The Welshmen of Tyrawley

by Graham Barratt

  ‘It is funny now but was not good for me. I thought I was going to be thrashed for it. Lady O’Callaghan can be fearsome when she has been stirred.’

  ‘Then I will laugh no more. This work must be done before the fires inside need lighting before the house awakes.’

  Richard and Emily were much further back. Richard could make out the man clearly in the distance. Emily positioned herself where she could see the men with a clear line of sight and gazed across at them.

  ‘What is happening Emily?’

  ‘Richard, I can see Tibbot and the Fianna. They have stopped and are hiding, but I cannot identify what they are looking at.’

  At last the man at the river turned around and Tibbot could see the colour of his skin. It was black. Tibbot lurched forward to attack, but MacCabe pulled him back and suggested they wait until Donovan and the boy had filled the first barrel until it was at its heaviest and they were carrying it. This would be when they were at their most vulnerable and less able to run. Tibbot waited until they were on their feet with the barrel and as he caught sight of his face, he immediately filled with rage. He could hold his temper no longer and raced towards them. He knew that the black man was Donovan and needed no further time to decide on his next move. MacCabe and the two weapon bearers ran after Tibbot toward the river with swords held high. Emily cried out,

  ‘No!’ She wasn’t heard.

  She and Richard had situated themselves too far back to be able to intervene quickly. The four men positioned and postured for the kill. In only a few seconds, they had surrounded Donovan and the boy. The gallowglass kicked the barrel and sent it rolling down the bank and floating down the river. The boy tried to go after it, but he was stopped from moving by a grinning weapon bearer.

  It was intended that the kill was to be performed by Tibbot only but to weaken the prey, MacCabe decided to strike Donovan bluntly across his back. He fell face down into shallow water. Donovan’s confusion was obvious. He had clearly been targeted by a gang of some description, but why? As he looked up at Tibbot, he recognised the ceremonial dress as being that of a chief and a clan warrior but worn by a dark-skinned man. This could not be a robbery but appeared to be some sort of tribal attack. His only assumption was they were sympathetic to the English and after so many years, they had come to avenge his actions with the rebels.

  ‘Please! I beg of you, do not hurt the boy, he is innocent, but why have you come here today to attack me? Please sir, tell me what I have done to cause you offence?’

  ‘You attacked my mother Emily many years ago. You raped her, you bastard.’

  ‘Please, let me speak. I know that I must pay for my sin against Emily, but I only ever showed her tenderness and to this day I still love her.’

  ‘You mock me, and for that I will make you die a much slower death.’

  Tibbot was in a furious rage, the man now appeared to be mocking him as well as his mother. He kicked Tibbot and pushed him onto his back. The man stood on each arm to pin him down into river as Donovan raised his head above the shallow waterline to breath. Tibbot stood over him and put a foot on his forehead.

  ‘Before I cut off your head for my mother, I want it to bear the expression of pain on your face.’

  He pushed Donovan’s head into the water with his foot. For the second time in his life, he could feel the pain of suffocation.

  Emily could see the scuffle but could not be sure whether the Fianna had identified Cirilo. She quickly supposed he had to be given the turmoil. She left Richard behind and raced toward them, but she was too far away. The attack had happened quickly and there was little time to get to them. She panicked and cried out at the top of her voice in an effort to stop the attack.

  ‘Please, please do not hurt Cirilo; I beg you, stop, stop!’

  Tibbot looked up surprised as he saw a woman in the distance running frantically before falling over while screaming at the top of her voice. She picked up her skirts before calling out again. Emily was too far away to be heard clearly by them and too far away to stop the execution. Richard was running after her and caught her up.

  The gallowglass then stood over Donovan, facing Tibbot. Tibbot positioned his sword at Donovan’s neck and waited for the nod from McCabe to sink it into his throat.

  As the blade pushed into the neck, something emerged from his shirt and floated up to the surface of the water. It looked familiar as Tibbot looked closer. It then disappeared as the water current took it around the back of the blade.

  ‘What is that?’

  ‘It is a necklace, sir, made of wood and leather,’ said a kern.

