A Prayer for the Damned

by Peter Tremayne

  Aíbnat’s thin lips compressed into a line for a moment before she turned to glance at Muirchertach and nodded slightly.

  Her husband cleared his throat softly. ‘I fear the truth will do me no good, Fidelma of Cashel.’

  ‘Why is that?’

  ‘Because I went to Ultán’s chamber to kill him.’

  Eadulf was too restless to go back to his chamber and rest and he was not hungry enough to enjoy the first meal of the day. Instead, he put on his cloak of beaver skins and went out on the walkway round the great walls of the fortress. Below he could see the town stirring, thin wisps of smoke from many fires rising into the turbulent air. He could hear the distant noise of people unaware of the drama of the night, making their preparations for the great fair and entertainment that was due to be held later that day. Surrounding the wood and stone structures of the town were many pavilions and tents that were housing the visitors who had come to witness and join the celebrations.

  Eadulf walked slowly round the walls. The cloudy sky was lowering again and there was the promise of more rain in the air. The wind was cold but not as chilly as it had been in previous days. It seemed to be blowing from the south. There was a shimmer of white across the plain that showed a frost was still lying on the ground. He could see sheep flocks moving across the plain with their shepherds, dark shapes against the flat whiteness.

  Along the walkway a sentinel raised a hand in greeting with a smile. Eadulf acknowledged the salutation and walked on, breathing deeply in the cold morning air. He found it helped to clear the fuzziness of his mind. Lack of sleep was debilitating, and when it reached the state when the mind was too tired to rest it caused an additional sense of frustration.

  He suddenly became aware of another figure at the corner of the walkway: an elderly man in a short woollen cloak with rabbit fur trimming. The long hair was white and tied back with a leather thong. The figure seemed familiar, but it took a moment for Eadulf to recognise him.

  ‘Give you a good day, Ordwulf,’ he called, reverting to his Saxon speech.

  The old man turned, startled, the eyes wide like those of someone caught at some illegal enterprise. Then he frowned as if trying to recall who Eadulf was. Eadulf realised that at their previous encounter Ordwulf had seemed to live in his own world, and he wondered whether the father of Berrihert was senile.

  ‘I am Eadulf of Seaxmund’s Ham, in the land of the South Folk,’ he said gently. ‘We met two days ago when . . .’

  Ordwulf made a thrusting gesture with his hand. ‘I know, I know. Do you take me for an imbecile?’

  Eadulf was a little puzzled at the angry retort. ‘Of course not.’ Then a thought came to him. ‘I understood that you and your sons had accommodation in the town? I did not realise that you were staying in the fortress.’

  ‘We are in some place set aside for religious in the town,’ muttered the old man. ‘But I came here at first light, when they opened the gates. There was someone I wanted to see.’ He turned back to gaze across the battlement towards the distant mountains in the north. ‘It is a pleasant enough land, but it is not Deira,’ he said.

  Eadulf knew that Berrihert and his brothers had come from the southern area of Northumbria, the old independent kingdom of Deira which Athelfrith of Bernicia had conquered, uniting the two kingdoms as the land north of the River Humber – Northumbria. That had been within the living memory of some.

  Ordwulf grimaced at the distant mountains. ‘There is no sea coast here. My tun, my fortress, stood on the coast. I was once lord as far as I could see along the sea’s low dim level. From north to south along the shoreline, I was lord. Now I am an exile in this strange land.’

  ‘Are you homesick for Deira?’ Eadulf enquired politely.

  ‘Homesick?’ The old man seemed to contemplate the question for a while. ‘I do not long for places. I long for my dead wife and for comrades who once peopled those places.’

  Eadulf stood feeling uncomfortable for a moment.

  ‘Tempori parendum,’ he muttered.

  The old man cast a disapproving look at him. ‘You have the gift to speak good Saxon. Speak it, for I am sick of foreign gibberish!’

  ‘I said that one must yield to time,’ explained Eadulf. ‘As time changes so must we change with it.’

  ‘Unctuous rubbish!’ snapped Ordwulf. Eadulf blinked at the vehemence in his voice. ‘Time is a thief. It took Aelgifu, my wife, from me and what did it leave me?’

