Briar Rose (33 page)

‘Don’t all men lie, cousin?’ he said, smiling.

Don’t get me started.

As Briar was escorted out of the room, she took a final look over her shoulder. Ruric was stone-faced now, preparing for what lay ahead. As she turned away, she noticed the bracelet was no
longer on the table. There was only one person who could have taken it.

Maybe the princess wasn’t as gullible as she seemed.

‘How bad is your leg?’ Reena asked.

‘Don’t know yet,’ Pat replied. ‘Not good, the way it’s feeling.’

They were keeping close to the buildings, skulking along, trying hard not to encounter any more wolves.

Reena came to a halt. ‘OK, I give up. I have no idea where we are.’

He was too weary to be angry. ‘I don’t either,’ he said. ‘Maybe we should find a rooftop and get some sleep. It’s too dangerous to be on the ground.’

‘All right, I can work with that. In the morning, we’ll try to get inside the castle. Maybe we can free Briar and Josh, and find this Ruric guy.’

‘Sounds good. Then we can kick that cold bitch off the throne. That would rock,’ Pat said.

‘Wait a minute,’ Reena said, turning towards him. ‘You were the one who said everything had to be about you. Now you want to go to war with the regent?’

‘Yeah, I do. This is totally personal now,’ he said.

There was a creak of wood as the door opened behind them. Before either of them could utter a word, a beefy hand came down on each of their shoulders. With a swift tug, they were pulled inside
the building and the door closed behind them.

‘What do we have here?’ a gruff voice asked.

‘You’re the smithy,’ Reena said. ‘We saw you earlier today when Briar came to tell you about Ruric.’

The man didn’t reply, massive in size with a craggy face.

‘We’re . . . friends of Briar and . . . the stable guy,’ Pat added, hoping that would count for something. ‘Unless of course you’re one of the regent’s
people, then we’ve never heard of them.’

‘Oh, that was brilliant,’ Reena grumbled.

‘I heard you two outside talking about rebellion,’ the smithy replied. ‘What keeps me from turning you in? I could use the coin.’

‘You do that and it all gets worse,’ Pat said. ‘Ruric dies, so do our friends and you guys get stuck with the ruler from hell for the rest of your lives.’

‘You believe you can get her off that throne?’ the man asked.

Reena and Pat exchanged looks.

‘Who knows?’ Pat said, shrugging. ‘We can give it a try. That’s more than you folks have been doing from what I can see.’

A hand shot out and grabbed him by the collar, dragging him up into the air as if he weighed nothing. ‘You have no notion of what we’ve been doing, lad.’

Struggling not to choke, Pat coughed out, ‘Ah, all right. Sorry.’

The man set him free. ‘I heard you fell into the fata hole, and yet you’re still alive. How did that come to be?’

Reena stepped closer to their questioner. ‘They took care of us. They’re not your enemy, but they are definitely the regent’s. They gave me something that can destroy her
metal.’

The man’s eyes widened. ‘You speak the truth, girl?’

‘I do. It’s why she has been killing them. You’ve had the perfect weapon right under your noses all the time.’

‘Why would they help us? They put the curse on the princess.’

‘I don’t know about that. I just know that the reason the wolves didn’t kill us is the fata’s magic. It destroyed them, the metal parts at least.’

The smithy thought for a time, then beckoned them to join him. ‘Come on, the pair of you, it’s safer back here.’

He led the way to the rear of the building where coals still glowed in the forge and the sharp tang of iron filled Pat’s nose with each breath.

‘We must keep our voices down. My wife and children are asleep inside, and have no knowledge of what this is about. I will put them in great danger if it is learned that I helped
you.’

‘Thank you,’ Reena said. ‘What we really need are weapons. A sword, a bow and some arrows. A couple of knives if you have them. Once Ruric wakes the princess, the regent will
come after us with all those monsters of hers.’

‘By all the saints, that is what I fear most,’ the smithy murmured. ‘She can conjure at will. It is unholy.’ He poked at the forge absentmindedly. ‘I remember the
day Ruric came to the town. He was wearing nothing that spoke of wealth, but it was his eyes that told me that he was of noble birth. He wasn’t haughty or overbearing – it was that
quiet strength you see in those who have held power in their hands, and know how to wield it without hurting all they touch.’

‘So now you’re working together to overthrow the regent?’ Reena asked.

‘Yes, there are a few of us, but not enough.’ He looked over at Pat. ‘Help me shift the anvil, lad.’

Pat did as ordered, though to be honest he doubted that he’d contributed much. Compared to the smithy’s bulk, he looked like a half-starved chicken. They wrestled the anvil aside and
then the smithy moved the log that served as its base. Scraping back the dirt on the floor, he revealed a series of boards. It took some prising, but finally the boards were removed. The smithy
began handing out items, all wrapped in burlap.

As Pat unwound one of the bundles, he found two swords and a pair of knives, all in scabbards.

‘No bow?’ Reena asked.

The smithy shook his head. ‘It would not store well in the ground. Help me put this back and I’ll show you where to find one.’

Again there was more straining that made Pat’s back ache. He had to admit it was a clever hiding place – few would think of looking underneath the anvil.

Then it was Reena’s turn as the smithy directed her to climb up into the rafters and then into a far corner. She executed the climb, dug around, gave a slight
eep
when a mouse
streaked out, then returned to the ground bearing a wrapped bow and full quiver.

‘That do you?’ the man asked.

Reena nodded, testing the weapon. ‘This is great. Thanks.’

‘Any chance you have a quarterstaff or something?’ Pat asked. ‘I don’t handle swords that well.’

