Briar Rose (46 page)

‘Come on, girl, let’s finish it, one way or another.’

Once the riders were gone, Reena had loaded her great-gran and Briar into the car and driven south a short distance to the road that led to the old bridge. It wasn’t in
use now, with barricades and warning signs to keep people away – none of which were a deterrent to them as they used flashlights to make their way on foot towards the dilapidated
structure.

The bridge had been built before the Civil War, a handy way to cross the river when it was running too high and Pike’s Ford was out of commission. Now it was in bad condition, a rotting
reminder of the past.

‘This will have to do,’ Lily said. ‘Think ya can make it across there?’

‘I better or we’re in big trouble,’ Reena replied, her flashlight flitting here and there as she studied the gnarled structure.

‘But why here?’ Briar asked, puzzled.

‘Rawlins was too smart to go back to where we started,’ Lily explained. ‘But what he doesn’t know is that a bridge over a body of water will act as a crossroads. I can
bind him here, but he has to be in the middle of it or it won’t work.’

‘Does Joshua know about this?’

‘I warned him it might happen this way, so we planned ahead. Once Rawlins is on the bridge, Reena will lay the conjure down on the other side. I’ll have done the same here. If all
goes right, he won’t ever rise again.’

Reena is going across the bridge.
Though it was totally selfish, Briar heaved a sigh of relief. Her best friend heard it.

‘We all have our own fears,’ Reena said. ‘Mine isn’t water.’

‘So what can I do?’ Briar asked.

‘You can help me put down the trick on this side,’ Lily said as she handed Reena a burlap bag. ‘Good luck. Be safe, ya hear?’

‘Same for you two. Love you, Gran.’

Briar watched with growing trepidation as her friend began testing the planking on their side of the bridge.

‘Man, this wood is way brittle,’ Reena reported. She walked forward a few steps, using her arms for balance. Boards bent under her weight and one cracked in two, causing her to
readjust quickly or she’d have tumbled into the river below.

‘Keep those herbs dry,’ Lily warned.

‘I know, Gran,’ she replied patiently.

‘Come on, girl. Let’s get this ready.’

Eager to have something to do, Briar nodded. ‘Yes, ma’am.’

While her friend manoeuvred her way across the river, Briar was put to work laying down the magic on their side. It started with a line of red dust.

‘What is this stuff?’

‘Brick dust.’

There were other curious things – bones and shells and whatnot. If Reena hadn’t found a way into the curse using this kind of magic, Briar would have thought it just plain silly.

Her friend had barely made it to the middle of the bridge when it began to creak underneath her.

‘You OK out there?’ Briar called out.

‘Don’t know.’ Reena went down on her hands and knees, but the sounds continued to grow in intensity. ‘Don’t you dare break!’ she commanded as she jammed the
bag between two boards.

A moment later there was a deafening crack and she plunged into the swift and muddy river below.

‘Reena!’ The instant her friend’s head vanished under the water, Briar’s memories seized her. To her shame, her legs locked up and she couldn’t move to help her
friend.

‘Reena? Ya OK, girl?’ Lily called, hobbling down the bank.

Move. You’ve got to help her.

She’d barely taken a few steps when there was a splash a short way downstream. It was followed by a muted swear word, then, ‘Yeah, I’m good. Give me minute and I’ll get
back up there.’

Briar let loose a joyous whoop as Lily came back up the bank. The old woman paused, listening, then shook her head.

‘There’s no time. Rawlins is on the other side now.’ Her old eyes turned towards Briar and she could hear the unspoken question.

Do ya have what it takes to save us?

Reena would not make it back to the bridge in time, and Lily was nearly ninety. There was only one person who could carry the magic to the other side of the river.

Briar whimpered. ‘No, I can’t . . . The water—’

‘Ya can and ya must, girl,’ Lily said, grabbing hold of her arm in a tight grip. ‘Reena told me what ya did in that curse. Ya got the strength for it.’

