Daughter of the Waves

Law and Disorder

From that point on my father recovered rapidly from his ordeal. He gave no sign of having heard Aalith speaking to him, and though he thanked both Aalith and Eilish for their care of him, he left Eilish's home for his own as soon as he was able to walk, and remained distant with Aalith, still not returning for his usual evening visits.

Before anything could be resolved between them, matters took a complicated turn.

One night, as Brendan sat alone in his home, composing on his fiddle, there came a rapid knocking at his door. He jumped up to answer it, but as soon as he had the latch off two burly, armed English soldiers burst into the room.

"Brendan Murphy, we have orders to arrest you! You will come with us now!" one spat.

"Arrested?!" cried Brendan. "On whose orders?"

"By order of the local magistrate, Sir Crispin Lockwood." Said the second soldier.

"On what charges?"

"On charges of disturbing the peace, assault, and suspicion of sedition!" Replied the first one.

His blood ran cold. He had feared as much since the day of the riot. He was just surprised it had not happened sooner. He did have a question though.

"Sedition? Why on earth am I being suspected of sedition?"

"You will have to take that up with the magistrate." Stated the first soldier, who seemed to be in charge. "Now come with us."

And with that my father was seized by the arm and dragged out into the street. Many of his neighbours were already hanging their heads out of their windows to see what was going on. Brendan had hardly enough time to give them the bare facts when he was bundled onto a horse and taken to the nearest town and thrown in a jail cell.

The next day the little village was abuzz with the news. Aalith and Eilish heard it early in the morning from their very first patient. At first they were at a loss as to know what to do. They did not even know where Brendan had been taken. Shortly before midday, Fergus O'Connor supplied them with the information they needed. Fergus had been told that he was to appear as a witness for the prosecution at the court in the town of Ballymun in two days time.

So the two healers did something unprecedented. They shut up shop and, borrowing a horse, travelled to Ballymun to see if they could help Brendan. It had been years since Eilish had been to the town, but she remembered the way without too much difficulty and they soon found the imposing goal building.

At first the soldiers would not let them see Brendan. Eilish argued hotly with all her considerable wit, but this moved the soldiers not a jot. They jeered at her, calling her an interfering old crone. Eilish was just threatening to strike one of the soldiers, when, fearing she would actually do it and they would all be in more trouble, Aalith decided to take matters into her own hands.

Under cover of the commotion, she uttered a few quiet words, drew herself up to her full height, and using her most seductive voice, spoke directly to the soldiers.

"I am sure my friend does not mean any harm, please forgive her", she said, pulling Eilish gently back behind her. "We are both merely worried about our patient. He has recently suffered a serious injury and our concern is for his health. I am sure all you handsome, kind gentlemen are looking after him well, but we would like to see for ourselves if there is anything he needs to make his stay with you more pleasant."

The soldiers stood with their mouths open, as if stunned. Aalith seemed to be glowing slightly, as if lit by a ray of sunshine, but there was no sunshine in the dank goal. She looked breathtaking, despite the plain clothes she was wearing.