The Monk Who Vanished sf-7

by Peter Tremayne

  Solam raised his chin defiantly. ‘I am glad that there is someone with sense in this land,’ he observed bitingly.

  Fidelma’s cousin expressed his dissatisfaction with a long, irritable sigh. ‘Very well. Solam may seek hospitality but since these raiders destroyed the only inn in the township, I cannot suggest where he might receive it.’

  ‘At the abbey, of course,’ Solam replied.

  ‘You are not a religieuse.’

  ‘That does not matter. The rules of hospitality are there for everyone,’ interposed Fidelma. ‘Go to the abbey, Solam, and you will receive hospitality.’

  Solam smiled, a little smugly, and turned to the abbey. Then he frowned and turned back, his stubbornness tempered by reality.

  ‘You don’t expect me to walk through the township again without protection, do you?’ he asked almost peevishly.

  Fidelma looked at Finguine. She did not say anything but her cousin read the message in her expression.

  The Prince of Cnoc Aine signalled to one of his warriors. ‘Escort the dálaigh safely across to the abbey gates then you may return to me.’

  The man frowned and seemed about to protest but, seeing his Prince’s expression, shrugged.

  When Solam had gone, Finguine turned to Fidelma with a shake of his head. ‘I hope you know what you are doing,’ he warned. ‘The longer that this man Solam stays here, the more his danger will increase. There are many who have lost relatives here.’

  ‘But if the Uí Fidgente are not responsible …?’ Fidelma posed the question.

  ‘You really think that Solam arrived here this morning by chance?’

  ‘We have no reason to suppose otherwise … at the moment,’ she replied.

  ‘I think we do. Why would someone who set out on a journey from the country of the Uí Fidgente to Cashel arrive here, in Imleach? We are far south of the road that leads from their lands towards Cashel.’

  Fidelma smiled briefly. ‘Of that I am aware. But cunning is superior to strength. If Solam came here to enact some treachery let us observe what he does and where he leads us. That way we may set a snare for the wolf.’

  ‘Better to hold the wolf by the ears than let him loose among the sheep,’ Finguine countered.

  ‘We will not let him loose; just hold him on a long leash and see where he wants to go. Do not worry; I, too, do not believe he came here by chance.’

  Finguine opened his mouth but Fidelma had already begun to walk away.

  Eadulf was perplexed as he hurried after her.

  ‘I cannot make anything out of this. If the Uí Fidgente were the raiders last night, why would this man Solam come riding into the township this morning?’

  ‘Speculation without knowledge is pointless,’ Fidelma replied shortly.

  They returned to the main street.

  ‘Now where did we see Brother Bardan?’

  Eadulf silently rebuked himself. In the excitement of Solam’s arrival, he had forgotten the reason they had come to the township.

  ‘I did not see him,’ he replied.

  Fidelma shook her head in mock-admonishment.

  ‘My cousin and two of his men came out of a house. Did you not see Brother Bardán behind them?’

  Apologetically, Eadulf shook his head.

  ‘You didn’t see him?’

  ‘I saw the house where your cousin was,’ replied Eadulf. ‘It was that one, across the street there.’

  Fidelma and Eadulf walked across to it. It was a single-storey house of stone which seemed completely untouched by the raid. Its thatched roof was still intact while the roofs of the buildings on either side had not been so lucky. On one side the thatch was scorched and on the other an area was totally burnt away. This house had been lucky.

  Fidelma went to the door and struck it with her fist.

  There was no response for a moment. Then they heard a shuffling sound.

  The door opened and Nion, the smith and bó-aire of the township, stood there. He still wore the long cloak with the small silver solar brooch with three red garnets. He frowned at Fidelma.

  ‘What can I do for you, lady?’

  His bandaged leg caused him to balance awkwardly against the door jamb, holding onto it with one hand.

  Fidelma offered him a friendly smile. ‘You can sit down and take the weight off your wound, Nion. Then we will speak.’

  Reluctantly, Nion found himself backed into his house by Fidelma. Eadulf followed her in and closed the door behind him. Nion hobbled to a stool and sat down, staring up at Fidelma with a puzzled look.

