Trepidation.
It hung in the air with the fog, and crept like the worms in the ground beneath.
Between this dread, hanging high and lying low, a young woman stood.
The wet, foggy air clung to her alabaster skin like dew on a blade of grass, and hung beaded in her long, cinnamon hair like raindrops on a spiderweb.
Her bare, slender feet stood planted in the black mud beneath her, where they'd stood for so long that she thought they could feel the earth's pulse.
She stared ahead at a young man, who sat comfortably on a tombstone. Though he faced away from her, she could tell from the small of his back, which rhythmically moved back and forth, that he was swinging his hanging legs like the anxious child which lay suppressed behind his calm facade.
The woman breathed in deeply. How much longer could the frightened child within herself be suppressed?
She leaned back against a stone coffin behind her, and her long bony fingers traced the lid's rim. She glanced to her left; barely visible amidst the fog was an open grave.
That was where her whole tribe could soon end up if they failed to escape Ireland tonight, as planned. Otherwise, such graves would be their permanent escape from this world, instead.
She quickly averted her gaze from the earth's gaping mouth, as if the very depths of hell wailed from it; hungrily, savagely.
But they wouldn't have her tribe. No, not tonight.
She squinted her eyes, although they had long adjusted to the darkness of the surrounding graveyard.
"Tell me this, Cedric," she uttered, shattering the window of silence which had been standing between she and the young man in front of her.
"Tell me this," she repeated. "How long does it take—should it take—for one to gather a few wagons and horses?"
Without turning, the man replied, "As long as the patience of those who wait on him endures."
The woman rolled her eyes. "Well, my patience is running out, so he'd better arrive soon."
"Angus will get here, Colleen. Just wait…"
"We have been waiting, and for long enough!" Her fingers tingled as they squeezed the coffin's lid. "We should've been heading back to the ship by now!"
Cedric twisted his torso around to face her. "I said, 'just wait!' We can't give up and go runnin' off just because Angus hasn't shown up yet. We promised to help him with the horses and wagons, and stay to that promise we will!"
Colleen shook her head. "No need to get yourself so riled up, brother! I'm not saying that we should abandon our friend. I only fear that something might've happened to him…"
Cedric turned away, resuming his previous position. "Angus assured us that if somethin' went amiss, he'd blast a note from his flute. Besides, neither Captain O'Keefe nor Captain Moore is goin' anywhere until those wagons are loaded to their ships. All right, then?"
Colleen made no response. She was not "all right," for she still couldn't shun from her troubled spirit the dread of of the impending unknown.
She bowed her head, wishing this night to be only a dream, and pass away with the stars when she awoke from it, like every dream did. But reality had proven to be the worst kind of dream. One thousand nightmares could never be as terrible as real life, because it was just that; real. Forever to be. There was no waking up from it.
Someone had once said that "home is where the heart lies." If that was the case, then Colleen's heart was slowly being ripped out of her chest; for beloved Lady Ireland was finally turning her face away from the girl and her clan.
True, every place had a tendency to be wary or even hostile toward its nomadic inhabitants. But Dublin, Ireland's gem, now looked with hatred upon the nomads, its eyes aflame with blood-lust. From behind its gnashing teeth had come many accusations of thievery, witchcraft, sorcery, and most of all, plots of insurrection against high authority.
Those accusations had since mutated into some sort of twisted truth about those gypsies, which ingrained itself into the mind of Dublin. Now, it saw the once welcomed wanderers as a spreading disease.
The highland gypsies had become a sin that needed to be purged.
Of course, this blight was, for now, only affecting Colleen's tribe, which was split into two separate clans. But Colleen reasoned that it wouldn't be long before this ill judgement was cast out to the rest of Ireland's gypsies. When that did happen, if it happened, there'd be nowhere else to go, for they'd be hated in every town, and trapped on an island as gallows loomed before them.
So Colleen's tribe had collectively decided to avoid that snare, and move on to safer plains; Paris, France.
