The Council of the Cursed

by Peter Tremayne

  ‘I had thought only Abbot Dabhóc and perhaps his servant, young Brother Gillucán, knew. All I knew was it contained the relics of the Blessed Patrick’s disciple and his successor.’

  Fidelma was silent for a moment. As the Nuntius pointed out, she had given the very reason why Abbot Ségdae could be regarded as a prime suspect. Yet he was her brother’s friend and adviser and, indeed, had performed her wedding ceremony. But such a bribe as Ard Macha was offering to Rome was certainly not in Imleach’s nor Ségdae’s best interests.

  ‘When did you learn that the reliquary box had been stolen?’ Eadulf was asking.

  ‘When?’ The Nuntius screwed up his face as if to help his memory. ‘I think it was just after the murder, but I can’t be sure. Someone was talking about the abbot’s chamber being searched.’

  ‘Who was that?’

  ‘I don’t recall…no, wait! It must have been Brother Chilperic, the steward.’

  There came the toll of a bell. The Nuntius rose quickly.

  ‘Ah, we are called for the evening meal.’

  Fidelma could not help noticing that he looked slightly relieved.

  ‘Surely, Peregrinus, if the reliquary box was not in Abbot Dabhóc’s room, the logical thing would be that it was being taken care of by his steward–Brother Gillucán?’

  ‘Oh yes, that was the first idea.’ The Nuntius coughed. ‘Brother Gillucán was questioned about that–but he denied knowledge.’

  ‘By whom was he questioned?’

  ‘I presume that Brother Chilperic spoke with him.’

  Fidelma and Eadulf now rose from their seats.

  ‘You’ve been most helpful, Nuntius Peregrinus,’ Fidelma said. ‘I hope we may continue to have your full support to resolve this matter, and that before long you will be able to take our findings to our friend, the Venerable Gelasius, in Rome.’

  ‘As I said previously, I am sure he will be delighted to know that you have been instrumental in investigating this matter. My prime task is to ensure that, in spite of these setbacks, this council meets and discusses the matters that the Holy Father has placed before them.’ He added: ‘It is good to talk with you again, Fidelma, although I was hoping that we would be able to reminisce about the times in Rome.’

  He nodded to Brother Eadulf then turned to join his silent custodes and those moving in the direction of the refectory.

  Fidelma and Eadulf followed at a more leisurely pace.

  ‘What do we do now?’ Eadulf asked. ‘Do we confront Abbot Ségdae with the claim that he had a good reason to kill Dabhóc and steal this reliquary box?’

  Fidelma shook her head.

  ‘We will leave Abbot Ségdae alone for a while–at least so far as that matter is concerned. I can’t help feeling that Ségdae, even if he were capable of such a crime, would not commit it in such a complicated way. He does not possess such a devious mind. Anyway, first let us enjoy the evening meal.’

  Chapter Eleven

  They entered the scriptorium to find Brother Sigeric ready and waiting for them in the darkness. They stood together without speaking for a long while, listening until they were assured that slumber had overtaken the brethren of the abbey and all was quiet. Then Brother Sigeric lit a lantern.

  ‘Do you have the plan of the Domus Femini?’ Fidelma asked, keeping her voice to a whisper.

  The young scribe nodded and produced the piece of papyrus, which he spread on the table. He quickly explained to Fidelma how to follow the route to what had been Sister Valretrade’s quarters.

  ‘The plan is as accurate as I can make it,’ Brother Sigeric went on. ‘I told you that Valretrade’s chamber was across the courtyard almost opposite mine and we used to signal one another by candlelight. In order to help you, I have left a candle alight in my window. You can check that, and when you are directly opposite then you should be in Valretrade’s chamber. Now, come with me and I will show you the entrance to the Domus Femini.’

  ‘A moment, Brother,’ intervened Eadulf as a thought occurred to him. ‘You say this passage is used by the members of the women’s community to come to the chapel?’

  ‘Don’t worry.’ Brother Sigeric understood what was on his mind. ‘No one will be about now. Anyway, it is not really a passage, as you shall see. It is a way through a maze of underground vaults. There are plenty of areas where one could hide if anyone did come along unexpectedly.’

