The Last Sin Eater Page #5

instead of hitting me.

I was so scared. I ain't never

been in darkness like that. Never.

Well, it ain't dark anymore.

How about letting go of my arm?

Sorry.

- Is all right.

- I found something, Fagan. Over here. See.

What are they?

I wonder if the Sin Eater painted them.

What are those mounds supposed to be?

Are they hills?

Indian hogans, I think.

In this one, there's a man in a hat

and it looks like they're dancing.

Shaking hands with somebody.

Maybe the chief.

Aye.

These are more white men

and women with them.

Whas this?

- Is it fire?

- Aye.

The hogans are burning.

I think I understand.

These figures on the ground are the men

from the Indian village.

All killed by the men in the hats.

The white men.

Look.

- This is the Narrows, ain't it?

- Aye.

- Looks like they fell off the tree bridge.

- Aye, it does. But...

They didn't fall. They were pushed.

The man in the hat shoots the first one.

The rest tumble in after.

One of the men

must have escaped the killings.

He's the one who painted these drawings.

- What do you think happened to him?

- I don't know.

You just found him, Cadi.

He must have been wounded and died.

How do you know?

Because he didn't use clay or soot

to paint these.

He used his own blood.

The Sin Eater was right.

This cave does hold dark sins.

I have to know what these drawings mean.

I think I know someone who can tell us.

Come on.

It ain't safe to leave in the daylight, Fagan.

I'm afraid of what your pa will do.

Is all right.

You don't have to come with me.

I can take care of myself.

Remember the night by the river,

Katrina Anice?

Yes.

Who threw the stone at Brogan Kai?

God has not given you a heart of fear.

Now, about these paintings

in the Sin Eater's cave...

We want to know about the Indians

who lived here before our people.

We want to know about the Indians

who were murdered.

The man of God told us

that if we knew the truth,

then the truth would set us free.

Well, perhaps the time has come

for the whole truth to be told.

- Pa!

- Cadi, girl. Dear, you're all right.

I am fine, Pa. Where is Ma?

She's at home.

When we couldn't find you, we thought...

Where were you?

I promise to explain everything to you,

very soon:

But there's something we must do first.

Okay.

- I want to know who here rang the bell.

- I did.

Whas the meaning of this, Miz Elda?

Whose grave has been dug?

Neighbors,

the time has come to put the past to rest,

to bring old secrets

and lies out into the open

and then bury them once and for all,

in that there grave.

I have heard enough of this.

For once in your life, Brogan Kai,

pipe down.

A generation ago,

when we come from Wales to this cove,

I had never seen nothing more beautiful.

It was truly the God-green of spring.

Like Heaven on Earth, it was.

With cool streams and rich, brown soil.

More wondrous

than any place I had seen back home.

We come up the trail

with Laochailand Kai leading the way.

A dozen families in all.

And when we reached the Indian village,

the little children

all come running to greet us.

With one hand, the Kai offered

the chief a peace offering.

But with his other hand...

The rest was Hell on Earth.

I'm grieved to say my own Donal

was among the men

who done so much evil that day.

Aye, as were many of your daddies

and granddaddies.

My father had no choice.

They were savages.

They would have scalped us in our sleep.

If that were true, Brogan,

why did Laochailand have

such a desperate need

for a sin eater at the end of his days?

It was the way of our people.

It always has been.

We had no need of a sin eater

in this new country.

It was a tradition

we should have left dead and buried

with our forefathers back in Wales.

But the Kai was a man

with innocent blood on his hands

and the fear of Hell-fire in his heart,

and thas how this

whole wretched business started.

He needed a scapegoat.

So do we all,

and that facs not going

to change anything anytime soon.

No.

Brogan, is time to tell the truth.

No more lies.

There never was a proper lottery.

It was fixed from the beginning.

She's mad.

She doesn't know what she's saying!

I know all about what you done when

I found the lots you hid beneath the house.

When Fagan was just a wee one,

he went to hide

after you give him a beating

and I found him under there

fiddling with some chicken bones.

They all had markings on them,

all of them the same.

Every last one of them marked

with Sim Gillivry's mark.

- Lies!

- I'll prove it.

Cleet, take your ma home,

where she belongs.

- She's not in her right mind.

- No.

Look.

See?

They're all the same. Marked for Sim.

All these years, and it wasn't Gos will.

Falsehoods. Why would I do such a thing?

Because you loved Bletsung MacLeod,

not me,

and she loved Sim,

and if you couldn't have her,

you made sure no man ever would.

I've had enough of this.

This gathering is over. Everyone go home.

Not till I have had my say.

You're not wanted here, Sin Eater.

You've no business coming off

the mountain unless you've been called.

There is still time

for someone to die here tonight.

Someone who has ruled this cove

with deceit

and an iron fist.

Someone who beat a man of God to death.

Someone who kept me

from the woman I love all these years.

Turn around and look me in the eye,

Brogan.

Like I said, everyone go home!

I said turn around, Kai!

No, you turn around

and go back to your hole,

or we'll be choosing another sin eater

by sun-up.

No more killing and no more lies.

- This has nothing to do with you.

- Oh, yes it does, and you know why.

No.

Sir, the reason you could not eat my sins

was because you were never meant to.

Don't come near me, child.

Is what the man of God came to tell us.

Please, child. I am not clean.

Is whas in this book.

Somebody already has eaten our sins.

No.

It can't be true.

You're not a beast, Sim Gillivry.

You are just a man whom God loves

and wants to forgive.

Whom he wants to set free.

Who wants to set us all free.

Mama?

Mama,

I am so sorry for what happened to Elen.

I was jealous of her.

I know.

I said terrible things to her and to you.

I remember.

And I know you have every reason

to hate me,

but I didn't push her off that tree bridge.

I swear on my life, I didn't push her.

Cadi.

I never thought for one minute

that you pushed her into that river.

I never, ever thought that.

- You didn't?

- No.

Then why have you been

so angry with me?

Not with you, child.

With myself.

It should have been me.

No, Mama. Why?

I knew that I'd hurt you,

favoring her like I did.

But she was so little, so sickly,

from wee-born to a pup,

and you, Cadi,

you were so full of life and spunk.

But I never meant for you

to blame yourself.

It was me.

I sent Elen to follow you.

You didn't know

I'd gone to the Narrows, Mama.

But it should have been me, Cadi,

not Elen.

It should have been me.

So that I could tell you how sorry I was.

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