by L. E. Waters
Muirin glares at me. “Well, you’re coming too, right, Redmond?”
I pause for a moment, and she breaks down in tears, throwing herself on the bed.
Right away, Ma tries to pacify the situation by going over to her. “We won’t go far, sweetheart, maybe a day’s travel or so. Redmond can come whenever he pleases.”
“He already comes whenever he pleases.” She keeps sobbing.
Art gives me a reproachful look and goes to sit at her foot, while Da shrugs.
“I have to stay here, Muirin. If I go there, the proclamation has gone out to all counties. You all are at risk wherever I go with you.”
Da chimes in gruffly, “This is a fight he must finish, dear.”
She sits up and wipes her tears. “I’ll only go if Art can go with us.”
Art looks a little too satisfied with that comment, and I reply, “Of course, he’ll be the one who is taking you to Donegal.”
“No, I mean I want him to live with us. I’ll feel safer with him around.”
“He’s an outlaw too, Muirin, the same danger lies there!”
But Muirin’s far too clever. “He’s not my husband or your blood relative. He’s much less known than you, and you can’t think I’ll go a day away without him. He’s the only person who looks in on me.”
This is a dig at me, and I know she’s only doing this to hurt me. I look at Art and ask, “Would you want to go with them?”
He sees Muirin’s pleading eyes and turns back. “If Muirin will only go if I go, then of course I’ll go for her safety.”
She throws her arms around his neck, and I feel like walking out. Ma walks over, trying to assuage the situation. “You can come visit us whenever you like Redmond. We’ll get along fine.”
I busy myself with packing up both cottages in the two carts they’re taking with them. Everything that doesn’t fit, we leave behind. I kiss Ma and Da good-bye, and Muirin gives me a weak hug. I nod to Art in thanks and watch the two carts bob and buck up the hill. I take one last look at the cottage that had once been so happy and has now turned into some sort of cage to me. Now ’tis empty and free for some happy family to fill.
Chapter 18
The next night, an old outlaw friend of Captain’s invites him to a rich dinner party. He asks me, William, Ned, and Cahir to come along since we all speak English. He has a big stone manor the size of Muirin’s father’s on an old Irish estate on the edge of north Armagh.
Cahir whistles at the grand house. “He stole enough to buy this?” Then he looks at me with his dark eyebrows raised. “Maybe we ought to reconsider keeping all our takings for ourselves.”
Captain replies, “Well, he’s about retired now, I think. He was a highwayman before most of you were even a glimmer in your father’s eye.”
The door opens, and a rosy-cheeked old fellow grabs Captain Power with both arms in a long embrace. “Good to see you again, my boy!”
“Pleasures all mine, Harry. Thanks for having us. These here are my business partners, Redmond, William, Ned, and Cahir.”
The man’s eyes sparkle while he looks us over. “It’s like I’m seeing a legend come to life.”
He welcomes us into his dining room, and already at the table sits an older man and woman.
“Let me introduce you all to Patrick and Kate Mulligan. This here is the famed Richard Power and his men.”
Captain shakes and kisses hands. “So nice to hear such an old Irish name.”
We all sit, and the food and drink keep coming. Every once in a while, I notice Harry will get up and pace in front of his large window. I wonder if he’s always this anxious, or if he has some sort of troubles. I look to Captain, and by the way he’s shoveling his face, I guess ’tis some strange quirk of Harry’s. Toward the end of dinner, Patrick Mulligan, who’s been pretty quiet the whole dinner, says to us in Gaelic, “Beware, fellow countrymen, he’s pacing at that window because he’s watching for troops to come. Once they arrive, he has to give a signal, and you’ll all be trapped.”
We’re all silent, but Captain has the wherewithal to say, “Thank you for that charity,” in a happy unsuspecting tone.
Harry turns quickly with a fake smile. “Oh, come now, don’t all start speaking Gaelic when you know I can’t understand a word of it.”
Captain laughs, and we pretend to also. Captain picks up his glass and stands. “I’d like to make a toast in thanks to our generous host, one of the best and most trusted friends I ever had.” He holds up his glass, and all of us do as well. “Better fifty enemies outside the house than one within.”
Harry hesitates a moment, swallows hard, and nervously glances out the window, and replies, “My turn to toast.” He stands and starts, “To one of my oldest friends. ‘May you be poor in misfortune, rich in blessings, slow to make enemies, and quick to make friends. And may you know nothing but happiness from this day forward.’”
Instead of drinking from his glass, Captain throws his drink right in Harry’s face. Once the man wipes the stinging alcohol from his eyes, he sees Captain with his pistol pointed at his face. The Mulligans run from the room.
Harry speaks with great effort, “’Tis better to be a coward for a minute than dead for the rest of your life.”
Captain replies, “Well, now you’re both.”
He shoots him right between the eyes. Harry falls back to the floor, and Captain stands over him and curses, “May the cat eat you and the devil eat the cat.”
He sees a large red-jeweled golden cross on top of his velvet coat. “I always wanted this,” he says as he rips it off in one pull. Captain goes to the window to see if the troops are there yet. “All looks clear, boys. Let’s go before the redcoats arrive.”