  ‘It is too late to start worrying about discovery now,’ Fidelma told Eadulf. ‘Let us go.’

  Brother Sigeric extinguished his lantern. From the scriptorium they went out into the moonlit courtyard which separated the main abbey building from the chapel. Crossing the courtyard, the moon was bright enough to guide them. It was obvious that Brother Sigeric knew the way and at one stage Fidelma whispered to him not to proceed so quickly. Inside the chapel, he paused. There was a small light burning by the door which was always left alight as a symbol of the eternal spirit. Brother Sigeric simply took the candle from his lantern and lit it again before proceeding to a door at the rear of the chapel. He pulled back a bolt, swiftly and silently. The door opened onto a flight of wooden steps, which plunged into utter blackness below. Here he bade Fidelma and Eadulf halt while he moved down into the darkness. They could hear him descend until they saw only a wisp of light. A few moments later, he returned with the comforting glow of the lantern.

  ‘All is clear–come on.’ Holding the lantern high, Brother Sigeric motioned them to follow him downwards but not before asking Eadulf to draw the door closed behind him.

  At the foot of the stairs they paused.

  The smell was of that curious mixture of earth and decay that Fidelma associated with the catacombs of Rome where she had been lucky to survive. It was very cold and damp.

  ‘They say that before the abbey was built, this was an old necropolis of Augustodunum, the burial place of the Romans,’ explained Brother Sigeric in a whisper.

  The area was not completely dark. In the gloom they could see arches and pillars spreading every few metres, supporting the vaulted roof above them. Among these were tombs, some made of marble and others of stone.

  ‘How far does this underground world spread?’ asked Eadulf with a shiver.

  ‘It seems to spread under the whole abbey,’ replied Brother Sigeric. ‘Come, follow me.’

  He set off through the maze of arches and tombs, moving with confidence, having trodden the path many times, and appeared unconcerned at the various deceptive side turns and byways. Fidelma quickly realised that if they did not have a guide, they would be hopelessly lost in moments.

  ‘Are there only two entrances and exits from this dark maze?’ she asked. ‘I have never seen the like of this outside the catacombs of Rome.’

  ‘There is a third exit, but that is all,’ Brother Sigeric said.

  ‘Where does that lead? Is it still part of the abbey?’

  ‘It leads to a small tunnel under the walls of the city itself; an exit to the south west. In the old days, when all the nobles lived in the city, it used to be an escape route south to the great forests if the city was under attack.’

  ‘Is it still used?’

  ‘Not since I have been in the abbey. I have seen it, of course. All the bolts are on the inner side of the doors so that no one can enter without having someone with foreknowledge on this side of the door.’

  Eadulf looked apprehensively around into the gloom. There seemed a faint light emanating from somewhere but he could not locate it. Brother Sigeric saw his wandering gaze and realised what he was looking for.

  ‘There is a faint light that issues through the vaults. It seems to come from some of the rocks that were in the roof of the original caverns. A sort of phosphorus, I think.’

  ‘And was Sister Valretrade ever concerned about coming alone to a place such as this to meet with you?’ Eadulf demanded, awe-struck at the magnitude of the vast vaults.

  ‘She knew the route well, so she was not worried. However, it was simpler for me
to meet with her on the far side, which I will show you shortly.’

  ‘I was thinking,’ begun Eadulf, ‘as you were not there to meet her, that night when Dabhóc was killed, was there a possibility that she could have set off to come into the chapel, but that her candle blew out and she lost her way in the darkness?’

  It was a grim thought but he felt it had to be voiced. However, Brother Sigeric dismissed it immediately.

  ‘There is no way. She knew the place too well. Also, we met by a special spot. If either of us went to that spot and the other did not turn up, then we moved a particular stone ornament so that the other might know we had been there. Then we returned to our chambers to rearrange our meeting. We had agreed never to go beyond that point.’

  They had reached an area in which there seemed a series of small side rooms; in each of them was some sort of very ornate sarcophagus: Brother Sigeric halted before one of the rooms and motioned them inside.

