Scáth Powers

I never meant for Éadrom to get killed. Fionnuala, yes. Even Kelly, yes; but that b***h got out of it that day though. I had arranged and paid for some low life I met in town one night to sneak on the farm, take care of those two banshees and make it look like a robbery gone wrong. I sent Éadrom to the neighbors to discuss a business idea of mine, and that old black b*****d to town for some made-up 'necessities'. It started to go wrong when the girl decided to be determined in going with him. There was nothing I could say to convince her or do to not give my plan away. I resolved to take care of her later myself. But then it went from bad to worse.

I heard a gunshot from the barn and new something was wrong. No gun was supposed to be used. He was supposed to use the knife then grab whatever looked semi-valuable and leave. As I ran to the house I heard another gunshot and when I walked into the kitchen I saw Fionnuala on the floor, throat sliced. Then I heard a third shot from the living-room. I walked from the kitchen to find the living-room in shambles, an obvious struggle, but with who? I saw the man I hired standing at the front door, gun in hand, pointing to the wall behind me. I turned around and saw him. My brother on the floor, leaning against the wall. He was still staring out with those beautiful eyes of his. His glare lifeless but his eyes seemed to know, to accuse me.

'I stabbed the woman like you said, but he attacked me from behind. She was still alive so I got loose from him long enough to slice her throat, but he came at me again. So, we struggled all over the living-room. He was old but so strong, sir. He pulled a gun on me and when I finally got it from him, I shot once in his chest... but... but he still kept coming! So I popped off another. The man still kept trying, sir, saying I'd pay for killing her. So I put the last one in his head and he finally stopped moving right as you came through the door.'

As he finished I could feel that familiar heat of my temper rise in my gut and head.

'Leave,' was all I could muster to say.

He turned to go, but instead of letting him leave like I told him to, before I knew it I had the shotgun from behind the door and shot the b*****d in his back before he was even down the porch stairs.

I didn't know what to do, I was in a panic. Though I planned the whole ordeal, I was in a genuine state of shock that took over my whole body. I knew he was gone but the only thought in my head was how to bring life back to Éadrom's eyes. I ran for the neighbor. I knew there wasn't much he could do, but it was my first instinct. The neighbor resided about four miles away, I reached the house in what seemed mere minutes. Through my pants and stammering I explained what I could and we rushed back together. We stood over the bodies and took in the scene. Two of the corpse's I couldn't care less about, but my dismay for my brother was so overwhelming and intense I don't think he noticed my lack of concern for the others.

Shortly after we arrived back, the old man and young girl returned. We hadn't had time to cover the bodies and Kelly took the awful scene in. I hated that girl and her headstrong ways, that eventually would cause me an immense amount of trouble, but the way she just looked at her dead parents and silently went to her room... no tears, no words. Well, it was the first time I felt any amount of respect and admiration for the ocean of strength she had inside her.

Eventually, over a week later, she came out. Without a word about the tragedy, she continued with her mother's chores and duties. I let her run the house because she was the only female around and even at the age of 13 handled everything quite efficiently. I didn't see her as a child after that, and I don't think she did either. So I decided to let her stay and live after-all. The old black mule, however, I made him move into the barn loft and took residence in the house. It was my farm after that, and I wouldn't be living in that shed anymore or with him. I fired the other lazy bum workers and started doing everything myself. I only let him stay so he would look after the girl and help out with some work I couldn't do all myself.

The plan was to kill the girls, fire everyone and just Éadrom and I would run the farm- it would be just the two of us again. But because of the sour way things turned out I was forced to keep the mule in Éadrom's stead and allow the b***h to live. A mule and a b***h, bunch of beastly animals I live with. That's how it stayed for three years... until that little beast was born to join the pack of animals.