Summary: Two people, a boy and a girl, are left homeless and without a family in a merciless bandit attack upon their home. After their brief mention in Kings of Clonmel, no more word is heard nor seen about them...but they do have their own story to tell. Follow along with me on this, the recounting of Seamus and Molly's adventures after the Outsiders destroyed Duffy's Ford.
Disclaimer: Never owned it, don't own it now, and unfortunately never will, blah blah blah. Now on to the story!
By the way: in book 8, it says their ages are about 10, but I wanted to change that, just because I can, and I wanted to. So now, Seamus is 16 and Molly 14.
"Seamus! Molly! It's time to get up!"
Reluctantly, groaning, the two teenagers rolled over on their cots in the barn, stretched, and rose to their feet, preparing for another day filled with dusty chores that would leave them bone-weary and exhausted by nightfall.
"I can't believe Mother let us sleep in for once," Molly said, glancing at the gradually brightening rectangles of light in the barn.
Seamus' jaw tightened momentarily as he turned away from his sister, dunking his head in the water tub to refresh himself. Jerkily, he muttered, "And I suppose you think that it's all right that she told us the news only last night, right before we went to bed? When she-and Father and our grandparents and uncles and aunts and cousins and everyone else in this blasted family-had known about it for a month?"
He felt a slight twinge of regret as he turned around to see his sister's face fall. Quietly, she replied, "They knew we would react badly to the news, so they wanted to hide it from us. It was wrong of them to do so, but they did it anyway. And now there's nothing we can do about it."
Seamus sighed. "You're right, I suppose. But still, I'm glad we decided that this was the day to..."
His voice trailed off as he heard heavy footsteps marching towards the barn doors. Brother and sister exchanged a quick glance, nodded in unison, then hurried off to their morning tasks, Molly making a beeline for the grumpy cow in the corner while Seamus took up the pitchfork and haphazardly tossed hay into the horses' feed buckets.
Seconds later, the barn doors crashed open to reveal their sneering older cousin Devin-who was 18 years old and unbearably full of himself-holding up a rake.
"Let's get moving, lazy slugs!" he bellowed for the whole world to hear. "You'd better get down to the kitchen fast, or no breakfast for you!" Molly and Seamus glared at him as he snickered at his own words.
"You can't even make a single funny joke," Molly replied scathingly. "Why don't you just leave us in peace? We won't need breakfast today."
"Oh really?" Devin said, clearly amused at her words. "I've never met a dumber girl in my life! What kind of farmer are you? Have you been living with us the past 14 years of your life? 'Oh, we won't need breakfast today,'" he mocked her in a singsong voice, "la-la-la-la, I'll go play in the meadow today! Ooh, there's a flower! Wow, it's a butterfly! Oh my go-"
Suddenly, he stopped and gulped as two knives flashed by his face in unison. Then he felt two almighty jerks on his collar and banged against one of the boards supporting the barn.
"Listen up, you-pathetic-son-of-a-useless-milking-maid brat," Seamus spat out as he yanked his cousin's face forward until they were only centimeters apart from each other. "Don't you ever insult Molly like that ever again, d'you hear me?" He shook Devin vigorously until he was seeing stars. "I said, d'you hear me?"
Devin had lost his superior air, heart pounding in his chest as he looked into Seamus' harsh gray eyes, then searched wildly with his eyes for any sign of escape. But as Molly also walked up to him, green eyes blazing as she fingered another knife's blade, Devin knew he was defeated.
"Answer him, you almighty fool," Molly snapped. "The consequences will be even worse if you don't."
Devin gulped. "Wh-what consequences?"
A strange half-smile twisted his younger cousin's mouth so that she seemed positively evil. Devin tried to shrink away from her, and even Seamus could not suppress a shiver as Molly walked up even closer to him.
"Well, then," she whispered, "so you want to know what consequences...I will do my best to make sure they are engraved into your brain," she continued until she was right in front of the cowering figure of their previously arrogant cousin.
"Wh-wh-what are you going to do to me?" he whimpered, trying desperately to tug the knives out of the wood so that he would be released from their unrelenting grip.
Suddenly, the breath was choked out of his lungs as Seamus tied his arms and legs to the wooden board as well.
"Just this," Molly then deigned to reply. As she leaned in closer, Devin expected the worse, perhaps even a horrifying sorcerer's wand to appear out of nowhere and transform him into something-a frog, probably-but she only blew a raspberry in his face and then took off with Seamus, both of them laughing their heads off.
Devin's face flushed red and he spat insults and curses after his younger cousins, straining desperately against his bonds but falling back against the wooden board again, unable to get past the strong knots Seamus had tied. He shook his head slowly. "Uncle Nicolas taught that boy too many things," he said bitterly. "And Aunt Colleen passed on her warrior-like habits to that girl too quickly."
Meanwhile, Molly and Seamus were chuckling to each other as they raced towards the surrounding woods to the west, their secret haven where their supplies to leave were already there and waiting.
"Did you see his face?" Molly exclaimed as they began hiking up the steep hill to where their sacred hideout was located.
