The Bird People | ONC2024

Chapter Twelve | 1371 Words

'Faith is seeing light with your heart,
when all you see with your eyes,
is darkness.'

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-Segenah-

"Reverend Dunleavy. You cannot possibly mean to take the words of Segenah!" Bishop Swinburne chided Byron. "This was why I commissioned you to find the truth yourself," he admonished.

"Monsignor, please forgive my adamancy, but I believe he is the very one to whom I had to ask. I have met with nothing but locked shutters and closed conversations. There is no getting to the root by trying to get anyone in Pennybacker to talk. It is like they live in another reality and nothing is what it seems."

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Some hours earlier

Byron entered the livery before dawn where he found Constance's nephew Cyrus, asleep on a pile of hay. He watched him for a moment deciding not to wake him, and went to fetch his horse. He would ready the mare himself, instead.

It was still quite dark in the stable but he managed to find the tack room and lit a lantern he found on a shelf, which cast its ghostly dancing lights along the wall. He was engrossed in his effort to locate his bridle from among the vast selection which hung haphazard along the back wall when his eyes caught the movement of a shadow, and a quiet voice startled him.

"Whatcha doin' Reverend?"

Byrons body jerked roughly and he turned with a halted gasp to see Cyrus lurking in the doorway.

"Good heavens Cyrus! It's not wise to sneak up to people like that," he breathed.

"Oh, I'm not sneaking. If I was sneaking you wouldn't have ever known I was here. Before he died, Uncle Edward taught me the way, which he learned from Segenah," Cyrus chuckled.

"Ah I see," Byron humored the young man. "Tell me, how did your Uncle die?"

"Mosquitos, Granny Dyer said. Yellow fever."

He didn't know why but Byron felt somewhat relieved to hear that.

Thoughts of nefarious doings faded momentarily, until Cyrus' next statement had Byron turning slowly around to face him with a look of disbelief.

"What did you just say," he sputtered.

"I said, no such luck for Aunt Sadie. She got killed. It's a mystery to this day, but no one talks about it much. Grandad always said it was those Bird People that did it. Said it was revenge--, for what she done."

Byron took two steps toward Cyrus.

"Bird People? Cyrus, whatever are you talking about?" Byron was dumbfounded.

Cyrus looked at him with sideways amusement. "You're going to tell me that you haven't heard about them? Those creatures are the reason no Minister for miles around would step foot here unless they had too, Reverend. Didn't Segenah tell you?"

"Well, no. He did not tell me. But, why don't you Cyrus?"

"Sure. I don't mind," he stated with incredulity. "But we have to take a long walk, if your not in too big a hurry," he said enigmatically.