Note: The lyrics that Ehrynn sings in this chapter were written by my sister-in-law Erin Hayden.
Chapter three
A new day had dawned and the sun had shone brightly, drying up any lasting trace of the horrendous storm from the night before. The only real tell-tale signs of a previous storm were a few downed and broken branches from the yard's surrounding trees. Sleep still had bestowed itself upon the members of the household, but there were a couple early risers amongst the rowdy and raunchy group of young men. Dico and Novak were running about the yard, wrestling, laughing and shouting and whatever else they were up to. They just happened to be doing this, creating a ruckus, right below Bam's bedroom window, unaware that it was open.
Bam grumbled into his pillow before sleepily turning over onto his back. His eyes were still drooping heavily with sleep as he looked about his bedroom, listening to the noise outside.
"What the fuck are they doing out there?" He mumbled as he rubbed his eyes with his fingers
Sitting up, Bam looked over at the window with a frown. He tore the blanket off of his nearly bare body, and stretched his legs over the edge of his bed, placing his feet on the cold floor. Arching his back a little as he stretched, he then ran his thumb nail over the side of his torso to get rid of a small, yet bothersome, itch. Standing up didn't feel good to him since he wasn't able to fully wake up, and he felt himself becoming grumpier from being forced to awaken before he was ready to.
Bam, in nothing but a pair of plain light blue boxer shorts, walked over to his window and peered out towards his noisy friends.
"Yo!" He shouted, causing the two of them to look up towards him "What in the fuck are you two dumbasses up to?"
"Oh," Dico said with a slight laugh "Sorry Bam. Did we wake you?"
"No, I'm still asleep, and I'm just dreaming this right now."
Bam quickly shook his head, pulling it back inside the window. Dico and Novak shared a short, and much quieter and more civilized conversation before Dico headed back inside and Novak decided to have a quick morning smoke. As Novak took the first drag of his cigarette, the bright sun fled and hid behind a thick coating of clouds. A slight breeze picked up in the air, suddenly causing Novak to wish he had brought out a sweat jacket. His ears began to pick up the sound of a low, almost mourning, cry within the wind. He looked over his shoulder to his right and saw the same woman from the night before, standing a ways away from him and looking right at him. Her long green gown had covered her feet so Novak was unable to tell that she was not exactly standing, but rather hovering inches above the ground. Her wavy hair flew up and began to blow around in the wind. Novak lowered his hand that held his lit cigarette, and allowed his fingers to loosen their grip and drop the cigarette to the ground. As this mysterious woman stared at him, he could not take his now widened eyes off of her. She outstretched one of her arms and waved him over to her with a long, delicate, finger. His mouth fell open in awe and he slowly took a step forward.
Bam, now dressed in a pair of jeans and black hooded sweat shirt that appeared to have been wadded up in hid bedroom floor, padded downstairs and entered the pirate bar. He paused as he looked up, seeing Ehrynn sitting by the unlit fireplace. She held her head down and quietly sang to herself in a saddened voice.
"My solace abides on that mountain side, round circles an icy rivine… the night demon cried, bared on her path and took her life, my beguilin' Colleen…"
Bam couldn't help but to be so captivated by her song. A soft grin appeared on his lips as he sat down by her to listen to her sing.
"The path that she braved, poor ancestry saved, from northerners in blood red who dashed out the green... The journey she made, was not down in vain, her people remember, the cause still remains." She looked up at him for a second before turning back to her song "Remember then that winter night, and honor her in memory… When sorrow seemed t'havet lost one battle yet… And shone through all our misery a little gleam of light… When after that her message made its way to Gaeltacht… Her relic resides, on that mountain side, the night wind sweeps down on her grave… the life that she lost at the hollowing wail of the banshee is prayer that our souls will be saved… stand by us now Patrick, your Isle of the brave." She looked up at him again, catching his grin "So you liked me song I gather, judging by your grin there." She said
"Yeah that was nice. What song was it?"
"Oh just a song that has been passed down through the generations. An old Irish folksong it is."
"What's it about?"
"It's about her."
"Her?"
"Aye, that woman from last night… she's no ordinary woman. I could not stop frettin' about her last night and woke up with that song, among other things, on me mind."
"Wait… that song was about her?" She nodded "But you said it was 'passed down through the generations' and that it's an old song. But that woman looked pretty young. How old is she?"
"She's as old as Ireland herself."
"How could that be?"
"She is what is known in Ireland as Bean Sidhe."
"Bean Sidhe?" Bam repeated, confused
"That's the Gaelic version of her name, but most commonly her name is pronounced as Banshee."
"Banshee? I think I've heard of that before, but that woman from last night didn't seem like what I've always heard the banshee to be described. I though the banshee was supposed to be scary."
"Aye… the banshee has two forms, one beautiful and young looking, and one more frightening, sort of like a shriveled old woman. But no matter which form she's in at the time of a spotting, her eyes are bright red from centuries of continuous crying." She looked at Bam and saw that he was interested in hearing more "She is the one who announces to a certain Irish family, that there is to come a death soon. She mainly follows five families, watching over them, the families being the O'Neil's, O'Brian's, O'Connor's, the O'Grady's and lastly the Kavanagh's."
"And she tells these families that someone is about to die? How does she do that?"
"If the family is of people whom she loves, she'll moan softly outside their house. The moan sounds sort of like someone crying in the wind. However if the family is of people she hates, her moan becomes more of a high-pitched, shrill shriek. There's all sorts of tales about her, but one that I know well is, if you catch her, she is then forced to give the name of the soon-to-be deceased."
Novak slowly approached the woman, not taking his eyes off of her for a second. She began to move away from him, causing him to chase after her. Moving faster and faster, the woman moved away from him, floating in mid air, and had Novak run after her. He finally caught up to her and wrapped his arms tightly around her, causing the two of them to fall to the ground. Once Novak sat up a little, still holding firm onto her, he saw that her appearance had changed dramatically. Instead of the long reddish wavy locks, her hair had dulled into a silvery-white shade. Her beautiful green gown was now a white and tattered death shroud. Her once beautiful young face was now old and haggard with large, dark, sunken in eye sockets that held bright red eyed. She stared at Novak, peering deep into his soul, causing him to shiver with fear. His eyes widened and he wanted to get up and run away, but his growing fear froze him to that spot. She just looked at him and spoke a single word. Her voice was in a ghostly, windy whisper once that one word came out of her mouth.
"Kavanagh…"