Briar Rose

by Jana Oliver

  ‘Reena got us in,’ the young man said.

  The look he shared with his companion said there was more to it than that.

  ‘What’s with the hair?’ the one named Reena asked.

  Briar shook her head. ‘Not here,’ she said, looking around nervously. ‘I’ll tell you later.’

  Ruric gently cleared his throat. ‘Would you care to introduce me, cousin?’

  ‘Oh, sorry!’ Briar began, her voice registering her excitement. ‘This is my friend, Reena, and this is Joshua. Ruric runs the stable. He has been taking care of me since I came here.’

  ‘I am pleased to meet you both,’ Ruric said. He resisted the temptation to take hold of Briar’s hand to see what the one named Joshua might do. Given the fire in the fellow’s eyes, it might result in a brawl.

  ‘You do know how to pick them,’ Reena replied, waggling an eyebrow. ‘So, Ruric, you wouldn’t happen to have a brother, would you?’

  ‘Yes, two of them.’ He smiled, studying her features. ‘Both wed.’

  ‘Guys, we need to be going,’ Joshua cut in.

  ‘But . . .’ Briar’s enthusiasm waned. ‘Right now?’

  ‘Ah, yes,’ Reena replied. ‘Sooner or later the curse is going to take you down. We don’t want to be here when it does.’

  So there really is a curse. That saddened him, for he realized that she might truly leave him behind. Perhaps I am only a dream to her.

  ‘Oh . . .’ Now Briar appeared to be on the verge of tears. ‘Can you give us a moment, please?’

  Reena nodded immediately, but the young man didn’t look pleased. It took her shoving him down the street to gain them some privacy.

  ‘You are wrong,’ Ruric began, feeling an unexpected ache settle into his chest. ‘That young man does care for you.’

  ‘He . . .’ Briar shook her head. ‘It doesn’t matter, not once I get home. His mom will see to that.’

  ‘Then . . .’ Ruric summoned his courage. ‘Perhaps you might . . . stay here with me.’

  Briar’s mouth dropped open. ‘Oh . . . but . . . I . . .’

  In her eyes he could see her emotions play out: the promise, the doubt.

  ‘Ruric?’ They turned in unison to find the reeve headed towards them, four of the regent’s guards behind him.

  ‘The horse is still not for sale,’ Ruric snapped, aggravated at the interruption. He leaned closer to Briar. ‘Allow me to get rid of this fool. I have more I must say before you make your decision.’

  ‘I’ll . . . wait.’

  That gave him hope. Ruric turned towards the overbearing official. ‘What do you want, reeve?’

  ‘You.’

  Ruric was immediately set upon by two of the guards, who spun him round and rammed him up against the side of the stable, mashing his cheek into the wood. A sword poked him in the back, ensuring he gave up the fight. The remaining muscle kept watch in case some of the villagers decided to intervene.

  ‘What is this? What’s going on?’ Ruric demanded. ‘You are under arrest,’ the reeve said. ‘You are to be taken to the regent for trial.’

  ‘What have I done to warrant such unpleasant attention?’

  ‘You have profited from the enemies of the princess.’

  ‘Oh, I see. I didn’t sell you the mare and now you’re seeking your petty revenge.’

  ‘Teach him some manners,’ the reeve ordered. A guard buried his first into Ruric’s side and he grimaced in pain.

  ‘Stop this!’ Briar said. She tried to get closer, but one of the guards held her back and she was no match for his strength. ‘Leave Ruric alone. Just take the stupid horse.’

  The reeve eyed her closely. ‘Best be silent, girl, or you’ll be joining him.’

  ‘Stay out of this, cousin,’ Ruric urged. ‘It is a simple matter once I speak to the regent. I shall be back here soon enough.’

  Briar had seen too much death in this kingdom to believe that.

  Once his arms were secured in front of him, Ruric requested the opportunity to say farewell to her. To their surprise, the reeve granted it.

  He knows I’ll never see Ruric again.

  Ruric looped his arms round her, and pulled her against him. He leaned close to her ear. ‘Go home. You do not belong here. Give that young man a chance to tell you how much he cares for you,’ he whispered. When he broke the embrace, he gently touched her cheek. ‘Remember me kindly, Briar Rose.’

