Eire for the Eiresh

What follows is my entry for this month's . I'm somewhat uncertain about the quality of this story... well i'm certain it's not high quality. But i'm not sure how far from the mark it has fallen. The genre this month was alternative history, but i don't think i portrayed that in the story. I left the setting kind of vague. In fact, everything this kind of vague, except for the end, which i like (what does that say about me?). Anyway, enjoy, and comments are very welcome.

(Actually - i just want to add that i'm thrilled at actually getting my genre challenge done this month. I gave up on the last three i attempted.)

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People danced their not quite carefree dances and smiled their not quite joyful smiles. Skirts twirled, blazers swooshed, canes rapped against the ground. All signs of a happy party, but I could see that it was forced. These people were not comfortable.

I watched them from my hidden vantage on a high-up window ledge. I looked down at their not quite merriment and nodded to myself. These people were ready to break and I would be the one to push them. I had no idea how wrong I was.

But I shouldn't begin here. This is now. We need to go back a little bit. To then. A few hours behind now. Back to a conversation.

"Let me go tonight," I said.

"Why tonight? It's too early. You'll spoil the surprise." Keerda said, harshly. Not in those words, but in his thick-accented Eiresh. I speak it well enough and understand it better, but I don't write it. I write in English; the language of my former country.

"What surprise?" I said. "They've been expecting an attack for months. The surprise is that we haven’t attacked the Pale before now."

His permanent frown deepened. "We're low on resources. With this big war happening overseas, all the guns have been snapped up by who knows what army."

It was his typical excuse. I think Keerda’s problem is that he lacks the balls to actually pull off a big raid.

“Do you want to live under Britain’s rule forever?” I said. “If you want to have Eire for the Eiresh, you’ll have to stand up against them. This is the time. They are distracted by their pointless war with Deutschland. If we strike now, while their resources here are low, we can weaken them to the point of retreat. The strongest city in the country will be yours. Let me go. Let me get a feel for the mood in Dubhlinn.”

Keerda looked at me, a special look he reserves for times when he doubts me, or doubts his decision to recruit me. He's waiting for a double cross, it's as clear as silver shining in the sun. But it will not happen. The British Empire owes me too much hardship for me to turn my coat. I want to see the great nation brought low, brought to suffering. I have no illusions that our humble plans for Dubhlinn will cause this downfall, but it is a start.

And that was how things began. With a short conversation, no positive outcome. I took his silence for agreement, and I left. Took a horse and headed southeast, to the coast just south of the barrier.

Dusk gave way grudgingly to night. The last few fingers of colour streaked across the indigo sky like the struggles of a dying man as I reached the Pale.

The Pale. It was like an entity, mystical and deadly. It was said that even to breathe its name would bring ill luck and disaster upon you and your whole family. A superstitious lot, these people of Eire. The Pale was nothing more than a few stakes, a bit of sharp wire, and men with guns patrolling their watchtowers.

I came to this particular place because the closest watchtower was over two miles away and sneaking past it was easy. I didn’t even have to sneak. I strolled casually along the beach, leading my horse, keeping the low dunes between the watchtower and me. If I jumped up onto the bank, I could see the lanterns burning at the top of the tower, ready to be flung into a pyre to signal a warning in case of invasion by the “savage” Eiresh.

“Get a feel for the mood in Dubhlinn,” I’d told Keerda. And that’s exactly what I did. The city felt tense. All the popular clubs harboured wary patrons who whispered in dimly lit corners. Words of dark deeds and darker intentions flitted from the booths and slunk around the well-appointed furniture.

For all the talk of the big war, it was news of a party at the Viceroy’s lodge in the Royal Hunting Park that followed me into and out of every club I visited. It was something big and everyone who was anyone would be there.

And that brings us up to now. The not quite smiling and not quite merriment. Their discomfort was palpable, like smoke blown into your face. I listened to the sporadic conversation that drifted up to me. Nothing enlightening, just the prattle of people trying to waste time.

I’d had just about enough, was ready to chalk this down as a waste of time, when the Viceroy took a position in the centre of the room.

“Welcome,” he said. “Most of you have been aware of correspondence between our small outpost and the crown, but none of you have been aware of details. The Eiresh have been scheming for years to invade the Pale and would have continued to do so without achieving anything. But things have changed. They now have the help of an Englishman.”

I almost gasped in shock. How could they know about me?

The Viceroy continued speaking. “We had eyes of our own in the Eiresh camp. The Englishman is riling things up for them, pushing them for invasion. The crown will not stand to be undermined in such a way. His Majesty has come up with a solution to this problem. A very permanent solution.”

He outlined a project that the colony in New England had been working on for the last few decades. Atomics, he called it. The unfamiliar term meant nothing to me, and seemingly little to most of the people in the room. But the Viceroy’s words frightened me. He spoke of a bomb so powerful it could level a whole city. A whole city. I needed to get back to Keerda and warn him.

I turned to sneak out the window I had come in, but the Viceroy’s next words froze me in mid-turn.

“We will test this bomb on the Eiresh tonight."

The ice released my muscles and, flinging open the window, I dashed through it and leapt to the ground. A cry of shock went up behind me, but I didn’t care. I ran to the stables, knocking over the stable boy who came out to see what the fuss was about. Grabbing the first horse I could, I hauled myself up onto his back and kicked him into a gallop.

The night was already well along and it was a few hours’ hard ride to Keerda’s camp. I headed straight west. The soldiers at the Pale were paid to stop people going into the city. They would comment on a rider pelting into the bogs, but they would not stop me.

The horse was strong under me, fast and steady, he seemed like he could gallop the whole night. And I was happy to let him go. I reached the Pale easily and without pursuit. A tiny portion of my mind knew why they had not bothered giving chase. My friends were dead, even if I reached them on time, I could not save them.

Confused shouts followed me through the Pale; guns traced my flight through the camp and my wild leap over the sharp wire and the trenches that came after. I did not dare stop. I had to warn Keerda, get him and his men away from the danger.

I was still a good distance out when the sky before me brightened. It was like watching the sunrise, only a lot faster. White light spread across the horizon, up and out, silhouetting the trees lining the path and the birds that fluttered from them. Silently, the light increased, creating an almost blinding contrast against the black sky.

I failed. I knew it before I fully registered what was going on. I was too close and I was about to die. The earth beneath my feet shook, setting up a clatter of small stones rattling along the path. Hard light cast solid shadows away from the explosion, the shadows quickly shortening as the light flared up into a terrifying and beautiful cloud.

I wanted to turn and run; I wanted to stay and watch the beauty of such massive destruction. I didn’t want to die. But at the same time I accepted fully that my death was upon me, and somehow the acceptance calmed me.

Silently, the light engulfed me.