the land with my own skill set of blending into the surroundings that no one else could ever rival unless you were an actual dragon yourself.

Dragons could blend into the surroundings to hide themselves better in the mountains and to hopefully avoid being hunted for their prized magical hides and other magical body parts people wanted for their spells and medicine. I could do the same thing and was the best fit in gathering information without getting caught.

My men had grumbled about my safety but they knew ultimately no one had ever caught me yet or rivalled my power in a fight. Besides this was just going to be a little reconnaissance to get the rescue plan started. What I hadn't expected was to find the most interesting sight I had ever seen yet in my life to reveal herself to me.

I hid in plain sight, further off down the road and watched a beautiful full blown Fae woman of nature magic, commune with the sickle thorns nearby and not only not get attacked by them and become their magical midnight snack, she gets their help to rescue my friend Raine as well to top it off.

It was a curious puzzle to be sure about the female but the behaviour of the sickle thorns got even stranger as I saw them gift this woman something of immense power and importance to them to help protect her. I watched in awe as the sickle thorns lovingly stroked her before they retreated and settled back down into their normal formation on the castle grounds.

As the Fae woman walked towards Raine, I tensed as I watched to see what she would do with her gifts from the sickle thorn plants and my unconscious friend laying prone on the ground. I only relaxed slightly as I saw her put them safely away as she started to check Raine over.

Feeling a little twinge of some emotion I couldn't decipher it trickled through me when I saw her touch Raine. Why would I be jealous over Raine being touched by the stranger I couldn't stop watching? I observed another unusual sight next and that something else was revealed in the slip of the moonlight shining weakly down upon the woman.

I could see that her ears were rounded now as she tucked her long, dark flowing hair behind one of her ears and most importantly I realised to my own shock that even though I could see her use magic, I couldn't feel it at all. Even now she felt like a powerless human to me from here.

She was talking quietly to Raine and I strained to hear her soft whispers next to Raine's louder voice but I could barely hear her. I suddenly wished I was in Raine's position right now, looking at her face and listening to her voice properly. My intuition was telling me it felt like it was going to be very important to me as my blood thrummed through my veins trying to reach out to her.

Someone like her shouldn't be possible but maybe it was, a magic user who could not be felt. I had stumbled onto a person who's existence was a mystery but maybe it was a mystery that I myself was personally acquainted with in some way in regards to my own heritage. Maybe her own existence came to be through similar circumstances like my own. I never had come across another person like me before, but maybe now I had?