  Tibbot recognised it immediately. It was a mirror carving of the necklace that his mother had worn all her life. It had never been away from her body. She cherished it and only ever told Tibbot that it was carved by the man she had fallen in love with many years ago.

  ‘So you stole this from my mother too.’

  ‘No sir, I made it from a splinter of wood and gave her the other half many years ago.’

  He looked to his side and could see that the woman approaching them was his mother. He could hear her now.

  ‘Wait, wait, Tibbot, please, I love this man, do not harm him, please! Cirilo! Cirilo! Is it really you?’

  Emily pushed MacCabe aside as he looked to Tibbot for a response.

  Tibbot nodded to MacCabe to allow her to pass. In one movement, Emily dropped to her knees, fell forward into the water and reaching out with both hands, pulled Cirilo’s head out of the water. In a furious rage, she screamed at the attackers.

  ‘Put them down, Put your weapons down – now! This man is the man I love and have done all my life. There is no bad in him. He has more good in his heart than all the men here. You know only lies of him, lies that I have prolonged.’

  A confused Tibbot was beginning to realise that all was not as he had understood it to be. MacCabe looked confused and confronted Emily.

  ‘This man is an imposter, a mere slave, who is not a fit man of Ireland, he is scum and should die for his crimes. That is why we are here today. Is it not?’

  As her anger grew, she realised that there was an even deeper injustice. She scanned the four men and screamed.

  ‘You know nothing, you are a killer of people. How many men here today are Irish? Which one of you is the Irish man? Gallowglass! You are a Scot, here to kill for money.’

  She pointed to the two young kern boys.

  ‘You two kern are Normans from Wales as too am I. And you Tibbot! You are a Welsh clan chief, but the son of a Spanish slave. The same slave, who lies in water, awaiting the cut of your sword. He once sailed to these shores to defeat the English, a protector of our faith.’

  Tibbot still confused, lowered his sword and beckoned to MacCabe to do the same. Emily continued her attack on their integrity.

  ‘This man fears God, is not a Gale, but is as Irish as any man here. I know that belonging to a clan does not make you a better and more fitting person. What matters is how you live your life according to God’s word and the faith of the clans. There is good and bad in all clans and in all kingdoms but this man is as good as any I know.’

  ‘Mother, I do not understand; this is the rapist. We tracked him down and he admitted that he knew you. Your account of the rape was real and detailed. How can this not be the truth?’

  Now was the time for Emily to show some humility.

  ‘I am sorry, Tibbot, all is not as it seems. We were outcasts. The Barretts tried to take you from me and sell you into slavery. I was raped when you were a babe and I killed an attacker, who was a Barrett. We were in great danger and I had to get us back into Crossmolina. James would only permit us back under certain conditions and only as the memory of my father would allow. I had to testify that Cirilo, your father, raped me and you were the evidence. I regretted bearing false witness every day, but it saved your life my son. We then had the safety of the Barrett Clan and were able to avoid further abuse by others. Within the confines of the clan, I was made to
feel shame for giving myself to a black slave even though it was out of love. It was the same shame afforded you, solely because of the colour of your hair and skin.’

  Tibbot stood for a while, bewildered by what he had just been told. He could not fully comprehend what had happened.

  ‘You are saying that this man was in love with you and you him?’

  ‘Yes, and I love him to this day. The account of the rape I gave to you was the story of a real rape I suffered at the hands of a Barrett called Patrick the Toothless. It was not Cirilo. I used that story to give it acceptance, not only when speaking to you, but whenever the story arose. I am sorry, Tibbot, you did not deserve to find out in this manner. There are no more lies, I promise you.’

  Cirilo coughed out the water and was helped to sit up.

  ‘We fell in love very quickly. I knew immediately that I loved him. He carved the two halves of the boat, the Rata from the splinter that was embedded in his body and that still scars his side.’

  She knelt down, kissed Cirilo and put the two wooden figures together.

  ‘See, the two sides of the necklaces fit together. It is the Rata, the boat that took him from Spain and grounded at Erris. It was carved out of love and was a token of the passion between us.’

