Briar Rose

by Jana Oliver

  Before Reena could break her grip, a wave of the small beings fled past them. Each was toting one of the flowers and talking in agitated tones, their movements frantic.

  Using the confusion to her advantage, Reena broke free and worked her way back towards Pat. He still hadn’t budged.

  ‘Hey, guy. Time to go.’

  His eyes tracked to hers and his mouth opened slowly, as if it were a monumental effort. ‘Help me!’

  Reena sprinted down the corridor, which was devoid of fata now. What were they running from? Could the regent’s guards have got into the caverns somehow?

  Just as she’d reached Pat, a low wail echoed through a tunnel, like the keening of a hungry soul.

  ‘Come on!’ she said, grabbing his arm and tugging, but he didn’t move, as if he were rooted to the spot.

  ‘I hear them. They’re coming for me. Don’t leave me!’ he pleaded, terrified.

  ‘No way they’re getting you,’ Reena said. Whatever they are.

  There seemed to be no physical reason why he was stuck in the middle of the corridor, which meant it had to be something in his mind.

  What could break it? What is so important that he will want to follow me?

  Reena knew the answer in an instant. She pulled the ribbon out from under her clothes, holding the key up at Pat’s eye level.

  ‘See this? This is the way home. You have to follow me or you don’t get there, do you understand?’

  He nodded, still terrified.

  ‘Take my hand. That’s it, now take a step.’ He strained and his foot moved only a few inches. ‘That’s it, take another.’ He moved a bit further now.

  ‘You won’t leave me?’ he asked breathlessly.

  ‘No. You may be a total jerkwad, but I’m not leaving you.’

  Pat took a huge breath, gritted his teeth and lurched forward, nearly falling into her arms. She shoved him down the hall and he picked up his pace, though it was stilted.

  Voices called out to her in her mind. They sang her name in a twisted melody, similar to that of the fatas, though this song was of darkness and death. Of the loss of life and the hunger to find it once again.

  With one last look back at the shadowy grey figures creeping along the walls like ghostly vampires, Reena and Pat sprinted for their lives.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  ‘Does it hurt?’ Briar asked as she reached out to touch Ruric’s metal cheek.

  When her hand grew closer, he pulled away, as if the contact might harm him.

  Joshua couldn’t help but notice her fierceness fading away as she peered up at their rescuer. It was replaced by something softer, more vulnerable. It was the way he wished she’d look at him, if only things were different.

  ‘What about my friends? Are they OK?’ Briar asked.

  ‘They are not in the regent’s custody. That is all I know,’ Ruric replied. He held out two pieces of rope. ‘I shall have to bind you both. I will make the knots loose so you can get free if needed.’

  ‘How do we know we can trust you?’ Joshua asked.

  ‘I did just save you from certain death,’ came the terse reply.

  That wasn’t what he’d wanted to hear. Joshua turned to find Briar standing near the edge of the pit, nudging a dead centipede with her foot. She studied her hand and then gave it another nudge. As if unable to resist, she peered downward into the pit and then began to tremble, her arms encircling her chest.

  ‘I told you not to look,’ Ruric exclaimed, taking her arm and trying to pull her away.

  ‘Why not?’ Briar replied, shaking him loose, her face unusually pale. ‘I’m the reason he’s dead. I should know what it looks like.’

  ‘If that man is the only one to perish before all is put right, then we shall count ourselves lucky.’ Ruric sighed. ‘We must find the princess before the regent deems her continued existence too much of a threat and has her killed.’

  Joshua’s need to argue fell away when Briar allowed herself to be bound. He let himself be secured as well and, true to the man’s word, the ropes were loose.

  ‘Between us, we will keep her safe,’ Ruric said, pulling a knife.

  Joshua stepped back, wary.

  ‘You are remarkably sceptical,’ he added, handing over the blade so Joshua could slip it into the scabbard at his waist. ‘Keep your arm down so none will see the weapon. It is best if the pair of you appear to be my prisoners. There will be fewer questions that way.’

  Now Joshua felt like a total fool, which only darkened his mood. ‘Thanks,’ he replied half-heartedly.