  ‘With three fine sons, at least,’ Eadulf pointed out. ‘Sons to be proud of.’

  ‘Fine sons, you say?’ The old Saxon warrior turned to him and seemed to take in his manner of dress as if for the first time, examining him from poll to feet. He scowled. ‘I suppose your kind would say that?’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Eadulf was beginning to be irritated. He felt the insult in the man’s words but did not understand the meaning of it.

  ‘Three sons all entered into this New Faith of yours. All pious and holy and not one of them a warrior.’

  ‘Why wish your sons to be warriors? Is it not better to serve God and help people live than to take up the sword and meet an early death?’

  ‘Help people live? Had even one of them been a warrior, my wife might yet have lived, instead of dying in this strange land. May Hel be waiting at the gates of Nifheim, the place of mist, to receive him that caused her death.’

  Eadulf shuddered a little as the old man called upon Hel, the ancient goddess of death. Eadulf had been raised with the old gods and goddesses of his people and even now he sometimes felt the power of the old deities – of Woden, Thunor, Tyr and Freya – and realised that he still feared them. But above all he feared Hel who ruled the land of the dead.

  ‘Do you reject the New Faith?’ he rebuked the old man.

  Ordwulf gave a wheezy laugh. ‘The old faith was good enough for my forefathers and me. When my time comes, let me have my battleaxe in my right hand and Woden’s name on my lips so that I may enter Wael Halla and feast with the gods and heroes of my people.’

  ‘Yet your sons . . .’ Eadulf began to protest.

  ‘My sons!’ sneered the old man. ‘They could not protect their own mother from the members of the very Faith they espoused. I curse them! I curse them as I rejoice that he who took my lady Aelgifu from me is now sped to suffer the tortures of the damned. May Hel eat his living flesh!’

  The old man spat over the wall and then turned and hurried away, leaving Eadulf staring after him in horror.

  Fidelma was regarding Muirchertach Nár in astonishment.

  ‘Are you admitting that you went to Abbot Ultán’s chamber to murder him?’ she asked incredulously.

  Muirchertach lowered his head with a deep sigh. ‘I went with that intention but I did not do so. I did not do so for the simple reason that someone else had already killed him.’

  Fidelma sat back in her chair and folded her hands in her lap, trying to re-form her features to keep the surprise out of her face. She stared long and hard at him.

  ‘Can you tell me why you went with this intention?’

  Muirchertach glanced at his wife. She appeared to shrug indifferently as if she had washed her hands of the matter.

  ‘My wife has told you that she was of the Uí Briúin Aí. Have you heard of the poetess Searc of that clan?’

  Fidelma was unfamiliar with the name and shook her head.

  ‘Searc was the younger Sister of my wife. She was a gentle, affectionate girl, as befitted her name,’ Muirchertach explained. Fidelma was reminded that the name Searc actually meant ‘love’ or ‘affection’.

  ‘I presume that she is dead since you speak in the past tense,’ Fidelma commented.

  ‘She is. Had she lived, she would have become one of the greatest of our poets.’

  ‘Go on,’ Fidelma prompted, after he had paused again.

  ‘Searc had the ability to become as great a poetess as Liadan or Ita. Five years and more have passed since Connacht acknowledged her as among the forem
ost of its banfilidh, or female poets. So she went on her first circuit to the centres of the five kingdoms to recite her poetry at the great festivals. She attended a gathering at Ard Macha and it was there that she met a young poet called Senach.’

  He paused and Fidelma waited patiently for him to gather his thoughts. She glanced at Aíbnat, who sat staring into the fire. The woman had a controlled expression on her features and it was as if she was not really hearing what was being said.

  ‘They fell in love with each other,’ he continued. ‘Senach was a member of the abbey of Cill Ria and when he returned there after the poetry festival in Ard Macha, Searc followed him.’

  This time when he paused, Fidelma said: ‘I presume that Ultán was abbot of Cill Ria by this time?’

  ‘Ultán was abbot at the time,’ Muirchertach confirmed.

  ‘So, tell me what happened.’

