The Celtic Dragon Saga - 5. Chapter 5

D.W.: Is blood really thicker than water as you humans like to say? In all my eons watching your realm I have seen that argument both validated and invalidated so many times that I cannot honestly say whether it is true or not. Is the family that disowns one of their children, and condemns them to the darkest pits of Hell, for being attracted to another person of their same gender the ones in the right? Or is it the stranger that comes out of the darkness and rescues that same disowned and condemned child from being beat to death regardless of who the person is or what the person has done in life?

As the trio arrived at Brian’s house they were met by their adoptive fathers standing on the front porch blocking the entrance to the house with their wives standing behind them with strained and worried expressions on their faces.

Brian walked up onto the porch and just stared at at Randy with a blank and emotionless mask on his face. Unlike her twin Brigit was not able to keep the anger and hurt that she felt off of her face. Not wanting to get involved in a family dispute, Keiran stood and the back of the group trying his best to be ignored by Randy and Donald.

After the two groups had been standing there for several minutes Sharon had finally had enough an pushed her way between her husband and his cousin, directly behind Sharon came Pansy, until they stood between the children they had raised since birth and the men they had married and loved. Looking at her son and husband Sharon made her declaration.

"There will be peace in this house today! There will not be any yelling. There will not be any arguments, you will discuss civilly otherwise the argument will end with at least one person leaving." Turning to her husband Sharon continued in a tone that would freeze an avalanche in its tracks and force it to retreat, "And I will guarantee that the person or persons leaving will not be the children." To which Pansy added while looking at her own husband, "If it comes down to it Randy will not be leaving by himself, and that you can take to the bank Donald Aodhon O'Maoileagain."

For the first time one of the parents noticed Keiran standing behind the twins trying to blend in with the shrubbery. Seeing him standing there, Sharon being the mothering person that she is, walked over to him and said "It is good to see you again, I know we were never properly introduced with everything that was going on last night. I am Sharon, Brian’s adoptive mother. And the one over there, with a hangover, glaring this way is Brian’s adoptive father and maternal uncle Randy."

Embarrassed Keiran extended his hand towards Sharon only to have it ignored and be embraced in a tight hug that almost broke the emotional dam that held him together and allowed him to function day to day. Looking up towards Brian and his adopted father he stiffened as he saw Randy glaring at him with a look of disgust, fear and loathing written across his face. It wasn't until just then that Keiran realized he was not wearing his contacts since he felt comfortable enough around the twins that he didn't feel like he needed to wear them.

Sharon feeling the young man in her arms grow rigid looked up and upon seeing the look on her husbands face she became even more angry than she was beforehand.

Sensing the anger and hostility in the air, Brian looked between Randy and his new boyfriend. Seeing a way to make striking a blow towards the man that, until recently, he had always known and loved as his father, while at the same time offering comfort to Keiran, Brian walked off the porch and pulled Keiran out of his mothers fierce grip and into his own.

Looking up into Keiran's beautiful eyes he wrapped his arms securely around him and pulled Keiran into a deep kiss that was passionate enough to make Brigit blush standing five feet away from them.

After the kiss finally ended Brian said, loud enough for Randy to hear it on the porch, "Do you feel better now, babe?" All Keiran could do was nod his head, such was the power Brian had put into the kiss. Then just to piss Randy off a little more Brian said, "I love how your eyes look without those contacts that make them look normal."

Hearing what Brian had said coupled with the fact that she saw what her son was doing, and out of general curiosity, Sharon asked, "So you were wearing contacts last night?" seeing Keiran's nod she asked, "So this is your natural eye color? I think they are stunning. I have to agree with Brian there, you shouldn't hide such beautiful eyes behind an illusion just so you can fit into what others think.

Now highly embarrassed and blushing Keiran said, "Thank you Mrs. Milligan," only to be cut off by Sharon saying, "There will be none of that 'Mrs. Milligan' in this house young man. Either call me by my name or, even better I would prefer, you can call me Mom, and that is final." Seeing the look of shock on Keiran's face Sharon continued by saying, "Well you are dating my son aren't you? That makes us like family and we don't stand on formalities with family."