  ‘This is where we met, and you see that little statuette there?’ He pointed to a miniature statuette of a little man with the legs of a goat and horns on his head, holding a set of pipes. Fidelma thought she had seen something similar before in Rome. ‘We used to place that on one side of the sarcophagus or the other to indicate that we had come here but not found the other. Of course, that did not happen often.’

  He led them from the mausoleum and a short distance to where another flight of stone stairs ascended.

  ‘The doorway at the top leads directly into the Domus Femini,’ he told Fidelma, taking from his pocket a candle, which he handed to her. ‘You should not need this but if you do, use it only in an emergency. Valretrade told me that Abbess Audofleda allows the corridors to be lit with lanterns here and there. That can be a good thing or a bad thing. If you meet anyone…well, let us hope that they are all asleep.’

  Fidelma silently admitted that she shared that hope.

  ‘I wish you’d let me come with you,’ Eadulf urged.

  She shook her head immediately. ‘Don’t be silly. If I did run into anyone, it would be hopeless to disguise you as one of the Sisters. I will try to bluff them and hope that that works.’

  Eadulf did not look convinced.

  Fidelma drew out Brother Sigeric’s plan and studied it again.

  ‘The door above is not locked?’

  ‘Never to my knowledge,’ Brother Sigeric replied.

  ‘And it enters at this point, between the storeroom and the kitchen of the Domus Femini?’

  ‘It does.’

  ‘Then I shall delay no longer.’

  ‘We will wait for you here,’ Eadulf assured her.

  Brother Sigeric pointed back to the meeting place that he had shown them.

  ‘We will make ourselves comfortable there until your return. It should not take you long to find the chamber of Inginde and Valretrade.’

  Without another word, Fidelma climbed the stairs to the door. It was closed but she felt for the latch, and it opened easily. She glanced down to where the men were waiting, Brother Sigeric holding the lantern high to give her as much light as possible, then she raised her hand to them before stepping through the doorway and closing the door behind her.

  She stood for a while, back against the door, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the gloom. She was determined to follow Brother Sigeric’s advice and not use the candle that she had now placed in her marsupium unless there was a need.

  In fact, moonlight was filtering through a window somewhere, giving a strange soft blue light in the stone corridor before her. She moved forward determinedly, keeping the image of Brother Sigeric’s plan in her mind. The plan was, indeed, accurate for there were no surprises to confront her and, thankfully, all the corridors appeared to be deserted.

  She had no problems traversing the large hall that appeared to be the women’s calefactorium. Then she had to choose the right-hand passageway, which led to a stairway going up to the next level. There Fidelma paused to examine the plan by the light of a lantern hanging from a metal arm on the corner and which lit the divergence in the passageway. According to Brother Sigeric’s directions she must bear to the right and then climb up another circular stone stairwell to the next level, before turning left. Three doors along would land her at the chamber that Sister Valretrade had shared with Sister Inginde.

  Folding the map, she thrust it back into her marsupium and moved cautiously forward. The only thing that worried her was, if Sister Valretrade had truly been moved, would Sister Inginde have a new companion in her chamber? But it was a risk that she felt was worth the taking.

  She reached the circular stairwell easily enough and had her foot on the bottom step when she heard a sound above her. Someone was coming down. Thankfully they were moving slowly, but the light from their candle was casting its glow downwards. Fidelma froze, her mind racing, and then she retreated, searching desperately for some place to hide from the oncoming figure. There was none–and no time to get back to the entrance of this corridor before the person reached the bottom step.

  Pulling her hood over her head, she drew her robe around her and turned, pretending to be walking towards the stairwell just as the figure emerged.

  The figure halted and raised the candle carried before it.

  From beneath her hood Fidelma saw that it was an old woman, an elderly member of the community. The candle was held in a skeletal and shaking hand. The eyes were wide and vacant-looking, and the mouth was slack. Fidelma took a quick decision.

  ‘Bene vobis,’ she intoned hollowly as she moved past the old woman.

  ‘Blessings on you, Sister,’ the elderly woman mumbled in reply as she stood aside.