  Briar had once again wandered back to the hole, still transfixed by the remains of the centipede. Pensive, she toed it, and this time it tipped over the edge into the pit.

  He and Ruric gravely took the measure of the other.

  ‘You’re a prince, aren’t you?’ Joshua asked. The man nodded. ‘Well, that doesn’t matter. She’s going home with me. I won’t let you keep her here.’

  Ruric tried to smile, but it proved difficult with the metal. ‘Even if she wishes it.’

  Joshua groaned. ‘This isn’t her world. She has a life back home.’

  ‘I know. Still, the decision is hers, not yours.’ Ruric turned his back on him. ‘Come, Briar, let us get out of here. The sentries will be changing soon.’

  Despite the fact that he didn’t like the prince, Joshua had to admit Ruric’s plan worked well: no one was going to challenge a guy whose face was partially silver. Still, Joshua didn’t let down his guard. The fact that Ruric had his own ideas for Briar’s future, and was going Team Regent, made him increasingly wary.

  Though he tried not to be, he was intrigued by Ruric’s face, the part that was seamless metal. It was not cutting into the flesh and causing it to die like on some of the other villagers. When he’d asked Ruric why, he’d received a cryptic answer: if the regent enchanted the metal and then it attached to you, it ate away at your skin. If she placed the spell directly, it did not.

  It didn’t make much sense, but it did explain why not everyone looked the same as the metal conquered them.

  Is that a flaw we can exploit?

  Joshua tensed when two guards tromped down the hallway towards them, chatting about how much money they’d lost at gambling earlier in the day.

  ‘My wife is going to have my head when she finds out,’ one man said.

  ‘Better her than the regent,’ the other replied grimly.

  ‘That’s the truth.’

  They passed by the trio with the barest of nods and kept going.

  The castle proved a real fortress with thick defensive walls marked by arrow slits, and narrow staircases that wound upward in a clockwise pattern. Those were a marvel of engineering, designed so that one man could defend them against an army. Unfortunately, this time the enemy was already within.

  Briar let out a pent-up breath. ‘Are we there yet?’

  ‘Soon,’ Ruric replied, keeping up the pace.

  Ruric only slowed when they entered a broad passageway covered by a wooden-beamed ceiling. Torches hung along the walls, illuminating still figures contorted in odd positions.

  ‘Not all the prisoners are executed on the field,’ he explained. ‘Some are slain inside the castle and then stuffed and displayed for the regent’s amusement. This is her . . . gallery.’

  It can’t be.

  Briar gingerly moved to the nearest figure, that of a middle-aged man. His skull had been split down the middle and each half lay on the corresponding shoulder, as if he was shrugging in two directions at once. All his skin had been peeled away, revealing dried muscles, grey and withered, like an anatomy exhibit.

  Did this come from my mind?

  She edged her way down the hallway, cataloguing the horrors, one by one, then paused in front of a young man who somehow looked familiar, though his limbs were severed and piled at his feet like trophies.

  ‘Remember Benton, the fellow at the inn, the broken one who drinks so much?’ Ruric asked. ‘This was his only so
n.’

  ‘That is so sad,’ she whispered. ‘But if this is my story, why is it so horrible?’

  ‘It’s the curse,’ Joshua said. ‘It’s pulling things from your mind and twisting them. Reena said it’d do that.’

  Ruric touched her arm. ‘So I am nothing more to you than a mental fancy?’

  Looking up into the brown eyes, Briar felt his distress so keenly. It was important to him that he be real in her eyes, not some dream.

  ‘No, you’re more than that. You always have been.’

  Ruric bowed his head. ‘I am gratified to hear that.’

  Joshua mumbled something under his breath, but she didn’t catch it. Given his deep frown it was probably for the best.

  Now silent, the prince led them through the gallery of unfortunates. She wasn’t sure if he’d believed her or not. She sort of remembered the prince she’d put in the tale. He’d been named Phillip, and though he was brave and noble he wasn’t anything quite like Ruric.

  ‘He isn’t real,’ Joshua whispered as they continued down the hallway. ‘None of this is.’

  Briar glared at him. ‘Maybe you aren’t real, either.’

