The Eve Of The Hallow

The Eve Of The Hallow

A short story by Paul McCann . 

Back in a place where crows picked maize from the fields and crops grew among the blackstones on the battlefield of Drambo. 



The crops had returned to the fields but only after the blood of many had been spilt and left to dry on the stones of the battlefield . Stories where told as old as the hills themselves about the days when the crows had picked over the corpses that lay lifeless and still on the blackstones of the battlefield near Drambo . 



Some speak of the spirit woman who transformed herself into a crow and led an army to pick the bones of all the slain who had fallen in battle .  



In the centre of the field stands what is left of a place that was once called the brave castle Drambo . 



Now there’s no one to know what had happened long ago .since those there found no mercy had spared them the breath to speak of their plight on that dark rainy night as the rider approached from the west . . 



As memory serves me well , the story I’ll tell of the horseman of Castle Drambo . 



On that dark rainy night the white horseman rode by with a hunger in his belly that spoke . So he stopped for a bite and a rest if you like in the castle where the laughter filled the halls . 



As the wall torches were extinguished the shadows relinquished to leave the marble halls for a day and a half . 

But that very night the King was vanquished by a cold cruel deed that saw him bleed at the top of the stairs ...  



They all blamed the stranger and the white horseman was laid to a place where he lost his head . But the fact of the matter was that some other had slattered the King at the top of the stairs . 



It wasn’t long after when it turned to a slaughter as the horseman himself had retunred . With his head in his hands and a long list of names and he remembered not to forget one of them . 



On the eve of the Hallow in the ruins of the castles, food was laid on the tables and in jugs red wine was filled to the brim . 



As those that were left to mourn, gave an offering to those who had gone . 

It was on the eve of the Hallow they said that the spirits of loved ones return to feast for a while and to bring back a smile to the faces of those who they love . 



Now it was also said that some souls of the dead could not rest until justice was served as many who were robbed or cheated or mobbed had to bring a deliverance of wrath . 

As it was on that night when a headless horseman in flight took all life in the Castle Drambo .

The End .