Fate/Curadh Beag

Chapter 8: Source of Life and Death

FATE/CURADH BEAG

"Little Champion"

Chapter 8: Source of Life and Death

The following morning, Connla woke up to the smell of eggs being cooked on the small stove in the guest room. Numerous birds chirped outside, and the breeze flowed softly along the grass and fields. A rooster bellowed in the distance. She looked up and noticed that Conall was already awake and preparing breakfast for them.

"Mornin', missy," he greeted her. "Did you sleep well?"

"About as well as I could," she mumbled while wiping her eyes.

"Can't blame you. Yesterday must've been real hectic. Today's gonna be a breeze, though – we'll get moving to Galway as soon as we're ready. No dramatics to worry about when you're on the road."

"How's Mr. Declan? Is he doing okay?"

"Don't know. I haven't seen him yet," Conall said as he glanced out the window with a perplexed gaze. "That's odd. He's usually up and about tending to his cows. The man prides himself on being an early riser to care for his girls. I made him his breakfast earlier, but he hasn't stopped by to eat either."

"I hope he hasn't done anything irrational. Hearing about his wife's death must've been a real shock to him."

"Shit... Let's look for him. I'll check the barn and fields. You look around the house."

They split up and investigated the property. Conall inspected the barn and found the cows still inside their stables waiting to be milked. Meanwhile, Connla poked her head through each room she could find, carefully looking to see if Declan wasn't hiding. She went upstairs to the second floor, which only contained the master bedroom and a lavatory. The latter's door was open and there was no one inside. In contrast, the bedroom's door was closed, so she suspected that Declan was inside. She tried the doorknob, and it clicked open before she gently swayed the door open inward.

"Mr. Declan? Are you in h-" she began to ask, but then stopped mid-sentence.

Like a curtain unfolding in front of a window, the scene opened up before her eyes. She was so stunned that the entire world was enveloped in total silence for a good minute or two. She wanted to tear her eyes away from what she was seeing, but her body refused to move. Fortunately, Conall's rushing footsteps disrupted the fragile stillness as he shouted, "What's wrong!? Did you find him!?"

Connla couldn't say anything. All she could do was grab his arm and point into the room while shivering uncontrollably. His mind was filled with blasphemous curses as he looked inside the bedroom to see what was wrong. His jaw dropped as he finally saw what the problem was:

Declan had hung himself.

****

Two hours later, the same soldiers from yesterday had been notified and sent an emergency request for assistance from the neighboring villages. Other farmers noticed the pell-mell around Declan's property and ambled around the area, wondering what had happened. It didn't take long for word to spread among such a small and sequestered community.

Connla didn't want to get involved with any of it. She sat inside the barn by herself, hugging her knees to her chest and brooding in silence. She was already exhausted from crying over Conall's shoulder, then explaining what happened to the guardsmen afterward. She didn't want to turn this incident into mere chit-chat among the weary townsfolk. She would keep her testimony close to her heart, only allowing Conall and the soldiers to know what she saw in that bedroom. Declan's death expression was so twisted and horrific that she doubted she would ever forget it. She was used to people already being dead and roaming the Land of Shadows as spirits – witnessing these actual deaths for herself was almost too much for her to handle.