A Prayer for the Damned sf-17

by Peter Tremayne

  ‘We’ll keep our eyes on Muirchertach,’ Gormán said, ‘but I think we should stay behind the main body of spearmen. You have experience neither as a horseman nor as a hunter to be in the midst of a chase, Brother Eadulf.’

  At another time, Eadulf might have been irritated, knowing that the young man was right. Now, however, he was merely determined not to lose sight of the king of Connacht.

  Fidelma had gone out on to the balcony of her chamber to watch the departure of the hunters. She, too, had seen Muirchertach depart and observed with approval as Eadulf and Gormán rode off with the main hunt. Then, with swift instructions to Muirgen and a smile and a kiss to young Alchú, who was happily absorbed with his toys, she left her chamber and hurried to the first of her self-appointed tasks.

  Her cousin Finguine, the tánaiste, told her that he had not seen anything of Brother Drón that morning and, in response to a second question, directed her to the dormitory where the female members of the Faith were staying. When Fidelma inquired of the hostel’s stewardess for Sister Marga and Sister Sétach she was told that they might be found at prayer in the chapel. However, Fidelma found the chapel apparently deserted and was about to leave again when she saw a small familiar figure in a corner.

  ‘Ah, Sister Sétach.’

  The girl turned towards her. Even in the gloom of the chapel, a beam of light coming through the window showed her tense and fatigued features.

  ‘You look exhausted, sister,’ Fidelma observed. ‘Did you not sleep well last night?’

  Sister Sétach was defensive. ‘I often suffer from an inability to sleep.’

  ‘We have an apothecary, Brother Conchobhar, who is able to supply herbs that can help.’

  ‘I have my own remedies,’ replied the girl curtly. ‘I suppose you have reported me for breaking into the abbot’s chamber yesterday evening?’ she added belligerently.

  Fidelma was not put out. ‘That is something between you and your superior, Brother Drón. At this time I am concerned with the death of the abbot and not about his personal belongings.’ She glanced around. ‘I was also looking for your companion, Sister Marga. Where is she?’

  Sister Sétach looked uncertain. ‘I don’t know. Why do you seek her?’

  ‘I need to speak to her as I need to speak to you. Why do you think so many people hated your abbot when Brother Drón and you have praised him so much?’

  The girl sniffed irritably. ‘They are jealous, small-minded people, who cannot understand greatness.’

  ‘There are some who would quote Horace. Naturam expelles furca tamen usque recurret. Do you know what that means?’

  Sister Sétach shook her head. ‘I know the literal meaning but I am uncertain how you are applying it.’

  ‘You may drive nature out with a pitchfork, but it will still return,’ translated Fidelma. ‘Some say that if Abbot Ultán was once a thief and a murderer and a great womaniser, then perhaps he remained one. Would you say that was incorrect?’

  ‘It is untrue,’ snapped the girl.

  ‘However, they will say,’ went on Fidelma, ‘quoting Horace’s Epistles, as I have said, that you cannot change a person’s nature. Once a thief and murderer, always a thief and murderer.’

  The girl coloured hotly. She stared defiantly at Fidelma.

  ‘That is untrue,’ she repeated. ‘Was not Paul reformed after his experience on the road to Damascus? Do we say that because he was one of those who consented to the execution of the Blessed Stephen, the first to suffer martyrdom for our faith, and stood by as a witness, holding the coats of those who were stoning him to death, he was not able to change his heart and that his conversion and work for the Faith was but a sham?’

  Fidelma was not only surprised at the girl’s vehemence but also astonished at her logic.

  ‘You argue well, Sétach, and from knowledge. That is good. What do you know about Brother Berrihert?’

  The girl was silent for a moment or two. ‘I know nothing.’

  ‘Yet you saw the passion that was aroused in him last night at the grave. What of the curse he levelled at Brother Drón? Do you say that you know nothing about what prompted such an outburst at such a sacred moment?’

  ‘I can only tell you what I know.’

  ‘But you are willing to defend Ultán without that knowledge?’

