Chapter 10

There were a few locations in town where one might seek out knowledge, but the best place was the tavern, and so they decided to try their luck there. Despite the early hour, the doors were open, and more than a few citizens gathered inside, their complaints and worries reaching the ears of the newcomers before they’d fully stepped inside.

Many spoke of the rotten potatoes, how there was no end in sight, how the Englishmen refused more than a token show of help, and how the Irish were left to starve or forced to move away. Only a few hinted at the rising death toll in the village attributed to the others, and no one dared speak those words. One man, who’d clearly been there for quite a while, was crying about the death of his son just a few days earlier, and while his friends attempted to console him, it was the mead that began to quiet him after some time.

“There’s nothing that can be done, then, to save the crop?” Kian was asking a group