A Thorny Tale

A Thorny Tale: Part ten

Chapter Thirty-two

Briar

I held both my hands out from my body, palm upwards again and I concentrated on drawing every single particle of the precious golden dust in the clearing into my hands and they were slowly being filled up with the twinkling motes as they drifted towards me and coalesced quickly into two hard, shimmering, large, golden nuggets, one in each of my hands within moments.

My audience of one, Hunter, just stares between the golden nuggets of pollen in my hand and at me with equal measures of shock and awe at what he's seeing me do. It makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable and vulnerable in the moment as someone else besides Ruby and Mistress Garnet are seeing me use my magic.

Hunter sees my worried thoughts on my face and rushes to reassure me, 'You're just simply beyond anything I have ever seen before Briar and I don't think you have even tapped your full potential! I think you maybe even more powerful than-,' and Hunter catches himself before he says something, 'than well anyone I know at least,' he amends to me, 'but don't worry, no one here will do anything to you, you're a free person and you'll remain that way, just like myself!' He vows rapidly and bows at the waist towards me.

I don't know how to react or what to say to Hunter but I find myself being saved from doing anything by the sounds of people groaning and waking back up around us and Hunter's attention darts away from me to look out over the group instead.

He nods once to me, before rushing off to help Ryo get back onto his feet first and anyone else within his reach, whilst assessing for any more unseen injuries and informing people of what has happened to them as they all groan out questions and rub sore heads. I run over to Ruby who is the closest to me and help support her back to her feet as she brushes her long red locks out of her face to see me clearly once again.

'I see we won somehow,' Ruby remarks while winking at me, very well knowing how we 'won'.

'I saw you use your magic and so did Hunter,' I point out to her and Ruby shrugs her shoulders at me nonchalantly.

'So did Mama,' Ruby pointed out as well, 'we decided to throw our lot in with yours as you're family and where you go, we go with you too,' Ruby admits to me carefully, gauging my reaction to her news and I immediately tackle her in a bear hug, lifting her off her feet for a second and swinging her around as Ruby whoops out in laughter at my antics.

'I take it, you told Briar our decision just now,'Mistress Garnet calls out to us as she reaches our side too and I look over to her and release Ruby to only hug her mother in the same kind of fierce hug that had her gasping in surprised laughter as well.

'Who's your new friend?' Ruby asks stepping away slowly and eyeing the wolf that shambles upto me and shakes his green gold fur out as he joins my side again and sits down besides me, staring in obvious interest at Ruby and Mistress Garnet who now steps out of my hug to observe the wolf carefully.

'He helped me when I got lost in the woods earlier on but now that I think about it, I got lost because he frightened me and I started to run not remembering which way I was supposed to be heading back in,' I remark as I stare down at him and he tilts his head to the side to look up at me as well.

'He has a very unusual colour for a coat of fur,' Mistress Garnet remarks eyeing up the green gold hue, 'and an unusual marking too,' she points out the shape she can see on the side of the wolf's rib cage closest to me and I kneel down to get a better look and reach out to retrace the shape with my hand.

'It's in the shape of a leaf,' I remark out loud as I stare at the dark green leaf that stood in sharp contrast to the rest of his fur and the wolf leans heavily into my touch, seeming to enjoy my attention right at that spot.