  Tears escaping, she nodded, then tipped up on her toes and kissed his cheek.

  ‘I had wondered what it would take to get you to do that,’ he said. His kiss went on her cheek as well, though she swore he would have preferred to kiss her mouth.

  ‘Please don’t let the regent hurt you.’

  ‘I’ll endeavour to make it so. And, look, I have found yet another way inside the castle,’ he said, winking.

  As the guards led him away, Briar didn’t try to hold back her tears. A few of the townsfolk paused to watch the procession, whispering among themselves, but none intervened.

  Divide and conquer. Take away one troublemaker at a time and the others won’t stop you.

  She rounded on the reeve, all fury. ‘He’s innocent and you know it. You just did this to get the horse.’

  The man’s hand shot out and grabbed on to her braid, dragging her close to him. He smelt of scented oil and greed.

  ‘You would be wise to hold your tongue, girl,’ he snarled. ‘I know what you have done with your hair. You’d best keep on my good side, or the regent will learn your secret. Then you will be silenced forever.’

  When he shoved her away, she nearly fell. ‘Saddle the mare. She is mine. From this day forward, I will expect you to pay me one-fifth of your profits. Do you understand?’

  Even though she did not own the stable, Briar had no choice but to agree. Her hands trembling and the tears falling, she readied the horse.

  ‘Kick him,’ she whispered in an ear. ‘Kick him hard.’

  She led the beast out of the stable and handed over the reins.

  ‘What will the regent do to him?’

  The man heaved himself up on the horse. ‘Cut his throat. Make him one of her own. Feed him to one of her monsters. It is of no importance to me. I have what I want.’

  Swinging the mare round, he cantered up the street, his head high, his victory complete.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  ‘How long is this goodbye going to take?’ Joshua growled, scratching under his shirt. He swore fleas were leaping on him from all directions, though he’d found no evidence of their presence.

  ‘Listen to you,’ Reena replied, grinning from under the hood. ‘You keep that up and you’re going to glow green.’

  ‘I don’t care. You saw how he was looking at her. She was even holding his hand. What was that all about?’ he asked, stomping along.

  ‘He’s a hunk. That’s what I’d do. Just chill, will you? Once we get back home she’ll forget all about him.’

  Home. Back in Bliss. How is that going to make things better?

  As they entered a broader street, Joshua kept muttering his breath. ‘Come on, let’s go get her. I want to get out of here.’

  ‘All right! If it keeps you from bitching, I’m all for it.’

  As they turned round, Joshua shot a glance towards an open area where a few small boys had gathered. There were two pillories there, one of which was occupied. As the boys issued taunts and threw rotten produce and mud at the prisoner the guy’s arms and legs shook from the unnatural position he was forced to hold.

  ‘Talk about having a bad day,’ Reena said. When the prisoner raised his face, she gasped. ‘Pat?’

  It sure looked like him. ‘Can’t be,’ Joshua replied. ‘How could he get here unless you brought him?’

  She moved closer. ‘It’s him. I swear it.’

  The prisoner’s eyes moved to her. ‘Reena?’ he called out. ‘Oh God, get me the hell out of here!’

  ‘I’m thinking that works for me. Just wish I had my cellphone
to capture the moment.’

  Instead, Joshua tapped one of the small boys on the shoulder and asked for what he was holding. The lad gave it up with a knowing nod.

  ‘Thank you.’ He weighed the squishy, overripe apple in his palm.

  ‘You wouldn’t dare—’ Pat began even as the fruit flew towards him.

  Joshua’s aim was true and it smashed directly into Pat’s forehead, oozing its rotten flesh downward. Pat spat and swore.

  ‘That’s for Briar, you jerk,’ Joshua said, then laughed. He looked around and spied a pile of fresh horse manure.

  Reena caught his intention. ‘Josh Quinn, don’t even think it,’ she ordered. She charged up to the prisoner and began to tug on the bar holding Pat in place. One of the townspeople interceded, an older gent with a balding head.

  ‘No, girl, leave him be. We put him there because he’s been uncivil.’

  ‘But it’s inhuman,’ Reena said. When her hood slipped off, she made no attempt to pull it back up.

  The man stared at her now. ‘He’s lucky it was just us and not the regent who put him there. It’s no more than what he deserves.’

