Liam Kelly had never been alone. He was born into a rollocking family of six siblings and two doting parents, and grew up with a seemingly endless roster of friends. Even on the cusp of his wide-eyed trip across the ocean to forge a new life in the wilds of Upper Canada, he had his brother, Rían, by his side. Liam Kelly had no idea what it was to be alone, and the shock felt like being crushed by a falling tree.
Out in the woods, hands numb from the cold and sweat soaking his clothes, he worked through the pain and sadness that had been gutting him whole, this past day. The men who knew said nothing to him. The ones who didn’t continued to make jokes; he did his best to smile, though he wasn’t quite sure if his mouth was making the shape he wanted. By the looks they gave him, he was getting it all wrong.
He became aware that a voice was speaking to him, somewhere nearby, and it took him a moment to focus on the sound and realize it was Adam, his partner on this hellishly frozen day. Liam frowned and shook his head to loosen the haze. “Sorry, what were you..?”
Adam seemed both surprised at that, and understanding. “I was asking if they’d caught the bastards yet.”
Liam didn’t know, he realized. He didn’t know much of anything, except how hollow he felt.
“No,” he said, because really, they never did catch bastards. That was what had made Rían sign up in the first place. And now…
“When they do,” said Adam, “you tell me first. We’ll go on down and settle that score.”
Liam smiled, like he was supposed to, but felt suddenly ill. “Excuse me,” he said, and stumbled a few feet away, doubling over and vomiting in the fresh snow.
“Y’okay, there, Kelly?” called Adam, back at their tree, saw in hand.
Liam raised a hand, nodded, and looked up to tell Adam he was fine—when he froze. Not ten feet away, another tree was tipping straight for his friend, branches cracking as it tumbled down.
Liam threw himself forward, charging at his partner, eyes locked on the massive pine behind them. Adam still hadn’t realized what was happening when Liam collided with him so hard, the two of them crashed and tumbled into a heap, slamming into a stump just clear of the impact. Twigs and branches exploded in the frigid winter air, spraying them with shards of wood that sliced their exposed skin…but at least they were alive.
“Jesus…” gasped Adam. “Jesus, Kelly, you—”
But Liam was on his feet again, gloves thrown off as he stormed across the clearing toward the thick-set man who had felled that tree. The fool had embedded his axe in the stump left behind, and was taking a swig before carrying on. He noticed Liam coming a mere second before the first blow landed.
“You blind bastard!” Liam shouted, knocking the man to the ground before unleashing more and more blows. “Call it out! You call it out! Jesus Christ, you call it out!”
The thick-set man, face already bloodied, tried to fend off the attacks, but didn’t stand a chance. Liam knelt on his chest, fists crashing wildly, screaming incoherently about recklessness and stupidity and—
Hands grabbed him under the arms and pulled him off. He thrashed to get free, but Adam had a good, solid grip; he dragged Liam back and held him there, shouting: “Easy, Kelly! Easy! Calm down, man, you’re—”
“What the hell is going on here?” came an angry voice from behind, and the second Adam saw who it was, he let go of Liam and stood at attention. The bloody-faced man did, too, with a careful eye locked on Liam.
Liam snarled, turned to see who it was…and lost his breath. Coming up fast, nostrils flaring, was Peter Aylen himself. His face was red with fury; even his attendants kept their distance.
“I swear to Christ Almighty, lads, there’d better be a damned good reason for this kind of behaviour, because if I—”
“It was nothing, sir,” said Adam, meekly. “Just a—”
“Did I say you could speak?” snarled Aylen. “No? Then keep your goddamned mouth shut!”
Adam nodded, cast his eyes downward.
Aylen pointed at the beat-up man. “You. What did you do?”
The man was a little too stunned to reply, but Aylen wasn’t going to wait for it. He turned ‘round, saw Liam and Liam’s red, bruised knuckles, and bore down on him instead. “What did he do that made this—” he raised one hand to make the point. “—necessary, hmm?”