  ‘I think that you know by now of Abbot Ultán’s attitudes. He is one of those reformers who now advocates celibacy among the religious. He made all the members of his abbey swear an oath that they would shun the company of the opposite sex. Cill Ria was once a mixed house, a conhospitae. He divided it into two separate communities. Apparently Senach approached Abbot Ultán wishing to be absolved from his oath to the abbey so that he might transfer to a conhospitae which did not adhere to the rules of celibacy. Ultán refused outright. He went further and had Senach locked in his cell, and when Searc came looking for the boy he had her driven from the locality by monks wielding birch sticks.’

  ‘Such an act is unlawful,’ protested Fidelma, in horror. ‘No one can physically attack a woman with impunity.’

  ‘Abbot Ultán claimed refuge in the Penitentials,’ Muirchertach explained. ‘It was not the first time that he ordered his followers to beat a woman whom he claimed had transgressed against the rules of the Faith . . . or his version of them, anyway. I have heard that there were even some who did not recover from the beatings that he had ordered.’

  Fidelma grimaced in disapproval. ‘If this is true, then how could this man survive among his fellow religious? Indeed, how could he become an emissary of the Comarb of Patrick?’

  ‘He had friends in high places. A friend can be more powerful than an army in some respects. He has been protected.’

  ‘Are we to yield our law to these foreign ideas from Rome without protest?’ muttered Aíbnat.

  ‘We do not know exactly what happened,’ went on Muirchertach, not answering her protest. ‘According to one story, Abbot Ultán had Senach escorted against his will to a pilgrim ship which set out for Abbot Ronan’s monastery at Mazerolles in Gaul. The ship never reached Gaul and there was talk of its having been attacked by Frankish pirates and those on board killed. Such stories reached Searc, who believed them and . . . He glanced at Aíbnat.

  ‘My sister killed herself,’ Aíbnat’s voice was harsh.

  Muirchertach compressed his lips for a moment.

  ‘In her desperation, she threw herself from a cliff,’ he added.

  ‘If this action was caused by Abbot Ultán, did you not take action through the law?’ asked Fidelma, trying to examine the matter logically. ‘Your brehon would surely have advised you on that account.’

  Aíbnat laughed harshly. ‘How can one bring another before the law when only one of them recognises it? Ultán prated about the laws of God and quoted strange texts that we had no knowledge of.’

  ‘But you did try to claim compensation from Abbot Ultán?’

  ‘As we have said,’ Muirchertach answered, ‘my emissary and my brehon made the proper applications but Abbot Ultán took refuge in the Penitentials. We protested to the Comarb of Patrick, the abbot and bishop of Armagh. But he would do nothing for he, too, supports the ideas that Abbot Ultán propagates.’

  Fidelma remained silent for a while, then finally said: ‘So last night you went to see Abbot Ultán with the intention of killing him?’

  Muirchertach shrugged eloquently.

  ‘I suppose that was my intention,’ he admitted. ‘Having discovered that Abbot Ultán was here, I went in anger to his chamber, determined to make him pay for what he had done. He had destroyed the lives of two young people.’

  Fidelma looked thoughtfully at Aíbnat. ‘Did you know what your husband intended when he left this chamber last night?’

  ‘My actions have nothing to do with Aíbnat,’ Muirchertach said hurriedly.

  Fidelma ignored him.

  ‘Did you know that your husband was going to see Ultán and that he went in anger to seek recompense for the death of your sister?’ she insisted again.

  The wife of Muirchertach returned her scrutiny with the old belligerent fire in her eyes. ‘My husband is king of Connacht. He should have led a raid against the Uí Thuirtrí and burnt down Abbot Ultán’s abbey many months ago.’

  Fidelma smiled tightly. ‘I will take it that you have answered in the affirmative. Were you and Muirchertach here together in the hour or so before he left to see Abbot Ultán?’

  Aíbnat frowned. ‘I suppose so. Why?’

  ‘I need to understand exactly what happened. You were both here and presumably talking over the fact that Abbot Ultán was here also. How did you find out that he was present?’

  ‘Abbot Augaire of Conga told us.’

  ‘Augaire?’

  ‘He is my chief abbot and bishop.’

  ‘I have heard that he exchanged some angry words with Ultán when he arrived.’

  ‘So he told us,’ Muirchertach agreed.