  ‘I have no knowledge of what the Saxon claimed. All I can say is that I know Ultán, who has been a good and saintly man during the time I have served him at Cill Ria. You will have to speak to Brother Drón if you seek an answer to the hatred that this Saxon Brother Berrihert displayed last night. He was with Ultán during his visit to Abbot Colmán’s island.’

  Fidelma paused, and then said suddenly: ‘And what do you know of Brother Senach?’

  The girl started and then said: ‘That was before I went to Cill Ria.’

  ‘Ah, but you have heard the story?’

  ‘Rules were drawn up by the abbot for the governing of the abbey in accordance with the Faith now being espoused at Rome. Brother Senach sought to disobey them. He was therefore sent abroad to Gaul but died on his voyage there.’ Sister Sétach said this without emotion, as if repeating a lesson. ‘That is all I know or have heard.’

  ‘And what of the poetess Searc?’

  ‘I know nothing more about that story.’

  ‘These rules that the abbot has drawn up to govern his community — does everyone at Cill Ria obey them?’

  The girl looked curiously at her.

  ‘Everyone,’ she confirmed. ‘Of course they do.’

  ‘Including Ultán?’

  For a moment the girl blinked and there was a slight red tinge to her cheek.

  ‘Ultán is. . was. . the abbot,’ she replied.

  ‘That does not answer my question,’ Fidelma pointed out.

  ‘He would not write down rules for everyone to obey but him,’ said the girl. ‘I do not understand what you are trying to imply. Surely it is obvious who killed him and no defence of yours will change that.’

  There was a sudden emotional note in the girl’s voice which made Fidelma think that she was treading on some dangerous path.

  ‘Guilt or innocence is a matter for a brehon to decide,’ Fidelma admonished. ‘At the moment, nothing is obvious. . unless you have witnessed something which you are not disclosing.’

  Sister Sétach’s head jerked slightly. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Exactly what I say. Do you have information that might help in this matter?’

  She shook her head quickly in denial. ‘All I know is what everyone knows. That Abbot Ultán was killed and Muirchertach was seen leaving his chamber. Isn’t it obvious who killed him?’

  Fidelma smiled gently. ‘Not at all.’ She paused a moment and then asked: ‘How did you come to join the abbey at Cill Ria? What persuaded you to become a member of that community?’

  Sister Sétach was frowning. ‘I write a fair hand. I have a flair for languages. But, alas, my family were not of the flaith or nobility, nor of the professional classes. They were simple céile, free clansmen, who worked their land, paid their taxes for the upkeep of the community and formed the warrior bands in time of war. They had no great wealth or connections. So, if I were to use my talents, there was little choice but to join a religious house. I am of the Uí Thuirtrí, who dwell by the shores of Loch nEchach, Eoghaidh’s lake. That is why I chose to enter Cill Ria, which is close to my home.’

  ‘The céile are the basis of our whole society, Sétach. Without them we would have no society,’ Fidelma rebuked her mildly.

  ‘You can say that, you who are a flaith. Even more than a flaith — the sister of a king. What do you know of working in the fields and herding cows, or sheep?’ The girl sounded bitter.

  ‘As a practical experience of survival, I have no knowledge. Although I have done such work,’ Fidelma replied softly. ‘I suppose that you knew the rules of Cill Ria before you entered it?’

  ‘Not exactly. I entered and was then taught the r
ules propounded by Abbot Ultán.’

  ‘I am told the women live separately from the men?’

  ‘That is so. A stream runs between the two houses; on one side is the male community and on the other the female community. It is. .’ She suddenly stopped.

  ‘What?’ asked Fidelma quickly.

  ‘It was just that when I came south I had not realised that most of the religious houses were, what is the word? Con. . con. .?’

  ‘Conhospitae?’ supplied Fidelma. Then she frowned. ‘Was this trip your first outside the abbey of Cill Ria?’

  Sister Sétach nodded slowly. ‘I had not realised that there were other interpretations of the rules of the Faith. We only were taught Abbot Ultán’s rules.’

  ‘What about Sister Marga? Did she, being chosen, as you told me yesterday, by Ultán to come on this journey, know of the controversies that rage beyond the walls of Cill Ria?’