‘But—’

‘There is no other choice. It’s that or yer young man dies. And a lotta other people.’

Briar had never learned how to swim and even a few inches of bath water frightened her, the reason she only took showers. Was it possible to face the monster that lived in the river?

‘Girl?’ Lily said, shaking her. ‘Rawlins will be here soon. Ya have to be on the other side or this won’t work. Ya hear?’

Briar shot a desperate look down the river and found Reena was still swimming towards the bank.

It has to be me.

‘OK, I’ll try.’

Lily explained exactly what she had to do, but it was hard for Briar to hear any of the instructions. She was too busy staring at the bridge.

‘Ya got that?’

‘Ah, yeah. Maybe.’

‘Go on, then.’

Briar tried to convince herself this wasn’t any big deal, at least until the toe of her tennis shoes touched the first plank. Below her, the river monster woke from its slumber and
snarled, licking its lips in anticipation.

‘Yer doin’ OK – just keep goin’,’ Lily urged.

The first few feet of bridge were pretty good, and then the holes grew wider. The worst part was that she could see the water rushing below. Shaking with each step, she kept moving forward,
keeping in mind what Rawlins would do to them if he won. How the town would burn once again.

She was a Rose, and while Joshua’s people might not like that name, it came with certain responsibilities. Elmer had fulfilled his. Now it was her turn. Maybe some day down the line a
descendant of hers would re-enact this very crossing.

In time, Briar couldn’t remain upright with any degree of security, so she went down on to her hands and knees just as Reena had. The stifling smell of the river rose up and choked
her.

‘That’s it!’ her friend called out. ‘You’re doing it!’

As she crawled forward, she thought of Joshua, of his sweet smile, of how empty her life would be if he weren’t around. Despite everything, they were still a couple.

I’ll be damned if I let some old ghost take him away from me.

A sharp pain pierced her palm, a broken nail cutting into her flesh. Muttering under her breath, she wiped the hand on her jeans and kept moving. Luckily her tetanus shot was current.

Just ahead of her was the bag Reena had left behind, and when she reached it Briar jammed it down her shirt. The heady scent of herbs cloaked the river’s stench and seemed to give her
added courage.

With a moan of despair, she realized she was only halfway across while beneath her the water continued to call out to her.

‘Go faster!’ Lily called out

Sure. How hard can that be?

Briar pushed on, then had to halt because there was a vast open section in front of her. As she calculated the best way to get round it, there was the sound of pounding hoofs. Joshua? Or the
ghost?

Unsure, she angled to the edge of the bridge, a move that offered up other perils as one of the boards might break and pitch her into the water below.

The hoofbeats grew closer, along with the sound of a labouring horse. Down the path came the hellish mount, Rawlins on its back, his eyes alight with fire.

Where’s Joshua? Is he hurt or . . .

As she flattened herself on one of the planks, Rawlins reined his horse to a stop at the edge of the bridge.

‘Ah, hell,’ Reena swore, for once not fearing her elders’ wrath.

The sound of another horse drew closer as Joshua rode into sight. The moment Arabella saw the ghost, she snorted and reared, refusing to come any closer.

‘You cheated, you bastard!’ Joshua shouted as he fought to control her.

‘Yeah, so what?’ Rawlins called back. ‘Ya see that?’ he said, pointing to the other side of the bridge. ‘Just a little further and I win. Ain’t that
somethin’?’

‘Not unless you’re across the water,’ Joshua replied. He slid off his horse and began walking towards the bank. ‘It’s whoever crosses first. I still might
win.’

Rawlins snorted. ‘If that’s what ya want, boy. Just know that when I get on the other side my sword is gonna to be buried deep in those womenfolk.’

‘No! This is between us, no one else.’

The ghost wasn’t listening to him. ‘Where are you, girl? I smell ya.’ He shifted his horse around, searching the bridge. ‘Come out, now!’

Briar had no choice but to stand and reveal her position. He would have found her eventually. ‘I’m here,’ she said, trying hard to balance on a couple of partially rotted
planks. He and his mount were in front of her now. She had to get past him to set the magic before he reached the far bank.

