In Small Heath | Peaky Blinders

eight; the great war

The whispers of a conflict started up well before people thought they had. From the Romanovs falling in and out of favour with their people, to Wilhelm II being a little bit of an emotionally unstable wreck of a man. Even King George had a few reasons for his people to find reason to dislike him.

However, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot dead by a Serbian (albeit in Bosnia&Herzegovina) on the 28th of June, that was when the real spark lit the war hungry fire in the German monarchs stomachs.

Luckily for the Shelby boys, the only men who were conscripted were ones with prior military training, at least King George didn't want to send the innocent to their deaths straight away.

"Ada, pass us the milk." Tommy called out from one side of the kitchen table, his hands clutching the morning news.

War was everywhere, fear mongers were out in full force.

Luckily for the family, Finn wasn't aware of what a war was, nor did he know how to read as of yet. Polly had been trying but the boy just couldn't sit for long enough to get past the first few words.

"Your manners are truly disgusting, Thomas." Ada quipped back, wrapping one hand around the glass bottle of milk - holding it hostage.

The two bickered for a moment before Ada finally gave up her grip on the bottle and let John swipe it from her. If anything was to go wrong, it would be all down to John and Bash, those two were the only two of the lot to ever almost send each other to the hospital.

Boys will be boys, their father always said, but their mother had the right idea to teach them when they were young that gentle hands and a gentle heart didn't mean weakness like Arthur senior had always said.

"How's Old Faithful doing, anyways?" Arthur asked, breaking the conversation away from whatever it had been on at the beginning of breakfast.

A solemn look glossed over Bash's face, the poor horse hadn't been doing well for a few days now and he truly did fear the worst. The horse was older than both Finn and Ada, but the friendly beast was the best cure for any illness.

"Still here, thankfully. But I don't know for how much longer I can keep her moving."

They were all trying their best to not think about how the war would ruin their perfect little family. Ada was convinced that it would make it better, because Theodora would run away to the countryside and abandon her husband - which, by some backwards rule written in the agreement they had both signed, meant that Sebastian Shelby would walk away with thousands.

Ada, in fact, was actively praying for that.

Polly on the other hand was actively praying for the war to be over in the six months.

Having her nephews so far away from her would be just like reliving the loss of her children, sat in day out. Praying for an early end to a war that was not theirs to fight was just what she wanted.

"We all know what to do if she dies, brother." John quipped, mouth full of barely-toasted bread (just the way he liked it).

"It won't come to that just yet, little brother." Arthur added, mouth full of egg yolk and bread.

It wasn't often that Arthur showed his more nurturing side but when it came to Sebastian, and that damned horse, every single one of them showed a little bit more than they were willing to admit. Even Aunt Pol did whenever she was around for conversations like that.

Ada was about to scold him for talking with his mouth open but Tommy and Bash both dismissed it with a synchronised wave of their hand.

"Anyways, have you lot heard? First lot of our lads have been conscripted. Paul from number 7 fought in the Boer war, Home Office said he had to go with the first wave. They're hoping for two waves, three months apart." Tommy started, placing his half crumpled newspaper back down onto the table.

As soon as the topic changed from horses to war, Ada upped and left, not wanting to hear about the prospects of her world turning completely on its head and when Ada left, Finn jumped out of his seat and followed.

Those two were almost as inseparable as John and Bash were at their ages... despite their age gap being slightly smaller than that of the formerly mentioned siblings.

"If it comes to it, I'll join." John said, off the cuff, the idea hadn't even been brought up and John was - arguably so - the one with the most to lose.

He had a wife he actually enjoyed being in the company of, and his own children. A couple of them, too. If their Aunt Pol was there, she would've  told him that he was being selfish but every man at that kitchen table saw it as one of the most selfless things they could've ever done.

They were doing it for the future of their kin.

"Without a doubt, me too." Arthur chimed in, a lopsided smile spread across Johns face knowing he'd have at least one brother along side him.

"Well." Bash started, inhaling sharply - fingers lightly pinching the bridge of his nose.

"If one goes to war, we all do."

Tommy stayed quiet, but raised his cup of tea to a silent toast. Silently every single one of them prayed that it wouldn't come to conscription of those without prior experience, but these lads already knew how to handle pistols, and Arthur wasn't too bad with a shotgun after a glass or two of whiskey.

Everything those young men had ever done was for one another, from actually showing up to school, to playing football on the big field, it was so at least one of them was able to gain something from the experience.

This time, them agreeing to sign up to war, was for the future of Ada, Finn, Katie, and anyone else younger than them that they had ever known.

"... I'm not telling Pol."
"Uh, no, you have to."
"That's just as bad as actually going to war, fuck that!"

The four of them continued to bicker for a good while to decide who would tell their beloved matriarch, but at the end they settled on no one telling anyone until they had actually gone through with it.

"What about Theodora?"
"What about Martha? We all like her."

Neither John nor Bash continued the conversation, still - after all of the time Theodora had been 'living' with the Shelbys, she was still a sore subject to talk about without arguing.

"We'll tell them with Pol."

John lied, he was going to tell Martha the minute he got back to his house three doors down, they all knew it but Martha wouldn't tell a soul. She'd kept bigger secrets for less time than the one she was about to be handed.

There was no point in panicking anyone if it wasn't actually going to happen...

Well, no point in worrying Pol, anyway.