Invaluable timing and connections all seemed to fit perfectly into their plans… almost too perfectly. It had all moved along flawlessly, so far; from mapping safe forest routes, to stealthily gathering supplies in town, to finding sailors willing to smuggle gypsies out of the country.
So far, their efforts were still undiscovered. But for how long, Colleen wondered? Her stomach turned more and more as her dread was slowly boiling within her.
Suddenly, the sound of rumbling hoofbeats approached, reverberating through the ground like a thunderstorm. Cedric leapt from his elevated seat on the tombstone and crouched, peering out from behind it.
"Hide, quickly!" he hissed, without turning. "I'll see who it is, and I'll holler if it's safe. Go now, hurry!"
Colleen whirled around. With practiced ease and seasoned strength, she pushed the coffin's stone lid aside so that it opened just enough for her to slide in through. Without hesitation, she leapt into the coffin, slightly cringing at the sound which followed, emitting from beneath her; the loud crunch of decaying bones.
She lay down, on her back. Then, in a smooth though laborious effort, she lifted the stone slab above with her outstretched feet, and set it back into place.
Everything was pitch black and quiet, except for the muffled sounds outside and Colleen's heaving breath.
She closed her eyes. Although this wasn't the first time she'd hidden with the dead, and wasn't likely to be her last, Colleen's skin crawled every time she touched the skull which lay behind her own.
And judging by the discomfort in her neck and head, she concluded that she was lying upon the rusty breastplate of a once-valiant knight. She wondered how many other women's heads had rested where her own now lay.
Then Colleen's breath caught, and she stiffened when she heard muffled voices outside of the stone casket.
She heard a shout. It was Cedric, saying something undefined.
Colleen's throat constricted, and then she listened more carefully when she heard it again.
"Colleen! It's all right; 'tis only Angus!"
She gasped in relief. Finally, he had arrived!
Repeating her previous motions to move the slab above her, she squeezed up through the crack and drank in the night air, which was invigorating compared to the stale smell of death with which she'd been trapped.
She jumped out, landing in the mud once again, and heaved the lid back. She turned and ran toward two men, and three weathered wagons, each attached to two equally weathered horses. Within seconds, she was standing among the two men; one young and tan, and the other older and grayed. The latter turned to the pale girl as she approached. His eyes were squinted.
"Ain't that taboo, what you've gone and done, McCallister?"
Colleen crossed her arms. "Aye... superstitious, are you now?"
"Jugdin' by the way you were scurryin' I'd say you thought the same."
"Now, Angus; you know me better than that!"
Angus' eyes twinkled. "Can't say that I do." Then the twinkle faded as he turned his attention toward the antsy horses behind him, which pawed at the ground and snorted vehemently.
"We can't be loiterin' much longer. It was hard enough tyin' and pullin' three blasted wagons together, but now we need to be gettin' them to the ships." He turned back toward the young adults, looking each in the eye. "You remember our plan?"
Colleen nodded, reciting it in her mind. Each of them would take their own wagon, then they'd go down different routes which were to safely lead them all to their designated ships. Cedric and Colleen would meet at the ship they were boarding, and Angus would go board the other.
"Cedric, Colleen," said he, reaffirming that he had their attention. "I've already separated the wagons, so go along now!"
Colleen swallowed as Angus departed quickly, before she could even respond. He rarely ever called anyone by their fist names; just their last. Hence, Colleen was "McCallister," and Cedric was "Fallon."
She quickly smothered the panging guilt within and hoisted herself up onto her wagon. Angus thundered away in front of her, already at a canter.
Then she cracked the long reins across her two horses' backs. They threw their heads down and broke into a jolting canter. She glanced over her left shoulder. Cedric's wagon was swiftly coming up alongside hers. He glanced over as well, and their eyes locked. This was where they'd part.
He shot her a boyish grin and nodded once, then sharpy jerked his reins left. Simultaneously, Colleen jerked her reins to the right; into the inky blackness of the forest path.