  ‘I don’t know. I think that she had accompanied Abbot Ultán several times to Ard Macha. I was therefore pleased when she asked me to come with her here.’

  Fidelma sighed softly. ‘And you have no knowledge of where I might find Sister Marga now?’

  ‘None,’ the girl replied firmly.

  Fidelma was unsatisfied. She felt that old sensation that there was something not quite right. On the one hand Sister Sétach was intelligent, resourceful and strong in her defence of Abbot Ultán and his views. Her attempt at entering the abbot’s chamber during the previous evening showed her courage. On the other hand, when pressed, she seemed to display signs of a lack of knowledge that bordered on the naive. Still, it was no use pressing her without knowing anything further.

  Knowing! Fidelma thought that trying to get knowledge in these circumstances was like drawing teeth. She abruptly thanked the girl and left the chapel, Sister Sétach staring in perplexity after her.

  Fidelma knew there were few places in her brother’s fortress that Sister Marga could be. She made her way down the steps to the courtyard. Finguine was still among the group of warriors at the gates and as she approached he called out to her.

  ‘Weren’t you looking for those two companions of Brother Drón?’

  ‘I have found Sister Sétach,’ she said, as she came up. ‘But I can’t seem to find Sister Marga.’

  ‘The younger one? The attractive little sister with fair hair and blue eyes?’

  Fidelma smiled at her cousin’s appreciative tone.

  ‘That is probably Sister Marga,’ she replied gravely, because it was certainly not a description of Sister Sétach.

  ‘I only just remembered it after you had gone off to the dormitory in search of them,’ said Finguine. ‘She rode off with the ladies.’

  Fidelma stood still. ‘Rode off with the ladies?’ she repeated in amazement.

  ‘On the boar hunt,’ confirmed her cousin. ‘She seemed to have acquired a horse and went off in the company of the ladies after the hunt this morning.’

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  The squeal of a hunting horn came faintly through the gloom of the dark oak trees of the forest and the surrounding thick brush.

  Gormán bent forward in his saddle, listening for a moment.

  ‘The dogs have made contact,’ he announced in satisfaction.

  They could hear the hounds taking up the cry and suddenly the noise was joined by the sound of several horns echoing through the forest. The short staccato blasts rose to a volume that left no one in any doubt that the quarry had been sighted.

  In front of them, Colgú raised his bir, his hunting spear, and gave a cry, leading the way forward. From almost a standstill, the horses of the hunters sprang into a canter that was soon a gallop.

  ‘Best take it easy,’ cried Gormán but, undeterred, Eadulf dug his heels into his mount.

  ‘I don’t want to lose contact with Muirchertach,’ he called.

  Although he was the first to proclaim that he had little ability on horseback, he bent forward along his horse’s neck, his thighs tightening against its flanks, hands gripping the reins close into the neck, trying not to yank on the leather leads or hold them so tightly that they restricted the nodding motion of the beast’s great head as it moved forward after the others. He tried to focus on the piebald of Muirchertach but soon his own mount’s flying mane obscured his vision. He clung on and hoped that the horse knew where it was going.

  Now and then low branches, and even bushes growing along the side of the track, seemed to rush towards Eadulf as if to strike him from his mount, but the horse seemed to pass them by easily with Eadulf clinging on firmly, almost lying on top of the animal’s broad back. He could just hear the thunder of Gormán’s mount behind him but he dared not raise his head to look back. He was trying to focus on the horses before him.

  Soon the crowd of nobles began to draw ahead, in spite of the best efforts of Eadulf’s horse, which seemed aware of its rider’s limitations. At one point the track narrowed so much that the beast itself decided to slow the pace without any help from Eadulf. When it emerged into a clearing, with no sign of the riders ahead, Eadulf finally managed to halt it. Gormán came up behind him in a moment.

  ‘I’ve lost them,’ Eadulf said in disgust.

  Gormán cocked his head to one side, listening. ‘I think that they’ve split up. Some have gone down that path to your left, some to the right.’

  There came the sound of staccato calls on the horn to the right. They sounded close by.

  ‘That way!’ cried Eadulf, turning his mount. It responded immediately, believing another canter was required of it. But this time Eadulf kept to a steady, controlled trot, Gormán at his side.