Liam didn’t get a chance to reply before Adam cut in with: “It wasn’t Kelly’s fault, Mr Aylen, sir. That daft bastard didn’t call out a fall before it—”
Aylen looked at Liam anew: “Kelly? Rían Kelly’s kin?”
Liam felt his guts twist in sorrow. He nodded, just enough for Aylen to see.
The bloodied man was stumbling toward them, trying to staunch his bleeding nose. “He came outta nowhere, Mr Aylen,” he said. “No warning, no—”
“Did you call out your fall?” Aylen said, sharp and annoyed. “Fallin’, timber, look out? Anything?”
The man paused a moment before muttering: “I…I don’t recall.”
Aylen glowered. “Right. Well. You’re fired.”
“Wait, what—?”
“Get your things and go. There’s no place for fools and accidents on my land.”
The man didn’t move, he was in too much shock at what had just transpired. “But where else will I—”
“Not my issue, not my concern. Now shove off quick, or I’ll consider you trespassing, and you’ll be dealt with accordingly.”
As if on cue, a trio of Aylen’s men stepped a little closer. One of them, a rat-faced man, pulled his coat open to reveal a gnarled chain. The sight of it made Liam shiver, even if it was meant for his protection.
The man knew his options and acted accordingly. He bowed his head and said a choked-up: “Apologies, Mr Aylen,” as he headed for the road back to town.
Adam and the others went back to work, but Aylen took Liam aside, guiding him to a quieter place where fewer ears might be focussed.
He patted Liam’s arm, gave him a nod. “Most men would’ve taken a day to mourn,” he said. “Yet here you are.”
Liam set his jaw, pushed the facts behind that sentiment away. “I can’t undo the dying, but I can still fell trees.”
Aylen nodded, a slight smile on his face. “Aye, we have that in common, you and me. The best way to avenge the dead is to live better in their memory. I can’t say your brother would be proud, but I know he wouldn’t disapprove.”
Liam looked up, surprised. “You knew Rían?” he asked.
“Not directly,” said Aylen, turning his head slightly toward the rat man, who spotted the gesture and spat into the snow in reply. “But through reputation. He was a man of action, your brother, and determination.”
“And it got him killed,” said Liam. “And his wife a widow, again. I feel sick just thinking of what this is doing to poor Maggie. She’s all alone and—”
“No, Mr Kelly. Never alone. She has her Irish kin to hold her up. And you, too. Don’t forget that, Liam. You have kin to hold you up, too. Even when things seem their bleakest, we keep each other afloat in the torrent of this dismal world.”
“Thank you, sir. I know she could use that support. He was everything to her. Every time he walked in the room, she lit up like she was falling in love for the first time, and I just…”
Aylen watched the younger man speak, and a sly twinkle came to his eye. “What a sight that must’ve been,” he said.
“It was everything,” said Liam, lost in a memory.
“You really do love her, don’t you?” asked Aylen.
Liam’s eyes went wide with surprise and embarrassment. “No, I—”
“As a brother-in-law should,” Aylen said, taking note of the reaction, and all the notions that fell out of it. “Your brother would be happy to know you’re watching out for her. We all are, in fact. I’ve arranged for free lodging for her, to help ease this most horrible of times.”
“Mr Aylen, sir!” Liam gasped. “I don’t know what to say!”
“Say nothing of it, Kelly. I’m always happy to help out good, loyal Irishmen in their times of need. I have your back, you have mine.”
“Yes, sir, absolutely. And thank you again, because I wasn’t sure how I could—”
“Support dear Maggie with that debt you owe?”
Liam froze, shrank back a little. Suddenly the space between them and the rest of the men on the worksite was so much less, and the silence of the snowy forest so much starker. “I…how did you…”
Aylen wrapped his arm around Liam. “Oh, there’s very little I don’t know. And while I do believe it’s up to every man to manage his own fate as he sees fit, I can also spot a soul in danger of drowning. Which is why I’ve bought that debt for you.”
“You did what—?”
“The Scots would’ve ridden you to your grave, Liam,” he said. “No honour, there. No sense of loyalty. They heard your brother died, and they worried you might miss a payment in your grieving. And it sickened me. It really did. So now you owe me instead, and I will always make allowances for the things a man needs to do for love and family, if he would do the same for me.”