* * *
Colleen's heart pounded with the horses' hoofbeats. She deftly opened her right rein, and the wagon swung out in the back as she did so. To straighten out, she jerked both reins the other way, causing the horses to side-step rigidly.
They had calmed down, but Colleen's level head was just becoming hazed with renewed angst.
She'd heard other hoofbeats.
That had been quite a while ago, and she'd stayed calm enough to simply ease her pace and change her course; and soon, the other rider was out of earshot. But worry had since niggled in her mind.
Her thoughts were suddenly shattered by the resonant sound of crashing waves. Overhead, gulls cried in discordant pitches, as if they knew something that Colleen didn't; like some dreadful doom impending.
Colleen could feel her skin prickling with goosebumps from discomfort and the brisk sea breeze.
She had reached the harbor.
With another flick of the reins, she turned the wagon so that it emerged from a wall of trees, immediately coming out on a grassy slope. Colleen gasped in horror as the horses jumped down the sudden decline, bringing the cumbersome wagon flying with them.
Crash!
It landed on the gravel road below, nearly throwing Colleen out. She leaned back and slowed the shaken horses to a halt. Then she hopped out and encircled the wagon, inspecting it.
She sighed with relief after she came back around. It seemed that the wagon had recieved little damage from the impact of the harsh landing.
With that, she clambered back up to her seat and clucked her tongue, spurring her horses onward.
Hopefully, Captain O'Keefe and Cedric would forgive her tardiness. After all, who were they to judge her? Cedrick had just barely managed to gather foodstuffs with some other men from the clan, and Captain O'Keefe had made repairs to his ship, The Bonny Maid, only two nights ago.
Colleen grinned, planning her brilliant retort for when they'd start pestering her about being late.
Men could be so irrational sometimes; but then again, who was she to speak?
Colleen shook her head and chuckled before she let herself dwell on the issue all over again.
Suddenly, she realized that she was actually finding merriment in the midst of trials. Her countenance instantly sobered and her concience became swamped with guilt. She focused on the road before her.
Then, she heard hushed voices up ahead, and barely visible were three looming masts, piercing through the fog like a needle pierces fabric. Their sails were just being unfurled, billowing like a river serene.
Averting her gaze from the marvelous sight, she saw the sillhouettes of two men running down the road toward her. Colleen instantly recognized them as they approached.
"We haven't enough trouble already, is that it?" Cedric's voice held a sharp twinge to it as he rigidly took hold of one of the horses while the man beside him took the other.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to take so long..." The "brilliant" monologue Colleen had originally planned was long gone, now.
"Need I remind you, young lass," grumbled the other man as he helped lead the horses down the path, "that all it takes is a delay of one minute to cost scores of lives?"
Colleen sat wringing her hands as the cart bumped along. "I only took a different route, Captain…"
"Colleen, why didn't you follow the plan? We could've been shoving off by now!"
She glared at the back of Cedric's head, which shook impatiently. "Because I heard someone else in the woods, that's why!"
Both men whirled their heads around. Cedric's mouth hung open. "What?"
"I mean... it could be nothing," she replied, a little shakily, "but I didn't want to take too great a risk."
The men went much faster, tugging the horses along behind them. The captain uttered some curses beneath his breath.
Colleen swallowed. "Richard, shouldn't one of us visit the other captain and warn him?"
"No, lass," Captain O'Keefe responded. "Colin's probably already shovin' out, like we very well should be doin.'"
"But what if--"
"We're leavin' this accursed isle, and we're leavin' it now!"
Cedric briefly turned his head and shot Colleen a warning look, so she pursed her lips. She prayed that the good captain was right about them her tribe's other half, about their safety.
* * *
"Hoist the anchor, boys!"
Groans followed the husky captain's command, both from the chain being hoisted, and from the men doing the hoisting.
Colleen kept her worried eyes on the shore in front of her. She prayed that her tribe's other half had set sail.
