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loved each other and were happy. I was growing
in my spiritual gifts. I was considered a young priestess and was
in training. It was secret of course. We were otherwise considered
Catholic, but we also kept to the ancient ways and saw a marriage
between the two beliefs.
    “Then one night as I was scrying, I had a
horrible vision. I saw men coming with torches and weapons. I saw
them taking me from our cottage and burning it to the ground. I
told my parents of my vision and begged them to leave the village,
to hide us, but we were poor and had nowhere to go. So, I kept the
book roped onto my waist and I dressed in as many layers of
clothing as I could. If they were to come, I did not want to freeze
on the back of a wagon—although I pleaded to the Holy Mother that
they would not come at all.
    “A few nights later they arrived in our
village. I knew the British were amongst us far before they entered
our home. I could hear children crying in my mind. I could hear
their parents screaming, men dying, and women pleading… but they
were merciless. They despised us and treated us as such.
    “I lay in my bed, waiting, not wanting them
to know that I was ready for them lest they search my clothing and
find the book. The book made itself so small that it was almost
flush with my skin, often I would touch my hand to my side to check
that it was still there. Six men broke into the cottage and killed
my father right away. They then beat my brothers until they could
not move and bound my mother. I thought of trying to escape, but I
knew it was a useless endeavor. If they did not catch me now, they
would just do it later, and punishment for running would be harsh.
I waited until they saw me. They grabbed me ruthlessly. They
handled me in ways that they had no right to and then they threw
me, and my remaining family onto a cart with the rest of those that
were still alive.
    “We rode through the night. No food offered,
no water provided. They raided town after town until finally we
reached the shore. There we were tied to one another and driven
like cattle onto a ship. They made sure to split us up. No families
were permitted to be together. That would have shown a sense of
humanity and these men, these slavers , had none.
    “From that point, I never saw my family
again. I was moved to another ship where I was placed with other
Irish slaves in the bowels of the vessel. It was dark and cold.
People moaned… many were ill and all were terrified. We were
provided no place to relieve ourselves and the prison in which we
were kept was so foul that any movement of air made the inhabitants
retch from the stench. We were packed tightly together. Some did
not even have a place to sit, so we leaned on each other. Some took
out their fear and anger on those around them, some simply wept,
others prayed.
    “Weeks later, we were pushed off the boat.
Many did not survive the journey and their bodies were simply
tossed over the side of the ship without reservation. We were in
Barbados, a major center for slave traders. We were then placed
with other slaves in a large holding area. These people were unlike
anything we had ever seen before. Their skin was dark and their
language unusual. We were all crammed together and we soon learned
that to help one another was to survive. That is where I met
Martha. She was like a mother to me. She sensed the magic within me
and brought me close to her so she could protect me from the many
dangers that were ever-present.
    “Martha spoke little English, but I taught
her as best I could, although I was much better at speaking in
Irish. We shared our magic and healed as many as we could, but we
had no supplies and could not leave the dark cell in which we were
held.
    “I kept my head down and did my best to
never be seen by the guards or slave traders. I did not want to
suffer the fate of being sold to a brothel or be raped by the
drunken devils who prowled outside our cells. Many times the guards
would become