Suddenly Randy started yelling at the top of his lungs, " I WILL NOT HAVE THAT FAGOT FREAK IN MY HOUSE OR AROUND MY FAMILY. THAT SATAN SPAWN MUST LEAVE NOW." then, muttering to himself, Randy said, " ...must contact..Phelps....blessing....Westboro Baptist...straight camp..yeah..yeah...that will protect my family."

At this Sharon's head snapped up towards her husband and, in a tone that made her previous statement to him seem as warm as a summers day, she said, "You need to leave right now and MAYBE I will calm down enough to speak to you again, otherwise prepare to receive divorce papers."

Pansy turned to her husband and said to him, "Will you be joining your cousin on his way out or are you going to behave and remain civil?"

Donald looked at Keiran, still wrapped in Brian’s embrace, and looked into those strange eyes before mumbling under his breath, "I always thought the old stories about realm hoppers was just that, stories. But now, as I live and breathe, there is a Síofra... a changeling standing before me." Then realizing what he had been asked he said, "No, I will not be joining my cousin. The old stories spoke of what happens to those that would turn their backs on a changeling. I'll not be bringing that kind of ainsén...ill luck down upon our heads. The old stories said that seeing a changeling is a sign of troubled times be coming soon."

Seeing his entire family had turned against him Randy declared, "You are all going to HELL for consorting with demons and fagots! Go ahead and fill their heads with all of that Satanic witchcraft shit, I don't care!" After which he went to his truck and pulled out a shotgun, but before he could even cock the gun Keiran was on him and had ripped the gun from his hands and threw it across the yard, well out of reach of anyone.

He then pressed his face close to Randy's and said, in a voice that was closer to a growl than actual speech, "I think you need to leave right now and if I ever see you again you will not even have a chance to go for a gun because you will already be dead."

What the family could not see from their vantage point is the way that Keiran's eyes shifted to solid black to the point that he even lacked the part of his eye that should have been white. All the family saw was Randy suddenly loose all control of his bladder and, from the smell of it, his bowels before he jumped into the truck, started it up and drove off almost hitting the fence and light pole. Once he made it to the street he almost T-boned another vehicle that was driving down the road. Fortunately for the people in the other vehicle they were going slow enough that they were able to slam on the brakes in time to avoid being hit.

****

After Randy left Keiran continued to stand there glaring in the direction that Randy had left. A few minutes later, after calming himself down to a level where he could contain himself, Keiran returned to Brian's arms and turned to face the rest of his family. He started by saying, "I apologize for that. It was not my place to do that... but I just couldn't let him attempt to hurt Brian or anyone else for that matter."

Looking around at the others Sharon gathered Keiran into her arms and held him tight while saying, "Don't worry about it, I don't think any of us could have gotten over there or stopped him in time. I have never seen him act that way. I mean I know he started going to that new church in town a few months ago but I didn't think anything about it."

Brian looked at her and said, "Mom i don't think you can blame all this on a church because those feelings had to be there beforehand in order to surface that violently." then looking at Keiran he said, "By the way, Babe, just out of curiosity, how did you get from here over to where he was standing so quickly? When he first pulled out the gun you were still standing here, but in the time it took me to blink you had thrown the gun away and had him pinned against the truck. And what did you do to him to make him so scared that he shit and pissed himself?"

With a shocked expression on his face Keiran said, "I really don't know, all I knew was that you and your family was in danger and I felt like I had to stop him. I don't even remember leaving your arms, it's like I saw the gun and then I was over there and had him pinned. I don't even remember what I said to him, and as far as I know I didn't do anything to him he just started pissing himself and then the smell hit me. After that he jumped into the truck and sped off." then starting to sob he said, "I'm sorry I have caused so many problems for you. I will wait out in the car till you are done here and give you a ride back to your car, then you won't have to see me again."