‘Briar?’ Joshua said in astonishment.

‘Yeah, look at me. Standing on a rickety bridge over a bunch of –’ she couldn’t say the ‘w’ word – ‘moving stuff.’

Rawlins laughed as if he knew her fear. Then he proved it by causing the river to jet up and splash her. She cried out, but didn’t move. Another wave came up and this time she was ready
for it.

‘No wonder they hanged you,’ she said, glaring up at the fiend.

His sword flashed and then it was pointed directly at her. Given the vicious slice on Joshua’s face, it’d already been put to use.

Rawlins’s horse clambered forward, hovering in open air where no planking existed, the sword shining silver in the dark night. Joshua plunged down the bank and into the water, wading as
fast as he could, Arabella right behind. The strength of the river’s current nearly pulled him off his feet.

As Rawlins moved closer to her, Briar dodged, hoping to scurry around him, but was forced to lurch backwards just as the sword’s tip flew past her nose. The spectral horse pranced around
and she swore she could feel flames on her back.

A wave of water burst upward again, trying to slap her down. Briar’s fingers desperately grasped on to a rough-hewn board, the splinters digging into her palms. Beneath her the water sang
to her, urging her to let go, to allow it to carry her away in its cold arms.

No way.

She wriggled her butt, trying to move closer to the next board. Above her the faint moonlight was blocked out by the glimmering underside of Rawlins’s mount as it stood in the middle of
the bridge.

‘Briar!’ Joshua called out as the water knocked at her again. Briar reached out and found the next board, her hands burning and her muscles straining. She grasped another, then the
next one after that.

In her mind, she wasn’t on some old broken bridge – she was seven and climbing across the monkey bars at school. There was no water beneath her, only soft sand. It was a sunny day,
not the dark of night. Soon playtime would be over and . . .

Briar picked up speed now, stretching out a hand to test the next board, then moving forward. If it was loose, she chose another. Finally she reached a place where the bridge felt more solid,
and with tremendous effort she hoisted herself up on the planking, leaving her feet to dangle beneath her.

Over her left shoulder was the butt of the spectral horse. It pawed at the planking beneath it as if it could unearth her. Rawlins shifted in his saddle and spied her.

‘There ya are.’

Briar desperately tried to pull herself up, but her arms were too tired.

‘Jump!’ Joshua shouted from somewhere in the river.

If she did, the herbs would get wet and they wouldn’t work. Then Rawlins would win.

Lily called out to him. ‘Leave that child alone,’ she ordered. ‘She’s no trouble to ya.’

‘I won the race, old woman. I have my freedom now!’

‘Not till ya cross the river,’ she replied.

Briar finally got a leg on the bridge and pulled herself up. Adrenalin fuelling her now, she scrambled over the remaining ten feet or so. To her relief, the boards gave way to earth and she
dived for solid ground.

Rawlins’s horse began to fight him, prancing around. Did it recognize the danger she posed?

Briar pulled the burlap bag out of her shirt and frantically poured out the line of red dust on the ground. Then she laid out roots and little strange bits in the same pattern as Lily had on the
other side. Her hands were so sore the herbs made them sting, but she didn’t stop.

‘Ya sold yer soul for a few gold pieces,’ Lily called out. ‘Yer one of the devil’s own, Rawlins. It’s time ya went to hell for good.’

The ghost laughed again. ‘I’ll show ya hell, old woman,’ he said, spurring his horse forward, the sword glowing in the night.

‘Done!’ Briar yelled, praying that somehow she’d got it right.

A flash came from other side of the bridge, spooking both horses. Like a magical detonation cord, it ran down the sides of the structure towards Rawlins, then past him to where Briar knelt in
the mud. The magic ignited there and flared so brightly she had to shield her eyes.

‘What is this? What’re ya doin’?’ Rawlins demanded. ‘Ah, hell, yer tryin’ to bind me again.’