The smithy thought for a moment. ‘I have something that might serve.’

He tromped off into the back of the structure and began rooting around.

‘A staff?’ Reena asked.

‘I learned
b
ō
jutsu
when I lived in Ohio – it’s a Japanese martial art.’

‘Colour me impressed,’ she said.

‘I never fought for real, just in practice. This could get ugly.’

‘It already is,’ she said, caressing the bow. ‘At least now we have weapons.’

The smithy returned and handed Pat a hardwood pole, one about six foot long. ‘Will this do?’

Pat judged its weight, then he stepped back and performed a couple of moves. It wasn’t too bad, not as finely balanced as the
b
ō
he had at home, but it would work.

‘Yes, thank you.’

The smithy nodded. ‘I’ll show you out the back.’ Then he hesitated. ‘If you see Ruric, tell him to send the signal when he wakes the princess and we will come to his aid.
If he fails, we have to hold back, to keep our families safe.’

‘We’ll tell him,’ Pat said. ‘Thank you for all your help. We appreciate it.’

As they left the smithy behind, he couldn’t help but notice Reena’s strange expression. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘You were very polite in there. I just wondered what happened to the old Patterson Daniels.’

He huffed. ‘I think the wolves ate him. Yeah, I’m sure of it.’

With accurate directions from the smithy, they reached the wine cellar in no time, without encountering any wolves. For that, Pat was grateful. Soon a candle was lit and they
were settled into the cellar, eating what food was left.

Pat knew his hands were shaking, but he had no way to stop them.

Reena noticed. ‘Scared?’ she asked.

‘No,’ he replied, too quickly. ‘Well, maybe just a little.’

‘I hear you. It all sounds heroic – rescue the princess, save the kingdom – but, if we screw up, the smithy and his family are dead. So are a lot of other people.’ She
shook her head in dismay. ‘I’m not used to being responsible for others.’

‘That’s not true,’ he said. ‘You watch over your brothers. From what I hear they’re a handful.’

The worried lines on her face diminished. ‘The youngest bro is. The others are pretty decent, but that isn’t the same. I help get them ready for school, put Star Wars bandages on
their skinned knees. Nothing like here.’

At the mention of injuries, Pat rolled up his breeches and checked his leg wound and found it oozing and swollen. There came a ripping sound as Reena tore off a section from the bottom of her
skirt. Then she rummaged in her canvas bag and pulled out a small pouch of herbs. She dribbled some into her palm and then gently pressed them against the wound.

He sniffed. ‘Is that oregano?’

‘Yeah. It’s a natural antibiotic. I’m hoping it’ll keep your leg from rotting off.’

He angled his head until he could see her face. ‘You’re joking, right?’

‘No, oregano does have some antibiotic properties. Or at least that’s what my gran told me.’ She tied the strip of cloth round his calf. ‘Sorry, it’s not that
clean,’ she said. ‘We should have asked the smithy for some bandages.’

‘It’s OK. He did enough as it was.’ Once she was done, he pulled one of the knives from its scabbard and began to sculpt the staff more to his liking, trying to improve its
balance.

As he worked, Reena laid out the arrows, examining each one critically. ‘They’ll do,’ she said, nodding to herself. She took one and dipped the metal tip into the pouch holding
the fata dust.

‘What are you doing?’ he asked.

‘Testing to see if this stuff works on everything that’s metal. If it does, it’s not an option as it’ll eat right through the arrowhead.’

When the arrowhead didn’t disintegrate, Reena cracked a smile. ‘All right! We got ourselves a long-distance weapon against the regent’s metal creatures.’

‘Then this might actually work?’ he asked, picking up her enthusiasm.

‘Yeah. Maybe. If we get really lucky.’ She looked down at the bow and arrows. ‘I never thought I’d have to kill someone with one of these.’

‘Maybe it won’t come to that,’ Pat said, though he suspected that was a lie.

After a bit more targeted staff trimming, he pulled himself up to his feet. His calf throbbed, but it wasn’t as bad as it had been. Mindful that Reena was watching him, he executed a few
test moves and was pleased to find that the staff would do.

‘I figured it was all partying with you. I didn’t know you’re into martial arts.’

‘I am full of surprises,’ Pat said, arching an eyebrow. Then he grinned. ‘Maybe when we get back home the horse dude and me should pay Briar’s ex a little visit. Teach
that lying jerk some manners.’

Reena’s mouth parted in surprise. ‘You’re going to kick Mike’s ass?’

‘Why not?’ he said, grinning at the thought. ‘I bet Quinn would be up for that. You can see by the way he looks at Briar that he’s all hot for her.’

‘She doesn’t see it. She’s still looking for her prince. Always has been.’

Pat huffed. ‘Good luck with that. They don’t exist, at least not in the real world.’

Reena’s arched eyebrow matched his now. ‘You might be surprised.’

As Briar descended into the depths of the castle, the acrid stench of stale urine, wet straw and mould nearly choked her. Joshua was down here somewhere. Had they hurt him?
Tortured him?

Please, not that.
She’d seen the haunted look in his eyes when they’d been separated. The helplessness. The fear. Maybe even regret.

When she and the guards reached the bottom of the stairs, three crude cells awaited her, all set in a row. The floor of each was covered in straw and two buckets sat in opposite corners, one
full of water. The other was probably the toilet.

Joshua was in the middle cell. ‘Briar!’ he called out, managing to roll worry, relief and joy into that one word.

‘I want to be in with him,’ she said. ‘Please.’

‘One cell it is,’ the jailer said. He clanked the door closed behind her and locked it with an immense key.