Suddenly Brian slapped Keiran across his face and said, "Don't you ever speak like that around me again! You did not cause this to happen, this was obviously going to happen eventually anyways. Besides you can't leave me because even though we said we were going to take things slow I already feel like I have found my One True Love, Lover, Life Partner, or whatever term you want to use. And I will be damned if I let you get away from me now that I have found you. I don't expect you to be able to respond to that right now but I just wanted to place all my cards on the table and let the rest fall where they may."

Then looking around at his family Brian declared, “I do believe this family has some unfinished business to discuss, and I believe Angus needs to be here as well since he is older and would probably know more about what happened that caused our families to split.”

****

Across town Randy was speaking loudly into a pay phone saying, “...eyes turned black as coal and it felt like he was trying to steal my soul from my body.....Yes.......I can do that.....Ok I will see you in a week.....thank you Reverend I look forward to it. May Gods Light shine upon you. Good-bye.

****

Once everyone was comfortable inside the house Sharon looked around nervously at the group that was gathered in her living room. Everyone was still a bit shook up after what Randy had almost done, then, on top of that, Keiran's actions really set everyone on edge.

Seeing no one was going to start the conversation Keiran sat forward and said, “I know that I am an outsider here and, other than getting to know the twins over the last 12 or so hours, I don't know anything about your family. But for the most part, it seems to me, neither of the twins really know all that much about their family histories either. Obviously there was some kind of family strife that divided the two branches, almost irreparably so.”

Brian now sat forward and said, “The first question I feel, and I am sure Brigit also wants this as badly as I do, should be answered is, why were the two of us split up and raised in separate countries never knowing that the other existed? I can understand that neither one of you, most likely, could afford to raise the both of us so early in each of your lives and relationships. But at the same time that does not explain the secrecy involved.”

The three parents looked at each other briefly before Sharon and Pansy nodded towards Donald. Clearing his throat Donald started by saying, “You are correct that neither couple would have been able to raise both of you, Pansy and I had only been married about a year, I was barely 20 years old and Pansy was only18 at the time. As far as what young Keiran asked about the only one that I know of that can answer that with any certainty is my uncle Angus, because he was your grandfathers half brother. Since my father passed away five years ago from cancer, which is something that both of you need to be aware of for health reasons, and neither you nor Brigit ever met your grandfather before his death ten years ago, the Angus is the only one left alive from that generation. Let me give him a call and ask him to come over here, I also need to let him know about the way Randy is acting so that if he sees him he knows how to handle things.”

Donald pulled out his cell phone and started dialing as he walked outside to the porch.

Now it was just the mothers left to answer questions that, for the most part they had no answers to but they felt that they should at least try to answer as much as they could. Once more the mothers looked at each other until Sharon said, “Even though Pansy and I don't have many answers one that I think we can give you the basics of is the question of why you were never told about each other. We felt that if you knew then you would want to meet each other, and with the division in your family we couldn't bring the two of you together until after the last of that generation had passed on so as not to cause you undue hardship by involving you in all of those problems.

“Also there is the fact that Randy is the bastard son of a bastard son. Your grandfather never claimed him as his own like he did your mother. To be honest no one really knows whether Randy is his biological son or not. Now I know that Randy's father was a bastard child born out of wedlock. From what I gathered from the discussion last night between Randy Donald and Angus, your great-grandmother was, supposedly, an Irish Gypsy, but those are questions best left to Angus when he arrives.

“I do know that I never met Randy's father before he died, because he was not at our wedding and from what I understand Randy hadn't seen or spoken to him since he was 16 and moved out on his own. I almost feel like I am betraying Randy's confidence with what I am about to say but, at the same time I feel like you need to know this because it will help you understand some of the reason he acted the way he did towards you earlier.

“The only reason I know about this, and I don't think Randy even remembers telling me about it, is because he was drunker than I had ever seen him get. Brian, it was the night when you were sixteen that you came out to us and told us you were gay, that this happened, so again I can understand why he went on such a binge that night.

“You see, not only did Randy's father never claim him as his son but also from the time Randy was about seven years old, until he moved out at sixteen, his father was raping him and then beating him nightly. Randy was not allowed to have friends stay the night at his house, nor was he allowed to spend the night at anyone’s house, because if he somehow managed to avoid his fathers nightly rape then the following night would be ten times worse. Brian, do you remember the time you saw your father without his shirt on and asked where all of those scars came from?”

