We did not wish to shame him. We wanted his praise and love as we had once had it. But now, there was only talk of the rebellion. Of death. Of justice. Of sacrifice. Of brave men and cowards.
“Patrick.” My father barked roughly, demanding at last a response from me.
I raised my head slowly, and took in the sight of my father. He was red in the face, like he'd drunk one too many pints at the town pub. He was staring at me so intensely, I worried that his heart might seize and stop.
His mouth was working rapidly, but no words emerged. He was too angry for words.
My mother suddenly stood, her arms wrapped tightly around her thin waist. “Patrick,” she whispered, her eyes glued to my father. “Patrick, don't let your anger take you too far. This family is all we have.”
At the sound of my mother speaking his name, my father's body shuddered, and all the breath left his body in a single, drawn out exhale.
I watched him—waited for his next words.
He spoke them slowly, so I would not miss them. “You will join the United Irishmen, or you will find yourself on the street.” He glanced at Sean, and it may have been my imagination, but I believe it was harder for him to say these next words, to include my brother in his threats. “Both of you will go.”
“No!” My mother cried, rushing to gather Sean's head in her arms. She clung to her youngest child, tears streaming down her face as she pleaded with her husband. “Patrick, please. You can't do this! Your own children!”
“No children of mine will support the British.” He grunted stubbornly.
I watched Sean. He was just raising his head, still cradled in my mother's arms, but I could see the determination on his face. He was my younger brother, but when it came to action, he was always the first to respond.
“Mam,” he whispered, “let me up.”
“No,” she gasped, clinging to him more tightly. “No, Sean.”
Gently but firmly my brother pried her arms away, and then he pushed back in his chair and stood to face my father. His voice was nearly a whisper. “I've always believed in the cause, Da.”
“Then why haven't you joined?” My father demanded, seeming unsoftened by both my mother's tender display, and my brother's calm words.
“I've been waiting.” Sean glanced at me, and now it was my turn to look at the table top. “First for Patrick, like you assumed. But also for Mother.” He reached out and took her hand, but then focused right back on father. “I didn't want all the men in her life disappearing.”
While my mother's quiet cries filled the room, my life flashed before my eyes. First, like how I'd always pictured it. Growing older in this house, eventually marrying—perhaps even Sarah McKenna, like I'd often imagined—and quietly growing old with my paintings.
But even as I envisioned it, I knew it was an impossible dream. Perhaps there had once been a time when such a fate would have been possible. But no longer.
I stood, suddenly drawing every eye to me. “I will go. I will join the cause.” Though my father had been yelling a mere instant before, his face was already softening in victory—his lips were twitching, preparing to speak.
I held up a quick hand, halting his words of praise. “I have one condition,” I stated.
My father's eyes narrowed while he waited, his lips pressing firmly together. I purposefully avoided looking at my mother, my brother. “And it is?” He grunted.
There was no surrender in my stance. “Sean stays here. He's too young.”
“Nonsense!” Father burst out. “Mere boys are joining—”
“Sean will stay here,” I repeated firmly.
Suddenly I was back on the grass, the memory of that vivid moment fading as the pain began to come back to me.
I was not in the kitchen, staring my father down. I was dying on a roadside that had turned into a battlefield the moment we'd ambushed the British cavalry.
Ironically enough, it had been my first major battle.
It would be my last.
My senses were returning, now that the killing stroke had been dealt. The bullet that had ripped through my chest and pierced my heart had pushed me harshly to the ground. I never saw the soldier that shot the rifle, and yet he'd had the power to take my life. It seemed so unfair.
It had been so shocking, so abrupt; I hardly felt the pain after the initial bite of lead. Slowly the shouts of men and cries of beasts had faded. I was alone with my thoughts.
I was now becoming aware of the pain. The searing, burning hole in my body. My shirt was drenched in blood. My blood. My hands were covered in the sticky substance. I tried to tell myself it was paint. Only paint.
I swallowed with herculean effort, choked on the blood in my throat, and shuddered with the realization that I was living my final seconds.
The worst part was that this sacrifice—my life—meant nothing. The rebels would possibly win this battle—perhaps they already had. They would acquire the needed cannons, and boost their moral with the victory. There would be losses, of course, but they would be acceptable. I was a necessary casualty. My unachieved dreams were nothing compared to the greater good.
But then there was the true tragedy. Sean. My brother. He had refused my help. He wanted to come with me. He wanted this. He thought I would look after him. Protect him. And now, so early in our fight, I was leaving him.
He was here, somewhere. Was he lying somewhere nearby, also struggling for breath? Or was he chasing away the last of the British? Was he already celebrating the victory, scanning the cheering rebels, looking for my face?
Each labored breath I fought for expanded my lungs briefly, only to rattle free an instant later, leaving my body oddly empty. I could feel my heartbeat slowing with each escaped breath. Each exhale racked my body with pain, and a childish whimper escaped my lips.
My loss would be mourned by my father, but viewed as acceptable. He would be more proud of my death than he had been of my life. For some reason, I couldn't even imagine my mother's reaction. Perhaps that was a gift from God. I don't think I could have endured that pain.
The blood was saturating the ground beneath me.
I fought for breath, but no air entered my lungs.
My body shuddered one last time, and then went still.
My heart stopped.
I felt it pound feebly for the last time, and then nothing. It was like a ball of lead in my body—lifeless, hard. There was no air in my lungs. No life in my limbs. No thoughts left to think.
Nothing . . .
And there on the roadside, alone in the middle of a crowded battlefield, I died.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Heather Frost writes YA fiction and she has a soft spot for tortured characters, breath-stealing romance, and happy endings. She is the author of the Seers trilogy and the Fate of Eyrinithia series. Two of her books have been Whitney Award Finalists, and Royal Decoy was a Swoony Award Finalist. She has a BS in Creative Writing and a minor in Folklore, which means she got to read fairy tales and ghost stories and call it homework.
When she’s not writing, Heather likes to read, travel, and re-watch Lord of the Rings. She lives in a beautiful valley surrounded by towering mountains in northern Utah.
To learn more about Heather and her books, visit her website: www.HeatherFrost.com.
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