Seers

AdvAnce ReAdeR’s copy

This advance reading copy consists of unedited and uncorrected page proofs. Please note that any quotes for review must be checked against the finished book.

Unfinished elements of this book (such as front matter and appended material) are also subject to change.

On-sale date: October 2011

Fiction 330 pages 5.5 x 8.25

ISBN: 978-1-59955-792-2

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AdvAnce ReAdeR’s copy

© 2011 Heather Frost

All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. The characters, names, incidents, places, and dialogue are products of the author’s imagination, and are not to be construed as real.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form whatsoever, whether by graphic, visual, electronic, film, microfilm, tape recording, or any other means, without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief passages embodied in critical reviews and articles.

ISBN 13: 978-1-59955-792-2

Published by Bonneville Books, an imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc., 2373 W. 700 S., Springville, UT 84663

Distributed by Cedar Fort, Inc., www.cedarfort.com Cover design by Danie Romrell

Cover design © 2011 by Lyle Mortimer Typeset by Heidi Doxey

Printed in the United States of America 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed on acid-free paper

Prologue

June 4, 1798

Wexford County, Ireland

I was lying on the long grass, only distantly aware
of my surroundings. I could feel the light breeze rushing across my still body, but other than that outward sensation, I felt nothing. I heard nothing. I saw nothing. I was nothing.

Deep in a remote corner of my mind, I knew that I was dying. But that knowledge was not frightening at the moment. For now, I could think of nothing but the last conversation I’d had with my father. If it could be cal ed a conversation.

It had been weeks ago, but I could remember every detail. My mother’s worried face, my brother’s hunched shoulders, the pulsing vein in my father’s forehead.

“My sons are cowards!” He’d shrieked, his Irish accent thick and forceful. “They tell me they know the truth, but they do not fight for it.

They refuse to dedicate themselves to a cause greater than themselves!” I could clearly remember sitting in my chair at the kitchen table.

I kept stealing glances at my younger brother, but his head was always ducked. I couldn’t blame him. Ever since father had become involved with the United Irishmen, he’d been seized with passion. Quick to fits of anger and frustration.

I realized the strain he was under. He was a rebel, a member of one of the greatest uprisings Ireland had ever known. He was completely dedicated to resisting the British rule. He wanted freedom for

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his beloved country, and he was wil ing to sacrifice everything for it.

He hadn’t always been like this. At one time, he had been one of my greatest friends. He had been my wise mentor, my confidant, the anchor to my beliefs. But last year everything had changed. He’d gone from calmly tending his Parish to becoming one of the most dedicated rebels Ireland had ever seen. The change had been from one day to the next, though his temper flared more hotly now than it had in the beginning.

I understood him and his desires—it was what I myself desired. I was hardly a man, just barely eighteen, but I understood several things about the world. With my countrymen I had first looked to America’s revolt against the British Empire, and more recently, the French Revolution. It seemed that the time for freedom was now.

I understood all of this, but the thought of joining the United Irishmen had hardly occurred to me. I wanted to be a painter. I wanted to capture the beauty of life with just my hands and my paint. It had been my only great ambition in life. I didn’t want to fight a war.

But then my father had joined the rebel ion, and for weeks he had been subtly dropping hints that had become increasingly unsubtle.

Tonight, everything had come to a head.

Sean, my sixteen year old brother, was now taking the brunt of my father’s rage. “A younger son does not have to be more ignorant than his elder brother. He could stand tal , and march bravely into the face of truth without the example of a brother. He does not have to turn his back on the right path, just because he is younger.” Sean seemed unmoved by my father’s ravings. He didn’t raise his head, or visibly show any sign that he had heard the hot words. But I knew he had, because I knew my brother. He was hurting. Just as I was hurting.

We did not wish to shame him. We wanted his praise and love as we had once had it. But now, there was only talk of the rebel ion. Of death. Of justice. Of sacrifice. Of brave men and cowards.

“Patrick.” My father barked roughly, demanding at last a response from me.

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I raised my head slowly, and took in the sight of my father. He was red in the face, like he’d drunk one too many pints at the town pub.

He was staring at me so intensely, I worried that his heart might seize and stop.

His mouth was working rapidly, but no words emerged. He was too angry for words.

My mother suddenly stood, her arms wrapped tightly around her thin waist. “Patrick,” she whispered, her eyes glued to my father. “Patrick, don’t let your anger take you too far. This family is all we have.” At the sound of my mother speaking his name, my father’s body shuddered, and all the breath left his body in a single, drawn out exhale.

I watched him—waited for his next words.