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Days later, I walk into the tavern, and Sean immediately goes under the counter for something. “This came here for you, I think. It has my name on it, but it’s from Donegal.”
“Thank you, Sean.”
I open up the letter and have to sit by the window to read.
Redmond,
We got here just fine, and Donegal is a bless’d place. Every bit as pretty as Tandragee but with far more land to go around. I’ve tried my hand at being a merchant and doing quite well, if I do say so myself. I’m not only writing to tell you of our settling in but to give you some troubling news. Muirin seems to have come down with a blast. She’s one day rosy-cheeked and smiling and now is down with a nasty fever and cough. Your Ma and Art don’t leave her bedside, but she’s been asking for you whenever she wakes. I think you should come, son, the doctor says it’s looking grim. She might never comb a grey hair.
Godspeed,
Da
I stand up to pay some to Sean and leave for the road, when the door opens and Alister enters.
“Redmond, they’ve got one of your men down at Downpatrick.”
“What, which man?”
“Your man Dempsey. They brought his mother in last night, and since she was ill to start, he turned himself in this very morning.”
I put my hand up to my head. “What terrible timing.”
“Rumors have been swirling that they’re going to try to get him to talk in exchange for a pardon.”
“Cahir would never talk.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure, I’d heard he was already meeting with Lucas and turning crown’s evidence.”
I sit to think. “I was going to leave to go to see my sick wife in Donegal.”
“Not a good idea. If Cahir’s talking, you better go to the woods and sit tight. Plus Lucas has brought in more troops from Ulster. They’re all over the main roads, searching for Tories.”
I take out what I have left in my pocket and go to hand it to Alister, who grabs it up quickly. “Redmond, you better go disappear somewhere fast.” He walks out.
I turn to Sean, who heard the whole thing and becomes pale.
I ask, “Might you have a piece of paper somewhere so I can write to Muirin why I can�
�t come.”
Sean gives me a pained look. “Sure thing, and I’ll even post it for you too.”
After the letter’s written, I head back to the main cave to tell the men.
“We already knew he went in for his mother, but do you really think he’d turn evidence on us all?” Bawn asks.
“He’ll lead them right to this spot,” Kelly says, “and we’ll all be swinging by the morrow.”
Síofra chides, “Cahir would never turn on us, you fools. He’d go down by himself if he had to. He had to free his sick ma. Stop speaking ill of him now.”
Everyone’s quiet after that, poking sticks in the fire and holding their pistols in the other hand.
Suddenly there’s noise of a horse coming. Everyone tenses and watches. I give the owl hoot to hear one right back. “Relax, it’s one of us.”
Cahir appears through the bushes. “Why’s everyone so quiet?”
Síofra goes running to him and jumps into his arms.
“Dempsey’s back!” Liddy yells.
He puts her back down after the embrace, and we all notice his blooded lip and black eye.
Kelly whistles. “They sure did a number on you.”
William stands rigid, though, and says through his teeth, “You’re all fools. Don’t any of you realize that the very fact that Dempsey’s out and not staked on a spike is because he’s turned evidence?”
“Glad to see you too, William,” Cahir says with a smile as he sits by the fire.
“Is that true, Cahir? Did you turn evidence?” I demand.
“Sure ’tis true.”
William moves to go at him, but Liddy and Kelly hold him back.
Cahir laughs, though. “Wait, now, let me explain.”
William, keeps fighting to be freed to charge him.
“Will you control your man, Redmond?”
“William, sit down. We’ve got to hear him out.”
Cahir begins, “I turned evidence, sure, but all against my enemies: outlaws and shady characters around the county. This way I got to get out and put away our competition. Didn’t betray any of my confidences, which is why Lucas gave me these pucks.”
I smile, relieved at his loyalty and good wit. “How many did you impeach?”
“Seven of the worst, but I’ve heard they all got word anyway and blew out.”
William relaxes and sits again, but Cahir glares at him. “Where’s my apology?”
William smiles, bends over, and drops his pants. “Right here.” Pointing to his left cheek.
Everyone laughs, and all is right again. I avoid the tavern for a few days, afraid of a response to my letter. But Art comes walking into our camp, with a stone scowl upon his face.
“Art, how’s Muirin?” I ask.
He flies into a rage and shouts, “Like you really care! She’s been tortured with fever the last two weeks, crying your name, asking when you’ll come, and you just sit here with your boys like a child dodging chores!”
Cahir and Kelly get up to keep him back from me, but I wave them away.
I try, “Art, I got the letter last week, and then Cahir went to the gaol, and Alister warned me that the troops were all over the main roads and that I better stay here.”
“How’s it that I got here, then, huh?” he yells. “I didn’t see one redcoat the whole way!”
I’m quiet with guilt and say, “Can you just tell me how’s she’s faring?”
“She’s dead, Redmond! Died two days ago!” He turns to walk away but drops something in his wake. “Here’s her last letter to you. I’m going back to bury her.”
He disappears through the brush.