  ‘Is this your house?’ she asked, gazing round.

  Inside, there was a single chamber with a great fire at one end. A ladder gave access to a loft where the sleeping quarters were.

  ‘Yes. The forge is where I work.’

  ‘I thought you said that you slept at the back of the forge?’ Eadulf asked suspiciously.

  ‘I said I was sleeping at the forge when the attack took place. If Iam working late, then I sometimes do so. This house is my right as bó-aire.’

  Eadulf could not fault his response.

  ‘That is certainly so. And, as this is untouched while your forge is destroyed, it is certainly a lucky thing that you have the two houses. You do not have to have the indignity of having nowhere to sleep while your forge is being rebuilt.’

  Nion made an expressive cutting motion with his hand. ‘You did not come here to congratulate me on my house, lady. Why are you here?’

  ‘I could not help noticing as I passed earlier, that my cousin and his warriors were here.’

  ‘Surely,’ the answer came back immediately. ‘Your cousin came to consult with me. I am, after all, the bó-aire.’

  ‘That is fair enough.’ She paused. ‘What was Brother Bardan doing here then? Did he need to consult you … as bó-aire, of course?’

  Nion did not even blink at the sharpness in her tone.

  ‘Of course,’ he affirmed.

  ‘I see. Is it a matter of confidentiality if I inquire about the subject of his visit?’

  ‘No.’ Nion shook his head. ‘Though I can’t think why you are interested. Bardán came here to ask me if I would be prepared to bury the body of the raider who was killed last night. I gave permission for it to be buried near the graves of our people. That is all.’

  It did seem plausible. Yet there was something troubling Fidelma.

  ‘Where is Brother Bardan now?’

  Nion spread a hand around the room in a gesture which invited her to search.

  ‘I have no idea where he is. He left here when that sly Uí Fidgente lawyer arrived to check the damage which his kinfolk had done.’

  ‘You did not see which way Brother Bardan went when he left your house?’ Fidelma pressed him.

  ‘No. If you recall, I followed you to see what the furore was about.’

  ‘You arrived after most other people,’ observed Eadulf, clearly irritated by the smith’s evasive attitude.

  Nion pointed to his injured leg. ‘I cannot exactly hurry,’ he said sarcastically.

  Eadulf flushed.

  ‘My comrade did not mean to be insensitive.’ Fidelma smiled apologetically. ‘However, you cannot even hazard a guess as to where Brother Bardan might have gone?’

  ‘No. He’s probably at the cemetery …’

  ‘We’ve just comes from there,’ Eadulf said.

  ‘Then try at the abbey.’

  Fidelma moved towards the door and halted, turning back to the smith.

  ‘While Solam is here, treat him with the respect due to any visiting dálaigh. We have no proof that he is other than what he is. If any harm comes to him, the culprit is answerable to the law.’

  When Nion made no reply, she lifted the latch and Eadulf followed her out into the street.

  Outside they paused.

  ‘You sounded as if you suspected him of something?’ Eadulf reproached her.

  ‘Did I?’ she mused but said no more.

  They walked in sile
nce back to the abbey. Eadulf said nothing further for it seemed that Fidelma had sunk deep in thought and he felt it wiser not to interrupt her.

  By the time they returned to the abbey its bell was tolling for the midday Angelus.

  Fidelma and Eadulf exchanged no words as they went into the chapel. It was an automatic decision, made separately, to join the other worshippers. The psalm chanting was led by the Abbot Ségdae, who seemed to have recovered something of his old spirit. His voice rang out above the chanting of his congregation.

  ‘Oculi omnium in Te aspiciunt et in Te sperant!’

  The words stuck in Fidelma’s mind. She lowered her head and translated to herself: ‘The eyes of all things look to you and hope in you.’ It was as if Ségdae were reminding her of her responsibilities. Yet, for the first time in her life, she felt utterly confused. Usually, during the investigations she had undertaken, there was a single path to pursue. Now she found several paths and several mysteries that did not necessarily appear connected. But were they? She was not even sure.

