Pure

Aodh stormed into the room. “Your man completely destroyed my tavern! You’re going to replace everything or I’ll have you up in front of the lord.”

Maigred tore her eyes from Ehir’s slack face and looked up at Finten. He was clutching Ehir’s body to his chest with trembling hands, the expression on his face blank.

“Did you hear me?” Aodh asked loudly.

FInten’s men were slowly getting to their feet and brushing themselves off.

Aodh came up behind Finten and leaned over him. “Hey, fecker, you listening?”

“Shut up, Aodh.” Maigred stood up. Her hands had blood all over them too. She wiped them down the front of her skirt.

Maigred looked around the room. Ehir had really made a mess of the place. Most of the tables were still intact, but almost all of the chairs had been destroyed. She glanced out front, the crowd had quickly dispersed, several tavern employees were wandering back in.

“Hey!” Aodh said loudly.

Maigred turned back towards him. He was bending down in front of Finten waving his hand in front of his face.

“For the gods’ sakes, leave him alone.” Maigred said.

Aodh stood up and turned to look at her. “What, you’re going to start ordering me around in my own place?”

Maigred raised an eyebrow at him. “Do you really want to antagonize someone who just had to kill a man?”

Aodh glanced back at Finten and stepped away from him. Then he turned his attention to his employees, directing them to start cleaning up.

One of Finten’s men went to his side. “Finten, we should go.”

Finten didn’t react.

“Finten.” He squeezed Finten’s shoulder.

“I failed him, Conall.” Finten’s voice was emotionless.

“You didn’t fail him, Finten.”

“I failed Caevah, I failed you,” he turned and looked at Conall. “I’ve failed everyone. You should go. You should all go before it’s too late for you too.”

Conall stared at Finten helplessly. “Finten, you…you haven’t failed anyone.”

Maigred took a step forward. “We should get out of here while Aodh is distracted.”

Conall looked up at her and gave a sharp nod. He directed the other men to help him lift Ehir’s body. They carried him out.

Finten didn’t move.

Maigred went to him and held out her hand. “Come on, Finten. Let’s go.”

He looked at her hand dumbly for a moment before glancing up at her face. He climbed slowly to his feet, took her hand and let her lead him out of the tavern.

There was a muted hum that resonated between their clasped hands, it was so faint that Maigred wasn’t sure if she was imagining it or not.

She spotted her basket on the ground near the window. It was tipped on its side. She let go of Finten’s hand, went and scooped it up off the ground, and hooked it over her arm. Finten was still standing where she’d left him. She went back and grabbed his hand, then followed his men down the street.

Finten’s men carried the body down the street to a little stable, where they set him down outside. Conall went in and the others sat on the ground with blank expressions on their faces.

Maigred brought Finten over to the horse trough that was outside and washed his hands and then her own in the water. Then she had him sit and she started looking his wounds over. His nose was still bleeding. She told him to look up and pinch his nose. When he didn’t move, she tilted his chin up and pushed his hand up to his face. After being told again, he pinched his nose shut.

He smelled awful. Maigred focused on breathing through her nose. She carefully disinfected the scratches on his arms and face, and bandaged the deeper ones. When she was finished, his nose had stopped bleeding so she used some of the extra bandages to clean the blood off his face. Then she turned to his men, only to find them watching her.

Her face heated. “Are any of you hurt?”

They shook their heads.

Her eyes searched their faces and arms and they didn’t look hurt at all. “Are you hungry?”

They didn’t answer, but interest sharpened in their eyes, so she began handing out the food she had packed. She hadn’t expected them to show much interest in the food, but they began devouring it hungrily.

Conall came out of the stables pushing a hand cart. When he saw the food, he parked the cart near the others and accepted food from Maigred as well.

When she offered Finten food, he didn’t respond.

Maigred found Conall and the others watching her again as they continued to eat. “Finten isn’t doing well. You need to keep an eye on him, don’t leave him alone, not even for a few minutes. If there’s a time that at least one of you can’t be with him, bring him to the inn. There’s always someone there and any one of us would be glad to sit with him.”

Conall nodded. “Thank you, lady Maigred.”

She frowned. “Just Maigred.”

Conall gave a respectful nod. “Thank you, Maigred.”

“Will you be alright for now? Do you need anything else?”

“We’ll be fine. Thank you for being here for us.”

Maigred nodded. “I’m sorry for your loss.” She turned and began making her way back to the inn. She was halfway home before it really began to dawn on her what had just happened. By the time she arrived she wasn’t sure she could trust herself to go in the front door, so she went in through the back door.

Aoibh and Eoghan were busily preparing for dinner, but as soon as they caught sight of her, they both froze.

Aoibh came to Maigred’s side and took her hand. “Maigred, are you okay?”

“Finten had to kill one of his men today.” It wasn’t what she had meant to say.

Aoibh pulled Maigred into a hug. “Were you hurt?”

“No.” It was true, she hadn’t been hurt, but she certainly didn’t feel okay.

“Maigred?”

She looked up to see Cathal looking at her with an alarmed expression on his face. She burst into tears.