Bridie's Fire by Kirsty Murray Read Free Book Online

Then we can go together,’ she whispered.
    Mam turned towards Bridie as she cradled Brandon’s head with one hand.
    â€˜No, Bridie, I want you to go with Mrs MacMahon. I want you to take Brandon and for you both to go to Tralee and find shelter. There’s nothing for us here.’
    â€˜But we don’t want to leave you,’ said Bridie, her voice rising.
    Mam reached up and touched Bridie gently on the cheek to calm her.
    â€˜Bridie, you know what you must do.’
    â€˜I won’t,’ said Bridie, angry tears pricking her eyes. ‘You’ll come with us. You’ll come now.’
    Bridie forced one arm under her mother’s back and tried to make her rise. ‘Help me, Brandon. Help Mam,’ she said through gritted teeth, trying to take her mother’s weight on her shoulder.
    â€˜Bridie, girl, no,’ moaned Mam, a shudder coursing through her as she sank to the ground.
    Bridie knelt down to make Mam try again but suddenly Brandon reached across and slapped Bridie hard across the face.
    â€˜Leave her be, leave our mam alone,’ he shouted.
    Bridie stepped away from them both and sat near the edge of the ditch, staring down at her mother and brother. Mam was stroking Brandon’s face and whispering to him as he lay nestled against her. The day grew bright and clear with only a touch of autumn cold. Bridie felt as though a storm should break over them, like the storm that was raging inside of her, but nothing more than a light breeze came drifting off the water.
    It seemed they’d been sitting for hours when Mam called to Bridie, stretching one hand out to her. Brandon climbed up to take Bridie’s place, gazing out to sea.
    Bridie pressed her face against her mother’s neck and wrapped her arms tight around the thin, fragile body. ‘It’s my fault, Mam. I never should have made us come here. We’ll go home now,’ she wept, fiercely. ‘I’ve brought the bad luck to us. I’ve lied and I’ve stolen from the dead and I’ve brought my family to this bad place. Mam, Mam, we’ll go home again and somehow things will come right.’ She choked back the tears, gasping as she spoke.
    â€˜My little lamb,’ said Mam, taking Bridie’s hands and folding her thin, hot fingers around them. ‘There never was a brave woman who was not crooked and straight, and better we look for hope in the world than die lonely by our own hearth. Don’t you have a care for your mam. I’ll quench my thirst from the Stream of Glory before too long. Now, you’ll be my brave, fierce girl and do as your mam asks.’
    Bridie wept until her face and throat were raw. It was as if her heart, which had been aching for so long, had finally been torn apart.
    â€˜God direct you and give you courage for the long road, darling child,’ said Mam.
    Bridie kissed her mother on the brow and then, gasping at the pain inside her, she staggered up out of the ditch.
    Brandon walked beside Bridie, not looking at her as they made their way down to the beach. Bridie felt frightened by how still and quiet he was, his face fixed in an inscrutable expression. ‘Brandon,’ she said, trying hard to keep the bitterness from her tone. ‘This is what Mam wants us to do.’
    Brandon turned and looked at her with his pale blue eyes and Bridie realised he was not accusing her. ‘We’ll have our little house, one day, won’t we, Bridie? The one half-gold and half-silver, and our mam will watch over us there, won’t she?’
    Bridie slipped her arm around her brother. ‘To be sure, darling boy,’ she said, though the future stretched out before her like a road into darkness.

7
    The death-house
    The small crowd of ragged travellers moved steadily up the road away from town. Bridie didn’t look back, but she prayed, her lips moving fervently as they followed the path up to the Connor Pass on the road to Tralee.