  She scarcely noticed the rest of service until the final psalm was sung and the congregation began shuffling towards the refectory for the etar-suth, or middle meal, of the day. As was the custom, all shoes and sandals were removed at the entrance to the refectory. She was hardly aware of removing her footwear, entering and sitting at one of the long, wooden dining tables. She was vaguely aware of Abbot Ségdae intoning the gratias in Latin then a soft murmur arose as the community began its meal.

  As with most midday meals, it was a light meal of bread, cheese and fruits, with ale or water served, depending on taste. Fidelma ate mechanically, her mind still turning over the questions that vexed her mind.

  Eventually she became aware of someone addressing her.

  She glanced up and found it was the steward of the abbey, Brother Madagan, still wearing his bandage around his head and looking slightly pale but otherwise in good spirits. She realised that the refectory was almost empty now except for a few people, one of whom was Eadulf, who had been sitting by her side awaiting her to rouse from her thoughts. Brother Madagan slid onto a bench on the opposite side of the table.

  ‘I wanted to thank you and Brother Eadulf here for dragging me inside during the attack,’ Brother Madagan said. ‘I do not remember much between the time I was struck and coming to in the courtyard. It was Brother Tomar who told me what had happened. That poor misguided woman, Cred, struck down and poor young Brother Daig killed. You both risked your lives to save me.’

  ‘How is your wound, Brother, is it better?’ asked Fidelma, with a deprecating gesture. She found that, in spite of the steward’s effort to be friendly, there was nothing which endeared him to her. She still did not like him. The eyes were still cold and Fidelma felt that there was some merciless quality in the man.

  ‘Thanks be,’ acknowledged Brother Madagan. ‘The warrior luckily struck me on the skull with the flat of his sword. My head was pounding like the hammer of a smith on his anvil for a while. There is a lump the size of a camán ball.’

  The camán ball, called a liathróid, was about four inches in diameter, made of some light, elastic material, such as woollen yarn, wound round and round and covered with leather. It was used in the game of hurley.

  ‘We thought that you had been killed for sure,’ Eadulf said.

  ‘The unGodly are not so easily victorious,’ Brother Madagan intoned piously. Yet there was a cold note of hatred in his voice.

  ‘Yet they inflicted much death and destruction,’ pointed out Fidelma.

  Madagan’s eyes were like ice.

  ‘So Sister Scothnat has told me. Alas, I should not have tried to stop the raider by a plea to religious sanctuary. He could not have understood the term. Steel was all he understood.’

  ‘So you were regaining consciousness when you were dragged through the gates?’ asked Fidelma.

  ‘Yes. Though my mind is hazy and I think I was more unconscious than conscious. I remember feeling thankful when the abbey gates were banged shut. Then I do not remember much until I heard cheering. Sister Scothnat tells me that this was when your cousin, the Prince of Cnoc Aine, arrived and drove the raiders away.’

  Fidelma looked thoughtful for a moment.

  ‘Do you remember being carried to your cell?’ she asked.

  Madagan nodded slightly. He winced as the action caused the obvious ache to his cracked skull to worsen momentarily.

  ‘Do you remember anything beforehand?’

  The steward considered for a moment. ‘Such as?’

  ‘You say that you remember being dragged into the courtyard?’

  ‘I do. I remember hearing some lamentation from the brethren over poor young Brother Daig. Indeed, he was no more than seventeen years.’

  ‘There was also the captured raider who lay trussed up nearby.’

  Brother Madagan’s eyes flickered with momentary fire.

  ‘Sister Scothnat told me that he had been captured but not killed. Had I known then what I know now, I doubt not that I would have risen and killed him myself.’ Fidelma felt the intensity in his voice. He hesitated and relaxed. ‘You condemn me for the thought? A Brother of the Faith should not give voice to such natural feelings of hate and anger? Yet Daig was such a gentle soul and would have harmed no one. He had no violence in him and yet that animal struck him down. I will not pray for his soul, Sister Fidelma.’

  There was a brief silence.

  ‘I will not ask you to,’ Fidelma replied gravely. ‘What I will ask you to do is cast your mind back to that time, Brother Madagan. Do you remember being carried back to your chamber?’

  Brother Madagan rubbed his chin.