Brian’s heated response was, “That man is not my father! And yes, I do remember asking him about the scars, he said they were what happens to little boys who don't do as they are told. Wait... Your saying that all those scars are from beatings his father gave him? I always thought it was some kind of camping accident or something like that. Wow, okay, I can see how you would draw that conclusion. I am just glad that he never carried on that little family tradition”

At this point Troy, Brian’s sixteen year old younger brother, entered the room saying, “That is where you are wrong Brian, he did continue that tradition. That is why I stay locked away in your room so often.”

Looking at his mother then turning away, he slowly and painfully removed his shirt. As he did a matrix of welted, partially scabbed, and scarred flesh was revealed, Troy then continued, “Every since that night, at least three to four times a week he has me meet him at the barn near the back fence next to the chicken coop. By the time he arrives I am supposed to be completely naked, no matter what time of year it is, bent over a hay bale with an old power cord from a toaster or something, sitting on the bale next to me. Once he gets there he starts talking about how he was going to prevent me from turning out like that stupid orphan fagot cousin of mine. He then fucks me in the ass using the handle of a broken horse whip while he lashes me with the cord. Once I get to the point that I almost pass out he quits using the whip handle and fucks me himself. When he finishes he yells at me saying that I got what I deserved for the moment then he leaves.”

The entire time Troy was describing what had been happening to him at the hands of his father the rest of the family watched Sharon's face go from ashen to death white and then to blistering crimson by the end of the tale. Seeing that their mother could not even speak Brian asked the question on everyone’s mind, “Why didn't you tell someone that this was happening? We would have done something... I don't know what we would have done... but something...”

Troy turned around and, with a bitter laugh that sounded more cynical than the grouchiest old man ever met, said, “There was nothing that could be done. Old Mrs. Lockheart saw it happening one time and tried to pull him off of me but he just punched her in the face before shoving her away and telling her that if she ever spoke a word about it to anyone that she was signing her own death warrant and he would be the collector. Every since then she has been the one to take care of cleaning up the mess on my back every time that it happens. There have even been some of them that she's had to stitch shut because he flayed them open so badly.”

After this the whole family was too shocked to say anything. Donald, having come in near the beginning and standing out of sight next to the door, stepped into the room and declared, “Your father will not see the end of the year come 'round. Even if I have to put him in the ground myself, by all that is Holy and all that I hold dear to my heart, you have my word on it. May the Scald Crow take him before I find him, but either way I won't regret the spilling of his blood upon my hands.”

Brigit slowly got up out of the chair she was sitting in and wrapped her arms around Troy and started softly chanting, almost singing, in Gaelic that was as old as the hills, “Mo pháiste óg agus neamhchiontach teacht chun Máthair Bríd, a éisteacht leis na focail agus lig an tús leighis.”

Suddenly, as Brigit rubbed the sobbing teens back, the open and seeping wounds began to knit themselves back together, then the scabbed welts healed and the scars started to fade leaving the flesh beneath as smooth and flawless as a newborn child. Then, just as suddenly, she squeezed Troy tightly to her and slumped. If not for the fact that Troy was holding her, almost as tightly as she had been holding him, she would have crashed to the floor and possibly harmed herself greatly.

Brian and Donald rushed over to help catch the falling young woman. As soon as Donald's hand touched her, Brigit's eyes opened and glowed a green so deep as to remind one of the first leaves of Spring. She then started to speak in a strange multi-tone voice, with an Irish brogue thicker than her grandfathers grandfather, saying, “Worry not about your vow Keeper. The Dragons Child, Who is also a Prince of Old, shall take vengeance upon the one who would harm his own flesh and blood.” then looking at Keiran she said, “Listen well Young Dragon Prince, as the wheel of fate turns and you meet your first foe, remember, The Debt of Life is the Debt of Death and all Debts must be paid in Full.”