William and Berragh are sitting with me at the fire and both get up to leave me to read the letter. Seeing her elegant penmanship makes my eyes tear, and it takes quite a bit to even begin to read. I know that whatever is written on the page would make my heart ache for the rest of my life.
My Dearest Redmond,
‘Remembered Joy
Don’t grieve for me, for now I’m free!
I follow the plan God laid for me.
I saw His face, I heard His call,
I took His hand and left it all…
I could not stay another day,
To love, to laugh, to work or play;
Tasks left undone must stay that way.
And if my parting has left a void,
Then fill it with remembered joy.
A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss…
Ah yes, these things I, too, shall miss.
My life’s been full, I’ve savoured much:
Good times, good friends, a loved-one’s touch.
Perhaps my time seemed all too brief—
Don’t shorten yours with undue grief.
Be not burdened with tears of sorrow,
Enjoy the sunshine of the morrow.’
No matter how sad I seemed at the end, I would spend a hundred sad days for the happy days of the beginning. You were the song in my life, and I will love you always.
Until we meet again in a better place,
Your Muirin
William pats me on the back and says quietly, “The earth has no sorrows that heaven cannot heal.”
I tuck the letter into my coat pocket and go off alone in the woods.
Chapter 19
Berragh and I are up all night waiting for a merchant carriage due in off the ferry. After taking the money and goods and hiding them at various locations in the woods, we decide to catch a nap before heading back to the main cave to report. Exhausted, we lie down in bushes to sleep. I’m so tired that the first time something crawls across my face, I barely even wake up, but the second time the thing comes back, I grab it by the tail and see ’tis a lizard. As I lower the tiny thing into the grass, I look up to see a tusked wild boar staring right at me. As I move, the thing charges, and I grab at Berragh, waking him, and we run off toward the road. The thing’s catching up to me something quick, so I go back through the other way, heading for a large tree that’s near where we were resting before. I jump for the lower limb right as the thing reaches me, and swing my legs around the branch to pull myself up. The beast stays on the ground, rubbing its tusks back and forth on the trunk. I decide to see where Berragh has gone and climb to the top of the tree. I see him swimming across the violent river. He reaches the opposite bank and stands up, searching for me.
I scream from the treetop, “The beast’s still under me!”
Berragh, finding me in the tree, smiles and puts his wet arms up and screams triumphantly, “He who is meant to hang can never drown!”
As I’m laughing, something catches my eye about halfway up the very same road we would be returning on. It’s a large militia ambush. If the boar hadn’t run me up the tree to see that, I would’ve been caught for sure.
I whistle to Berragh and motion in the direction and call out, “Ambush!”
He calls back, not too loud, “Main cave!” and points in the direction of the other road. I nod and watch him whistle for his horse to cross the river and leave. As soon as I see the boar leave, I crawl back down, and the whole way home I think about all the people who knew I was taking that road home today.
I need some time to think about the ambush, so I head to the tavern. Sitting alone in the snug, I go over and over what I said to which person. I jump to my pistol under my coat when someone lays a hand on my shoulder.
Alister throws his hands back. “Don’t shoot!”
I relax. “Sorry, I’m a little jumpy.”
“Perfectly understandable for a man with £100 on his head.”
“Someone set me up for an ambush yesterday, and I’m trying to figure out who ’twas.” I know ’tis safe to talk to him about it, since I haven’t talked to him in a week.
“I’ll be on the lookout for a spy for you. I’ll watch everyone coming and going from Lucas’s office. Follow him out when I can to see where he goes.”
“You’re a true friend, Alister, many thanks for that.”
“Oh, is he saying more sermons against me, telling the locals to turn against the Tories?”
“No, he’s been arrested, accused of conspiring for the Catholics abroad.”
“They’re starting a holy war here, if they don’t release him.”
“Problem is they keep searching for those to testify against him, but they can’t get a soul to.”
“Rightly so, I hope he’s freed in a week. But what’s this have to do with me, then?”
He takes a deep breath. “Word is that if you were to offer up your testimony against him, you and all your men would be unconditionally pardoned for your crimes.”
I push back in my chair from the shock. “You’ve got to be kidding me? They’re that desperate! A full pardon for me and my men!” I whistle long.
“It’s something you might want to think about. Redmond, the noose is getting tight for you now. This may be your only chance at a long life.”
“Oh, it might be nice to think about, but no sooner would I curse in church than I would perjure an innocent man. Nope, not on my soul.”
“Well, I knew you’d probably say that, but I thought I should tell you.” He gets up to go, and I push him a pouch I had in my pocket.
“Will they let him go if no one testifies?”
“No, I heard they’ll take him to the tower.”
“May the Lord be with him, then, and many thanks for your loyalty.”
“I’ll be on the lookout for you.” He gives me a strong nod.
“I know you will, Alister. God bless you.”
Chapter 20
Captain arranges for us to have a whole house and three jugs of poteen to ourselves, since a nephew of his is away. We thought it best that we take turns in the house since ’tis good to have someone at the main cave at all times. If anyone gets close, they’ll be able to get our weapons to safety. So Berragh, Kelly, Liddy, Hogan, Ned, and a new young recruit who has taken a liking to William, all volunteer to stay at camp.
