Outlaws Without Glory

Prologue

"William, who is outside?" your mother questioned your father with a wary look in her eye. Standing on tippy toes you try to get a quick glance of the strangers outside but in one swift motion your father pulled you back to see for himself. A small gasp escaped his lips while turning to where you were now standing looking up in a questioning gaze. He stooped down to your level and in a quick grasp pulled you into a bear hug.

"You have to listen to me okay, (y/n)? Whatever happens you need to stay under the bed. Don't scream, don't cry, and don't move till mommy or daddy comes to get you, okay princess?"

From the look in his eye your heart began to quicken, picking up speed like a horse racing to safety and you swiftly nodded as your father gave you a quick kiss on your small forehead. Your mother was quick to follow with the same sentiment and pushed you to run to the farthest room from the front door and under the bed. By the time you had secured yourself to the farthest point under the low bed, the breaking wood of the door and your mother's horrified scream filled the air. Without skipping a beat your hands flew to your ears to silence the blood curdling scream. You could barely make out what the strangers were yelling to your father- something about someone named Colm O'Driscoll, but just as soon as the people had entered there was the deafening sound of a gun followed by another blood curdling scream that was quickly silenced by a few more ringing shots. Your hand then flew to your frowning mouth as tears began to well in your eyes like water pushing on a dam. The sounds of footsteps started towards the room you were in, while you tried with every fiber of your being to not scream out in fear for mommy and daddy. The sound enters the room while the recognizable ring of spurs follows. They take a quick look around the room realizing there to be nothing of value and turning to leave. You could register there to be about three to four men in the house, but remembering your instructions you stayed under the bed even well after the men had left.

It felt like an eternity that you were trapped under there, but frozen in fear you did not leave your safety. Hours had flown by and the sun began to set as you creeped out from underneath the dipping twin bed and made a painstakingly slow and laboured walk to the entryway of the home. What you saw hit you like a freight train as you collapsed to the floor. The muted bodies of your parents laid haphazardly on the floor. You crawled over to them while the tears that had been dried just moments before broke from their dam and flooded the sides of your cheeks. Your pained cries blared through the room while you sat there grasping onto your parents body. Anger began to boil in your blood the more you cried, the more the hatred flowed throughout your being. From that point on you vowed that Colm O'Driscoll would pay for what he did- no matter how long it took, you would get your revenge.
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It was not a time that you liked to remember, but as you drove the knife further down into the neck of one of Colm's boys the images that had been branded into the back of your eyes like the brand on the rump of a cow it drove you to continue on. It had been 15 years since your parents had been murdered, and being nine at the time you've had to do everything to survive. You had quickly made your way from your small home in the outskirts of Strawberry into town to beg and to learn how to take care of yourself. From the generosity of the town's butcher, he had equipped you with a bow and taught you basic lessons on how to use it. You learned quickly and it was nothing short of easy to you after just a few months. But it only got you so much money for food, so you resorted to stealing and thieving until you were old enough to start working for the stables.

You had become such a great thief that the stable hands would get you to take items from the main rancher that they could sell to get more money than they were being paid. You spent a good couple of years there until the Rancher had finally caught on to what was happening. But in all actuality, he caught on after a couple of weeks-but because of a fondness that he had gained for the sweet girl- he left out things that he didn't mind to be taken. He brought (y/n) into his home, where he and his wife who were unable to bear children raised her into the young woman that she had begun to be. You knew you couldn't have stayed there forever as you needed to exact revenge from a night that you could never forget no matter how much you wanted to, and they understood. You left on your journey to figure out where Colm O'Driscoll resided, and would not return without his head on a silver platter.