Sidhe’s Call
Christy G. Thomas
Published by Christy G. Thomas
©Copyright 2011 Christy G. Thomas
All Rights Reserved by Author
Dedicated to Dad and Bob.
Memories never die.
Aboard the Mohongo, North Atlantic, 1849
The ship’s prow dug through choppy, unforgiving waters, cutting its way as it transported masses away from lives of starvation to the unknown promises of America. Two weeks at sea and many more to endure as they bobbed on the horizon.
Below decks they huddled in threadbare blankets, mother and daughter seeking security in shadows. Mother attempted to comfort her blonde six-year-old child, wrapping one emaciated arm around the young girl.
“Mama, I’m scared,” the girl whispered.
Mother pulled her dirty-haired daughter closer and whispered in her ear, attempting to block out sounds of coughing fits, vomiting, and crying of the sick and dying. “Ah, Allanah. Come here, and I’ll tell you something,” she whispered. “There is no reason to be frightened. Remember those stories I used to tell you back home? The ones that would lull you to sleep?”
Allanah beamed.
“Want me to tell you one now?” she asked.
Allanah emphatically nodded again, and her mother’s voice took on the storyteller’s cadence.
“Very well.” She smoothed back her daughter’s hair and secretly checked for signs of fever. Content, the mother smiled and began her story.
“In the rolling hills of Eire, before the conquests and before the famine, there lived twelve proud families. They were a blessed people, for they shared the land with our ancestor spirits, the Sidhe.”
The flaxen-haired girl looked up in anticipation.
“It is true, I tell you, for my grandmother was told by her grandmother. I swear by my life, Allanah.
“The Sidhe are a magical people. They capture sunlight in their hands, take the shape of different creatures, and live for hundreds of years. For centuries, man and Sidhe lived together, peaceably; some were even known to intermarry. Men worked the land and Sidhe kept nature’s balance. In those days, there were not only Sidhe living in the lands, but also scores of beings you have only heard of in fairytales. Mermaids, the red man, selkie. All roaming between our world and the Otherworld.
“Then the dark ones came from the southern lands, crossing the waters and stealing our goods. These newcomers saw the Sidhe and wanted their powers, desperate in their greed for land and riches. But the Sidhe could not share their gifts any more than you or I can share the blue of our eyes or the blush of our cheeks. When this was realized, the dark ones were not satisfied and sought to take the Sidhe powers through blood.
“War ensued for one-hundred years. Five of the twelve mortal families fought alongside the Sidhe, keeping the southern forces from annihilating the isle. But magic and blood are both very strong elements, and even the Sidhe could not outlast death. Thousands died—human and Otherworld alike—their bodies strewn about the mounds in which the Sidhe once lived. With mystical powers on their side, however, the Sidhe took back control. The war shifted, and defeat of the southern men was imminent.
“But then the fair Queen of the Sidhe was abducted, her life held by blood-lust captors. By now they knew the Sidhe abilities could not be bought, stolen, or transferred, but their thirst for dominance could not be quenched.
“In exchange for their queen’s release, the Sidhe and all Otherworld creatures would leave the Earth forever, allowing the southern forces to rule where they pleased.” Mother paused, caught by the concern on her daughter’s young face.
“But how, you wonder, could the Sidhe do this? How could they abandon their lands and the humans they loved?
“They did not. The Sidhe’s Inner Ring—a council who makes decisions for their kind—refused to pay the ransom and vowed to wipe evil from the Earth. Some say the Ring was foolish-–others say they were following the Queen’s orders. But when the Sidhe scouts found their queen’s lifeless body in a pool of blood, they lost all hope of victory.
“When would the bloodshed end? Never. When would the Sidhe roam the verdant hills? Never. All they could do was go to the table of compromise.
“Reluctantly, an agreement was reached between the two sides. All Otherworld creatures would leave the Earth, only allowed to return twice a year, at Beltane and Samhain. The gates were sealed, the entrances guarded, and sadness flowed over the isle.”
Allanah looked up at her mother’s vacant face. “But what about the Ban Sidhe? Tell me about the Ban Sidhe!”
Mother kissed her daughter’s sweating brow. “Of course, the Ban Sidhe. How can one tell the story of the Sidhe without talk of the Ban Sidhe?
“All children of the isle know that when the gateways closed not all went to the Otherworld as the invaders had supposed. These elite Sidhe formed what would come to be known as the Ban Sidhe, and they hid out in the hills, their homes protected by intricately woven spells.
“Why do they hide, you ask? To watch, to protect, and to serve. Five families came to the aid of the Sidhe. Five families which the Ban Sidhe swore to watch over, even to death. They bless us at birth, comfort our sorrows, and sing us to our death, which is why they refused to leave us.
“Some say that one day the Sidhe will come back. The gateways will break open and never be shut again. But some also say that there are beings from the Otherworld whose anger against mankind has been brewing for centuries, and if the gateways unlock, the wars of hell will be loosed on Earth.”
The mother paused, staring out over the ship’s cargo—her fellow countrymen desperate for their lives. Allanah tugged at her sleeve to finish the story to which they both already knew the end.
Her mother crooned the poem she knew by heart,
“With every bird you chance to see,
Remember it could be Ban Sidhe,
Watching over day and night,
Soothing all your woes and fright.”
Through the foggy night the ship sailed on, over the salty seas. But above the gray clouds of despair and grief, a flock of crow, gulls, and falcon kept pace, following the ship to its harbor.
Idaho, Modern Day