  ‘Was Abbot Augaire here when you left to see Ultán?’

  ‘He was not. He had retired to his chamber long before.’

  Fidelma made a mental note to find out where all the guests’ chambers were in relation to Abbot Ultán’s room.

  ‘So he left you and the lady Aíbnat alone and you talked of Ultán and your anger increased and you left to confront him?’ she summed up.

  ‘But I did not kill him. As God is my witness, I did not kill him – much as I would have liked to.’

  Aíbnat suddenly laughed bitterly.

  ‘My husband can scarcely kill a man in battle without swooning!’ she sneered. ‘Such a mighty king. All he cares for is his fine wine, good food, dancing and entertainment and women.’

  Muirchertach flushed. ‘I hardly think that . . .’

  ‘You hardly think!’ snapped Aíbnat. ‘Return to your wine and leave the rulership of Connacht to your cousin. He is twice the man you will ever be.’

  Fidelma knew that Muirchertach’s tánaiste was Dúnchad Muirisci of the Uí Fiachracha Muaide. There certainly did not seem to be any love lost between Muirchertach and his wife. She coughed slightly to bring their attention back to the matter in hand.

  ‘So, what you are saying, Muirchertach, is that you left here just before midnight and went to confront Abbot Ultán but found him dead. Is that so?’

  She looked carefully into his eyes and he did not drop them before her bright quizzical gaze. His cheeks were flushed by his wife’s insults.

  ‘I did,’ he replied firmly.

  ‘But the only witnesses were those who saw you hurrying from his chamber?’

  ‘You have the word of a king, even though he is but a poor specimen of one,’ snapped Aíbnat. ‘His word should take precedence over anyone else’s.’

  Fidelma could not help the pitying look that came to her features as she gazed at him.

  Muirchertach shrugged defensively. ‘My word is all I have.’

  Fidelma turned slightly. ‘Now, Aíbnat, did you remain here after Muirchertach had left?’

  Aíbnat flushed.

  ‘What are you implying?’ she snapped.

  ‘I never imply,’ replied Fidelma waspishly. ‘I am asking a question. I do it for your own sake. After all, Searc was your sister. You blamed Abbot Ultán for her death and that was the reason why your husband, presumably on your behalf, went to see Ultán with the intention of doing him harm, even if he did not do so. At the moment, her death provide
s a strong motivation for Abbot Ultán’s killing. It could be argued that you both had an equal hand in this murder.’

  ‘It could be as you say,’ Aíbnat responded coldly after a few moments’ thought. ‘However, I was in this chamber the whole time. After my husband left, I did not stir.’

  Fidelma sat in silence thinking over things for a few moments. Then she sighed.

  ‘I have to say, although the evidence is circumstantial, it is good enough to create real problems. It is evidence that will have to be answered before the Chief Brehon.’

  Aíbnat stared at her in barely controlled irritation. ‘So you do not believe us?’

  Fidelma looked sadly at her. ‘My first impression is that if Muirchertach had been guilty as he is accused, he could have made up a far better story than one which actually hands his accusers a motive for the slaughter.’

  She rose suddenly to her feet and Muirchertach rose with her. He looked anxiously at her.

  ‘Will you undertake my defence?’ His tone was almost pleading.

  ‘I am always prepared to defend the innocent against a false accusation, Muirchertach,’ she said quietly. ‘Let me continue my investigation. It may well be in future that I will want Eadulf of Seaxmund’s Ham to assist me. Do you have any objection to his presence?’

  ‘A Saxon?’ snapped Aíbnat querulously.

  ‘Soon to be my official husband,’ she replied. ‘You may be aware that he has helped me on many investigations in the past.’

  ‘Of course,’ Muirchertach said at once. ‘Is that not the reason we came to Cashel, to witness the ceremony? I have no objection to speaking in front of Eadulf.’

  That is good. We will speak again later.’

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Fidelma encountered Eadulf as she was crossing one of the smaller courtyards. He was coming down the steps from the walkway round the fortress walls. When he asked what she had discovered, she drew him aside and quickly told him of her conversations with Muirchertach and his wife Aíbnat. Eadulf rubbed his chin thoughtfully.