He spoke them slowly, so I would not miss them. “You will join the United Irishmen, or you will find yourself on the street.” He glanced at Sean, and it may have been my imagination, but I believe it was harder for him to say these next words, to include my brother in his threats.

“Both of you will go.”

“No!” My mother cried, rushing to gather Sean’s head in her arms. She clung to her youngest child, tears streaming down her face as she pleaded with her husband. “Patrick, please. You can’t do this!

Your own children!”

“No children of mine will support the British.” He grunted stubbornly.

I watched Sean. He was just raising his head, still cradled in my mother’s arms, but I could see the determination on his face. He was my younger brother, but when it came to action, he was always the first to respond.

“Mam,” he whispered, “let me up.”

“No,” she gasped, clinging to him more tightly. “No, Sean.” Gently but firmly my brother pried her arms away, and then he pushed back in his chair and stood to face my father. His voice was nearly a whisper. “I’ve always believed in the cause, Da.”

“Then why haven’t you joined?” My father demanded, seeming unsoftened by both my mother’s tender display, and my brother’s calm

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words.

“I’ve been waiting.” Sean glanced at me, and now it was my turn to look at the table top. “First for Patrick, like you assumed. But also for Mother.” He reached out and took her hand, but then focused right back on father. “I didn’t want all the men in her life disappearing.” While my mother’s quiet cries fil ed the room, my life flashed before my eyes. First, like how I’d always pictured it. Slowly aging in this house, eventual y marrying—perhaps even Sarah McKenna, like I’d often imagined—and quietly growing old with my paintings.

But even as I envisioned it, I knew it was an impossible dream.

Perhaps there had once been a time when such a fate would have been possible. But no longer.

I stood, suddenly drawing every eye to me. “I will go. I will join the cause.” Though my father had been yel ing a mere instant before, his face was already softening in victory—his lips were twitching, preparing to speak.

I held up a quick hand, halting his words of praise. “I have one condition,” I stated.

My father’s eyes narrowed while he waited, his lips pressing firmly together. I purposeful y avoided looking at my mother, my brother.

“And it is?” He grunted.

There was no surrender in my stance. “Sean stays here. He’s too young.”

“Nonsense!” Father burst out. “Mere boys are joining—”

“Sean will stay here,” I repeated firmly.

Suddenly I was back on the grass, the memory of that vivid moment fading as the pain began to come back to me.

I was not in the kitchen, staring my father down. I was dying on a roadside that had turned into a battlefield the moment we’d ambushed the British cavalry.

Ironical y enough, it had been my first major battle.

It would be my last.

My senses were returning, now that the kil ing stroke had been dealt. The bul et that had ripped through my chest and piercing my 4 K • • •

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heart had pushed me harshly to the ground. I never saw the soldier that shot the rifle, and yet he’d had the power to take my life. It seemed so unfair.

It had been so shocking, so abrupt; I hardly felt the pain after the initial bite of lead. Slowly the shouts of men and cries of beasts had faded. I was alone with my thoughts.

I was now becoming aware of the pain. The searing, burning hole in my body. My shirt was drenched in blood. My blood. My hands were covered in the sticky substance. I tried to tell myself it was paint.

Only paint.

I swal owed with herculean effort, choked on the blood in my throat, and shuddered with the realization that I was living my final seconds.

The worst part was that this sacrifice—my life—meant nothing.

The rebels would possibly win this battle—perhaps they already had.

They would acquire the needed cannons, and boost their moral with the victory. There would be losses, of course, but they would be acceptable. I was a necessary casualty. My unachieved dreams were nothing compared to the greater good.

But then there was the true tragedy. Sean. My brother. He had refused my help. He wanted to come with me. He wanted this. He thought I would look after him. Protect him. And now, so early in our fight, I was leaving him.

He was here, somewhere. Was he lying somewhere nearby, also struggling for breath? Or was he chasing away the last of the British?

Was he already celebrating the victory, scanning the cheering rebels, looking for my face?

Each labored breath I fought for expanded my lungs briefly, only to rattle free an instant later, leaving my body oddly empty. I could feel my heartbeat slowing with each escaped breath. Each exhale racked my body with pain, and a childish whimper escaped my lips.

My loss would be mourned by my father, but viewed as acceptable. He would be more proud of my death than he had been of my life. For some reason, I couldn’t even imagine my mother’s reaction.

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Perhaps that was a gift from God. I don’t think I could have endured that pain.

The blood was saturating the ground beneath me.

I fought for breath, but no air entered my lungs.

My body shuddered one last time, and then went stil .