  ‘Of course I am,’ he protested.

  ‘How do you know? Maybe you’re just in my imagination and instead you’re home celebrating that the curse isn’t yours any more.’

  He grimaced. ‘Ouch, that hurt.’

  ‘Good. It was supposed to.’

  When they reached one of the circular staircases, Ruric had them hold back.

  ‘I think the princess’s chambers are up there, but I’m not sure,’ he said quietly. ‘Wait here.’

  He continued on to the next level and engaged a guard in conversation.

  ‘He has no idea where we’re going. He’s just trying to look important,’ Joshua snarked.

  ‘Why are you being such a jerk to him? He’s trying to help us.’

  ‘No, he’s trying to help himself. Why else would he bother to wake up a princess? He’s hoping to score something out of this.’

  Briar seethed, mostly because Joshua was right.

  A solid thunk of something heavy hitting the floor came from above them.

  Shortly thereafter, Ruric reappeared. ‘I was right – she is up here. Come. It is safe now.’

  A lone guard lay on his side near a doorway, and for a moment Briar thought he was dead.

  ‘Is he . . . ?’ she began.

  ‘He’s not dead. I am not one of the regent’s executioners.’

  ‘At least not yet,’ Joshua added.

  Briar ignored him. ‘There’s more metal now.’

  Ruric gingerly tapped his face, feeling the meeting point between silver and flesh. ‘I know. I can feel it inside me, trying to steal my will. I shall fight it as long as I am able.’

  He abruptly turned his back on them and, using a key he’d apparently taken from the guard, unlocked the room. After he’d dragged the unfortunate man inside, Joshua closed the door behind them. A second set of doors awaited them.

  The main room they entered hoarded dust as if it were gold. Inches of it stood on almost every surface, a grey spongy moss. The floor, however, was disturbed, a myriad footsteps criss-crossing here and there. In some places there were little sprinkles of something dried and brown.

  Briar found herself drawn to the huge gilt mirror. With a finger, she drew a crown in the dust and put her initials inside. She’d been signing her name like that since kindergarten. Behind her, Joshua tried to stifle a sneeze. It seemed funny that he could work around horses and hay with no problem, but get him in a room that desperately needed a maid and he was a mess.

  ‘People have been in and out of here,’ he said, pointing at the marks in between sniffles. ‘I’m thinking those dark spots are blood.’

  With his goal in sight, Ruric moved resolutely towards the princess. Briar had expected her to be in a canopied bed with lots of lace and frills. Instead, Aurora lay on a simple divan that sat up against the far wall. She was even prettier close up, her gown the same one Briar had seen in the market. She still wore those dancing shoes.

  Are your dreams happy, or sad?

  The princess’s pale eyelashes fanned across creamy skin and her hair was a tumble of honey curls that draped over the side of the bed. Her full lips were bright ruby and her delicate hands crossed just below her chest, clutching a metal rose. She obviously hadn’t aged at all in the ten years she had been asleep.

  In short, she was a total guy magnet. The effect wasn’t lost on the two males in the room.

  ‘Is she not beautiful?’ Ruric said, his voice awed. He moved closer as if irresistibly drawn to the girl. ‘Her hair is nearly the same gold as yours, Briar. Or what yours once was.’

  Joshua stepped forward as well, his watering eyes moving from the sleeping figure to Briar and back again, comparing them. ‘She’s a babe. You do sort of look like her. That’s kind of creepy.’

  Briar hadn’t missed that he’d said she looked like the princess, not the other way round, as if she was a cheap copy. ‘Guys, I’m not feeling good about this.’

  ‘Of course you don’t,’ Ruric said. ‘Perhaps you’re a bit jealous?’

  What? That was a slap-down she hadn’t seen coming. ‘No, I’m not,’ she said, but her disclaimer came out too quickly for either of them not to notice.

  ‘Yes, you are,’ Joshua replied. ‘What girl wouldn’t be? The princess is so . . .’

  Wrong?

  Briar backed up on instinct. ‘If she’s so important, why did she only have one guard?’

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ Joshua said, his attention never wavering from the sleeping girl. ‘She is perfect.’