"Behind the oak, to the creek, into the hole, and destroy the mole," Seamus muttered the old adage Uncle Nick had taught him under his breath as he led the way.
Then they heard it.
Ting-a-ling! Ting-a-ling!
That was the warning bell, meaning that breakfast would soon be ready.
Brother and sister exchanged glances, then shrugged and turned back, though none of the older menfolk had yet turned to go back inside.
"We might as well get a good meal down our throats while we're able," Molly said.
"And after all, Mother might want us to leave with some of her words of wisdom ringing in our brains," Seamus replied dryly.
Molly smiled. "Well, still, they won't ever be able to blame us, hurt us, or taunt us to our faces anymore. None of them."
"And we'll be able to find Uncle Nick and Aunt Colleen again," Seamus said with a satisfied nod. "Devin will never again tease us. Father will never again yell at us or hit us. Aunt Aileen will never again scold us with her broom or tattle on us to Mother. And Mother will never again wish to bring up another child in this family."
But little did they know just how much their words would come true in less than half-an-hour, because of unfriendly eyes watching towards the north...
When the two of them entered the communal feeding area, most of the women facing away from them towards the oven and kettle took no notice, but one woman with high cheekbones and a rather nasty-looking expression immediately saw them, lip curling with distaste as she jerked a thumb towards the adjoining room, where another woman was sewing.
"You're in trouble," their Aunt Aileen said with a satisfied nod. "And you'd better go explain everything to your mother before it's too late."
She let out a thin cackle, then returned to sweeping the floor around the cooking area. Seamus and Molly allowed themselves a final glower at her while her face was turned away from them, then reluctantly walked over to their mother.
For several long moments, the three of them stared at each other, all unwilling to be the first to break the silence.
Then, at last, their mother spoke, albeit quietly.
"You must leave this place."
Seamus and Molly exchanged shocked glances. Had their mother really known that much of what they'd tried to whisper about as much in private as possible? And why was she only bringing it up now?
Their mother muttered to herself as she gathered some sacks that she'd taken out of the storeroom and handed them to both her children.
Finally, she looked up again and whispered, "I know that you two have been thinking about leaving for some time. Well, now you must. It is no longer safe for you here."
"What do you mean?" Seamus asked, a frown clouding his expression.
"I mean," their mother said heavily, "that Uncle Gilroy discovered Devin, screaming for all he was worth, bound to a wooden board supporting the barn with two knives stuck in the wood dangerously close to his throat. I mean, really! I appreciate that you two have kept practicing what Uncle Nick and Aunt Colleen taught you, but that went much too far!"
"That's why Aunt Aileen was so happy when she saw us come in," Molly said, understanding dawning in her eyes. Then her eyes narrowed. "You're not just telling us this to make us leave, are you?"
"No, no!" their mother cried, taking care to keep her voice down, but at the same time shaking her head vehemently. "I was extremely serious when I said that you two must leave. Uncle Gilroy has sworn to avenge his son. And you know how badly anger clouds his judgment."
Seamus' expression darkened. "You can say that again," he muttered, unconsciously rubbing his thigh as he remembered all those years ago, as a little boy, playing with his uncle's most treasured sailboat...
Then he shook the memory away and smiled reassuringly at his mother and Molly. "I'm fine. But, Mother..."
"Yes?"
Molly took a deep breath. She knew instinctively what Seamus wanted to say.
"We're both really sorry about how we reacted to the news last night. It was very immature of us, and you deserved better than the treatment we've been giving you all our lives, Mother," she said quietly.
Seamus nodded in agreement. "If there's any way to make it up now, any way to erase those bad memories-"
"There's only one way I can think of," their mother told them firmly, then turned to the hole she'd been furtively hacking away at for the past week now. Pointing north-and unknowingly towards the teens' secret hideout-she said, "Your Uncle Nicolas and Aunt Colleen left by this very same route."
Then she whispered the directions to both of her children, first to Molly, then to Seamus.
After that she leaned back, seeming to drink in their presence in the bright light. Suddenly the breakfast bell rang again.
Something close to panic overtook their mother's features as she heard the bell. "Hurry, hurry," she hissed. "You must be gone by the time the menfolk get back inside."
With renewed effort, the three of them hacked away at the gradually widening hole as the other wives shouted to each other over the loud bustle in the kitchen amidst the chattering voices of the younger children in the family. Molly tried to go through the hole, but it was an extremely tight squeeze-and Seamus was much bigger than her.
Suddenly, the three of them stopped as they heard blood-curdling screams and shouts of anger from outside.
"What the devil's happening?" Seamus muttered as they rushed to the doorway, then immediately jumped back again, horrified.
Bandits!
Yeah, sorry I didn't get to their escape yet. But...well, I had quite a bit of description about their lives. So...I promise, next chapter, that we will get to more action.
How did you guys feel about the knife-throwing? XD I was a bit apprehensive about it at first, but...their uncle and aunt's teachings kinda explain it, right? Yeah, I'm definitely going to put some more about them in there.
Please review, you've read all 2,222 words before this already. I beg of you.