  ‘Vaguely. The apothecary came to check on each of us, I think. He bent over me. I was still trying to recover consciousness. He saw that I had received a blow on the head but not an open wound and told two young brothers to help me to my room and bathe and bind my head.’

  ‘The apothecary?’ Eadulf leant forward eagerly.

  ‘Brother Bardan. We have no other apothecary here.’

  ‘Then what happened?’

  ‘I was carried to my cell as he instructed.’

  ‘Had he examined the others before you? Or did he examine you first?’ Fidelma asked.

  ‘As I recall — remember that I was only partially conscious — I think he examined Brother Daig first. He was quite moved by the fact that the boy was dead. They were close. It was only when Brother Tomar insisted that he must look to the living that he came to me. While he did so, two of the Brothers were removing the body of Cred and another two removing that of Brother Daig.’ He grimaced without humour. ‘I think that the last thing Iremember was hearing the whining merchant arguing with Brother Bardan.’

  ‘The merchant? Do you mean Samradán?’ asked Fidelma hastily. ‘Was he in the courtyard at that time? Surely he was hiding in the chapel vaults with the women of the community?’

  ‘No. I remember he was definitely in the courtyard and arguing with Brother Bardán. He was demanding something. Protection, I think. I recall now that Brother Bardán shouted to him that he should fend for himself because people lay dead and dying. I am afraid the merchant is a selfish man.’

  ‘Fend for himself for people lay dead and dying? Were those Bardán’s words?’

  ‘Yes. You have stirred my memory, Fidelma.’

  ‘So you were the last to be removed from the courtyard?’

  ‘With the exception of the raider,’ agreed Brother Madagan.

  ‘Well, it is good to see that you are recovering, Brother Madagan.’ Fidelma rose from her place, and Brother Madagan followed her example hesitantly.

  ‘Sister Scothnat says that the attack was carried out by the Uí Fidgente. Is that true?’

  ‘We do not know,’ corrected Fidelma. ‘It is only suspicion that lays the blame on them.’

  Brother Madagan sighed.

  ‘We have to be suspicious of our enemies. It is our only defence against betrayal and treachery.
’

  ‘Suspicion is the mother of suspicion, Brother Madagan,’ replied Fidelma. ‘If you let suspicion into your heart you will allow all trust to exit from it.’

  ‘You may be right,’ Brother Madagan said. ‘However, we may place our trust in God … but we should ensure our horse is tethered safely at night. I only ask because an Uí Fidgente has arrived here. I do not like him. He says he is a dálaigh.’

  ‘I know. He is what he says he is, Brother Madagan. His name is Solam and he proceeds to Cashel to plead the case of his Prince before the Brehons there. I am to plead against him.’

  ‘Is it so?’ Brother Madagan seemed about to say something else and then he smiled and left them almost abruptly.

  Eadulf glanced at Fidelma.

  ‘Brother Bardán and Samradan were both in the courtyard with that warrior. My wager would be on Brother Bardan. I think he is our main suspect. The motive is obviously vengeance for the death of his friend, Brother Daig.’

  Fidelma considered the matter for a moment.

  ‘Perhaps. There is a doubt in my mind. It could well be that the warrior was killed in order that he did not reveal who sent him and his comrades. Also, you are quite forgetting the disappearance of the contents of the warrior’s saddle bags from the stable. Why would Brother Bardan remove the contents of the saddle bags if he had killed the warrior merely out of vengeance?’

  Eadulf groaned. He had indeed forgotten the very reason why they had set out to look for Brother Bardan in the first place.

  ‘We’d better find Brother Bardán,’ he said. ‘I did not see him at either the service or the meal.’

  He was surprised when Fidelma replied: ‘We do not have to question him at the moment. We know where he was at the time when the warrior was stabbed. We know he had the time and opportunity. But I am not satisfied how it links up with everything else that has happened here. Are you sure that Brother Bardán did not come in for the meal?’

  ‘I didn’t see him.’

  ‘We shall keep an eye on him without alarming him.’

  ‘There has been no word about the discovery of the remains of Sarnradán’s driver,’ Eadulf added with an involuntary shiver.