She peered over her shoulder. She could see that a few others appeared to be praying the same.
The ship rocked as its sails unfurled and caught the whipping sea breezes, slowly propelling it away from the quiet, shadowy docks.
Colleen's stomach leapt, but her heart sunk. This was the moment they'd all been waiting for, as she could hear from the excited talk behind her.
But something wasn't right.
Then, a hand gently touched her shoulder. Collen looked up to her right. There was Cedric, half-smiling as his brown eyes twinkled. "Sea-sick already?"
Colleen's breathing picked up as she continued watching the shore rapidly fade amidst the fog. "Cedric, I'm afraid."
Cedric shook his head. "Ah, you'll be fine. I know you're going to miss it, but…"
"This isn't about what I'm definitely leaving behind; it's about what we could be leaving, but shouldn't be!"
"What…?"
"The rest of them, Cedric! The rest of us!"
Suddenly, a terrible cacophony boomed in the distance. All heads turned east.
Smoke billowed above the fog, and the savage hollers of soldiers joined by clanging metal echoed through the starless night. Screams of terror immediately ensued.
Everyone on the ship gravitated to port. Only Colleen stayed standing at the ship's stern, paralyzed.
She couldn't breathe. Her vision was blurring. A cry rose in her throat, but was asphixiated by sobs which convulsed in her chest. All around her, people cried out in realization of the calamity taking place in the distance; it was happening at the other harbor, to the rest of the tribe.
Colleen only shook her head, her eyes wide and unblinking. This couldn't be happening.
Then, rising above the tragic discord, a musical note blasted.
It was a flute's note.
Angus.
Colleen's head snapped to her right, and tears leaked from her eyelids. She knew the melody which he now played. It was a song which accompanied a tragic fireside tale of two friends who set out to find their heart's desires; but only one could go onward to complete the journey.
Colleen's heart stood still as the faint melody droned on, accompanied by the cataclysmic sounds of aguish. Then she softly sang in a cracked voice, between sniffles:
"Go forth, ye now… now forth, ye go. There awaits a home of gold…"
She couldn't bear to sing out the next line, for it held truth regarding the present moment. Then she felt Cedric's hand upon her shoulder once again. She collapsed into the strong arms which gripped her tightly, burying her face into his chest while she let out her trapped sobs.
Then, she felt his voice reverberating through his chest. It sang out strongly:
"...Like branch from yew, from your side was hewn. My company, now roam ye free!"
Soon, the entire clan upon the ship slowly joined their voices with his strong one, singing the Celtic lament from the depths of their souls, wallowing in every line, and joining their voices like a band of angels.
"Slán agus beannacht leat,
My love for you was ne'er for naught.
But stay for me,
On bended knee.
Rath Dé ort, mo grá, mo grá.
"Ascend ye now, now ye ascend,
From ash to snow, from foe to friend.
But in prosperity,
Think of me.
Though comp'ny sweet,
We'll ne'er again keep.
" Slán agus beannacht leat,
My love for you was ne'er for naught.
Though gone I'll be,
Bow head for me.
Rath Dé ort, mo grá, mo grá…"
Colleen pulled herself away from her dear brother's embrace, and looked around. Many were knelt upon the deck, bowing their heads, likewise to what the song had mentioned.
The flute still played, though its heavenly voice faded as the ship drew farther away.
She leaned her palms against the wooden railing at the ship's stern Already, her homeland had become only a steadily decreasing strip of rolling hills and lonely crags. She could still she a black, billowing column of smoke curling upward, and pinhead-sized torch flames danced beneath it.
Colleen's face stung from the salt of both her tears and the ocean winds.
Then a wave of seawater sploshed up against the backside of the ship, and soaked Colleen's face.
She licked her parched lips, tasting the salty water.
It was her last taste of home; her last taste of the Emerald Isle.
Note: This is merely a prologue to introduce one of my original characters. Don't worry, some familiar faces will show up soon. I promise...