  The trees soon began to thin out and they came to shrubland, then open fields crossing the hills where crops had been planted. Stone hedges bordered some of the fields. Not far ahead of them, he saw some of the hunters on horseback and nearby some of the dog handlers and their hounds. The yelping of the hounds combined with the cries of encouragement from the men. They seemed to be surrounding something.

  Then the something suddenly shot out of their encirclement.

  A big, dark shape began to race directly towards where Eadulf’s horse was trotting forward. He caught sight of a great muscular animal with heavy shoulders, as tall as a large hound with four times the bulk. He saw sharp white tusks protruding from an open, snorting mouth, and sharp red pinpricks of eyes.

  His horse reared back with a whinny of fright.

  So suddenly did it happen that Eadulf found himself dislodged from his seat and tumbling back over the rump of his horse, hitting the ground with such force that the breath was knocked from him.

  He heard shouts and cries of alarm from all sides.

  He blinked, trying to recover his senses, and a strange feral smell assailed his nostrils. It was the fetid breath of a wild beast. He opened his eyes and was aware of the black bulk of something standing almost over him. He registered a red eye, pink gums, sharp yellow teeth and curved tusks.

  He shut his eyes quickly and it seemed that his blood froze.

  Then came a sound as if a hand was smacking flesh. An appalling squeal in his ear, and he felt the bulk shifting. It moved with astonishing agility. He could hear the grunting and squealing fading rapidly. He opened his eyes and it was gone. Then someone was pulling him upright into a sitting position. It was Gormán.

  ‘Are you hurt, Brother Eadulf?’

  Eadulf, still sitting, examined his extremities carefully before, with Gormán’s help, he climbed slowly to his feet.

  ‘Bruised and winded,’ he replied in disgust.

  He was aware of cries, yells and a band of riders galloping swiftly by. Behind them came running the men on foot with the hounds giving full cry. Then Eadulf and Gormán were alone again.

  ‘What, by all that is holy, was that?’ Eadulf asked, shaking his head.

  Gormán grinned. ‘You have just encountered a wild boar. It nearly did for you.’

  Eadulf shuddered. ‘What distracted it? I thought it ha
d me.’

  ‘I smacked it across the snout with my sword and it turned off. Then the hunters came up. They have chased it back into the forest. I suspect that if it keeps in the cover of the trees and undergrowth, it will elude them.’

  Eadulf rubbed the back of his neck and turned his head this way and that to ensure there was no damage from his fall. Then he remembered what he was there for.

  ‘Was Muirchertach with them?’ he inquired anxiously.

  ‘I didn’t see him,’ replied Gormán.

  ‘Devil’s teeth,’ swore Eadulf, annoyed.

  Gormán mounted his animal again and waited while Eadulf clambered back into the saddle of his own horse.

  ‘Muirchertach may have gone off with the other group, when they divided back at the clearing,’ he suggested.

  ‘Let’s go and find him, then.’

  They retraced their path back to the clearing, and as they reached it they saw a horse and rider coming along the path. It was the slight figure of a woman. She suddenly tugged on the reins of her horse as she noticed them and then, as if wanting to avoid them, plunged off along an adjoining path and quickly vanished.

  ‘One of the women following the hunt,’ muttered Gormán, ‘but I think she is going in the wrong direction. Shall I go after her?’

  ‘She is moving pretty rapidly,’ replied Eadulf, adding: ‘Did you notice who she was?’

  Gormán shook his head.

  ‘That was Sister Marga, one of those who came with Abbot Ultán,’ Eadulf said. ‘I thought I recognised the horse. . that is the same horse that Ultán arrived on.’

  Gormán pulled a face, expressing his disapproval. ‘Obviously, Sister Marga does not believe in following the proprieties. One would expect a time of mourning after her superior’s death.’

  He suddenly glanced up with a frown. There came the sound of laughing and chattering and a band of riders appeared along the track in front of them. They were proceeding at a sedate pace through the forest. It was the rest of the hunt followers and their escort. The attendants carried baskets of food and drink and the ladies rode in a relaxed manner, talking and laughing as if out on some innocent picnic.