  ‘What did he do?’

  ‘He insulted my good wife, called her a hag when she’d not tell him what he wanted to know. And he’s been blaspheming.’

  Reena eyed Pat. ‘Did you do all that?’

  ‘Yeah, maybe,’ he mumbled. ‘I was trying to get someone to tell me what was going on. I mean, what is it with this place? Is this like one of those Renaissance fairs or something?’

  ‘I’ll explain later. Just hold it together, OK?’ She smiled up at the villager. ‘How long does he have to stay like this?’ she asked, turning on the charm.

  ‘If he apologizes, I’ll set him free.’

  ‘I won’t—’ Pat began.

  Reena slapped her palm over his mouth. ‘How long will he stay if he doesn’t apologize?’

  ‘Half a day should do it.’

  She looked back at the prisoner. ‘Well, Daniels, what’s it going to be? Half a day of getting hit by crap, or just sucking it up and being polite?’

  ‘Polite,’ he mumbled against her palm.

  ‘Good plan.’ She removed her hand and the prisoner stammered out an apology for being a total jerk.

  Joshua cracked a smile. This has to be a first. Once they got Briar home, he’d savour this memory for years.

  In a short time, Pat was free of the contraption, groaning in agony as his muscles protested. He shook himself to dislodge some of the fruit. ‘God, I stink.’

  He headed for the closest water trough, and after dunking his head he scrubbed until his face was clean. Joshua decided not to point out just how filthy the water might be.

  Pat’s efforts resulted in his hair plastered against his head, water dripping down. Joshua began to snigger.

  ‘It’s not funny,’ he said through gritted teeth as he shifted his full attention to Reena. ‘If this is a hazing thing, just tell me.’

  ‘It’s not. I’ll explain later.’

  ‘Yeah, later,’ Joshua urged. ‘Let’s grab Briar and get out of here.’

  ‘Briar? She’s here too?’ Pat’s expression changed. ‘Oh, I got it. This is some sort of payback for coming on to her, right?’

  ‘I wish it were that simple,’ Reena said, tugging on his arm to get him moving. ‘I’m not sure why you’re here. What happened?’

  ‘I went to sleep and I woke up dressed like this,’ Pat replied, gesturing at his damp clothes. ‘Everybody I talked to was stupid. I couldn’t get a straight answer.’

  Probably because you were an asshat.

  ‘What time did you fall asleep?’ Reena asked.

  ‘Ah, a little after four. My folks are in Savannah for the weekend so I stayed up and watched some TV.’

  ‘It was the same for us,’ she said, looking over at Joshua. ‘There has to be a connection.’

  Smoothing his hair out of the way, Pat ran a hand across his face, leaving a trail of red in its wake.

  Reena stepped closer to him. ‘You’re bleeding.’

  He looked down at his palm. ‘Yeah, I did it at the party. It was that dumb bracelet of Briar’s.’ He frowned at Joshua. ‘Why would you ever give a girl something sharp like that? You know they’re klutzes.’

  A low growl formed in Reena’s throat. ‘I’ll act like you didn’t say that.’

  Suddenly it all made sense. ‘The charm that cut you, was it the woodsman with the little axe?’ Joshua asked.

  ‘Yeah, why?’

  He and Reena traded looks.

  ‘It’s possible,’ she said, lowering her voice. ‘If he got his blood on the charm before I did the spell, he would have been included in the magic.’

  ‘Magic?’ Pat blurted.

  ‘Shush!’ Reena replied, looking around uneasily. ‘These people are not going to be good with that kind of thing. OK?’

  ‘I don’t care. I’m going to start yelling that word at the top of my lungs if you don’t tell me what the hell is going on,’ Pat retorted.

  ‘The dude’s losing it. Better calm him down,’ Joshua said, which earned him a glower.

  Keeping her voice low, Reena began to explain, though to any normal person it sounded quite insane. From the expression on Pat’s face, he was thinking the same. As they retraced their steps to the stable, he went through a number of stages: first he laughed, then told her to stop lying to him, and finally grew really angry.

  None of which had played well with Reena.

  ‘I told you the truth,’ she retorted, her fists clenched, looking like she wanted to punch some sense into him. ‘I’m sorry you have your head so far up your butt you can’t deal with it.’