  Heaving a deep sigh, Fidelma ascended the spiral stairs quickly and moved up into the darkness. She paused at the next floor, listening, and heard the sounds of the old woman shuffling along the corridor. There was no cry of alarm nor quickening of pace which could have meant that she had been recognised as an interloper. Fidelma waited a moment more and then peered in the gloom along the row of doors, counting them until she identified the right one.

  This would now be the most dangerous moment, in her estimation.

  If it was the wrong door, if Sister Inginde had been moved or if someone else had been moved in with her…If! What was the saying that she had heard once? ‘With an “if” one could place Rome in a bottle.’ No time for an ‘if’ now. Pushing back her hood, she moved quickly to the door. Pausing, she listened for a moment. All was quiet.

  Reaching for the handle, she turned it slowly, scarcely daring to breathe. It opened noiselessly and she slipped inside, closing the door behind her.

  The chamber was not dark; there was the soft moonlight by which she could make out distinct forms. That she must be in the right chamber was evidenced by the fact that through the window directly opposite she could see, across the courtyard, a flame flickering in a window. Brother Sigeric’s candle, lit to guide her!

  She briefly glanced around. There were two beds and, thankfully, only one was occupied. There was no other person in the room.

  Leaning forward, she shook the sleeping form gently by the shoulder. The girl started awake and as her mouth opened, Fidelma reached forward and placed her hand over it to stop any cry of alarm. She hoped that Brother Sigeric was right, for he had told her that the girl spoke a good Latin.

  ‘Quiet! I mean you no harm,’ she hissed. ‘Are you Inginde?’

  The frightened girl, eyes wide above Fidelma’s hand, nodded.

  ‘Then I need your help. My name is Fidelma–I am a friend of Sigeric. Do you know his name?’

  The girl nodded briefly again.

  ‘Then I am about to release my hand. Do not cry out.’ She removed her hand and went on quietly: ‘I have come to help Sigeric find Valretrade. She used to share this chamber with you, but we are told that she has decided to leave this abbey and the city.’

  ‘That is what is said,’ replied Sister Inginde cautiously.

  ‘Sigeric does not believe it.’<
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  ‘May I sit up?’ asked the girl.

  Fidelma moved back and sat on the wooden bed opposite to the girl. Sister Inginde swung out of her bed and reached for a robe, which she draped round her shoulders.

  ‘I cannot see you well,’ she said. ‘What did you say your name was? Fidelia?’

  ‘No, Fidelma.’

  ‘An unusual name.’

  ‘Not in my country. You would call it Hibernia, a land to the west.’

  ‘Then you are not of this community?’

  ‘I am attending the council.’

  The girl shook her head. ‘No women are allowed to attend the council…’ she began and then paused. ‘Oh, so you are the person that the bishop mentioned during evening prayers the other day. You are investigating the death of the Hibernian abbot. How is that possible?’

  ‘In my land I am a lawyer. Bishop Leodegar has given authority to me to investigate.’

  The girl, Inginde, still seemed suspicious. ‘But if you have the bishop’s approval, what are you doing creeping into the chambers of the Sisters in the middle of the night like a thief?’

  Fidelma chuckled dryly. ‘Perhaps this is the only way I can seek the truth without being thwarted by your abbatissa–Audofleda.’ The girl suddenly shivered. ‘It is she who says that Valretrade has left the Domus Femini,’ Fidelma added. ‘Is it true?’

  ‘Valretrade has not been here for nearly a week,’ confirmed the girl.

  ‘And she left of her own free will?’

  ‘So Abbess Audofleda tells us.’

  Fidelma leaned forward, hearing caution in her tone. ‘Do you believe it?’

  The girl stirred uneasily. ‘Why would I not believe it?’ she replied guardedly.

  ‘Let us be honest with each other,’ Fidelma urged. ‘Tell me what you know about Sister Valretrade and her disappearance from this abbey.’

  Sister Inginde hesitated and then said: ‘I knew she was having an affair with Brother Sigeric.’

  ‘Only an affair?’ pressed Fidelma.

  ‘A figure of speech. They were meeting regularly, but that was no business of mine. They were discreet, but because I am sharing this cell, I could not help but observe her signal to Sigeric and his signal to her. Valretrade confessed to me about her relationship.’