Brigit's body then slumped once more and the glow left her eyes and she seemed only to be sleeping.

Brian looked up at the adults in the room and demanded, “What the Hell was all that about? How did the marks on my brothers back disappear? Why is my sister passed out on the floor? And what the fuck happened with that strange voice?”

Surprisingly, it was Pansy that answered saying, “I always thought my grandmother was crazy when she said that the old Gods and Goddesses were real but, I think.... No, it can't be... but I just saw it...what she said was, I think, 'My...something...innocent child...something...to Mother Brigid, hear ...something...let the healing begin.' and if my grandmother was right then that was the Goddess speaking to us! As for why she passed out that would be because of the strain it puts on the bodies of mortals to be possessed by divinity. She should be fine in a few minutes, but she is going to have a massive headache if the rest of what my grandmother said is true."

"Alright," Brian, getting more upset by the moment, said, "what about all of that stuff she said to Keiran about dragons and princes? Can you explain all that away with your superstitions and old wives tales?

Donald set his hand on Brian's shoulder heavily before saying, "That be my wife you're speaking to like that. I'd suggest you mind your manners and have a seat over there next to your anam cara until you can control yourself a bit better. Your questions will be answered, as best we can, once you have calmed down and can once more think clearly."

At some point during Donald's short speech, Brigit had become conscious enough to understand what was being said. She half scared the rest of the occupants in the room when she said, "Geez Da, you haven't even known my brother a full day and you are already putting him in time-out corner? What the hell happened to me? The last thing I remember is giving Troy a hug.... and then waking up on this couch."

To which Donald responded, "I think some of those questions are better left until Angus arrives, he was around during the times of our grandmothers so he would know all the old tales that tell of such things. I didn't grow up hearing the old tales because my mother, God rest her, was a good Christian woman who banished all talk of the Old Ways to the outhouse never to be discussed in any form in her presence. But, if the few things I did hear in the homes of my mates have any truth in them then what my lovely wife said earlier may well be correct. Again though I think we should wait until my uncle gets here. He knows all about the stories told in the olden times."

Keiran then spoke up saying, "I'm sorry to have to intrude on this time dealing with family matters but I have a few questions of my own about some of the things you have said today." after stopping to compose his thoughts Keiran asked, "Earlier, when you told Brian to sit down here next to me, you said a couple words that I assume were in Irish, it sounded like you said "enema cars" which makes no sense to me, and I was wondering what they mean."

At this all of the older family members cracked up laughing leaving the younger ones upset and annoyed at not being taken seriously but before anyone could explain they heard a deep and wheezy laugh come from behind them towards the door. Turning they saw Angus standing in the doorway chuckling.

Angus said, "Young Síofra, aye I know what you are, they are laughing about the way you said anam cara, they are not laughing at you personally. As far as what it means, when you can get on the internet you can look it up." Angus then wrote down the words on a piece of paper and handed it to Keiran. "The easy way to explain it is to say 'soul friend' but it means a lot more than that, it is a way of living... a philosophy of life so to speak.

"As far as your other questions that is going to take some time to explain what I know and work on what I don't know I still have a few contacts that still practice the Old Ways. So why don't you and your partner there go out to the truck and bring in the food I brought with me for lunch. We can discuss all of your questions after we eat, by the way did you bring that talisman with you?"

Brian answered, "Yes I left them in the car because we were going to stop by the university library and do some research on them."

At the word 'them' Angus looked up and said, "Them? I thought there was only one and that was the pendants the two of you had."

Keiran answered, that question by saying, "Yeah, we also have the two pendants that were found with me when I was a baby."

Looking grave Angus asked, "You said two pendants. Are they a woven silver basket looking thing and what looks to be a talon that you can't identify?"

Brigit sat up and asked, "How do you know what Keiran's pendants look like? He didn't have them showing last night. At least I don't remember seeing them before we got to his apartment last night when he pulled them out."

Angus fell into the overstuffed chair behind him and put his face in his hands, suddenly looking as if a millenia was written across his face, for a few moments before saying, "Because if they are the ones I think they are it means that the prophecy has begun....."