Liam nodded instinctively, without even really processing why. “Yes, of course. Anything, Mr Aylen. Anything.”
Aylen grinned, let go of Liam and gestured to the rat-man to join them. The man sauntered over, picking at his teeth and eyeing the surroundings like they were more interesting than they were, and worth the delay in attendance. Aylen contained his displeasure, but just barely.
“Mr Sisk here will get you sorted,” said Aylen.
Liam drew back. “Sisk?” he asked. “C-Cedric S—”
Sisk held out his hand. “At your service,” he said, with a grin.
Liam took the hand, cautiously, and shook it. “Liam Kelly,” he said.
“Kelly…” said Sisk, giving Aylen a wider, intrigued smile. “Really…”
Aylen ignored it. “Mr Kelly has graciously offered to help us with that other matter.”
Sisk chuckled. “You’re going to have t’be a bit more specific than that.”
“Mr Foreman’s camp?” said Aylen, irritation building.
“Ah,” smiled Sisk. “It’s coming back to me. The gear, you mean.”
Liam was so confused, he didn’t know where to start. “I’m sorry, I don’t…what gear? What camp?”
Aylen didn’t seem to hear him; he kept talking to Sisk: “You’re still looking for help on that, aren’t you? Good Irish lads to do some heavy lifting?”
Sisk smirked. “Always. But d’ya think he’s got the, uh, muscle for it? That’s some heavy lifting to be done.”
Liam was about to protest when Aylen clapped him on the back. “Oh, I think he’ll rise to the occasion.”
“I’m sorry,” said Liam, desperate. “What are we talking about?”
Aylen laughed, and then Sisk laughed, and Liam felt even more out of place. “Ah, forgive me, Kelly. I get ahead of myself sometimes. We’re talking about Mr Foreman’s camp. Canadien intruders, that is. Out yonder way.” He pointed vaguely north. “Swept into the area last month and’ve been pilfering our tools ever since.”
“Frenchmen, feh,” said Sisk.
“So you want me to go and…take them back?” asked Liam, knowing it would never, ever be as simple as that. “Shouldn’t we ask the magistrate to—”
“Oh, he doesn’t care a whit about the likes of us,” said Aylen. “Prefers to let us poor Catholics duke it out between ourselves, clean up the wreckage when it suits him.” He tapped his temple with a wink. “But I do like to keep things civil, when I can.”
“Nighttime raid,” said Sisk, jingling his chain.
“T-tonight?” asked Liam. “You mean tonight? Will they be gone? A lot of lumbermen stay in the forest to—”
“Not these ones,” said Aylen. “Their leader, Mr Foreman, is—”
“Away on business,” said Sisk.
Aylen grinned. “And you know what they say: when the cat’s away, the mice—”
“Wreak havoc,” said Sisk.
Liam felt the pit of his stomach burning with worry; he was acutely aware this was one of those moments in life where the wrong choice would change everything, everything, forever. He just wasn’t sure which choice was the “wrong” one…
“Mr Aylen,” he said. “I don’t want to leave poor Maggie alone, so soon after—”
“Maggie…” breathed Sisk, which sent a shiver down Liam’s spine.
Aylen shrugged, seemed vaguely put off, but not cross. Yet. “I understand, Mr Kelly. Priorities are tricky things. Sometimes you need to value one relationship over another. One disappointment over another.”
Liam swallowed slowly.
“You do what you need to do,” said Aylen. “And whatever you choose, I won’t forget it.” He took a step away, and gave a warning tip of his head. “Ever.”
He strode off, head held high as he cut through the workplace like a ship through a submissive sea. Sisk paused by Liam, gave a quiet tsk tsk, and then followed—
—until Liam caught his arm.
Sisk turned quickly, teeth bared, and glared at Liam’s hand on his sleeve. Liam let go immediately, stood back like he was afraid of being chewed apart.
“Wait,” he said. “I…” He let out a wavering breath, and said: “What time do we meet?”