  ‘I agree,’ Ruric replied. ‘I shall try to wake her. If I fail—’

  ‘Then I will,’ Joshua said dreamily.

  You have got to be kidding me. What was wrong with these guys?

  As Ruric stepped up on the low platform, the sound of rushing water filled Briar’s mind.

  ‘Ruric . . . wait!’

  Oblivious, he bent and placed a worshipful kiss on those ruby lips, then stepped back, eager for the princess to wake.

  Absolutely nothing happened.

  ‘But I was sure . . .’ Ruric began.

  ‘Man, that’s a sincere kick in the ego,’ Joshua said, grinning. ‘My turn.’

  Before he could move, Aurora stirred, her lashes fluttering open to reveal deep sapphire-blue eyes. She blinked a couple of times, then sat up, laying the rose aside. When she spied Ruric, she smiled. It was the kind of smile that ruled both men and kingdoms.

  He beamed and went down on one knee. ‘My princess.’

  ‘My one true prince,’ she said, as if there was no question.

  Huh?

  That wouldn’t have been Briar’s first thought after dozing for ten years. Wouldn’t Aurora want to know what had happened to her, or how long she’d slept? Or why her parents weren’t here?

  Not: ‘My one true prince.’

  ‘Umm . . . this doesn’t feel right. I think we’d better leave,’ Briar urged.

  ‘I have no intention of doing any such a thing,’ Ruric said, his eyes only for the princess. ‘I have found the most beautiful woman in the world and she is mine.’

  Still deploying that dazzling smile, the petite royal rose from her bed and placed her delicate arms around Ruric’s neck. Eager, he leaned into the embrace, his arms encircling her waist.

  ‘Better get ’em a room,’ Joshua grumbled.

  As they grew closer, the soft flesh on the princess’s hands began to melt away, the creamy skin turning brown as aged brass appeared in its place.

  ‘Ruric!’ Briar cried. ‘Look out!’

  The moment she called out the warning, Aurora’s entire body became solid metal, from her hair to her dainty shoes. It was as if she’d been dipped in brass, every fine detail preserved. Not an automaton, but a moving statue.

  ‘How dare you wake me?’ the princess demanded, tightening her hands round Ruric’s th
roat. ‘Who do you think you are?’

  If this had been the real princess, he could have easily escaped, but this version had him in a death grip, and continued to tighten it the more he struggled. The creature did not seem to care that they shared the same metal – or the same mistress – she only saw an enemy that must be destroyed.

  Joshua dived to his rescue, hacking at the thing with his knife, but it did no good.

  ‘The guard’s sword. Get it!’ he cried.

  It took some shoving and rolling of the man’s sleeping weight for Briar to release the sword from its scabbard. By the time she raced forward, Ruric had been hefted above his captor, his boots barely brushing the floor. His face, at least the skin that remained, was a dusky purple as he fought for each breath. Kicking out, he tried to break her grip.

  The metal princess laughed at his feeble efforts.

  ‘They are all the same,’ she said. ‘None are worthy. All must die.’

  Briar hefted the sword and then nearly dropped it. It was amazingly heavy. The second time she put her back into it and got the blade into the air, then let gravity do its worst on the outstretched arm. The sword bounced off the metal, doing it no harm.

  ‘Give it to me,’ Joshua ordered. When his blow struck the creature, she broke her grip and staggered back.

  As if somehow she’d forgotten her desire to kill now that she’d lost contact with the prince, Aurora sank on to the bed. Without a word, she calmly reclaimed the flower and resumed her resting pose. Metal swiftly yielded to pale skin and golden hair, with no evidence of any injuries.

  Stepping closer, for a fraction of a second Briar saw her eyes, pure blue and totally human. Totally afraid.

  Then the princess fell asleep once again as the trap was reset.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Once Ruric had regained his breath, he croaked, ‘Destroy it. It is an unholy monster. Cut off its head.’

  ‘I can’t do that, not when she looks like that,’ Joshua said, stepping back.

  ‘It will keep killing if we do not stop it,’ Ruric insisted, then began to cough again. His colour was returning, but Briar could see the near miss had struck him deeply.