  Pat glared over at him. ‘Is this crazy chick for real?’

  ‘She is. Hoodoo brought you here and it will get you home, unless you keep being a total dick and she decides to leave you behind. Frankly, I’m all for that.’

  Pat shook his head. ‘This is just bull. It was that pizza I had right before I went to sleep. I’ll wake up in the morning and it’ll be fine.’

  Reena nailed him on the arm and he winced. ‘You feel pain in your dreams?’

  He blinked a couple of times, then checked out their surroundings with increasing concern. ‘This is for real?’

  She nodded. ‘Welcome to Briar’s nightmare, dude.’

  Briar was still crying when her friends found her. She ran into Reena’s arms, weeping so hard she could hardly catch her breath.

  ‘Honey, what happened?’ Reena asked. ‘Are you OK?’

  ‘They arrested Ruric,’ she gasped. ‘They’ve taken him to the castle.’

  ‘I’m so sorry. He seems like a nice guy.’

  ‘We need to leave before something like that happens to us,’ Joshua insisted.

  Briar stared at him through the tears, stung by his insensitivity. Then she saw Pat and her mouth dropped open. ‘What is he—?’

  ‘Long story,’ Joshua replied. ‘We need to go now.’

  Go? Was that even an option? Could she leave Ruric behind, never knowing what had happened to him?

  Even as she thought that, she felt the darkness growing again, gathering strength. Her friends being here had changed everything. Before, it had been a matter of keeping her head down, trying to figure out how to help Ruric wake the princess. Now, if she tried to save him, she’d be putting the others in danger.

  Who did she owe more?

  ‘I’m with the horse dude,’ Pat said, angling a thumb at Joshua. ‘This isn’t my idea of fun. Can we go now?’

  ‘No,’ Briar replied, pulling away from Reena. ‘I’m not going anywhere until Ruric is safe.’

  ‘What?’ Joshua shot back. ‘Are you crazy? You know what it’s like here.’

  Townspeople began to watch them more closely than was prudent. Having this sort of argument in the middle of the street wasn’t a smart move.

  ‘Come on, we need to talk this out somewhere else,’ Briar said, beckoning them forward. ‘Some
where less . . . public.’

  Somewhere the regent didn’t have any spies.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  After a brief stop to talk to the smithy, who had promised to deliver the bad news to the stable’s owner, Briar herded her friends through the village. To ensure they weren’t followed, she’d led them on a circuitous route.

  Finally she swung open the blue door to the building that supposedly held the wine cellar. The moment she stepped inside she wondered why Ruric had thought this was such a great hiding place. The roof was history, birds flitting around in the open rafters, which meant the floor was covered in little white mounds of bird poop, and the hearth was home to a hissing creature of some kind.

  ‘This pretty much blows,’ Pat began as he checked out the dusty interior. ‘You really live here?’

  ‘No!’ she said, irritated, pushing the door closed behind them. ‘It’s a hiding place if things go wrong.’ Like now.

  It took a bit, but Briar finally found the door that led to the cellar and creaked it open, nearly tearing it off the weakened hinges. A wooden box sat on the top stair. Inside she found six beeswax candles and a candle holder, along with a flint, a crude piece of steel and other items. Ruric had planned ahead.

  ‘Either of you a boy scout?’ Briar asked.

  Pat shrugged. ‘I was when I was a kid.’

  ‘You? Really?’ Reena said. ‘My middle bro is into all that. He’s working on some first-aid badge and he keeps bandaging up the dog because the rest of us won’t let him near us.’

  ‘Been there, done that,’ he replied sullenly.

  Briar pointed at the candles and the flint. ‘Can you get one of those going? We’re going to need it to use the cellar.’

  ‘I can try,’ he said, scooping up the items and retreating back into the sunlight. There were a couple of muffled curse words along with the repeated sound of flint striking steel. Then a ‘Score!’

  Pat returned with the burning candle. ‘Don’t let it go out. It was a pain in the ass to light.’

  Briar took the taper and the holder, mating them. She slowly descended the stairs, taking care not to trip. ‘Can one of you bring down the box?’

  ‘I live to serve,’ Pat replied.