  Richard stared at Cirilo. Finally he had come face-to-face with the man who Emily had preferred all these years.

  ‘Cirilo, you are a lucky man.’

  ‘Sir, I do not feel it yet, but please excuse my gait while I recover from my terror and bless my fortunes.’ Richard smiled and put away his sword.

  ‘Emily, we were in time, I am so pleased. I will tell Cirilo every day I meet him that he is a lucky man.’ Emily put her arm around her son.

  ‘Tibbot, Richard has escorted me here in order to stop you from killing your father – a good man.’

  ‘But he is a Barrett, Mother; he stands for all that Lynotts hate in Tyrawley. How could you give your friendship to this man?’

  ‘Tibbot, he is the man who discovered Cirilo and fought James to keep him as property. He is also the man who took you and me into his home when all clans, including our own, made us outcasts. He is a gentleman and a friend, regardless of his clan. You should know as well as any man that there is good and bad in all tribes.’

  Richard raised his head as though he was emerging from a position of shame.

  ‘Tibbot, I know that it is no comfort to you or any of the Lynotts, but I tried to stop the evil that beset them on “Daille La” as my father’s tanist. I failed and was forced back to Ballysakeery under guard. I would never have agreed to the abuse that befell the Lynotts and I know many Barretts who feel the same.’

  Tibbot shrugged his shoulders as if to indicate he was not wholly convinced. He turned to Emily.

  ‘Mother, I am sorry, I could not know of any of this and have been misled. How can I right the wrong that I have done?’

  ‘You have done no wrong outside of truthful intent and honour. You have no one to answer to, Tibbot. All I ask is that you take these accounts as truth and accept Cirilo as your father.’

  Cirilo was still weak from the beating and almost speechless at what had just unfolded on a day that he thought was going to be dull. Then after calming himself, he managed to speak to Emily.

  ‘This man is my son? Emily, is this true?’

  ‘Yes, my love, when you were sent to O’Rourke, I was already with child. See how he looks like you, has your shape but has my eyes. He even sounds like you. He is a good man, as good as any and I am proud to call him mine.’

  ‘It has been some time since I have looked at my reflection other than in the streams, but yes I can see he is my son.’ Emily reached inside her blouse and pulled out her necklace. She put it against Cirilo’s once more.

  Cirilo spoke directly to Tibbot but as a slave speaking to a chief and out of respect and conditioning, he avoided any eye contact.

  ‘Sir, I left your mother in order that we both should be allowed to continue our lives. I was given a chance that would not result in execution, and I took it. I knew nothing of you until this day, but it makes me proud and humbled to see how well your mother has raised this leader of men. I served in rebellions against the English for many years and have become a good Irishman, but I am still a slave and owned by the O’Callaghan’s here at the castle.’

  Tibbot was speechless. The man that he had built up so much hatred for all his life was before him. The inner sentiments raised by such an experience were unbearable, they were too great to suffer and he dropped to his knees weeping.

  Emily kneeled down and threw her arms around Tibbot as he looked directly at Cirilo.

  ‘My mother, I cannot control my thoughts. I have spent my life loathing this man, only to find he is a good man.’

  ‘Cirilo, you must return with us to Tyrawley. Your rightful place is with Mother and under the protection of our new clan, the Lynotts, and one day I will call you father.’

  ‘And what of the anger of the Bourkes?’

  ‘Sir, sometimes things happen the way they do. Sometimes action needs to be taken regardless of consequence, just as I had come here to murder my mother’s attacker. It was something I believed as the right thing. And so I must do this thing for my mother and for you, whatever James Bourke may do or say. I know that James is a good man and we will be heard. James would never allow the alliance with the Lynotts to be affected.’

  Cirilo embraced Emily, kissed her and then looked across at Tibbot for approval.

  ‘My darling, Emily, you have done well: I have a son to be proud of.’

  Cirilo looked anxiously at Tibbot.

  ‘But what of my place as slave to the O’Callaghans? I am their property and do not have the freedom to leave.’

  The answer was soon to be established. The commotion had not gone unnoticed. The relative silence was broken by the sound of footsteps approaching over the bridge. O’Callaghan was standing on the castle side of the river, standing with a rifle mounted on a stand and aimed at Tibbot. Four servants with pikes carried on across the bridge to disarm the intruders.

  ‘I do not know your business in these parts, but if you do not release my boy and my slave, I will kill one of you. These lands are mine as granted by Queen Elizabeth through the Lord Deputy. If you are here to exact the will of your clan, then you need to know that you are not welcome in these parts.’

  ‘Sir, my name is Tibbot Bourke, fostered to the Lynotts of Tyrawley in County Mayo. We have come here today to meet with Donovan, who my mother knows as Cirilo. This man is my father. I have not met him until this day and came here on a misunderstanding. I now wish to take leave with him to Tyrawley.’

  Cahir handed his caliver to a servant before walking across the bridge to Tibbot. He looked deep into his eyes before letting out a loud laugh.

  ‘Blessings of the Mother, you speak the truth. I can see that you have the body and complexion of the blackamoor, then why are you not a slave too?’

  ‘I was born to the Lady Emily Bourke, who is the daughter of William Lochtar Bourke, the clan chief. My life was spared but not without hardship for us all. I was fostered by the Lynotts and I am their chief and we both live as Lynotts.’

  Emily approached O’Callaghan and bowed down.

  ‘Sir, if you have had the chance to speak to him, you will know that Donovan is a good Irishman. He spent many years in the wars, fighting for the rebels and has served the earls well.’

  ‘Yes, I realised that and I have given him good board and service in recognition but he cannot go with you. He is my property, paid for with good money and faith from the Lynott Duald.’

  ‘Sir, I do not know on the wage paid for him, but I will double it to take him.’

  ‘Fifteen shillings and he is yours. It is more than I paid for him, but he is also worth more to me than I paid for him.’

  Tibbot gasped at the high price being asked.

  ‘I have but 10 with me now, please take it and we will by-your-leave.’

>   O’Callaghan winced and then hummed a descending sigh.

  Richard stepped forward.

  ‘My Lord O’Callaghan. He is asking you to sell his own father to him. Where is your heart? Both men are with honour. Please agree to this. It is the right thing to do. I have the remaining five shillings.’

  This was more than Tibbot could accept.

  ‘I cannot agree to enter into an agreement of finance with a Barrett. Your intentions are misplaced, Richard!’

  Emily interjected, ’Many years ago, I was mistreated by the Barretts in the townlands. Up until this day, the crimes went unreported and unpunished. Under Brehon law, the crime should be redressed with the victim. Richard, I will take the five shillings as compensation and I will spend it on the purchase of Cirilo.

  Richard retorted, ‘Does this mean I am required to overlook the death of Toothless Patrick?’

  Emily replied, ‘It is as you wish, but he paid for his crime against me. The crimes I refer to are in addition to the rape. You did not see but outside the tower house in Ballysakeery, the Barretts beat and scorned me many times.’

  Richard smiled. ‘Then I agree to the payment and on behalf of the Barretts, I apologise for the attacks.’

  ‘Then if Emily pays me the five shillings, we have an agreement. Mister Tibbot the Blackamoor is yours.’

  Throughout his life and years of slavery, Cirilo had learned to keep his emotions concealed and controlled but at this moment, it was different. He could not contain the feelings of complete joy and excitement. He embraced Emily as though he was afraid to let her go, because he was.

  Later in the day, MacCabe left with his two kern, disgusted with the outcome and their failure to secure a kill. Those remaining were provided with food and sustenance by Cahir as well being entertained during the evening and boarded until the next day.

  In the morning, Cirilo appeared relaxed and composed as he prepared the horses and the cart through habit. When Emily emerged from the house, she looked to Cirilo just as she did on the day they made love. He melted, walked up to her as if to save her steps and embraced her tightly. He was now to be reunited with the woman he loved as no other, Emily Bourke. The years had suddenly disappeared and in their minds, they were now at the first moment of embrace.